Chapter 26
Ow.
Ouch.
Oh, fuck, ow. Oh, shitting Christing fucking Jesus, everything fucking hurt. Fuck. Oh, God, I was in so much pain.
Why did everything hurt?
Where was I? Was I alive? What was happening? I think my eyes were closed. Or I was dead. Everything was white. Okay, maybe I was in heaven. Heaven sounded … heavenly. Maybe they had air conditioning and iced coffees that were zero calories.
Oof, that sounded good.
“I think he’s coming to,” said a Welsh voice.
“Thank God,” said a second woman’s voice in RP.
“Stand back, stand back,” said a man’s RP accent.
“ARDEN, CAN YOU HEAR US?” came a Dorset twang. Oh, ow, fuck, Jesus.
“Yes, Sonia, I can hear you. Fuck, don’t yell,” I croaked. My voice was raspy. Talking hurt. Talking hurt so much that I thought I would start crying.
I slowly opened my eyes. Above me were several concerned faces. Nigella, Verity, and Sonia were all peering over me. Guy was there too. Jack Maslin came in and out of focus.
“Wha … where?” I tried to speak, but the burning in my throat was too much. “Water?” I croaked.
Nigella helped me sit up slightly – ow – and a cup of water was pressed to my lips. I blinked and drank, and spent a few seconds taking in my surroundings. I was in a hospital ward.
“Where am I?” I asked eventually.
“A & E, babes,” Verity said.
“What happened?”
There was a sharing of looks around the room. Jack came forward. “Katrina hit you with the highest setting on the stun gun. You had a seizure and were knocked out.”
Oh. My first thought was the expected. “Did I … did I wet myself?”
“Really, Arden, that’s your first question?” Nigella asked. Okay, so not the expected first question. “Not what happened to Katrina?”
“We shot her in the shoulder,” Jack said. “She’s alive. Under a heavy police guard. And in a different hospital. She’s singing like a canary, can’t wait to tell anyone who’ll listen how she poisoned Macauley Sheridan and shot Riz.” He leaned forward. “And no, your dignity was saved.”
“Thank God for that.”
“He’s totally referring to not pissing himself in public,” Verity informed us all. “He couldn’t care less about Katrina.”
“You would too!” I snapped and then coughed. Oh, it burnt.
“Yeah, the throat, not a pleasant place to have it done,” Jack said.
I looked around the room. Besides the three women, Jack, and Guy, there was a man in the corner with a dog on his lap. He was stroking the dog’s fur and holding on to it tightly.
Simon looked up at me and gave a tired, tight smile. Kennedy wagged his tail and jumped off his lap to come over to me. “He’s a hero,” Sonia told me. “We heard what he did.” She patted his head lovingly.
“He’s the best,” I told them, as Kenny licked my hand. I looked around again. “Where’s Ollie?” I asked.
“He’s at the station, answering some questions,” Jack said solemnly. There was a silence.
“We don’t think he really was involved. Katrina came to him, offering to almost mediate between the two of you. From what he said in the car to the station, he didn’t know about anything else. But he’ll need to answer a lot of questions.”
I nodded. Verity stroked my shoulder. “The doctors want you to stay in overnight.”
“I want to sleep.”
“You saved our lives, Arden,” she sniffled.
“I thought you had your tear ducts fused shut on your eighteenth birthday?” I said.
“I did, but it was a Polish doctor. Couldn’t do it right. Too busy thinking about what carb-y stodge to have for lunch.” She poked her tongue out at me.
“I think we should give Arden some space, now that we know he’s okay,” Guy said. He reached down and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. I nodded and patted his arm.
Nigella gave me a gentle hug and then Sonia did too – much less gingerly.
Jack gripped my hand and told me he’d be in touch. “You did bloody well, Arden,” he said and patted my hand. Verity looked between us and raised an eyebrow.
He followed the others out.
Simon stood. “Arden,” he whispered.
Verity turned to me. “I can give you a minute?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. Simon’s leaving now.” I didn’t look at him. Everything between us had been lies and subterfuge. He didn’t respect me. He didn’t know me. And I’d almost died because he wouldn’t tell me the truth.
“Arden, please!”
“I said leave!” I snapped, my blood boiling. But my energy left as soon as it arrived. “I don’t … just go, Simon.” My voice was a croak. It was agony to talk.
He set his jaw firm. “I am sorry,” he said in an even voice and left.
Then it was me and Verity. She held my hand. “Let it all out, baby. Tell Mama Vee.”
I shook my head. Couldn’t. I’d never stop.
“How about I tell you my good news then? The news I’ve been trying to tell you for days.” I looked at her. “Donal and Ffion have backed down.”
“What?”
“Yup,” she said. “I think that lawyer you got scared the shit out of them. But now, well, you know those exploratory meetings we had back in January?”
“With the US TV network?”
She nodded. “I’ve been in touch with Bryce out in LA.
You know his agency has moved mostly into development deals, now?
Well, he’s your new US representation, if you want him.
And you want him. Because your books are going to be adapted into a TV show.
And not by the network we were originally thinking – that teen drama bullshit.
No, by, um, the biggest network. You know, the one that did the show about the Dragons and that other one about the four racist bitches in New York. ”
I gaped at her.
“Not only that, but they want you on board to help – what was the phrase – ‘craft the world’ as an executive producer. Arden, we’re talking millions and millions.”
Words. I was trying to form words, but none were coming out. “Bryce is waiting for your answer. Honestly, if he didn’t want to sit on your face before this, he definitely does now.”
“What does this mean?” I managed to ask eventually.
“Er, I just said. It means we’re fucking rich, mate. It means Donal and Ffion have crawled back into their cage. The contract renegotiations are off. And that we’re flying out to LA next week to put signatures to some very lucrative contracts.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah.” She smiled at me and held my hand. “Consider it my apology for being a crap friend. Why didn’t you tell me about finding Riz? I would have dropped everything.”
“I’m a big boy,” I said. “I need to learn to handle my shit.”
“You nearly died!”
“So, I’m still learning to handle my shit,” I said. Kennedy whined, and I frowned. “Can I take Kennedy to LA? How long are we going for?”
She wrinkled her brow. “Dunno, we can try and pass him off as big hand luggage. They let you do that in first class.”
“First class?”
“Babes. We rich. How many times do I have to tell you? You’re about to become a multi-gazillionaire.”
“God, LA? Wow. I can barely handle the heat here at the moment.”
Verity stroked Kennedy’s head. “Nah, we don’t have to worry about that anymore. Huge thunderstorm appeared around an hour ago. It’s pouring rain outside. Like, biblical rain. No more heatwave for us.”
“Everything is back to normal then?” I said.
My oldest, dearest friend smiled at me and nodded. My dog rested his head on my hand.
I lay back to finally get some proper sleep.