16. Levi
Levi swore quietly under his breath as he watched Alexis stomp away. He could’ve handled that better, but he was protective of the octogenarian. Ralph had lost his wife of sixty years only recently and the grief had been rough on him. Alexis wasn’t to know that, though. Still, she hadn’t needed to yell at him.
He ran his hand through his hair. He needed a haircut. It was unruly at the best of times, but it had gotten to that stage where it was annoying him now.
‘You okay Ralph?’ he asked.
Ralph was blinking down at his phone with a confused look on his face. That had been happening a lot lately, and Levi wasn’t sure if it was the grief or if something else was going on with him.
‘Ralph?’
He looked up at Levi, the blank stare evaporating as recognition filled his eyes. ‘Levi,’ he said and then looked down at the mess Alexis had left. He frowned. ‘Did I do this?’
Plastic bottles were scattered on the floor, and in the centre like an exclamation point, was the broken bottle, red wine looking eerily like blood splatter on the white tile.
Levi smiled gently. ‘Nope. It was me. I’m just about to clean it up.’
‘Oh,’ he said, looking around the hallway. ‘I came out here for something, but I can’t seem to remember what.’
‘That happens to me too, sometimes,’ Levi said encouragingly. ‘I find it helps to retrace my steps and then step into the room again.’ He squatted to pick up the strewn trash and put it back in the box Alexis had carried it down in. He left the glass for now. He’d need to get something to wrap it in before he disposed of it. ‘Careful of the glass.’
Ralph looked at the broken red wine bottle and clucked. ‘You should let your cleaner do that.’
‘You’re right, but I was coming out for some air, and I thought I’d bring it with me on the way.’
Ralph nodded and then looked around the hallway again. His phone beeped in his hand, and he looked at it with a frown before his lips tilted up in a smile. ‘I’ll leave you to it, then.’ He headed for the elevator.
‘You going out?’ Levi asked, trying to sound casual but being concerned all the same. It was still early, not even eight o’clock, but he didn’t like the thought of Ralph wandering the streets after dark, especially when he’d been zoning out more and more. Would he be upset if Levi suggested he go and see a doctor?
‘Boys’ night out,’ he said. ‘Me and my golf buddies get together once a month for a bit of a tipple and a game of cards. Gary’s waiting downstairs for me.’
Levi smiled genuinely then. It put his mind at ease to know Ralph had friends to look out for him. ‘Have fun,’ he said. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
Ralph chuckled as he stepped into the elevator.
‘Call me if you need anything,’ Levi called out as the elevator doors closed.
Levi huffed out a breath as he looked back at the mess. Thankfully, the hallway was tiled and not carpet. He paid a hefty body corporate fee for the cleaning of the shared spaces, but getting red wine out of carpet would be a pain—although carpet might have prevented the bottle from breaking.
Ducking back into his apartment, he grabbed some cleaning supplies and some paper towel to wrap the glass in. It reminded him that he needed to replace that bottle of Evelyn’s wine. Maybe he could buy two and give one to Alexis as an apology for the way he’d spoken to her. Although a nice bottle of wine might not be enough to make up for his over-reaction. She probably thought he had a split personality, especially since when she’d left his apartment earlier, they had been on good terms.
He sighed as he crouched down to deal with the glass and the splatters of wine. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. He was usually so in control of his emotions; his brothers often accused him of being a robot. He just didn’t see that getting overly emotional about things helped. If anything, it only made a situation worse. Tonight was case in point. He’d barked at Alexis unnecessarily when he could have smoothed everything over between her and Ralph. That’s what he would normally do. He was the peacemaker, after all. It was a role he took pride in… except apparently when it came to Alexis.
It wasn’t all her fault, though. A phone call from his mother had completely destroyed his earlier mood. All the good feelings he’d had after dinner with Alexis had been ruined by the directive from his mother. As of tomorrow, he would be taking over Jonah’s patients. Apparently, Jonah was heading to South Korea a week early to ‘network’, which was really code for bum-around. Their mother must be worried about repercussions from Nikki’s complaint if she was sending Jonah away.
Levi swore as a piece of glass sliced into his finger. Perfect. Just what he needed.
He wrapped the broken glass in the paper towel, careful not to let his blood drip on the floor, and put it into the box with the rest of the recycling. The body corporate obviously hadn’t thought anyone in the penthouse suite would need to recycle. Or more likely, they didn’t expect the residents in the penthouse suite to do their own recycling.
He dumped the trash in the chute and headed back to his apartment but hesitated on the threshold. Should he go up and apologise to Alexis now? Maybe explain what happened and why he reacted the way he did?
He looked down at his finger, which was still bleeding. With a sigh, he unlocked his door and stepped into his apartment. He needed to deal with his finger first, and it was probably best to let Alexis cool down a bit before he approached her. Besides, he hadn’t bought the wine yet. Expensive wine and an apology might not be enough, but it would definitely be better than going empty-handed.
Levi woketo the sound of his phone. It was still dark, and his first thought was that something had happened to Ralph. He sat up.
Not Ralph.
Elias.
‘Do you have any idea what the time is?’ he growled into the phone.
‘Uh… is this Dr Beck?’ a female voice asked.
Levi frowned and looked at the screen. It was definitely Elias’ phone.
‘I’m Dr Beck,’ he said, sliding out of bed and heading for his closet to get changed. ‘Why are you calling from my brother’s phone?’
‘Right, um, this is the emergency department at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Your brother is here?—’
‘I’m on my way,’ Levi said, disconnecting the call without even asking if his brother was dead or alive. It wouldn’t really matter. If he wasn’t already dead, he would be by the time Levi got hold of him.
He flew out of the apartment and cursed the slow elevator as it crawled to the garage. He slid into his Jag and squealed out of the underground parking lot. He knew why Elias had called him—or at least why he was Elias’ emergency contact on his phone. If Elias called Jonah, their older brother would inform their parents before anything else, and Elias would do whatever he could to avoid involving their parents.
Traffic was busy for the middle of the night, but Levi eventually got to the hospital and parked. He’d been tempted to take up one of the reserved doctor’s spaces, but as anxious as he was about Elias, he wouldn’t abuse his privilege like that.
Trying to calm his racing heart, he approached reception and put his professional smile in place.
‘Hi, I’m Dr Beck. My brother?—’
‘Elias?’ The woman said with a smile. ‘He’s here. He has all the nurses wrapped around his little finger—male and female. You can go on back.’
He wasn’t dead. That was something at least. And if he was flirting with everyone, then he was fine. Anger replaced worry, and Levi nodded to the receptionist before following her directions through to where Elias was sitting up in bed surrounded by his admirers.
Levi was ready to give him an earful but stopped before anything could come out of his mouth. Elias was in bad shape. A black eye, cut lip, and Levi wouldn’t be surprised if he had a broken nose. Just what the hell had happened?
‘Brother!’ Elias slurred. Levi wasn’t sure if it was the morphine whistle or the swollen lip that made him slur. ‘You came.’
Levi tried to smile comfortingly, but worry had come back to replace the anger.
‘What happened?’
‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘But they wouldn’t let me go home unless I had someone to look after me. Although, there were plenty of volunteers.’ He tried to wink at the nurses gathered around his bed but winced instead.
‘They’re letting you go home?’ Levi asked, surprised.
‘No,’ said a woman, stepping into the cubicle and shooing the other nurses away. ‘I’m sure you all have something better to do.’
‘Go easy on them, Doc,’ Elias said, his voice dripping with charm. ‘They’re just trying to help.’
‘It’s Sunday night in emergency,’ the doctor said. ‘And you’re not the only patient.’
‘I’m Dr Beck,’ Levi said, cutting in before Elias could say something else to piss off the already harassed doctor. ‘His brother.’
‘Levi Beckingsale?’ The doctor asked, looking up at him.
Recognition hit him.
‘Kate?’
She smiled. ‘Of all the emergency departments in all the hospitals in the city…’ she trailed off with a laugh and then looked at Elias. ‘I thought the surname seemed familiar.’
‘I haven’t seen you since…?’
‘Graduation?’ Kate supplied for him.
‘No, surely not?’ Had it really been that long?
She laughed. ‘You don’t come to any of the get togethers our cohort has, so it has to be that long.’
Levi shook his head and then looked around. ‘You’re here now?’
‘I’ve been here all along,’ she said.
‘I thought you went overseas? Doctors Without Borders?’
Kate grimaced. ‘That was the plan, but it didn’t quite work out.’
‘That’s a shame. You were really looking forward to it.’
Elias cleared his throat. ‘Um, I’m the patient here, remember?’
Kate’s face morphed into a professional fa?ade as she looked back at Elias. ‘I’ll be admitting you?—’
‘No,’ he whined like an overgrown teenager. ‘Can’t I go home with Levi? He’s a doctor. He can look after me.’
Kate looked at Levi questioningly. The last thing Levi wanted was to look after Elias, but if Elias got admitted to hospital, his parents would come down on him like a ton of bricks. That wouldn’t do anyone any good.
Levi sighed. ‘I’ll take him. He’d be more of a disruption to your staff than it’s worth if I leave him here.’
Kate looked at her chart and then at Levi again. ‘Are you sure?’
‘It’s nothing serious, right? A couple of contusions and a broken nose?’
Elias whimpered at the mention of his nose.
‘And possible concussion,’ Kate added. ‘He was hit pretty hard.’
He was hit? Levi wanted to demand to know the whole story, but it would have to wait until they got home.
‘I can set his nose at home,’ Levi said. ‘If you can prescribe some painkillers, I’ll take him off your hands.’
Kate hesitated before nodding. ‘Okay. I’ll need you to sign some forms.’
Levi nodded and turned to follow her out of the cubicle. Elias grabbed his wrist, his eyes widening—or widening as much as they could with the swelling. ‘Who is she?’ he mouthed.
Levi ignored his brother and followed Kate to the desk to sign the appropriate forms. This was going to be a pain in his arse, but he didn’t really have an alternative. He didn’t know how he was going to be Elias’ carer while also looking after Jonah’s patients on top of his own. Maybe he could hire a nurse to come in daily for Elias… maybe Alexis could…
No. He doubted Alexis was willing to do anything for him, even if he offered to pay her.