Always Fraser

by A. K. Steel

  She wraps her arm around me and helps me hobble out to the car park and into her car. I’m shaking from the pain, it's fucking intense. Why did I run after him in these boots? It was never going to end well.

  Indie jumps in the car on her side and starts the engine. “Where’s Fraser? I thought we were all meeting here for dinner? Should I call him?”

  I just shake my head. I'm in too much pain to talk.

  “It's okay, chickee, I’ll get you to the hospital, you're going to be just fine.”

  Fraser

  I run down the stairs. I’ve got to get away from here as fast as I can, before I do something I’ll regret. What the fuck did I just walk in on? I can hear Elly call my name, but I don’t care. I don’t want to hear her lies. How could she do this to me? To us, our family?

  I start to walk, nearly out of breath from running and the panic of what I just witnessed. Another man’s lips on her. That scene will be permanently etched in my brain like a fucking parasite boring a hole straight through my heart, eating me alive. “Fuck!” I scream into the street. Some walkers glance over at me at my outburst but continue on when they realise I’m nothing to worry about.

  I need to stop freaking the fuck out, but I can't. My heart is beating so fast I feel like I’m going to have a fucking heart attack. I gasp for breath, trying to calm myself down. I should have punched that fucking pretty-boy arsehole right in his face, that would’ve made me feel better. Why the fuck didn’t I do that?

  I need something to take away the pain, stop my head from spinning out of control, and as fate would have it, the pub is less than half a block down the road in front of me.

  The only place I know to go when things fall apart. Just one drink and I will feel calmer and in a better position to process what I just witnessed. I walk up to the bar and order a scotch, my drink of choice when shit gets too real. Then take a seat at the bar.

  The scotch sits in front of me, taunting me, but I keep hearing Cherie’s words: “You’re in control of your life and your reactions to what happens.” I don’t have to drink this, but I know if I do it will numb the pain, for tonight at least.

  I’m so fucking mad. What the hell did I walk in on? Some guy with his shirt off, hands all over my girl, his tongue down her throat. Has she been seeing him the whole time? Is it his baby and she's just lying to me? Could fate be so fucking cruel to make me fall for a woman that would fuck me over, just like my mother did to my dad? Could it be true?

  None of this makes any sense at all. She looked scared, her eyes wide and upset, not like she was into him. But they were kissing.

  Now I remember where I have seen that fucker before. They were playing pool together that night she was trying to make me jealous. What the fuck! Has this been going on since that night? She said at the time that she knew him from the café, where they probably had secret meet-ups while I was at work.

  Fuck, my head is playing tricks on me, my imagination’s going wild imaging all types of scenarios. But none of them makes sense.

  Screw it, there's no point holding myself back. What have I got to be good for anyway? It’s actually over with Elly. She’s with someone else and I need something to ease the pain.

  I lift my glass to my lips, then place it back on the bar. This is a bad idea. It doesn't matter how mad I am about what I just saw, I'm not going to do this to myself again. I need to get out of here. I turn to leave and out of the corner of my eyes I see Shea walk into the pub. What's she doing here? She’s the last person I want to see tonight. I drop my head and turn back to the bar, hoping she hasn't spotted me.

  But I can hear the tell-tale click of her heels tapping on the hardwood floor as she stalks over to me. I raise my eyes to see her with a massive smile on her face. An over-the-top smile like she’s just won the lotto or something. What is it she wants? She stops walking right in front of me.

  “What's wrong, Fraser? Why so sad?”

  “What do you want, Shea?”

  “You’ve changed your tune since I saw you a couple of hours ago. Did something happen for you to be sitting in a bar all alone?” she taunts me, lowering her bottom lip as if to fake cry.

  “Fuck off, Shea,” I hiss, dismissing her and turning my head.

  She walks round to my other side, placing her hand on my shoulder. I get a shiver down my spine from her touch, my body recoiling from her.

  “Oh, I think you know me better than that. I make it my business to know what's going on in this town.”

  “Well, this is none of your business.” I shake her off, lowering my head, reconsidering my drink.

  “Let me play the guessing game then, hey.” She places her finger to her lip as if contemplating what could be wrong with me. “Tell me if I’m right. Your perfect little lady’s not so perfect after all, is she, Fraser?”

  I raise my eyes to meet hers. What the fuck does she know. Her smile returns. “Want me to go on? I’m on to something, aren’t I? Her eyes are bright and sparkly like she is enjoying every minute of this, knowing I’m in pain. What a masochistic bitch. How could she possibly know what happened tonight?

  “Perfect little Elly was convinced I was the slut. Doesn't look like it now, though, would I be right, Fraser?”

  What's she on about? How could she know I caught Elly with someone else? Unless… I remember what Elly said back at the house, ‘I’m being set up, Fraser.’

  “What the fuck did you do?” I raise my head, glaring at her, waiting for her response.

  She's a little taken aback at my response and takes a step back, stumbling on her heels. “Nothing, just a little matchmaking. Told you not to fuck with me. Guess now you know how it feels,” she says, way too sweetly, as she walks off flicking her hair.

  Fuck! I run my hands through my hair. This is a fucking nightmare. What the actual fuck is going on? My head is spinning. Have Elly and that guy been sleeping together? Or has she been set up as she said? For as long as I have known her, she has only ever been up front and honest with me. I know her, don't I? She doesn't have a bad bone in her body, she wouldn't do this, it's not her. I'm such an arsehole for even thinking she would after her taking me back and everything I did to her. I should have trusted her. I need to get out of here and make this right before I fuck this up for good.

  I leave my drink on the bar, I don’t need it. I need to see Elly and work this shit out. I make my way out the front door and run into Blake.

  “Thank fuck you're here, Fraser, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

  “I turned it off. What's wrong?”

  “Elly needs you, Fraser. She's in the hospital. She’s had a fall.”

  “What? What's happened?”

  “She fell down the stairs chasing after you. She hurt her ankle, it might be broken.”

  “What about the baby?”

  “The baby?” he questions, raising an eyebrow.

  That's right, we were going to tell him tonight. “She’s pregnant.”

  “Indie didn’t say, just that Elly’s scared and she needs you.”

  His ute’s parked right out the front of the pub. We jump in and he takes off so fast his tires squeal. I can't believe she fell trying to chase me. I should have just stayed and listened to her, then this wouldn’t have happened.

  Blake looks over to me and he looks pissed. “What were you doing at the pub by yourself, Fraser?”

  “I was going to have a drink, but I didn’t.”

  “What the fuck is going on with you two anyway? Are you fighting again?”

  “I don’t know what's going on, that's what I’m trying to work out. I walked in on some guy kissing her in her apartment tonight.”

  His eyes go wide. “What? That doesn’t sound like something Elly would do. She loves you, Fraser. Remember how sad she was when you split up last time?”

  “Yeah, I know, I wouldn’t believe it either, but I saw it with my own eyes! Shea just said the weirdest thing too. Something about her p
laying matchmaker and now I know how it feels.”

  “You were here with Shea?”

  “No, I ran into her, or she came looking for me, I don’t know. But she was all smug like she knew something I didn’t, calling Elly a slut. She has something to do with all this.”

  “Sounds like Shea has set her up. Man, she's a manipulative bitch. This is exactly something she would do when she doesn’t get her own way. I told you she was trouble. Elly wouldn’t have done this, man, you know she wouldn’t. There's got to be some sort of explanation.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Fraser

  Blake pulls up in front of the hospital and we make our way in as fast as we can. I just need to get to her and make sure she’s okay. I go to the reception desk.

  “Hi, I’m looking for Elena Walker. She was admitted tonight after an accident.”

  The receptionist looks at her computer. “Yes. Sir, she’s in maternity. They’re monitoring her while they wait for X-rays on her ankle.”

  “Okay, can you take me to her?”

  “Only family at this time of night. You’ll have to come back in the morning.”

  “I’m her fiancé, the baby’s dad. I need to be with her.”

  She looks me up and down, then writes something down on a piece of paper.

  “Take a left then head down the hall until you reach the maternity ward, press the buzzer and tell them who you are. They’ll let you in. She points to Blake. “Your friend will have to stay and wait here.”

  I take the paper with her little map on it. “Okay, thank you.” I turn to Blake and he nods his head and takes a seat as I make my way through the swinging doors to the maternity ward.

  I press on the buzzer. “Hi, I’m Fraser Davis, here to see Elena Walker, I’m her fiancé.”

  “No worries, I’ll buzz you through.”

  The door swings open and I make my way through to the ward. It's really quiet and dark with most of the lights off. There are signs up saying that when the lights are out, it's quiet time.

  The lady on reception smiles. “She's in room 12. You can make your way down there now, I’m sure she will be happy to see you,” she whispers.

  I walk through the door to see Elly in a hospital bed with her leg propped up with an ice pack on it, her eyes closed. Indie’s sitting next to her holding her hand. She looks up, surprised to see me. I can see she's been crying with mascara-stained cheeks.

  Indie gets up and comes over to me.

  “You can only stay if you're not going to fight with her. They're already worried about the baby, and if you stress her more, she could lose it.”

  “I’m not here to stress her, I just wanted to make sure she's okay. What are they saying?”

  “They checked the baby’s heartbeat and it's still strong at the moment, but she had a bit of a bleed when she fell, so they want to keep her in to monitor her for the night. Hopefully everything will be okay.”

  “What about her ankle? Blake said they think it's broken?”

  “Yeah, it might be, it looks awful! They haven’t X-rayed yet. She's on painkillers so she's a bit out of it.”

  “How did you get to stay? I had to tell them I was her fiancé just to get up here.”

  “I think they thought we were a couple,” she giggles.

  Elly stirs and looks over to us. “Fraser, you came.”

  I go to sit next to her, holding her hand. “Of course, I came as soon as I heard.”

  “So you're not angry with me anymore?” she mutters sleepily.

  “How about we talk about all of that later, when you're better.”

  She closes her eyes again and I kiss her hand. “Thank you for coming,” she says with a small smile. She must be exhausted. I know I am.

  Indie gives me a wave and mouths, “I’m going to find Blake.”

  Elena

  The sunlight is filtering in and I slowly open my eyes, taking in my surroundings. I feel like I’ve been asleep for about five minutes. Last night was insane. My body aches like it's been hit by a truck. My ankle is the worst, which has a low throb radiating up my leg. The painkillers must have worn off.

  I look over to my side and see Fraser curled up asleep in the armchair next to me. His body is so big, it must have been one uncomfortable night's sleep for him, but he wouldn’t leave me by myself even after what he witnessed at my apartment. We didn’t talk about it at all, he was just focused on making sure I wasn’t in pain and the baby was okay. They will send us for another ultrasound this morning, to make sure everything’s all right, but the heartbeat was strong last night so it’s a good sign.

  The nurse came back at about 2am to take me for X-rays on my ankle and it is fractured. They won't need to operate, thankfully, but I will need a moon boot to support it while it heals. Hopefully they will put that on today. Going to make styling houses interesting, but I’ll deal with that when the time comes.

  There’s a knock at the door. We look over to see Indie’s smiling face. She’s holding a little brown tray with a paper bag over the top, the kind you get from the café.

  “Hey, chickee.”

  “How did you get in so early?”

  “I told them I was your lesbian lover, and they didn’t want to ask any more questions. Works every time,” she laughs.

  “Hey, what am I then?” Fraser asks sleepily from the armchair beside me.

  She shrugs. “Her fiancé. Isn’t that what you said last night to get yourself in? I guess it's a whole modern polygamist thing.” We both laugh at the thought, and Fraser rolls his eyes at us.

  “I thought you might like this.” She slides back the brown paper bag over the tray to reveal my favourite black forest cake. “Rachel sends her best.”

  My mouth salivates just looking at it and my tummy lets out a grumble, and I realise we totally missed dinner last night. No wonder I’m so hungry that I could eat cake for breakfast.

  “Thank you, Indie, you're the best.”

  She smiles proudly. She searches the room for a chair and finds one in the other corner. She drags it over to sit next to the bed. “I wanted to tell you both as well, I’ve been doing some investigating, and I think I have cracked the case.”

  “What case would that be, Indie?” asks Fraser, as we both look at her, confused.

  “The set-up of Elena Walker,” she says, raising an eyebrow.

  “Oh really, go on,” says Fraser.

  “I did some Facebook stalking because I’m Facebook friends with Luca. It was easy to find Tristan.”

  I can see Fraser’s face harden and his fists clench at the mention of Tristan’s name. He’s still really mad about last night, but until now, hasn’t brought it up.

  She continues to tell us her story. “His account was private, so I thought it was a dead end, but I wasn’t going to give up that easily. Then I set up a fake profile, finding a hot picture of some girl on Pinterest, and made friends with him, pretending to be someone new to the area, looking for a date. He fell for it hook, line, and sinker and we got to talking. Guess who his sister is.”

  We look at each other then back to her. “Who?” we both ask together.

  “Shea! She's the one who set you up. Tristan told me the whole story. Shea was pissed at Fraser for not giving her a chance and dismissing her from working with them, and he was pissed with Elly for, in his words, ‘being a cock tease.’ So they joined forces to set you guys up. Shea called Fraser out to sign the fake documents, so he was out of the house while Tristan dropped by ‘for a chat’,” she says, using air quotes. “Tristan waited for Shea’s text to tell him Fraser was on his way back, then he spilt the coffee on purpose, so he’d look the part, with no shirt on, and waited till he heard the key in the door to kiss you.”

  “That's why he apologised before he kissed me, saying he owed his sister a favour and I pissed her off.”

  “Yeah, it all makes sense now. Detective Indie solves the case,” she chants proudly, brushing her hands together like she's wiping away imag
inary crumbs.

  “Fuck. And that was what Shea was talking about at the pub last night. She said she had played matchmaker and now I would know what it felt like. That fucking bitch.” Fraser's eyes are blazing with anger. I don’t think I have ever seen him so angry.

  “I can't believe they would go to all that trouble just to hurt us.” It's a sickening feeling because I trusted Tristan and let him into my house. I thought he was a friend, and now look at me. I've wound up in the hospital with a fractured ankle. I could have lost the baby all because, in some weird twist of fate, they were hurting because they wanted what we had with each other. They could never have it, so they were out for revenge.

  "Those two are going to pay for what happened to you,” Fraser swears. “As soon as you're out of here I'm calling Theo so he can have them charged. I can't believe the two of them are so deluded that they think they can mess with other people's lives just because something doesn't go their way."

  He's really mad about this. It is pretty fucked up. Who has the time to carefully create a plan like this just because the person you were into didn't want you back? It's so bizarre. I need to stop being so trusting of people, though, or this might not have happened in the first place. Tristan is one screwed up guy to go along with a plan his sister came up with for revenge."I know, Fray, but will having them charged really help the situation? What's done is done," I say, trying to defuse his anger.

  "It might stop them from doing something to someone else. You can't let people walk all over you, Elly. They need to pay for what they have done."

  "Yeah, you’re right. We can drop over to Theo's on the way home, he wants to see me anyway."

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you last night, Elly, I should have straight away. You wouldn't be lying here in pain if I did,” Fraser says, stroking my hand. I can see the sadness in his eyes, watching me in pain.