Chapter 14
Bea lazily opened her eyes, feeling a bit more refreshed after her nap. Liz and Maxine sat around the table directly in front of the sofa where she lay. Allie was lazily wrapping strands of her hair around her finger whilst watching some reality show on the TV. For a moment Bea just lay there, feeling content and enjoying her hair being played with. For a fleeting moment she felt completely relaxed and at ease, she even felt safe, surrounded by all her friends. This was what she craved, she was no longer top dog and this was the future she had imagined and longed for when she gave it up. How she longed for this. There was just the small matter of someone trying to kill her that was getting in the way at the moment. She felt Allie place a kiss on the side of her head as she realised she was awake.
“Hey sleepy head. You okay?”
Bea nodded, shuffling over so she was laying on her back instead of her side, her head still in Allies lap.
“For a minute when I woke up, everything was okay.” Bea croaked, her voice still heavy with sleep. “Then I remembered that I’m not very popular round here.”
She gave a small smile, but Allie could see the fear that lay in her eyes.
“Hey, you’ll always be my number one. Stuff the rest of them. Me and you against the world.”
“I wish it was that easy, I really do. I just wish I knew who it was. That’s the worst thing. I’m driving myself crazy going over it in my head, trying to put all the little pieces together, but failing to get them to match up. I think I’m going mad Allie.”
Allie let out a sigh, guilt eating away at her. Knowing the truth but not being able to tell Bea made her feel terrible. She knew she had to tell her, no matter what Kaz had said. She couldn’t keep secrets from Bea, especially something as big as this, she just hoped that Bea wouldn’t react badly and ruin whatever Kaz had got planned. She spoke slowly to Bea, looking directly in to her eyes.
“You’re not going crazy Bea. It’s natural to be scared. Look, if I was to tell you something, you have to promise not to go off on one. You have to promise not to tell anyone. And you have to promise to stay calm.”
Bea sat up gingerly, wincing as the wounds on her stomach protested at being moved so suddenly.
“Whats going on?”
“Just say you promise Bea, you’re injured, you’re not well. A plan is in place to sort it all out. All you need to do is stay calm and not react. It's being sorted.”
Maxine and Liz looked over from the table at seeing Bea sit up.
“Everything okay?” Liz enquired
Bea looked over to the table; she had forgotten they were there. Allie spoke breaking the silence.
“Can you two give us 5 minutes alone please? I just need to have a chat with Bea in private.”
“Sure.” Liz agreed and Maxine gave a nod of her head in confirmation as the 2 women made their way to Liz’s cell and closed the door. Allie turned her attention back to Bea, automatically taking her hands in her own.
“So you promise yeah Bea?”
“I guess so. I don’t know what I’m promising to though, but go on.”
“I know who’s trying to kill you.” Allie blurted out.
Bea’s face was one of shock, she pulled her hands away from Allie’s and shook her head.
“I… I don’t understand,” Bea muttered her voice quiet, “What do you mean, you know?”
“A few days ago when you were in medical, I overheard a conversation that I wasn’t supposed to. It was between Jake and Tina. They were arguing about how Tina was doing a rubbish job of trying to kill you and Jake was saying… well he was saying that Ferguson wouldn’t be happy unless she finished the job soon.”
As Allie finished talking, her words hung in the air. Neither woman knowing what to say next. Allie tried to take Bea’s hand again but she pulled away.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Allie felt her heart sink, she knew Bea was disappointed in her for keeping a secret.
“I couldn’t get to you in medical, they said no visitors until the next day and I didn’t know what to do. I needed someone to talk to. So I went and saw Kaz. I told her what I’ve just told you. She’s top dog now. She told me she would sort it and I believe her. But she also said not to tell you because it would just upset you.”
“Upset me? Upset me? Of course it will fucking upset me! People are trying to kill me! But I needed to know. I don’t need you lying to me to protect me. I don’t need or want you talking to Kaz about me behind my back..”
“It wasn’t like that…”
“Yes, it was. You talked about me to Kaz and planned what to do without even telling me. What if Mercado had tried to kill me again the last couple of days, if I had known I could have been more vigilant..”
“I have been watching you and so has Kaz…”
“I don’t need protecting…”
“Yes you do Bea. You may like to think you are some big hard woman, who's untouchable, but at the minute you are at a disadvantage. You’re injured and you can’t look after yourself if something happens. Look at the last couple of times. You’re my girlfriend, my girl, I love you. I want to look after you and protect you and be here for you. Bea we are stronger together than we are apart and with the freak after you we need all the help we can get. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but everything I have done has only been to keep you safe. I wouldn’t be able to live if anything happened to you…. That’s how much I feel for you…”
Bea wiped roughly at the tear running down her cheek before leaning forward and pressing her lips firmly to Allie’s, her tongue gaining entrance between her girlfriends lips as their tongues danced together. Breathlessly they both eventually pulled apart.
“I’m sorry Allie,” Bea said, “You’re right, you have been looking after me and I do appreciate it. It’s just a shock I guess, hearing there’s a team of people out there trying to kill me. Not as popular as I thought I was eh?”
She gave a small smile but Allie could see the fear and worry in her eyes.
“Hey, listen to me, I’m here okay? We’re in this together. There is no way on earth anyone is going to hurt you again. You and me forever yeah?”
“We sound like a couple of teenagers; we should be scrawling our names together on the back of books and stuff.”
Allie laughed,
“And we will, just as soon as we sort this little problem out. I’ll get in touch with Kaz. Tell her she needs to come over and tell us what’s going on.”
Bea nodded trying desperately to keep the worry from her face. She thought knowing who it was for sure would ease her mind, but it had in fact made her feel worse. Three people all conspiring to kill her. She felt physically sick. She just hoped she was strong enough to win, with no one she loved or cared for getting hurt along the way.