“So the food is better?” Ellie asked Kate who was propped up in her hospital bed.  Ellie looked around the private room, it looked more like an exclusive hotel room rather than a hospital room, apart from the medical gadgets scattered around.

“Yeah much better than the Royal, but I need to get out of here!”

“What does your doctor say?  Are you well enough to go home?”

“No, they won’t let me go home, but I can go to mum’s, the police want me to stay with someone while they investigate the incident, anyway.”

“Aren’t you worried about who did this to you and if they come back?”

“Yeah, but I’m not going home, yet.  I’ll stay at mum’s she has all the staff there, I won’t be on my own. And Troy’s back, so he’ll be there!”

“Wow, why is he back, I thought your mum had disowned him?”

“Yeah she did, when he was really in the drug scene but she met him in Majorca, he has a job DJing. They’re trying to patch things up.  When he heard about me he decided to come over as well!!”

“How is that going to work? I mean didn’t he run away because he owed some dealers huge some of money?”

“Who knows, mum says it’s her son and she wants him home, but it’ll probably be a different story in a couple of weeks.  Enough about me, I hear you hooked up with a cute doctor at the Royal Hospital.  What’s his name, do I get to meet him?”

“His name is Mike, no you won’t get to meet him, Sergio is home tomorrow, he finally called me last night, so we’re not mentioning Mike, ok?”

“Ok, but you know how I feel about Sergio, the stuck up, high maintenance count or whatever he is!!”

“Hmmm, yeah well he’s mine and I don’t mind at all.  I’m not sure how often I’m going to be able to come in next week as Gregory James, the author is in town, and I have to ferry him everywhere all week, plus Sergio’s home so he will want my attention as well.”

“Look, I reckon I’ll be out by tomorrow morning, as long as I’m going to mum’s, which I am.  I don’t want to go back to the mess all this has left in the flat, anyway.”

“Ok, but you take it easy, it was a close call, you don’t want to undo any stitches or anything.”

Ellie gave Kate a hug when she left her half and hour later.  She was worried that Kate was leaving too soon, but Kate wasn’t wasn’t one who liked to be told what to do, and there was no point Ellie pushing the point.  Perhaps her doctors would convince her otherwise.

Ellie wanted to get home and prepare for Sergio’s return, she hadn’t been home much during the week and the weekend was going to be a welcome relief, no more worrying about Kate in hospital and hopefully everything was ready now for Gregory James’ arrival.  It was going to be a busy week, taking Gregory James from one author talk to another but this was one part of her job she enjoyed, it was a reward after all the hard work and planning.

* * *

“Hey Ellie, stranger, it’s good to see you.  Where have you been, I was starting to think you were frequenting another local?” Fred, the tattooed landlord at the Slow and Easy, asked in his Cockney accent.  This was Ellie’s local pub, in Camden, she had many fond memories of catch ups with her friends, including some that went back to high school, Fred was around then!

“Hey, Fred, yeah just been extra busy, but I’m back.  You haven’t seen Sergio yet?”

“No, not many in yet.  The band doesn’t start for another hour or so, it’ll fill up then.”

Ellie smiled as she took her glass of red wine to an outside table to enjoy the sunshine, or what was left of it.  She had spent the day reluctantly cleaning her tiny basement studio apartment, the sun outside in her minute courtyard had beckoned her, but she ignored it knowing it would be worth it when she brought Sergio back with her this evening.  His apartment was much bigger but she liked to sleep in her bed and Sergio didn’t mind if he knew he was going to get something out of it!!

Her mind wandered back to the same image that had plagued her thoughts throughout the day, Mike’s face.  She wanted to put him to the back of her mind, but her mind was not behaving and any silly little thing seemed to conjure up a memory of him.  She was doing it again.

“Hey, gorgeous.” Sergio’s smooth Italian accent cooed over her shoulder, he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stroking it as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

Ellie spun around, throwing her arms around his neck.  They lingered in a meaningful kiss before Sergio sat down beside her, holding her shoulders and looking her up and down.

“I had almost forgotten what you looked like,” he said smoothly, his eyes feasting on her.

Ellie was pleased she had chosen to wear the low cut top and her skinny jeans.  Sergio looked so cool and sophisticated.  He did this without effort, his loafers, designer jeans, t-shirt and dark sun glasses pushed up onto his head.

“You look as good as ever.  I had almost forgotten what your voice sounded like.  Where have you been?”  Sergio questioned her, good humouredly.

“Oh, you know with Kate in hospital, it’s been touch and go.  And things so busy at work with Gregory James the author, arriving on Monday, it’s been full on.”

“Tell me what happened to Kate?” he quizzed his brow furrowing with concern.

“She was stabbed at her front door! She was out of it for two days at the Royal Hospital before being moved to the Harrington Private Hospital.  She’s good now but the police are looking into it!”

“Does she know what happened?”

“Nope, she says she was in the shower and the doorbell rang, but can’t remember anything after that!  But let’s talk about us?”

“I agree, we have a lot of catching up to do!” Sergio leant in for another kiss.

Ellie felt a tinge of guilt as she allowed Sergio to kiss her, she tried to put the feeling to the back of her head as she allowed herself to be carried away with the feeling of lust for him.

* * *