I sipped on the water they’d given me and let the world buzz around me. It was surreal, like it was all happening to someone else. I thought about my stuff in the house, whether that would be destroyed. But I had my laptop with me and that had everything that was important to me on it. I clutched it tight to my chest.
“Is O’Malley okay?”
The two paramedics looked at each other as though they had no idea what I was talking about.
I wanted to tell them that he’d gone back into the house but I couldn’t get my thoughts straight. I rubbed my eyes, trying to think. I’d told the fireman, I was sure I’d told him, but my brain was all fogged up.
Before I could say any more, I heard an almighty crash as though the world was ending. I let out a scream before I could stop myself. When I looked up at the house, it didn’t look right. My mind couldn’t comprehend what had happened. All I could see was the rush of flames and the sparks flying up into the air. Then I realised the top floor had gone. The whole top of the house had crashed down.
Oh my God. If O’Malley was in the house, he’d be a goner. Why had he run back in? I hardly knew the guy but I didn’t want to see him incinerated. He must’ve had something precious in that house to risk running back in like that. Maybe he did have money hidden under his mattress or maybe he wanted to get his computer. You wouldn’t take a risk like that for anything else, would you?
The paramedics jumped up and rushed toward the driveway with a gurney. Out of the darkness, I could see someone dragging O’Malley. And he had a guitar under his arm.
A guitar?
What the hell? He’d risked death to get a guitar? Like you couldn’t just go to a guitar shop and buy another one? Hell, I knew he’d been drinking but he must’ve been shitfaced to think that was a good idea. After all the concern I’d felt for him
I had no idea where he’d gotten it from. I’d never seen a guitar in all my cleaning and there was no way he’d have gotten back into the upper floor of the house.
The paramedics took him from the firefighter and loaded him onto the gurney. He struggled with them but not with any strength. I moved out of the back of the ambulance so they could deal with him without me in the way.
“Let me off this thing,” O’Malley yelled. Well, he tried to yell but his voice came out hoarse and croaky. Like he’d smoked all the cigarettes in the world.
Then it hit me. He’d been drinking and he’d gotten that carton of cigarettes in the groceries. There’d been an ashtray on the floor.
“Were you smoking in bed?” I screamed at him, my voice throaty and weak. “You were drunk and smoking in bed. You imbecile.”
He didn’t answer me but turned his face from mine.
“You could’ve killed me.”
If he’d not been in the back of the ambulance, I’d have punched him in the face. I really hoped he wasn’t badly injured by the fire since I wanted to do all the badly injuring myself. I had never felt so angry with someone in my life. His stupidity had cost me my job and my house and almost cost me my life.
The shouts of the firefighters distracted me for a moment. The flames had gotten much lower and a putrid smell filled the air. That would be the embers of my life dying out. I’m not usually one for lolling around in self-pity but if anyone had an excuse to loll, it was me. I’d worked for the stupidest man in the world and he’d nearly killed me.
I sat back down in the bus shelter, since I wanted to get away from him.
O’Malley argued with the paramedics. I didn’t really get what they were saying at first but then realised they wanted to take him to the hospital. He refused to go.
“You can’t stay here, obviously,” one of them said. “We will need to monitor your condition overnight.”
“No way. No hospital. I’ll stay here with her.”
He must have indicated me since there was no other “her” around. Did he expect me to nurse him overnight in the burnt out shell of his house? Because I was figuring on spending the night in a hotel, well away from the whole disaster. He wasn’t talking sense and they should give him a shot of something to knock him out.
The paramedic shook his head. I wandered away, not wanting to get involved. I wondered what happened when the fire was finally out. The buses had obviously stopped running so late at night. Did I call a cab or did the firefighters give me a lift to somewhere safe? Personally, I thought the hospital idea was a good one. Hospitals were safe and clean.
I could see headlights on the road and realised the sticky beaks were out already. Of course he didn’t want to go to hospital. They’d need his records and all his information. Once he did that, it was guaranteed the media would find out. He’d be in the news and lose all his privacy.
I’m not sure what had gone on with the paramedics but O’Malley walked over to join me. He could walk okay, so he wasn’t suffering from major burns or anything. I turned away from him. We had nothing to discuss. He was wrapped in one of those foil blanket things so at least I didn’t have to deal with him being both naked and stupid.
“Do you have your phone?” he asked.
I hunted in my bag and handed it to him. He could’ve rescued his phone instead of that bloody guitar. He punched a number in. How he remembered a phone number was beyond me. I hadn’t remembered a phone number in the last ten years.
“My house has burnt down,” he said into the phone. So calm. “No, it’s not a damn joke. The whole place has been razed to the ground. I think the recording studio is still standing but the rest of it is ashes.”
He paused for a moment.
“No, no. I don’t care about that. You need to deal with the fall out. There are people snooping around already and the paramedics want to take me to hospital.”
I could hear someone talking flat out on the end of the phone.
Finally he hung up and handed the phone back to me. I leaned against the side of the shelter. O’Malley and the paramedics and I were all just watching the fire die down, staring mindlessly at the battle with the flames.
It took forever for the fire to clear. The firefighters still hadn’t finished when a car pulled up. The cops tried to stop the driver. I hadn’t even realised they were there until I heard a female voice yelling at them that she had to get through.
A woman, immaculately dressed in a business suit, jumped out of the driver’s seat. She looked around then spotted O’Malley standing beside me.
“What the hell is going on?” she said. “Are you okay? This is going to be a PR nightmare if you want to keep it hidden.”
O’Malley didn’t look at her, he just dug in the ground with his foot like a kid caught doing wrong.
“Who’s she?” the woman asked, giving me the once over.
“My housekeeper. Remember, you told me to hire someone.”
Nice introduction. I didn’t like this woman. She wasn’t that much older than me but she looked as scary as hell. Who is even dressed in a suit at that time of night?
The woman walked off to talk to the paramedics and I wondered what would happen to me. Maybe I should just get out of there.
She came back to us, her face hard and serious.
“They said you can come with me. We’ll deal with the rest tomorrow. You’ll have to see a doctor though.”
He slung his guitar over his shoulder and walked after her. I watched them leave, forgotten and alone. I really wished my parents weren’t in Bali. I really needed them to be there for me. I’d be happy for once to have Mum fussing over me and being all Mum-like. I could book into a hotel but I’d be all alone and I really wanted not to be, for once in my life. I wanted someone to put their arm around me and tell me they’d look after me and it’d all be okay. I didn’t want to have to think or make decisions.
I guess I could ask the police to take me somewhere but all I could do was sit in the shelter, rocking myself into some kind of state.
“Hey, Ruby, are you coming?” O’Malley called back over his shoulder.
The woman in the suit look
ed surprised.
“I got her into this mess. I have to make sure she’s looked after.”
CHAPTER SIX
I woke up with a stiff neck and a sore back. We’d gotten to the strange woman’s house the night before and she’d given me a blanket and pointed me in the direction of a couch in the study then went off with O’Malley to talk about secret business. I sat down on the couch, befuddled. What the hell was going on?
A few minutes later, she popped back in with a pair of PJs and a towel.
“The shower is the first door on the right if you want to clean up. And the pyjamas are clean but not new. I thought you might want to freshen up. I’m Hannah, by the way.”
She smiled at me and she didn’t seem nearly as tough as she had when she first showed up. I’d been too shell-shocked to notice the smoky smell until she mentioned the shower but then I realised I must reek. It was in my clothes and my hair and all over my body. A shower sounded perfect.
After that, I’d gone to sleep in record time.
The couch hadn’t been all that comfortable but it was somewhere to sleep. I thought I should start up the laptop and get in touch with Mum and Dad. It wasn’t like the fire would hit the news but just in case word got out, I wouldn’t want them going into a total panic. I emailed them with a thousand reassurances that I was okay. Then I added a note asking them if they’d rented out the house yet. Because I really needed some emergency accommodation.
There was a knock on the door and Hannah came in.
“Want some breakfast?” she said. “You must be dying for a coffee.”
I followed her into the kitchen and sat at the bench wondering what I should say to her while she made coffee and some toast.
“It’s not fancy but you need something in your stomach after last night.”
I thanked her and wrapped my hands around the mug of coffee.
“Now, Tex thinks he wants to move back into the house. It’s impossible, of course. There isn’t that much left standing and the place needs to be inspected and approval given before anyone can go back in there. Your stuff was in the room off the kitchen, right?”
I nodded.
“Someone from the fire department will go in with you if you want to retrieve your things but a lot of it will be fire damaged. Our company will reimburse you for any personal items.” She suddenly grinned, her eyes lighting up in a way that scared me. “I could take you shopping for new outfits. That would be fun.”
I didn’t want to seem ungrateful but mostly, I’m the enemy of fun. Fun annoyed the hell out of me. Stuff like shopping and hanging out bored me stupid. And you had to deal with all those people in the shops and their noise. I’d never really understood why people enjoy it. She seemed like one of those people who loved shopping and would make me try on outfit after outfit while she made comments about them. She really had “makeover” written all over her face.
That was so not me.
“Maybe I could just order some stuff online…”
The light in her eyes went out without the thought of girlie shopping trips.
“Just email me through what you want and I’ll organise the payment,” she said. She handed me a business card with her email address. “There’s a bag of stuff I’ve been meaning to throw out upstairs if you want to go through it. Oh, shit, sorry. Is that really patronising? Expecting you to take my castoffs?”
I did not have a problem with castoffs. I just hoped her stuff would fit me. I wasn’t exactly fat but she had a model-thin figure and was so tall.
It seemed like I had pretty much nothing left to my name except my laptop and my phone. Mum and Dad had put all their personal items in storage when they’d left and I had a few things there but not many clothes. More like craft projects I’d made in school and horrible old photos. I could live without that.
“Okay, I have to go out now. I’ll call Tex around noon and make sure he’s out of bed. Can you talk to him? Make him see that he can’t stay in that place. And he is supposed to see a doctor, though I have no idea how to make him do that.”
With that, she left me with my breakfast and darted out of the house. I wasn’t sure what sort of relationship she thought I had with O’Malley because it was so not the type where I could talk to him. Communication was not something we did.
I wondered what to do with my morning. Look for another job? I’d need to find something fast. If I had to move into a hotel or other emergency accommodation, I had some savings and I could ask Mum for money but I’d prefer not to rely on my parents for cash.
I heard someone on the stairs and looked to see if it was O’Malley. It wasn’t. I did a back step when I saw some super hot guy walking down the stairs, humming to himself. Should I greet him or say something? I guessed he was Hannah’s boyfriend or partner. I’d not seen him when we arrived but then I’d only really been in the study. He grinned at me then gave me a salute before leaving.
I wandered around the house, checking it out. There was lots of band stuff – framed posters and even one of those gold record things hanging in the hallway. In the living room, a poster on the wall had a close up of the guy’s face, the one I’d seen leaving. At least he wasn’t an intruder.
From the way she acted, Hannah must be O’Malley’s manager or something. She was being so helpful but, to be honest, I figured the best thing for me would be to clear out as soon as I could. O’Malley sure as hell didn’t need a housekeeper any more. I didn’t think she had any obligation to pay to replace my lost stuff. Well, I guess O’Malley did since he was responsible for the fire but nothing I’d left in the house had been worth much anyway. Those clothes she’d offered me would be enough compensation.
I went upstairs to see about the clothes. I found the bag on the landing and took them down to the bathroom to try on. Pretty much everything in the bag was better than the best clothes I’d ever owned. That wasn’t hard though. I’ve seen homeless people who dress better than me.
I wasn’t at all a clothes person but even I knew high quality when I saw it. The fabrics felt so luxurious although I wasn’t sure if they fit into my lifestyle. I needed sweat pants and t-shirts. Real t-shirts not skimpy little cut off things. I picked through the lot and found the most casual stuff, then set aside anything that didn’t fit. The tailored suits wouldn’t go near to fitting me, even if I had an inclination to wear them, but some of the baggier stuff was okay.
I changed into a pair of leggings and a pale blue tunic top. It wasn’t my style but did look awfully cute. I never thought about colours when I bought clothes but that shade of blue did something amazing to me. My hair had all kinds of deep auburn stuff going on and my skin looked creamy. I wanted to wear that colour all the time, although I’d probably end up getting stains on something so pale within minutes.
“Ruby! Ruby! Where are you?”
O’Malley was obviously awake. Until the previous night, I wasn’t sure he even knew my name. I mean, I’d told him, of course, but he never used it. I wasn’t even sure if he thought of me as another human being. Now he was actually calling for me in a very demanding way. I’d much preferred it when he just contacted me through email.
“Collect your stuff. We need to go home,” he said.
When I came out of the bathroom, O’Malley stared at me as if he wasn’t quite sure who I was. I couldn’t tell if it was because I was dressed nice or if he was just that vague.
He paced around like nervous energy overflowed in his body. He’d dressed in clothes that obviously weren’t his, hanging off his frame and too long in the arms. O’Malley was a big guy but those clothes swamped him, making him look younger and more vulnerable. He kept pulling at the fabric around his neck as though it was choking him.
“We have no home. We can’t go back there.” Did he not realise that?
“Nonsense. It’s all technicalities. We can’t stay in someone else’s house forever. Anyway, the recording studio is okay. We can stay there for the time being.”
His gaze da
rted around the fancy house as though it, like the clothes, didn’t quite fit him.
He was clearly deranged. We couldn’t go back to that place. Well, he could if he wanted but there was nothing there for me. I wasn’t sure why he was talking about “we” like we were some kind of team. You can’t be a housekeeper when there is no house. And that shed was a recording studio? I’d not even realised.
“Huh? It’s not like you’ll need a housekeeper for just those rooms.” Oops, I hope he didn’t notice that I knew the layout of that place. I mean, he hadn’t explicitly forbidden me from going in there.
“Of course I do. There’ll be a whole load of stuff to organise with the clean up and rebuilding. I can’t do that. You have to stay with me.”
It was going from bad to worse. I couldn’t live with him in that tiny place. With him not wanting to see my face around. Would I have to stand outside for most of the day? It’d been bad enough when we had that whole big house to avoid each other in but we could hardly live in such close proximity to each other.
Maybe he was suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress that made him not see sense at all.
Then I really looked at him. The pleading look in his eyes broke my heart. He peered up at me through the mess of his hair as though I was the only lifeline he had.
“Please,” he added.
Damn it. I couldn’t say no to him, not when he was in that state. It might drive him over the edge. I’d play along with him until he realised on his own that this plan was totally flawed. I was sure that wouldn’t take him long once he actually saw the burnt remains of the house. I was still angry that he’d been stupid enough to actually start the fire but he was the one who’d lost everything. The misery he felt could be clearly seen on his face and I didn’t want to rub it in.
O’Malley called a taxi and we headed back to the house. The miserable remains of the house.
I’d stuffed the clothes Hannah had given me into a shopping bag. I didn’t even own a pair of knickers and hoped the leggings would suffice. O’Malley hugged his guitar to him.
Rock You (Fallen Star Book 1) Page 5