Chapter 2 I'LL BE DAMNED!

The next morning, Andrea turned in her sleep and stretched her arms on the bed only for her hand to land on a briskly stubble. She opened her eyes in horror, coming to her senses and stumbled out of bed almost tripping over the covers that were still wrapped around her legs. She stopped at the door, holding on to the frame, only to realize that she was completely naked and had no idea where her clothes were.

"Fuck!"she cursed loudly then kicked herself for it the moment the guy sprawled out in bed stirred. Luckily he didn't open his eyes. She sighed with relief then focused, retracing her steps in her mind from when they had stepped into the apartment to when they had gone into the bedroom. "Downstairs." she murmured almost in a whisper then open the door slowly,closed it silently once she was on the other side then literally run all the way to the sitting room and hoping as hell that she wasn't about to run into a girlfriend or wife she didn't know of or hadn't asked about. Not that the question had crossed her mind but now she was wishing it had.

She located her clothes and quickly slipped into them them fumbled through her handbag and grabbed her phone. The first thing she noticed was four missed calls from her best friend. That however didn't bother her much because she was used to Gabby looking for her to ask about even the tiniest mistake she had done at their shared apartment or a misplaced item. What shocked her was the time on her phone.

How could she have lost control that much? She never spent a night with any guy she hooked up with but now it was nearly six in the morning.

"Shit!" she cursed then ran out of the building,hailed a cab and headed home.

Gabby met her at the door and the look she gave her wasn't something she wanted to deal with at the moment.

"Hey,"she offered her a smile without stopping but by the time she was crossing the living room to her side of the apartment, she was hot on her heels.

"Who was it this time? At least tell me that he is not married."

"I have no idea," she replied plainly and went ahead towards her bedroom. "Could be anyone; a police officer,a lawyer,a teacher,a husband," she paused. "A serial killer who changed his mind after a night long of sex."

"That's not funny Andy, come on."

She chuckled,"His name is Keith and he is a business man, that's all." She stole a chip from the bag she was holding which made her turn her features in disgust. "Anyway, it's not important because I won't be seeing him again. I have to get ready for work so catch you in a bit?" She said and disappeared into her room.

"It's not healthy you know?"

She heard Gabby shout after her right before she closed her door and started going through her closet, searching for the days outfit. Of course she knew that the kind of life she lived was not healthy but she had made it her comfort zone and once someone got in there,it was hard to get out. She found herself wanting more and more and since nothing else in her life was going straight, she wasn't ready to give this up yet.

Thirty minutes later, she came back to the living room and found Gabby standing by the TV, the remote in her hand and eyes focused without blinking. It puzzled her since it was the first time she had seen her interested in any news, whether breaking or daily. She furrowed her brows and approached her.

"What's so interesting over there?"

Gabby shook her head,"It's just unbelievable and shocking. The Midnight Lovers lead actor was involved in a major accident a few minutes ago."

"Who now?" she asked, joining her in front of the TV. She had no idea what her friend was talking about so solemnly.

"The guy who plays prince Aidan in the series?" Realizing that she wasn't placing the character in her mind, Gabby went on,"Girl,where do your eyes look at whenever you are walking around town? Because his face is displayed at the cinemas billboard. You wouldn't miss it."

"Well, maybe that's because I don't use that route. Anyway actors are overrated and if he is as arrogant as most of them are then maybe he deserves what happened to him," she added leaving an open mouthed Gabby staring after her. She hadn't really planned on saying that,it had just come out but she didn't regret it.

"What do you have against actors? Because as far as I know, those are the only kind of people you wouldn't sleep with."

She shrugged,"They are arrogant and think about themselves only." She opened the fridge, grabbed the milk and added a generous amount to the coffee in both their travel mugs and fastened the lids. She then grabbed a donut and placed it in her mouth but found Gabby still looking at her. "What?"

"If you saw this one,you wouldn't wish him ill. In fact, you would want to jump him the moment you placed your eyes on him. His eyes especially are adorable."

She laughed,"Since when did you become an expert in how good looking guys look like?"

"He is the only guy I tolerate and you would know what I'm saying if you saw him. I'm just hoping that he will survive that crash."

"Come on, let's get to work."

★★★

An hour after Andy had parted ways with her friend who worked in the technical department of the same hospital, she walked along the hallway heading to the last section of her morning rounds which was next to the casualty department of the hospital. She was busy marking her calendar on her notebook and didn't see the person who was headed straight for her, only looked up the moment she bumped into him.

"Shit,sorry!" she said without focusing but the moment she was about to turn away and continue with her work, she recognized him. Her heart skipped two enormous beats almost knocking her off balance. "Oh,fuck me!" she said without thinking.

"That,I did," the guy replied with a light chuckle and an amused smile. "Hi doctor Andrea?"

"Keith,wh- what are you doing here?"

"I work here."

She wasn't sure she had heard him right . She blinked profusely in disbelief trying to roll those words around in her mind and make sense of them. Realizing that he wasn't playing, she looked around her then lowered her voice.

"You do? How- since when?"

"I'm on the board of directors but that might be about to change since the head is retiring and rumor has it that I might be taking over so...we might be seeing each other a lot more often?"

The last part was more of a question and she wasn't even ready to wrap that around her mind to find an appropriate answer for him. This was all too much. He was like her superior and the only thing she could see in her head was how she had slept with her boss and how he had the power to get her fired. Her heart rate took pace in her chest and she found herself almost struggling to breathe.

Before she could think of an answer to give him,a doctor and two nurses ran past them heading to casualty,a minute before an ambulance halted at the entrance.

"Doctor Serrano, we need assistance over here!" she recovered quickly and without a word headed towards casualty, leaving Keith standing in the hallway. She stopped by the already waiting stretcher as the paramedics lowered the patient gently. His face was covered with an oxygen mask and his shirt ripped open to facilitate first aid.

"What happened?" she asked no one in particular.

"An accident. His car ran into a lorry, his driver swerved it and saved him. He needs resuscitation or we are going to lose him too."

Without another word, she jumped onto the stretcher balancing herself above him and started compressing his chest at a steady pace, determined to get him back. All was going well until the moment she decided to ask what his name was. The answer was the last she would have expected.

"Nicholas Chambers ma'am."

She lost her grip and slowly lifted her eyes to his face. Those eyes, even though they were opening and closing in and out of consciousness sure were familiar to her. His face,his perfectly sculptured jawline and light stubble, bristly eyebrows and defined cheekbones.

"I'll be damned!" she muttered under her breath. What were the chances that she would be in this position, trying to save the life of the one person who had shattered hers all those years ago?