Chapter 17
The rumble of thunder woke Pod in the early hours of the morning, he turned his head to look out of the window and winced at the pain in his stiff neck. The sofa was not the best place to fall asleep and he put his throbbing headache down to the stress of the previous day. He groaned as he thought of all the shit he had to deal with, he stupidly thought that he would get a few days to relax before the tour started, if it started.
He got up slowly trying not to jar his neck and head, he needed to check on Gabe but headed for the bathroom first to relieve his bladder and find some aspirin. After splashing some water on his face and taking the tablets he went to see what state Gabe was in.
Walking into the bedroom he found his friend still fully dressed lying on top of his bed, with the now empty bottle of Wild Turkey by his side. By the look of him he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, so Pod thought it would give him a chance to make some calls.
Picking up his phone he selected Joes number and waited for him to pick up.
"You do realise what time it is?" Joe growled into the phone.
"Oh I'm sorry Joe, I've just been babysitting Gabe all night and I mistakenly thought you might give a damn." Pod snarled back.
"For fucks sake of course I care, that's why I was up half the night trying to sort this mess out."
"So what progress have you made then?"
"We've put together a press release that has been circulated to all the relevant media, but I have a feeling they will want an interview with Gabe before they will take it seriously."
"I can't see that happening anytime soon, so what about Tammy?"
"Ah well, I have managed to track her down, but you're not going to like what she said."
"She's not trying to say she was telling the truth, because I saw her approach Gabe and he shook her off, she then tried it on with me and I told her where to go as well." Pod replied angrily.
"Er, not exactly." Joe sighed.
"Well what did she say then?"
"She admitted that she made it up, but the only way she will go public with the truth is if you take her out on a date."
"What the fuck?" Pod yelled down the phone.
"Yeah, I guessed that would be your reaction."
"That manipulative bitch, she may look the part but the fact that she obviously had a personality bypass at birth was the reason I wasn't interested in the first place." Pod was pacing the room now, getting more agitated as he realised he was being pushed into a corner.
"Well she is adamant that she won't do it unless you agree."
Pod was silent as he moved around the room, catching a glimpse of Gabe sprawled on his bed through the open door, he sighed in resignation.
"Shit, he is going to owe me big time for this." He groaned. "Tell her I'll do it on the condition we have her signed statement before I take her out and she has to agree to do any interviews that we arrange."
"I'm one step ahead of you on that and have everything ready for her to sign, I will text you her number so you can set things up."
"Great I can't wait." Pod replied with a snarl.
Dr Powell wasn't surprised when he didn't get Abbys usual bright greeting when he walked into her room, but he was deeply disturbed by the sight of her. She was lying on her bed looking more frail and ill than she had done for a long while. Her face was pale and drawn with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Moving closer to her bed he picked up her chart, as he read the nurses notes he realised that she hadn't reacted to his presence at all. Pushing down the anger that was bubbling inside him over the mess that Gabe had caused, he cleared his throat to get her attention.
