Suits & Aces (#3)

22 // Safety Check

Sometimes she wondered why she bothered, why she cared so much. These people were a threat to her, and whenever she thought she had escaped them, life always found a way to push her towards them.

The Billings.

They seemed like nice people at the beginning, especially MJ Billings. At least that was what she thought. And Jorge Billings was like an angel, he was so considerate and was always smiling, he seemed kind.

She moved from seeing them as one of the richest people, to witnessing one burying people and the other nearly dying.

And yet, here she was, parading through the hospital hallway to check on Jorge. It had been her routine for the past few days, but she never made it to his room, she feared that she would run into his sister along the way.

She was about to leave when she ran into Sonya at the entrance. "Shannon!" The woman greeted with a tired smile, she probably spent all her days here, waiting for her fiancé to wake up.

"Sonya, hey!" She said awkwardly.

"Were you here to see Jorge?"

"Uhm... I just thought I should check in."

Sonya smiled. "I'm sure the guards gave you a hard time." Shannon did not get the time to protest and tell her that she never made it that far when Sonya quickly added, "Come on, I'll take you to him."

"No!" She said hastily. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Shannon, you saved his life. If it wasn't for you and Kyle, we would probably be meeting at the cemetery now. Besides, I'm sure it would be good for him to hear a different voice other than mine."

Shannon frowned. "What about–"

"His sister," Sonya finished with a sad smile. "To understand MJ, you'd most likely have to travel back in time to the day she was born. Are you coming?" The desperation in her voice was unavoidable.

"Okay," Shannon said and followed her into Jorge's ward where two guards were stationed outside his door. They both nodded at the guards and halted when they opened the door.

There was a woman in Jorge's room, she was sitting on a wheelchair and was wearing a hospital gown. "Excuse me, who let you in here?" Sonya asked, and she did not sound happy at all.

The woman turned around with a sweet smile. Something about her did not sit well with Shannon, her eyes spoke of evil intentions. "Hi, I'm Samantha, we met a few days ago, I –"

"I don't care who you are, you are not allowed to be in here," Sonya said coldly, and the woman's smile faltered. "Guards!"

Samantha pushed her wheelchair forward. "That won't be necessary, I will see myself out. I'm sorry for the inconvenience," she said before wheeling herself out of the room.

Sonya was furious, she dropped the duffel bag on the floor and rushed to check on Jorge, and then she went outside to reprimand the guards.

Shannon moved towards Jorge and stopped at his bedside, making sure to leave some distance between them. She had never taken a good look at Jorge since he was admitted the day she found him. He looked better compared to the last time she saw him, the bruises on his face were clearing, and his head was no longer swollen and the bandages had been removed. The only sad thing was that he was still connected to machines.

She gently held his hand. "Hey, Jorge. It's me, Shannon. I don't know if you remember me, but we met at your sister's birthday party. I was wearing her dress and stuff." She chuckled nervously, tears clogged in her throat. "I'm not used to doing this, I don't even know what to say to you except that you should fight, fight for your life. Everyone is miserable without your lively presence," she said.

She did not know what to say to him, she felt guilty for his condition. Maybe if she had gotten there much earlier, she would have somehow managed to save him.

"I'm sorry about that!" Sonya walked back into the room, she looked more worried than angry.

Shannon quickly retracted her hand and stepped away from the bed. "Is everything okay?" She asked.

Sonya sighed and plopped down on the couch, running a hand through her silky black hair. "Jorge's life might still be in danger. I'm not quite sure yet, but I think that's the reason why MJ asked Zoe to increase security outside his room. They were given strict orders not to let anyone in without my permission, but they do not listen," she said in frustration. "I don't know who that woman is, but I don't like her one bit. I'll have to alert MJ."

"Uhm... I should get going, I'm going to check up on Kyle."

Sonya's head snapped up. "Kyle? Kyle Davids?" Shannon nodded. "What happened to him?"

"You haven't heard?" Shannon asked, surprised, and Sonya frowned. "Uhm… maybe we should talk outside," she said, casting Jorge a worried glance.

Sonya followed her out of Jorge's room. "Shannon, did something happen to Kyle?"

"Kyle was poisoned on the same day Mr Billings was admitted."

Sonya's eyes widened, but she did not seem as shocked. "It seems to be starting again," she muttered under her breath, but she did not elaborate any further. "Shannon, thank you for stopping by, and thank you and Kyle for saving his life that day. Please send my regards and well wishes to him."

Shannon nodded. "Anytime, Sonya. See you later," Shannon said, Sonya smiled and walked back into the room. She bid the guards farewell and left the hospital, and then ordered a cab to Kyle's apartment.

She was shocked when she heard the news of his poisoning, it had not been more than two hours since she last saw him at the hospital, and the next thing, he was wheeled into the hospital by the emergency team.

It would be a lie if she said she was not frightened, she feared for her life, thinking maybe the people who wanted to kill Jorge were now after her and Kyle since they saved him.

Shannon was not surprised to see journalists lurking in the corners, she paid the driver and was about to press the intercom at the gate when she caught a familiar face. There was only one person she knew who loved pink hair and rocked it.

"Kim!" She called out.

"Shay!" The short girl screamed, crossing the street to where Shannon was standing, and they embraced each other in a hug. "Girl, where have you been hiding?" She asked.

Shannon chuckled. "Clearly not behind other people's walls."

Kim blushed, pushing her pink locks behind her ears. "Trust me, I don't want to be here. But I just started doing my internship at Endabeni, I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much of a b***h Namhla is."

Shannon cringed. "That demanding?"

Kim nodded and then her eyes lit up with excitement. "Hey, before I forget, when is the meeting?" She asked.

Shannon frowned. "Meeting?"

"Yeah, meeting, you know, to discuss Courtney's baby shower!"

She felt like everything around her stopped.

For a second Shannon thought that Kim was going to laugh and say that she was joking or that it was a lie. Courtney couldn't be pregnant, not with her strict father. She was basically the perfect daughter, but she was also Shannon's best friend and it hurt her that she had to find out this way.

As if reading her mind Kim gave her an apologetic look. “You didn't know, did you?” Shannon shook her head. “What do you say we go out for coffee, maybe tomorrow. Looks like we have a lot to catch up on.”

Shannon gave her a small smile. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Great! See you tomorrow then. I'll text you on f*******: to confirm the details.”

“Sure thing! It was really nice seeing you, it's been a while.”

“Yeah, same here.” They shared a hug, and Kim gathered her crew and left.

Shannon sighed and pressed the intercom at the gate, and a second later the gate opened, and she entered.

She had never met both of Logan's best friends before, she only knew Logan because of her brother, but she always heard about his friends and how tight they were in the past.

She knew Logan and Kyle were rivals, but nobody seemed to know how it came to that.

Shannon never imagined she would find herself under the same roof as Kyle Davids, but then again everything was practically impossible in her life until she met MJ Billings.

"Oh, look what we have here, it's the youngest Botha!" Kyle said as he opened the door for her.

Shannon cringed. “That sounds like something Logan would say.”

Kyle shrugged. “Well, what can I say? He's becoming too familiar with my place these days.”

"Nice place.”

“Thank you, Zoe.”

She scowled in disapproval. “My name is not Zoe, it's Shannon.”

“Yeah, Shannon… so, what do I owe this pleasure?” He asked as he plopped on his couch.

“Actually, I just came from the hospital to see Jorge and I thought I should come and check up on you too. I was kinda shaken when I found out about your accident thinking maybe someone was coming after us for saving Jorge,” she said hastily.

Kyle watched her suspiciously. “You know something, I still don't get what you were doing at all there, do you really want to tell me that you were out there jogging?”

She shrugged, tightly holding on to her bag. “I was,” she admitted. “If you know the Bothas, you will know the amount of drama that comes with being a Botha.”

“Yeah, so I've heard. And just so we're clear, what happened to me has nothing to do with you at all or Jorge for that matter. So, you don't have to be scared.”

Shannon nodded her head and stood there awkwardly. “Well, I'll just get going then, seeing as you are fine.”

She had expected Kyle Davids to be a lot friendlier than Logan, but he was hard to read.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea, and thank you by the way for showing up and getting rid of the paparazzi outside.”

Shannon chuckled. “That was nothing, just Kim following in her sister’s steps. I hope you get better soon, Mr Davids. It was good to see you.”

“See you soon,” Kyle said.

I hope not! Shannon thought but did not say that out loud.

She waved at him and left his house. She did not want to know how it looked from his point of view, it was not like she came to confirm whether she should run for her life, but she could not miss the opportunity to find out from him. It was quite a relief to know that she was safe.

At least for now.