Chapter Forty-seven
The day finally arrived when Lauren could get her cast taken off her arm. She'd asked Jake for her Oyster card so she could go to the hospital and he refused, offering to drive her there instead. They sat in the waiting room waiting to be seen by the doctor and Jake reached into the bag he'd brought with him. 'I have something for you' he told her and he handed her a gift wrapped box.
'What is it?' she frowned at him, dubiously. Jake didn't do gifts. Not even for her birthday or for Christmas.
'Open it and see' he said looking at her expectantly. She tore off the paper to see a mobile phone box inside. 'Well?' he asked her.
'You got me a mobile?' she stared at the box.
'Well, I thought since you've shown me I can trust you, you deserved a reward' he told her 'Joey got it for me, he knows which ones are the best' he told her. He took the box from her, took the phone out and turned it on. 'My number has been pre-programmed in, as has Joey's and your mum's' he told her. She licked her lips as he handed her the phone back. 'It's on a contract so you won't ever run out of credit. I thought it was important for you to have one so if you needed to get in touch with me you could' he said with a smile.
'Thank you' she said forcing a smile on her face, as she wondered what the catch was. She didn't have long to wait to find out.
'Don't you go running up the bill though, I've got it itemised so I know who you've been calling and how long you have been on the phone to them for'
Lauren nodded her head, she spotted what looked like a little satellite icon on the top of the screen 'what's that?' she asked him, even though she knew full well it was a GPS signal.
'Never you mind' he replied. 'You can't change any of the settings either, they've been password protected and only I know what the password is' he told her 'so you can't delete texts or anything either'
'Who am I going to text, Jake?' Lauren asked him quietly as a nurse called her name.
'Do you want me to come in with you?' he asked her.
'No. I'm fine' she shook her head. She handed the phone back to Jake and got up and followed the nurse. She had another x-ray to make sure the fracture had healed as it should've done and then her cast was removed. She was relieved to have the cast off her arm and was smiling as she walked out of the treatment room. Jake looked at her as she walked over to him.
'Are we good to go?' he asked her.
'Yes' she nodded her head. He handed the phone back to her and she carefully put it in her handbag as Jake led her out to the car.
'How's the arm feeling?' he asked her, she glanced at him, worried as to why he would ask. Normally he didn't care.
'It's a little sore still but the fracture has healed' she told him. He opened the car door for her and she got in.
'That's good. You'll be more careful next time then won't you' he told her, shutting her door loudly, making her jump. He walked round to the driver's side. He started the engine 'by the way I'm selling the car' he told her as he pulled out the hospital.
'What? Why?' she frowned at him.
'Because it just sits there and isn't being used. It's waste of money'
'It's in my name, you can't sell it' she frowned at him.
'You never use it' he retorted.
'Because you took the keys away from me and hid them' she frowned at him.
He slammed his foot on the brakes, Lauren shot forward in her seat and the seatbelt cut into her ribs painfully. 'Well you'd better get used to not having a car then' he told her 'you can learn how to walk everywhere you need to go. And you might as well start now' he told her. She blinked at him and he nodded his head towards the door 'get out then''
'Jake…it's nearly 10 miles' Lauren exclaimed
'It'll do you good you're putting on weight, you're a disgusting fat lump' he told her. 'Give me back the phone' he told her. 'You can have it when you get back home' he held out his hand and she fished in her bag and pulled out the phone. She took off her seatbelt and opened the car door, climbing out of the car.
'You want the phone back?' she asked him 'you can go and fucking get it' she snapped at him and she hurled it down the road. It hit the asphalt and shattered into pieces. She left the car door open and walked back towards the hospital. She heard the car door slam and the screeching of tyres as the car sped off. She sat down on the wall outside of the hospital for a few minutes. She waited twenty minutes to make sure Jake wasn't coming back and then pulled out her secret mobile from her bag and dialled Joey's number.
*JB*JB*JB*JB*
Twenty minutes later a taxi pulled up outside the hospital and the driver wound the window down. 'Lauren Stone?' he said, leaning out of the window to look at her. She peered into the taxi and saw it was empty. Joey told her he was coming to get her so she assumed Jake had sent the taxi for her.
'No, sorry' she shook her head. She glanced down the road and saw a familiar car pulling round the corner, she got up and headed towards it, smiling. She could feel the taxi driver's eyes on her as she walked round to the passenger side and got into the car, instead of finding Joey in the driver's seat she was surprised to see Jack.
'Joey said you needed a lift?' he asked her, she nodded her head dumbly, wondering why Joey had sent Jack to collect her instead of coming himself. He asked to borrow the car when Jake called him over so I said I would step in' he told her. Lauren licked her lips.
'Thank you' she said to him 'I think Jake sent that taxi' she nodded towards the black cab that was now pulling away from the curb. Jack looked up.
'Well, he was on the phone before he called Joey over' he told her 'so what happened?' he asked her.
'I got my cast off' she said, holding up her arm to show him 'no more broken glasses' she forced a smile onto her face.
'Yeah! That's great news. Sharon will be thrilled' he teased her lightly 'It's all healed then?' Jack smiled at her.
'Yep. All better' she said as Jack started the engine, he pulled away and headed towards Walford.
He glanced at her as he drove, she was staring out of the window, her face hidden from him.
'Look, I'm sorry if I came on too strong before' he apologised to her 'It's my Police background I think. Max and Derek tell me off about it all the time' he said trying to coax her into a conversation. She said nothing 'Joey was a bit mad with me too. He told me you were really pissed off at him about talking to me about things between you and Jake' he tried again to draw her into talking to him 'Joey cares about you, a lot' he said trying a different tact. 'He only spoke to me because he wanted to help you' he told her.
'I know, we talked about it and we're okay now' she replied.
'Lauren…you know if there's anything that you need you can come to me, or Max or Derek don't you?' he asked her 'we all consider you as part of the family'
'You adopted the stray' she said laughing bitterly. 'My marriage is my business Jack' she turned to look at him 'I don't need any help'
'That's not the way Joey's telling it' Jack replied softly. 'Look…all I'm saying is there are other people you can turn to, other people who care about you' he said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to squeeze her knee.
Lauren took a deep breath and nodded her head 'I know…thank you' she said softly.
AN: Thank you for all your reviews Jake started out being nice (again) and then turned into a total shit (again) by the end of the chapter. I wonder why Joey didn't come himself though? But at least in sent Uncle Jack to pick her up! Leave me a review. Back tomorrow.
