Chapter 5 Mateo
MATEO
We finally arrive back at the hospital, and I’m desperate to see how she is going. We walk into her room, and she’s still not moving. A nurse comes in just after us and checks her vitals.
“Is she okay?” I ask.
“She was very lucky. She will be okay. It’s just time now,” she says before walking out of the room, leaving us alone with the girl.
I wrap Tomas in my arms, leaning on him for strength. “Thank goodness she’s going to be okay,” I mumble into his shirt as he holds me tightly.
“She is getting the best possible care she can,” Tomas reassures me.
“Who the hell would do something like this to a woman?”
“There are sick people in the world, Mateo.”
“She was brought to us for a reason, I know it. We were sent to help her.”
Tomas shakes his head at me. “Leave it to the police, Mateo. We don’t know what kind of trouble she could be involved with.”
A noise pulls our attention, and when I turn around, I see the mysterious girl moving and moaning.
“Go and get a nurse,” I yell at Tomas, who rushes out of the room.
I walk closer to the girl and watch as her sapphire blue eyes open, then widen as panic washes over her face as she sees me standing beside her. The machine beside her beeps as she tries to move away from me, her eyes darting around the room.
“I will not hurt you, I promise. You’re safe here,” I say and stay where I am.
Her eyes flick to the door and back to me, she winces in pain as she tries to move.
“Please, I won’t hurt you. I found you. You were almost dead outside my home. I brought you here, to the hospital.”
Those bright, deep blue eyes widen, and I can see she is still panting.
“Would you like some water or something?” I ask, hoping that will show her I’m not a monster.
She looks behind me, and I can see the panic flood her face again.
“The nurse will be here in a moment,” Tomas says, coming to stand beside me. He notices the panic on her face. “Shit, sorry, um …” He takes a couple of steps back.
Her eyes look between us. I can still see her whole body is tense and the machines are making an awful sound around her. Thankfully, the nurse comes in, and the girl visibly relaxes. The nurse explains she was involved in an accident last night and asks her if she remembers what happened.
She shakes her head at the nurse.
The nurse explains that things might be a little foggy because of her head trauma, but her memory will eventually return, hopefully.
She also explains that she is lucky to have no broken bones and no internal bleeding, which is a miracle, considering how beaten up she is.
The nurse continues to tell her that her injuries are superficial and will need time to heal.
She also clarifies that Tomas and I found her last night and are anxious.
The girl looks at me and then at Tomas before glancing away.
“I’ll be back in an hour to check you over again,” the nurse explains to the girl before placing her chart back at the end of her bed and walking out.
“Maybe we should go, I don’t think she wants us here,” Tomas whispers to me in English so that she doesn’t understand what we are saying.
“I understand English,” she states, surprising both of us.
“You understand Spanish as well?” I say, asking in Spanish.
The girl nods, but I can see she is still unsure about the two of us. Maybe she isn’t a tourist then.
“I also speak French, German, Arabic, and Russian,” she explains before placing a hand over her lips, surprised she told us that bit of information. Or maybe surprised she remembered that about herself.
Tomas and I look at each other, suitably impressed. Who is this woman? And what the hell happened to her?
“Thank you for helping me,” she whispers as her brows pull together.
“Of course. We couldn’t leave you there like that. We’re happy you’re okay,” I say, giving her a smile.
Another frown forms on her face as she looks away from me.
Is she scared of men or just me?
“Do you know what happened to you?” Tomas asks.
Silence falls between us until she shakes her head. A tiny sob escapes her mouth before she has time to close it, exposing her true feelings to us. She recoils in the bed when I move too quickly to comfort her.
“I’m so sorry.”
She looks between Tomas and me, and you can see her mind working a million miles an hour behind those sapphire eyes.
“No, it’s okay, it’s just …” Her eyes move to her hands again, and her brows pull together tightly.
“Do you know where you are?” Tomas asks.
She shakes her head.
“Do you know who you are?” he asks.
She pauses for a moment, thinking about the question.
Shit, what happens if she’s lost her memory? How will she know who she is? How will her family find her?
“I don’t know. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t seem to reach it.” She lets out a frustrated sigh as confusion falls across her face.
“How old are you then?” Tomas asks.
Those sapphire blue eyes look up and stare at him. “Is that a question you should ask a lady?”
Tomas blanches.
Then she giggles this cute, girly giggle. “Sorry, I was just messing with you, lightening the mood.”
Tomas’s face is priceless.
I burst out laughing as well. Who the hell is this woman? Here she is in a traumatic situation, then turns around and makes a joke. I like her.
She smiles. “I’m twenty-four.” Then she frowns. “I remember that but not who I am? That’s weird, isn’t it?”
She’s young, too young to have this happen to her.
“Not weird at all. You’ve had something traumatic happen to you. Your brain is healing,” I explain to her.
She nods in understanding. “I think it’s fair that you tell me who you both are, seeing as I can’t remember who I am.”
“Mateo, twenty-eight, Scorpio. I like long walks on the beach and beer,” I say with a chuckle, which makes her smile as well.
“And your name?” she asks, looking over at Tomas.
“I’m Tomas. Thirty and a workaholic.”
“He’s also a Cancer,” I add.
Tomas rolls his eyes at me.
“Well, thank you for saving me, Tomas and Mateo.” Her eyes dip to her clasped hands again.
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
“I don’t know,” she whispers.
We wait for her to continue with her words.
“What happened to me must be bad if my brain wants to hide it away and forget about it. I’m worried about what is going to happen when it comes back. I’m worried about what happens if it doesn’t. What if I never remember who I am? Will I go on and live a normal life ever again?”
“The most important thing is that you get better, everything else will work itself out,” I tell her.
“You truly think so?”
“Yeah, I do.”
She looks slightly relieved.
“Not to burst your bubble, but the police will want to speak with you about what happened, now you are awake.”
She tenses at Tomas’s words.
Tomas and I look at each other. “You don’t have to give a statement yet, not until you are feeling up to it,” he explains just as his phone rings, and he excuses himself from the room.
The tears flow down her cheeks. “I can’t remember what happened.”
I move closer to the bed and reach out and take her hand. This makes her flinch, but she relaxes and lets me hold her hand after a little while.
“I’m sure it will return, but maybe … maybe it might be good if it doesn’t.”
She looks down, her tears slowing. “Is my face disfigured?”
I shake my head. “You don’t look good, but you are definitely not hideous.”
She gives me a weak smile. “I can’t thank you enough for saving me. Few would have.”
I squeeze her hand in mine. “You have nothing to thank me for. It was the right thing to do. Just relax, heal, and get better. The world will still be here when you are ready.”
“What happens if the world outside is still looking for me?” she asks, those blue eyes wide with fear.
“We have security stationed around the hospital. They will also have to get past Tomas and me to get to you, and that will never happen,” I try to reassure her.
“You two are my guardian angels.”
“There’s nothing angelic about me,” I joke, giving her a wink which makes her laugh.
I’ve spent the past three days with the mystery woman.
She’s funny, intelligent, and underneath the bruises, beautiful.
Our friend Enrique came to take her statement about the attack; he was there the night we found her, arriving on the scene after the ambulance.
She couldn’t give him anything solid and became frustrated with his questions as she could only remember snippets of her life, nothing concrete.
It’s like a fuzzy movie playing in her head.
She hates the fact that she can’t remember her name.
And I don’t blame her. I would hate to know that I’d forgotten all about Tomas.
The doctor advises that she has post-traumatic amnesia, maybe even repressed memory loss, possibly because of the brain trauma she received or from psychological trauma prior to the accident.
It scares me that this amazing girl has gone through something so horrific that her mind has shut it out. In all honesty, I don’t want her to remember anything. I don’t want her to have to relive whatever happened to her.
“Don’t you have a job or something? You can’t spend all your days looking after me,” she asks me.
“I can and will. I’m on holiday. We’re staying at my summer house here in Ibiza.”
“See, I’m ruining your holidays. You need to go out into the sunshine, drink loads of cocktails or beer and have fun.”
“Hey, I’m having fun. Tomas is in his office all day, and I don’t do well entertaining myself. I get into trouble if I do. So, you’re doing Tomas a service by supervising me.”
She doesn’t look convinced but doesn’t push the subject anymore.
“I’m about to sign your release papers, miss, but I need to know that you have somewhere safe to go,” the doctor asks her as he looks over at me.
Our mystery woman looks scared. I guess the thought of walking out of the safety of the hospital when you have no idea who you are or how you got there must be daunting.
“She’s coming home with us, doc.” I hope Tomas is okay with this idea as I haven’t had time to talk to him about it.
“What? No. Mateo, no. I can’t.”
She would try to fight me on this, but it is not negotiable. I’ve spent the past week with her every single day, all day, and she’s family now.
“You don’t know who you are or where you come from. How on earth are you going to go out into the world like that? I couldn’t do that to you, not until you are much better.”
She frowns and stays quiet.
“At least Tomas and I can keep you safe. You know us now, well me anyway and Tomas is a good guy when he peels himself from his office.”
She looks up at me, those sapphire eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Mateo, but I’m so thankful.” She launches herself into my arms, giving me a hug.
I try to make sure that I don’t hurt her.
It’s the first time we have been physical with each other, besides that first day holding hands.
I wrap my arms around her fragile body; she’s like a little pixie, and I hug her back.
I hear someone clear their throat and look up to see Tomas watching me, his eyes flicking down to the mystery woman and me.
He turns and leaves the room, looking upset.
“Can you excuse me for a moment?” I say to my sapphire beauty. I walk into the corridor where Tomas is to see if he’s okay.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
He doesn’t look convinced. “Do you have feelings for this woman?” he asks angrily.
“I’m being a kind, decent human being. How dare you accuse me of anything more, especially after what she has been through.”
He just shakes his head. “I walk in and find you wrapped in some gorgeous woman’s arms?”
“She hugged me.” I fight the smile inside of me over the fact that Tomas thinks she’s gorgeous too.
This past week, as each day the bruises subside, the more her beauty’s exposed. I bet before this incident she was a model, especially as she speaks so many languages. And that her accent isn’t from here either.
“Yes, I saw that,” he says curtly.
“Are you jealous?”
He ignores me.
Tomas hasn’t spent a lot of time with her like I have, so he doesn’t understand what an amazing woman she is.
Look, I will not deny to myself that I have a little crush on our mystery woman, but Tomas doesn’t need to know that.
Also, I’m not a creep. I would never make a move on her or anything like that. I just think she is wonderful.
“Oh my god, you’re jealous!”
Tomas gives me a death stare. “I am not jealous. I’m curious why you have such a fascination with this woman. One that you have spent every waking moment with while we’ve been here.”
His remarks give me pause. I’ve never lied to Tomas; we are always one hundred percent honest with each other. “There’s something about her that has drawn me in.”
Tomas’s brows pull together as he folds his arms across his chest. He’s upset.
“I feel it inside me, like we are meant to be helping her. That fate brought her to our front gate that night for a reason. I’m not sure what that reason is yet, but she’s meant to be with us.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“Deadly. So much so that I told the doctor that he could release her to us and that we would take care of her.”
“You did what?” Tomas exclaims, raising his voice.
“The doctor wouldn’t release her until she had a suitable place to live. It wouldn’t be for long. We can’t release her out into the world with no memory.”
Tomas’s face softens at that comment. He knows I’m right.
“You think our house is suitable for her?”
“We have so much room.”
“What about us? What about the summer we had planned together?”
My stomach sinks upon hearing Tomas’s words.
He’s right. I promised him it would be the two of us this summer, and now I’ve broken that promise.
I want to argue that he’s equally busy with his company.
His phone hasn’t stopped ringing since arriving in Ibiza, but I don’t think that’s what this situation needs.
“What about us being free to be who we are at home? Do we have to go back to being in the closet, in our own house?” Tomas crosses his arms defensively.
Another valid point.
“We can be ourselves because she has no memory, so she doesn’t know who we are and that our relationship’s hidden.”
He doesn’t look convinced.
“Please.” I give him my best pleading face.
“She is not some stray you’ve picked off the street and kept.”
“Well, she kind of is. I want to keep her for a little while, Tomas. She’s funny, smart—brilliant, actually—and I like her.”
Tomas lets out a sigh. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
I shake my head.
“Fine, okay, whatever.”
I want to give him a kiss because he is the most amazing boyfriend in the entire world, but I remember we’re in public.
We then hear a scream and rush toward the room, where we see our mystery woman crying and the doctor smiling.
“My name—my name’s Zoe.”