18. Audrey
18
AUDREY
Opening my eyes in the hospital was something I really hadn’t expected, yet it wasn’t the weirdest thing I experienced in the first ten seconds upon waking.
“Mr. Jeffries, your wife is waking up.”
I blinked several times at the kind-looking nurse beside me, sure I was hearing things. She smiled at me, brushing a hand over my forehead. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”
“My head hurts,” I mumbled.
She nodded. “Well, that’s to be expected. Your husband has been very worried about you.”
Husband? When had I gotten married? Oh, God. Did I have amnesia? I tried to sit up, but the nurse held me down with a gentle touch to my shoulder.
“There, there, sweetie. Try not to get too excited. You had us all worried there for a little bit.”
“You sure did.”
I swiveled my head at the sound of the vaguely familiar voice. “Baldy?”
He smirked at me, nodding as he bent over to kiss my forehead. “Yeah, it’s me, sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart?” I gasped, jerking away from his touch. “Why are you?—”
“This was to be expected,” the nurse sighed. She turned to me, picking up my hand to pat it gently. “Do you remember me? You woke up once before. My name is Charla.”
When I didn’t respond, she shook her head.
“The doctor will be in soon to look at you. Don’t worry. We’ll get this all worked out.”
“All what worked out?”
“She really doesn’t remember,” Baldy frowned.
“Sweetie, this is Mick Jeffries. He’s your husband,” Charla smiled.
“My…” Again, my gaze swiveled to his and I stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. No, this was all wrong. I wasn’t married. I had just…What was the last thing I had done? My brain tried and failed to sort through the chaos of what had happened most recently, but everything was a mess. I felt like all my wires were crossed.
“Just lay back and relax,” Charla suggested. “I’ll be right back.”
My mouth gaped as the woman dropped my hand and headed for the door. I was desperate to call her back, to beg her to stay, but she just kept walking, leaving me alone with Baldy. He was watching me carefully like I might lose it at any second.
“Audrey—” Baldy started.
The door opened and Baldy quickly snapped his mouth shut, turning to face whoever was coming in. Charla re-entered with a doctor behind her.
“I didn’t have to go far, sweetie. He was already on his way here.”
The man was older with greying hair and a mustache. The wire-framed glasses sat perched on the end of his nose, giving me the impression that he belonged behind a desk instead of studying my chart. Could he even see?
“Audrey…Jeffries,” he smiled, looking up at me. “Well, everything looks good. That bump on your head is nasty, but from what your husband told me, you took quite the tumble down the stairs. He was quite worried about you.”
“Tumble down the—” My gaze cut to Baldy’s, but he was listening intently to the doctor.
“Should she stay for the night?” he asked. “I don’t want to rush anything.”
“No, she’ll be fine. Stay with her and make sure she’s okay. I’ve taken the liberty of printing out what to look for—signs that she needs to be brought back in, but I’m confident with a little rest, she’ll be on her feet and feeling better in no time.”
Tumble down the stairs? That never happened. I didn’t fall down the stairs, and I wasn’t married to this man. What the hell was he talking about?
“And the memory loss?” he asked.
He seemed genuinely concerned as he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, nodding along as the doctor talked to him, discussing me as if I wasn’t here.
“—should come back in a few hours or days. Traumatic events can cause a person to revert to a time when things were different as a way to protect themselves. Has anything changed recently in her life?”
Baldy nodded with a sigh. “I’m afraid so. She recently lost her mother. They were very close.”
“My mother died?” I shouted, regretting it as the words rattled around in my head.
Baldy was instantly by my side, holding my hand again. The look of concern on his face was almost too much to take. He was seriously holding my hand and…Oh God, was he leaning in to kiss me? His lips pressed against my forehead in what was supposed to be a soothing gesture.
“Trust me,” he whispered.
Trust him? He wanted me to trust him? I was in the hospital, I was married, I had amnesia, and apparently, my mother had just died! But yeah, I’d trust him.
“Like I said, lots of rest will do wonders,” the doctor smiled again.
“I’ll just grab your discharge papers while the doctor is with you,” Charla said, giving me a pointed look.
Was she trying to make me feel better while I was still here since she was sending me home with a complete stranger? How could they do this to me? I needed to call…my manager. No, Spencer! Spencer would know what to do.
But even as I thought it, I knew that wouldn’t be possible. I didn’t know Spencer’s number by heart or anyone else’s. That was the problem with cell phones. You never memorized a number anymore because everything was in the palm of your hand, just a touch away.
As the nurse pushed a wheelchair into the room, she handed me my clothes and helped me up. Dizziness washed over me, but I held onto her hand and waited until it passed. I desperately needed a moment to myself in the bathroom to sort through all the shit in my head.
“Just call out if you need anything,” Charla said as she pulled the door closed.
I walked over to the toilet and sat down with a sigh. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Amnesia. Married. My mom was dead. I stared down at my hand and frowned. If I was married, where was my ring? Maybe they removed all my jewelry when I came in. Either way, I couldn’t focus on that right now. I needed a plan of attack. What was I going to do when I got out of here? I definitely couldn’t go home with Baldy.
“How are you doing, sweetheart?” Baldy called through the door.
I narrowed my eyes at him, even though he couldn’t see me. If I could, I would shoot lasers out of my eyes and skewer him. “Fine!”
Grudgingly, I got dressed and finally headed to my doom. Baldy was waiting for me, his hands resting on the handles of the wheelchair. I gritted my teeth and sat down, wishing I could tell him what I really thought of him.
Which wasn’t really a whole lot, considering I didn’t know him. The nurse chatted with him as he wheeled me out of the room and down the hall. She was fawning over him the whole way, and a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach was starting to form that felt an awful lot like jealousy. But what did I have to feel jealous of? Up until I woke up, I didn’t even know I was married.
And shouldn’t I be more upset over my mom dying than a woman paying attention to my husband? I really needed to get my priorities straight. Then again, I hadn’t spoken to my mother in ages, and aside from that letter she’d sent me, informing me she was going to be in a musical, I didn’t even know what was going on in her life.
“Thank you very much, Charla. I really appreciate how much you’ve cared for my wife.”
“Oh, honey, she’s got a good man. I know you’ll take good care of her.”
“I will.”
I rolled my eyes as he pushed me out the door to a waiting vehicle. Before he could even stop, I was up and out of the wheelchair, spinning to face him.
“What was that?” I snapped.
He quirked an eyebrow at me in confusion. “What was what?”
“Oh, Charla,” I said mockingly. “Thank you for taking care of my wife.”
“Well…I was being nice to her for taking care of you.”
“She’s a nurse, you know.”
“Yes, I’m aware of her profession,” he said slowly. “Can I return this now so we can get out of here?”
“Why? So you can run back to Charla one last time?”
His face slowly morphed into a grin before he turned around and pushed the wheelchair back inside. A sliding noise took me by surprise and I spun around, shocked when I saw a man I recognized grinning at me.
“Hiya!”
“You.”
“IRIS, technically. But I guess You isn’t the worst thing I’ve been called.”
“Why are you here?”
“Well, see, when someone needs to go to the hospital, there’s usually someone who drives. That was me.”
“I thought Baldy drove me,” I said in confusion.
“Right, well, he was a little busy taking care of you.”
Of course, because he was my husband.
“Ready?” Baldy asked, stepping up behind me and sliding his hand across my lower back in a gentle caress. Shivers broke out across my skin, but I did my best not to notice. But then he leaned in front of me and opened the door, still pressing his hand to my back, and his body was just inches from mine.
I leaned in, completely unaware of what I was doing, until Baldy turned to me, his face marred with concern. “Are you alright? You look like you might pass out again.”
Oh God. I was leaning into him. I jerked upright and shook my head. “I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure,” I snapped, stepping around him as I fumbled with the doorframe and got into the back seat. I grabbed the handle to pull myself up into the SUV, but his hands immediately went to my hips, sending shock waves rippling through me as my body became more aware of him by the second.
“Make sure you buckle up,” he said, his voice rumbling low as he shut the door.
I did as he asked, shaking my head to clear the sound of his voice from my head. The last thing I needed was to think of him in any way as…sexy.
“Any problems?” IRIS asked as we took off.
“No, we’re clear.”
“No one recognized her?”
Baldy shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of. I think our cover story held.”
That got my attention. “Cover story?”
Baldy winced as he turned around. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“About what?”
“You know, the whole married thing.”
I didn’t understand. “What?”
“Well, I had to bring you to the hospital, but I couldn’t tell them who you were. So, I told them you were my wife.”
I was still all muddled from waking up in the hospital, finding out I was married, my mother had died, and the massive knot on my head. And now…wait…”You told them I’m your wife.”
“Yeah.”
“But…I’m not your wife?” I asked in confusion.
He looked at me strangely, like I’d knocked my head, which I had. “Do I need to take you back to the hospital?”
“Wait, so…I don’t have amnesia?”
He huffed out a laugh. “No.”
“And…I haven’t lost years of my life?”
He had the good grace to actually look slightly abashed. “Look, I really am sorry, but since we don’t know who’s after you, I didn’t want your name out there.”
I still couldn’t believe it. Here I was thinking years of my life had gone by and I had missed it all. But…he was saying it was the same night as…as earlier when I was kidnapped for like the tenth time. “Wait. Does this mean my mother’s not dead?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
I was angry, that much was clear, but…somehow not as angry as I should be. That was weird, right? Shouldn’t I be on the verge of killing him or something for making me think I had memory loss and was missing family members?
But his plan worked, and he took care of me like he said he would.
“Well, thank you.”
“That’s it?” IRIS scoffed. “Man, I would have been kicked in the balls for that.”
I glanced at IRIS and wondered who he was married to that would kick him in the balls. That didn’t seem like a very loving relationship. “So, what’s the plan now?”
“We get you back to the safe house and try to figure out who wants to kidnap you and why.”
That seemed simple enough. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For rescuing me. Again,” I added.
“Slider.”
“What?”
“My name.” He spun around and grinned. “You know, just in case you wanted to call me something other than Baldy. You keep forgetting I have a name.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Slider.”
He winked at me. “Any time, Wifey.”