Memory: Book Two (Scars 2) (5 page)

The
night nurse wasn’t as friendly as the day nurse. Brisk and efficient were the
kindest words that I could think of to describe her. She gave me my painkillers
and left them by the bed without a word before exiting the room, switching off
the light and leaving me in darkness.

“Bitch,”
I said to the empty room.

I
took the pills then lay back down in the dark, I assumed that they would make
me drowsy eventually, but right then, I felt wide awake. I needed to find my
phone and text my mother. No doubt she had a plan, as usual, but I didn’t want
to wait. I needed to know now. I felt blind like this, and truthfully, I was
sick of doing what I was told. I sighed, still, my mom worked hard to provide
for us…

 The
door opened and a shadow slipped in. The room was light because of the
moonlight, and I could clearly see the figure as he spread out a blanket. I sat
up and switched on the light next to me.

“Why
are you sleeping over there?”

Aaron
looked at me from his place on the couch. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

It’s
playtime, Paige.

I
smiled at him. “You won’t.” I patted the spare space beside me, and really
hoped that he wouldn’t want to have sex with me. Although, he was absolutely
gorgeous. I had never slept with anyone like him before. They were all greying
and aging with major issues, which was good because it meant that they were
easy to manipulate, but unfortunately it also meant that they were unpredictable…

I
frowned, trying to shake away that memory. It wasn’t fair that I had amnesia
and that the bad memories still got to remain. Aaron’s eyes watched where I
touched the bed, but he didn’t move. I tried to make my smile larger.

“Come
on. I’m cold,” I said brightly. Did this dick want to make me beg? Probably.
Men loved that. It took effort not to let my smile falter under his gaze.
Intense was the only way to describe it and I wanted to look away, but found
that I couldn’t.

Slowly,
he got to his feet, and for a moment I wished that I hadn’t insisted. He had
stripped down to only his boxer shorts and the word that struck me most about
his bare chest was beautiful. It was sculpted, yet slim. There was nothing soft
about this man. Silently, he slid under the sheets next to me, and lay his head
on the pillow so that he faced me. I could have turned the lamp off then, but I
wanted to look at him. It was rare to find someone so interesting to observe.

I
lay my own head down on my pillow to face him, we were only inches apart, and
this was a familiar route to me. Getting into bed with them was always a sure
fire way to seduce them in a way that made it seem like it was their idea and
compound their guilt. Only if this guy was my boyfriend, then the seducing had
already been done, but he obviously wasn’t that into me…he certainly wasn’t
acting like it.

“How
old are you, Aaron?” I asked.

“Twenty-nine.”

“And
do you own this place?”

“Yeah.”

I suppressed
my smile. That was good. He
was
rich. “So, what do you do for a living?”

He
seemed to hesitate. “Rachel, this will all come back to you eventually.”

I
shrugged. “I want to know now. The last thing I remember is getting beaten up
by my mother’s boyfriend, but I know that years have passed since then. Who
hurt me?”

“I’m
still working on that.”

I
swallowed. “What did I do so that someone would
want
to hurt me?”

He
stared at me with his dark eyes before responding. “Nothing, Rachel. I don’t
think this was anything to do with you.”

That
led on to so many other questions, but I bit my tongue. This guy wasn’t
forthcoming. I needed to speak to my Mom before I started to put the pressure
on him to answer me. “Okay. Tell me some happy things. Where did you grow up?”
I tried to make my voice sound bright again, but I could feel the drugs
starting to take effect and tiredness swept over me.

There
were a few seconds of silence before he answered. “A farm.”

“A
farm,” I repeated. My eyes were heavy and I gave up struggling to keep them
open. “That must have been fun.” I tried to imagine this Aaron involved in
wholesome, outdoor activity, with a bright red barn and dogs in the background,
but for some reason it just didn’t fit. But then after a while, I stopped
trying because it took too much effort.

I
awoke screaming, upright with my hands scrambling for something to hold on to.
My fingers latched onto strong shoulders, curving deep into flesh that didn’t flinch.

“Rachel.”

My
eyes focused, and blood ran from where my fingernails were embedded in his
skin. I sucked in a breath before I withdrew my hands. His blood was under my
fingernails and I stared at them like they belonged to someone else. “I had a
nightmare,” I said softly. “I was tied to some kind of pole and I was
being…beaten with something.” I kept staring at my hands, moving them around in
front of my face. “It felt so real.” I moved my eyes to see Aaron staring at me
impassively. “Is that what he did to me? What kind of person tortures someone
like that?” I moved my hand to touch my behind, but felt no pain there, which
didn’t seem right because it was all so real. I expected raised and bloody
marks, but my skin was smooth and untouched.

“A
monster.” Aaron spoke so abruptly that it took me by surprise. “Go back to
sleep, Rachel. No one will hurt you.”

I
watched him for a moment, seeing the blood trails that I had left on his skin,
before I lay back down and he followed suit. He closed his eyes and was silent.
I watched him breathe, his chest moving up and down slightly, but even that was
silent. This man was like a ghost, as if you wouldn’t even know that he were
there unless he wanted you to know it.

I
licked my lips. “Could you…”

His
eyes opened to watch me with that dark stare of his.

“Could
you hold me for a bit?” I rasped out, unsure of what his response would be. He
just stared back at me, and I felt foolish. But then his arms stretched out,
and I swiftly moved over to his waiting grasp. His arms came around me and I
rested my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and steady
breathing. For the first time since I had woken up remembering nothing of
importance, did I feel slightly secure. It was as if in his arms, protection
was offered, and right then, I felt like I could stay there forever.

He
was gone when I woke up. The day and sea outside were calm and blue. Light
flowed into the room which sat like a glass box above the world. I felt so
removed from everything else up here, like I could sit here and spy down on the
world below. But I didn’t have time to do that; there was plenty of spying here
that needed to be done.

I
started with the drawers of the bedside tables, but they were empty, except for
one black handgun. I carefully slid the drawer back into place and didn’t touch
it. If he were into guns…that wasn’t a good thing. Next were the sets of
drawers that held his clothes — they revealed nothing new except that he liked
to wear dark clothes. Big surprise. Finally, I ventured into the walk-in
closet. Some of his suits hung there, but it was mostly female clothing that
was presumably mine. I rifled through the drawers and found mostly boring
cotton bras and panties. White. I wrinkled up my nose as I pulled each item
out. Seriously. White? My mother’s lingerie had always been bright and sexy
fuck-me-now satins and lace in reds and blacks. No wonder this guy wasn’t
really into me. I was
boring.
I threw the sensible items back in the
drawers and turned to the clothes which hung above me. Obviously I was into
jeans and plain tops mostly, but there were a few cute bikinis that gave me
hope.

“There
you are. I thought you’d gone AWOL.” The cheery day nurse stood in the closet
doorway.

I
got to my feet. “I might have a bath.”

“Okay.
I’ll run it for you. Do you need me to help you?” she asked.

I
shook my head. “No. I’ll be fine.  Do you know what happened to my phone?” I
followed her out from the closet and to the bathroom.

“I
haven’t seen it,” she said as she leaned over the deep bathtub to push in the
plug. “This bath is gorgeous. I’d kill to have it in my house.” She was right. 
It was white, of course, a deep oval in full view of a floor to ceiling glass
window. Maybe someone out at sea might have binoculars to perve at the
occupant, but other than that, you’d be completely private even though you were
in full view. “Leave the door unlocked so I can check on you and make sure
you’re not drowning.” I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not.

I
waited until she left before disrobing and stepping into the steaming water. I
let the water run until it covered my shoulders. I leaned my head back and
smiled smugly as I watched out the window. I felt like a queen up here, I’d
really landed on my feet house wise and I couldn’t wait to explore the rest of
it. The only anomaly here was that Aaron guy and not knowing what the hell was
really going on. Once I found my phone and got in contact with my mother, all
my questions would be solved.

I
heard footsteps and twisted my head, expecting to see the nurse. But it was
Aaron and I jumped slightly at the sight of him, a dark figure against the
pristine white of the bathroom. I gave a small smile. “Hi.”

“Hi.
Do you remember anything more this morning?”

I
turned my head again so I faced the window and relaxed against the curve of the
bath, placing my head back on the bath pillow. He certainly didn’t sound like
he gave a crap about my welfare; his only concern was my memory. “Nope.”
Without looking at him, I offered up a bar of soap. “Wash my back?” I moved
forward slightly to give him better access.

I
didn’t want to look at him as I asked this. A good looking, young,
wealthy
guy like him wouldn’t get seduced by subtle efforts such as that, and for a
moment I had a fear that he would throw the soap into the bath with a splash in
refusal. But the soap was taken from my hand and he began to drag it slowly
across my wet skin. A shiver went down my spine at the surprise that this felt
so good. Once there was enough lather, he let the soap drop, and used his hands
to wash me. I bit my lip, keeping my eyes firmly on the sea. As his hands slid
over my shoulders, I hoped that they would dip down further to cup my breasts.
Surprisingly, I nearly blushed at the thought; normally sex for me was purely a
means to an end. I never let myself enjoy it or get lost in it…but this guy was
beautiful. It was just a shame about his personality. Still, I was my mother’s
daughter and there was no doubt in my mind that I could win him over.

I
moved my head so I could look at him, and his eyes were instantly on my face.
“Let’s go out and get breakfast. I haven’t eaten yet.” I offered him a smile
that wasn’t returned.

“You’re
supposed to be resting.”

“I
will, after I eat. Please? I’m dying to get out of here.”

His
hands sluiced water over my back to wash away the soap, and he did that
intently for almost a minute before answering. “Fine. Get dressed. I’ll wait
downstairs.”

I watched
him as he left. Maybe I could bend him to my will after all. After drying
myself, I flicked through the clothes hanging in the closet, finally settling
on a loose, but short skirt that would show off my thighs to perfection, and
paired it with a peasant style top. The only issue with my appearance were the
ugly bandages at the back of my skull and the part of my hair that had been
cut. I found a straw cowboy style hat with a curved brim that was meant for the
beach, with a string of shells around the base. That would have to do. I headed
for the door.

White,
white, everything was white; from the walls to the carpet and the tiles. An
impulse surged through me, to take some berry red juice and throw it with a
broad flourish of my arm so the liquid would descend on the walls and the floor
in a streak that resembled modern art. I just itched to do it, but knew I
wouldn’t. I was a good girl at heart, definitely not a rebel. Still, the
thought put a smile on my face.

I
found Aaron in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and studying sheets of paper
in front of him. I approached quietly, and he didn’t look up, just asking,
“Ready?”

“Yup.”
I peered at what he was looking at — a glazier bill and another one from a
kitchen design firm. My mouth dropped open at the amounts; they were in the
thousands. “Have you just remodeled or something?”

His
eyes flicked up to me. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Oh,
I need my phone. Do you know where it is?”

He
was already going to a door that opened into the garage. “I’ll look when we get
back home.”

I
had no choice but to follow him into an immaculately ordered garage that housed
a sleek, black vehicle. It was clean too. Just like the bedroom, the house, the
kitchen…

He
didn’t speak to me as he drove, but that was okay because I was too busy
staring out at the surrounding neighborhood. My Mom had been with some well-off
guys over the years, but none of them lived anywhere as upmarket as this. That
sparked a nasty thought in my head, the one that sometimes said that I didn’t
need her, that I would be fine on my own and in control. I didn’t need to sleep
with dirty old men. Why would I when I could manipulate someone like Aaron into
thinking that he loved me? Although, did he? He sure as hell wasn’t acting like
it.