It’s not long before I hear his familiar soft, steady breathing. Elijah arrives no more than thirty minutes after Marcus’s call. I see him step off the elevator through the half open door and meet him in the hall.
Elijah does a double take when he sees my outfit. “Has he gotten the nurses to change the dress code already?” He smirks, and, for the second time in the past hour, I roll my eyes.
“Of course not. I was out with friends. He woke up asking for me, and I came without changing first.”
Elijah crosses his arms over his chest. “He asked for you specifically?” He sounds surprised.
“Yes, I’ve been taking care of him for two weeks. We met a few days ago, remember?”
“Oh yes, of course, I remember you. It’s just strange. I mean, you’re not his only nurse, and you weren’t even here when he woke up.”
“I don’t know why he wanted me either, although I have been encouraging him to wake up. When he came around, he was upset and the nurse on duty called and asked for help settling him down.”
I try to downplay the situation. I don’t want Marcus’s right-hand man to know his boss went psychotic and tried to take on four security guards while screaming my name.
“Oh, okay. I should see him. He wants his laptop, and I have his new phone.”
“I can take those. He’s resting. I’ll make sure he gets them when he wakes up,” I say.
Elijah is having no part of that plan. He shakes his head back and forth.
“No, he wanted them right away when he called. I can’t just leave them with you; that’s not how it works with him.”
“Well, that's how it’s going to work tonight. He’s been through a lot, and he certainly doesn’t need to jump right back into work. He may not even be sure of what he’s doing. We can’t know if he has any brain damage until we run some tests tomorrow.” My tone and this information have totally taken him aback.
His jaw tightens, but he hands over a laptop bag and the new phone reluctantly.
“He may kill me for this, you know?” He sighs a long defeated sigh.
“Tell him all of his contacts, apps, appointments, and notes are programmed into his new phone. Also, there’s a file on his laptop titled ‘Updates’ that includes everything of consequence that has gone on in every Dominus location since his accident. Please tell him or I’m out of the only job I’ve ever had.”
Marcus must be a tyrant to strike such fear and compliance into such a dedicated employee.
I feel sorry for him. I reach out and touch his arm.
“Of course, I’ll make sure he gets everything and the message the second he wakes up. Don’t worry about your job, Elijah. I’m sure he’ll appreciate you keeping his business running while he was out.”
“You don’t know Marcus. It would be nothing for him to let me go. There is always someone else out there who can take my place. Marcus makes sure to tell all of his employees that on a regular basis.”
“I may not know him, Elijah, but I will say this, he needs a lot of care right now, and he won’t be up and able to work for a while. He needs you more than he realizes. I’ll take the blame for letting him sleep.”
“I think I should wait until he wakes up so I can give him what he asked for personally,” he says, removing the laptop and phone from my hands.
“Suit yourself, there’s a chair outside the door, you can wait there. I’ll let you know when he wakes up.”
Every muscle in his body relaxes simultaneously. He takes another long drawn- out breath and sits down in the chair right outside Marcus’s room. With the laptop on his legs and a straight back, he looks like a soldier guarding his post. I pass him and grab a blanket from the linen cupboard on my way back to the uncomfortable chair next to Marcus. I finagle the blanket just right so that it’s covering my arms and legs and close my eyes just for a minute…
The stench of urine, mold, and sewer invade my nose. The combination burns. Bile sits at the edge of my throat waiting for the right moment to lurch forward despite the fact that my stomach has been empty for days.
The skin on my wrists burns and stings with even the smallest movement. My hands and arms ache from the rope that restrains them above my head where I’m tethered to a pipe, only the tips of my toes touch the ground. My body is so beaten and battered, I can’t help but allow myself to hang slack.
I can see light peeking in around the edge of the window. I have no idea where I am, but I’ve been here a long time, too long. I do my best to hold still and lessen the pain, but it’s excruciating.
My head hangs slack with my chin to my chest providing me a clear view of the growing puddle of blood accumulating at my feet. I’m going to bleed to death hanging here, and right now I wish I would.
I hear one of them walking around outside the door of the room I’m being held in, and I stiffen when it begins to open. My sluggish pulse whooshes in my ears as I watch my life pour out onto the floor beneath me. Please, God just let it be over, just let me hurry up and die before they come.
Chapter 9
My back aches and my right arm is so numb it feels like a stump. My hair is being tugged as my mind moves from nightmare to reality. I fell asleep without my medication for the first time in years, and I paid for it in the form of a nightmare about my attack.
I open one eye and find my left hand splayed on Marcus’s six, no, make that eight-pack of abs. We never got around to putting his gown back on last night after he flipped out, and my head is resting on his bare chest.
I have been sleeping with a naked man. I could easily slide my hand down a few inches and lift up the sheet to see what I’ve been hiding from for the past two weeks. Better yet, I could skip the looking and just feel my way around. Good God, what is wrong with me? I am a nurse; I’m not supposed to have thoughts like this about my patients.
How the hell did I end up halfway in bed with him? I try to lift my head but I can’t. Marcus has one arm draped over my shoulders, and his fingers are tangled in my hair.
I’m stuck.
Slowly I begin to move my hand from his abdomen, where it suddenly feels scorching hot. I’ve hardly moved a muscle when Marcus’s free hand shoots up to hold me in place. I cringe and my pulse races, but I lie still and hope he’ll think I’m still sleeping.
“Good morning, Imani, you can’t believe how happy I am that you have joined me in bed.”
I can just imagine the sly grin that accompanies his arrogance. I shake my head to loosen his grip on my hair, and, when he does, I turn to face him.
“Let’s get something straight. This,” I say, following the line of his arm to my restrained hand and back to his eyes, “was not intentional.”
He releases me, and I sit up, still trying to untangle his fingers from my hair. We work together to loosen the mess, and every time our fingers touch I feel that zing of electricity that’s been there since day one intensifying.
The old feeling of heat and desire stirs between my legs. I haven’t been turned on since high school, and, even then, it was nothing like this.
When I’m free, he continues to hold my hand, scrambling my brain with his bright green eyes. We are too close; if I don’t move away soon, I’m liable to do something foolish. This is a man who can have any woman he wants with one look, including me if I’m not careful.