“Dr. Lively used to be my therapist,” Neil explained gravely, seeing my confusion, and I nodded again, incapable of doing anything else. “This guy, on the other hand…” Neil attempted to introduce me to the man who was watching us, curious and attentive. Instead, the man got ahead of him and approached me himself.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you brought company,” he said archly, and I caught a whiff of his cologne, a fragrance that was bold yet delicate at the same time. He stuck his hand out at me: “I’m John Keller. Please, call me John,” he said jovially.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Selene.” I shook his hand a bit uncertainly and curiously examined his face in detail. Fine lines bracketed his lips and crinkled the edges of his bright eyes. I dwelled for a moment on those unusual eyes. They were a strange color, like sand or sheaves of wheat in the sunlight. His nose was proportional, and his jaw balanced out the rest of his face. It was a good face, and along with his innate charisma, it probably drew women to him.
For a fleeting moment, I thought that John and Neil looked oddly alike, but I quickly dismissed that silly thought.
I was so obsessed with the human disaster next to me that I was starting to find his likeness even in men who had nothing to do with him.
“Oh, so you are the famous Selene. I’ve heard good things about you.” John smiled slyly at me, and I frowned.
Neil had talked to him about me? Why?
“Don’t be surprised if he starts telling you some legend or recites a paean to the sea or some other bullshit,” Neil murmured, resting a hand on the base of my spine. I sucked in a breath at the gentle contact.
“Don’t listen to a thing he says, Selene. It’s an honor to have the PearlGirl here with us.” John watched me closely, a benevolent look on his face. Then he shot a knowing glance at Neil who just rolled his eyes in response.
Was he talking about the glass cube that Neil gave me right before my accident?
“If Dr. Lively is occupied, we can come back another time,” Neil said, trying to put a damper on Dr. Keller’s enthusiasm. But the other man was undeterred and turned to me.
“Selene, do you need to get out of here?” he asked me confidently, as if he already knew my answer.
“No, actually,” I answered honestly, and he smiled.
“Good. Then let me buy you something at the café; they make a great herbal tea,” he said, gesturing for us to follow him. Neil muttered something under his breath but didn’t object. We followed the doctor down a hallway, past a large waiting room. It was too warm in there, so I took off my coat and draped it over my arm.
Neil and John walked ahead of me, having a conversation I couldn’t quite understand. I stared at them, trying to catch a few more of their words, when two guys came down the hall toward us. One was dark-haired, and the other was wearing a colorful bandanna, and both were smiling. I presumed they were also patients of the clinic. The dark-haired one, who also had an eye-catching series of tattoos all over his neck and the backs of his hands, waved hello to Dr. Keller before meeting my gaze.
Immediately uncomfortable, I pretended I hadn’t seen them as they passed us. But, as they did so, I received an echoing slap on my butt cheek. I didn’t even have time to process what happened; I jolted in fear and froze at the strong burning sensation.
What the hell?
“Nice ass, new girl,” the dark-haired boy said, winking at me.
All conversation between Neil and John stopped abruptly, and a sudden silence fell over the sterile hallway. I glared furiously at the two idiots, and I was just about to respond when a hand clamped down hard on my shoulder and pulled me back away from them.
I knew right away that it was Neil. I was very familiar with his possessive touch.
“What did you say?” he asked the dark-haired boy threateningly. Undiluted anger flared in his eyes. I wouldn’t have traded places with those other two guys for anything in the world.
John had caught up to him by then and took him by the arm. The two patients, looking like they’d just seen a ghost, abruptly stopped laughing.
“Let it go, son,” John said, trying to hold back the mass of muscle and rage that Neil had become. Neil was intimidating, and it was difficult for most people to compete with his physical power, but Dr. Keller was proving himself to be surprisingly capable.
“‘Nice ass’ to who?” Neil demanded again, a slave to his anger. His voice thundered off the walls, and I flinched in fear. I had seen him lose control a few times, and it was always terrifying.
“Can’t I compliment your girl, Miller?” The dark-haired boy laughed, trying to look brash. I sucked in a breath not just at the slight toward me but also at the way he had defined me: I was not Neil’sgirl.
“You don’t touch a woman without her consent, asshole. Don’t even look at her again or I’ll beat your ass!” Neil burst out, still being restrained by John. “Do you hear me? I’ll smash your face in!” Neil continued screaming at him, completely out of his head.
I appreciated that he was trying to defend me.
I had thought on occasion that he felt jealousy over me, like when he’d seen me talking with Ivan and had a similar reaction, but he’d never actually explained himself, so it was never clear to me.
My head was still too full of doubts.
“Drew, get back to the music therapy room,” John told the tattooed one, who just ignored him.
