I could hear the monitor kick up a notch as the world spun around me. I was in a hospital. I had a patch over my eye. My body was numb. This was like a bad dream. A very bad dream in which I was now going to have to start walking around saying “Argh, matey!”
Which wouldn’t be the end of the world since that was a really cool phrase, but this was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. There was a difference between playing out scenes from a book and actually becoming the character.
The door swung open and Caroline strode in, a large smile plastered on her face as she rushed over to me. Right behind her was Sam, except he came to the other side of my bed, practically pushing my dad out of the way to get to me.
“Shh, oh honey, it’s alright,” Caroline soothed.
“I don’t wanna be a pirate!” I cried.
It was only then that I realized tears were streaming down my face and the wetness was building around my neck. Oh God, was I paralyzed, too?
“Honey, you’re gonna have to calm down. You’re not a pirate,” she chuckled.
“But…I have an eyepatch and my body is numb. Please tell me you didn’t fit me for a peg leg!”
Caroline chuckled, reaching over to something on the side of the bed. “Me thinks the pain meds are a tad high, matey.”
An ungodly wail slipped free from my throat at her words. As tears blurred my vision, I could have sworn I saw a gold earring in my father’s ear. And my mother wore a blue and white striped shirt. God, I really was on some weird pirate ship.
“Sweetie, you are not a pirate,” Caroline whispered. Then her fingers were peeling at the patch on my face, revealing the faintest hint of light. “There, you see? It’s just a bandage to protect your eye.”
I sniffled as the light grew brighter and brighter. I couldn’t see fully, but the light proved that I wasn’t going to be blind.
“What about my leg? I can’t feel anything.”
“That’s the pain meds,” she chuckled. “And no, you don’t have a wooden leg, but it is broken.”
Broken. I had a broken leg. And a bandage over my eye.
“How much did I drink last night?” I whispered.
“Nothing, baby,” Sam murmured, pressing a kiss to my hand.
I looked at him strangely, wondering why on earth he was in here, kissing my hand when he vowed not to let anyone in town know that we were sleeping together.
Craning my neck in his direction, I whispered as best I could. “You’re doing a shitty job of hiding the fact that you’re sleeping with me.”
His shoulders shook with laughter as a smile graced his lips. But instead of feeling happy, I was confused as hell, and I was pretty sure my face saidWhat the fuck is wrong with you?
“I’m pretty sure everyone in town knows about the two of you after last night,” Caroline smiled.
“Why?” I asked as a horrible feeling crept over me. “What happened last night?” My gaze swung to Sam’s as a millionthoughts ran through my mind. “Please tell me we did not do something really public.”
His eyebrow quirked in amusement. “Something really public?”
My eyes shot to my parents before returning to him. “You know.”
Again, a twitch of amusement crossed his face. “Nope. I don’t know.”
Narrowing my eyes, I hated him in this moment. “S-E-X.”
“I’m pretty sure your parents can spell,” he mused. “And no, we did not have sex in public.”
“Oh, thank God.” My body sank into the bed with relief. I’m not sure how I would come back from that one.
“I would never share you with anyone,” he rumbled, his low voice sending shivers down my spine.
Not that I could really feel them, but I knew they were there. Every time this man spoke, it did something to my body that felt unnatural and way too right all at the same time.
