For the first time in hours, Adrian felt as if he could breathe again. “Hey, yourself.”
As if just realizing his presence was abnormal, Jenna frowned. Struggling to bring everything into focus, she blinked quickly and took in her surroundings.
“I’m in the hospital?”
She glanced down at the IV in her arm. The rhythm of steady beeps coming from the machines increased as her chest began to rise and fall at a faster rate.
Her eyes grew wide as they searched his for an explanation. “What…?”
“It’s okay,” he told her softly. “You’re safe.”
“Safe?” Swallowing against her dry throat, her widened eyes swung back to his. “I don’t understand.” She licked her dry lips. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?”
Jenna shook her head, the panic in her eyes ripping into a heart he could’ve sworn he’d never had.
Her loss of memory didn’t come as a huge shock to him. Ketamine was known to cause amnesia. One of the main reasons ball-less pricks use it as a date rape drug.
No memory of the crime, no conviction.
Still fighting an unprecedented rage at the thought of what could’ve happened to her, Adrian somehow managed to keep his hold on Jenna’s hand a gentle one.
“Tell me what youdoremember.”
“Working.” She slid her hand free in order to push herself up higher in the bed.
“Here. Let me help.” He pressed the control on the bed to raise her head. Waiting for her to get situated, he asked, “Better?”
Jenna nodded. With another lick of her lips, she cleared her throat. “I-I was here. Working. I’d just finished my shift…” She trailed off for a moment, her emerald eyes growing wide with worry. “H-how long have I been here?”
“Easy.” Adrian patted her covered leg for comfort. “It’s only been a few hours.”
Bringing her breathing back to a healthy pace, she glanced at the clock on the wall facing the bed. He could see more questions brewing.
“How about we start with the last thing you remember?”
“O-okay.” Jenna gave him a jerky nod. She thought for a moment. “I remember being in the nurse’s locker room. I was talking to Marie and a couple of the other nurses. They invited me to go out, I think.”
Confusion and fear filled her eyes. Running a hand through her mussed hair, Jenna winced when her fingertips found her bruised skin. The fear in her eyes gutted him. “Adrian, what happened to me?”
“You were drugged,” he answered bluntly. “At the club you went to with Marie and the others.”
Unable to sit still with so much rage still coursing through him, Adrian stood and walked to the foot of the bed. From there, he went on to tell her the rest.
He told her how she and Marie had left the club together. That two men had purposely smashed their car into the side of their cab. And the worst of all, that their driver had been murdered in cold blood before the men tried tokidnapher and kill Adrian in the process.
Through it all, Jenna didn’t say a word. She just sat there, listening as new tears formed with each new detail he shared.
The longer he spoke, the more Adrian’s heart ached to the point of physical pain. At one point, he actually rubbed his chest, hoping it would help. He couldn’t understand why it didn’t.
You know why, asshole. You’re just scared to admit it.
Tears had never bothered him before, but the mere sight of this woman crying made him want to howl like a rabid fucking wolf.
I’ll find them all. Every. Last. One. And God help them when I do.
“I can’t believe this.” Jenna sniffed and swiped at her damp cheeks. “God, that poor driver. Did the police catch the man who killed him? And Marie. Have you seen her? Is she okay?”