CHAPTER SIX

 

Luca

 

I STEP OUT OF THE elevator and take the short walk to Jules’s room. It’s earlier than when I’ve been visiting, but I’m due on shift in a couple of hours, and I felt a sudden urge to see her after the dream I had last night. It ended with her screaming again, and it tore my insides to hear it.

I walk into the quiet room to find Jules partially on her right side, facing the door. Instead of her hair being in the normal braid, the thick mass is loose and resting on the pillow. Someone took the time to brush it.

My eyes scan the room as I walk over to the bed and take a seat on the chair sitting close by. Her nightgown is different than the last time I was here. She’s now in a soft peach-colored one with ruffles on the sleeves and lace across the collar.

Seeing the hand that doesn’t have the catheter lying close to her side, palm facing up, I lean forward and trace the inside of her fingers. Again, I’m met with a zing of awareness.

Lifting my eyes, I look at her closed ones.

“Hi, Jules,” I state softly, and watch for any signs she’s heard me. When there’s not even a twitch of her eyelashes, I continue. “I’m Luca. You don’t know me, but you’ve been coming to me in my dreams for years now, and I don’t know why.”

I pull in a deep breath and roughly blow it out. This is the first time I’ve spoken to her. Or rather, the first time I’ve spoken to her while awake. I always know in my dreams they aren’t real, but this right here is. She’s so real I can actually touch and smell her.

“You always ask me where I am and to help you, but I don’t know what you want me to do. How am I supposed to help you? And why is it my dreams that you visit?”

I look down at the hand I’m still tracing and see the contrast between hers and mine. Whereas she’s pale and soft, I’m tanned and rough. My hand would engulf hers if we were to ever hold hands. I have no doubt an easy squeeze from me would crush her fingers.

“When you scream, as if in pain, I feel it. I feel it all over, Jules, like your pain is somehow mine. Why is that? I’ve never seen you before.” I lift my eyes back to her. “I used to be so angry about the dreams, because they kept me up at night, all because of someone I didn’t know existed. Now, though, I welcome them, because I get to see you. Now that I know you are real, I feel drawn to you. I want to see you, and touch you, and breath in your wildflower scent. I want you to open your eyes, so I can see if they are the same bright amber as in my dreams.”

Flipping over her hand, I trace the light blue lines of her veins barely seen under her skin. My mind wanders to places it has no right wandering to. Places that make me feel like a fucking pervert, because the woman is in a damn coma. Like what it would feel like to have her hands touch me. Or how her breath would feel against my neck. And if her body would mold to mine if I were to wrap her in my arms.

Disgusted with my train of thought, I put down her hand and lean back in the chair. The drawer in the small nightstand catches my eye. I pull it open and find a small bag inside. I’ve got no business snooping, but I do so anyway. Pulling the bag out, I look at the contents through the plastic. It looks like a necklace.

Pulling the bag open, I dump the contents in my hand. A delicate gold chain and locket falls into my palm, along with a ring. When I open the locket, there’s a picture of Jules and a young child on one side. Jules is younger than she is now, mid-teens maybe, and for the first time since she started appearing in my dreams, she has a smile on her face, deep dimples in each cheek. The picture is small, but her smile is big and natural. Warm-looking, like she was happy at the time the picture was taken. The kid, a girl, looks to be three or four and shares Jules’s smile. They look a lot alike. A sister, maybe? The other side is empty.

Gathering the chain in my fist, I look at the ring next. It’s silver and looks simple and inexpensive, but still beautiful. The front half of the ring appears to be twine woven together with a small diamond peeking out of the knot. The back half is just a band.

Flipping it around, I look at the inside and see an inscription.

Infinite.

It looks like a wedding ring.

I slip it on my pinky, feeling the cold metal against my skin. It only goes to my first knuckle, proving just how small her fingers are compared to mine. I look up at Jules and wonder for the hundredth time who she is. If this ring and necklace were in her personal items bag, then that means she must have been wearing them when she was brought into the hospital. Which indicates she’s married. Where is her husband? Has he given up on Jules in her comatose state? Has he already moved on?

The thought of her husband leaving her here all alone, whether she’d know the difference or not, sends white hot anger rushing through my veins. It makes me want to hunt the bastard down and beat the shit out of him. No matter how many years passed, if my wife still drew breath, I’d never leave her. I’d take my vows of sticking with her through sickness and health very seriously. That’s what you do when you get married. It’s a legally binding contract, but it’s also an emotional one.

I slip the ring from my finger and put it back in the bag along with the necklace, making sure to zip it closed before putting it in the drawer. I’m sitting back in my chair when the squeak of shoes has me turning my head just as a nurse walks into the room.

When she spots me sitting there, a smile stretches her lips. Then she thoroughly confuses the hell out of me.

“Hey, Mr. Hendrix. I didn’t expect to see you today. And, oh my, you’ve cut your hair.”

My brows slash down into a frown. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t you normally come in on the first Tuesday of the month?” she asks, looking confused herself. “Or maybe it’s a Wednesday. This brain isn’t as young as it used to be.” She finishes on a laugh and walks over to the monitor by the bed.

I get up from the chair, taken aback by how she knows my name and why she thinks I’ve visited those days. She makes it sound like I’ve been doing it for a while.

“Who do you think I am?” I ask her back as she disconnects one of the empty bags from a hook at the head of the bed. She doesn’t answer until she’s hung a fresh one.

She turns and looks at me like I’ve lost half my marbles. “Her husband, of course.”

I jerk back.

Say fucking what?

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” I tell her gruffly, still in shock she would think I’m Jules’s husband. “But you must have me confused with someone else.”

She frowns. “I don’t understand.”

I point my finger to Jules. “I’ve only met this woman a few days ago.”

Shaking her head before I complete the sentence, she insists, “That can’t be true. She’s your wife and you’ve been visiting her since you had her moved here months ago.” She takes a step closer to me at the end of the bed, a look of concern marking her face. “Are you feeling okay, Mr. Hendrix?”

What the fuck is with her knowing my last name?

“Wait.” My eyes narrow when a thought occurs. “What’s her husband’s first name?”

Her lips purse as she thinks for a minute before saying the name I suspected she would say.

“Theo.”

“Fuck,” I hiss, running a hand through my hair and spinning on my heel. I grip the back of my neck and squeeze hard. “Goddamn him.”

“I really don’t understand what’s going on here, but if you’re not Mr. Hendrix—”

I spin back around. “Oh, I’m Mr. Hendrix, just not Theo. He’s my twin. I’m Luca.”

Her eyes widen in shock. Yeah, join the fucking club, lady. What in the hell has Theo been playing at? What kind of game is this shit? A fucking wife?

“How long has she been here?” The question comes out harsher than I intended, so I try to soften my expression. It’s a bitch to do with my current state of mind, but it isn’t this nurse’s fault my brother is a secretive asshole.

“Umm….” She closes her eyes in thought, then pops them back open. “About six months or so. She was brought here from Silver United Memorial. Mr. Hendrix said he wanted her closer to him.”

“What happened to her?”

She bites her lip, looking indecisive. “I’m not really supposed to give out that information….” Her voice trails off.

I give her a terse nod before looking back at Jules for a moment, then turn to leave. I’ll get my answers from the damn source himself. And he better hope like hell he’s willing to talk.

 

 

IT’S PAST EIGHT BY the time I pull up to Theo’s house. I had to stop by the shop and ask Jazz if he could stay later, which thankfully he agreed to.

I turn off my truck, get out, and slam the door behind me. My body is tense as I walk up the short steps to his door. Without knocking, I barge in, and come to a stop at what I see.

“Are you fucking serious, Theo?” I grate as the woman on his lap lifts her head from sucking on his throat. Theo looks over his shoulder at me and ushers the girl to her feet. Her tits bounce as they hang out of her top and bra.

“Oh my, there’s two of you.” The girl practically swoons.

We both ignore her.

“What are you doing here?” he asks while adjusting his dick in his jeans.

“We need to talk.” I jut my chin to the female. “And she needs to leave.”

Sensing the seriousness in my tone, Theo helps the girl fix her top and walks her to the door. My anger flares when he kisses her before letting her outside.

He turns toward me. “What’s this about, Luca?”

“Are you really making out with a girl on your couch with your daughter asleep just down the hall?”

“Keywords. She’s asleep,” he mutters.

“And what’s to say she won’t wake up and leave her room? Don’t be so damn stupid, Theo. It’s fucking sick that you would take that chance knowing she could walk in at any minute and see that shit. At least take it to the bedroom where you can close the damn door.”

Actually, he shouldn’t be fucking around with any women, considering he’s married. My hands ball into fists at my sides.

At least he has the decency to look guilty. Too bad it’s not only for the reasons he should.

“Can you stop busting my balls and tell me why you’re here?”

It takes me a moment to calm the raging fire building in my stomach. I want nothing more than to punch his deceiving face and ask questions later, but this is my brother, so I need to give him a chance to explain. I really don’t see how he can justify his actions, but maybe there’s a reasonable explanation behind his secrets.

“Who’s Jules?” I ask, cutting right to the chase.

His faces pales and he takes a step back until he’s leaning against the wall. I notice his hands shaking before he slips them into his pants pockets. The flutter in his throat gives away his nervousness, and it only piques my anger.

He licks his lips before answering in a quiet voice. “She’s my wife.”

“Yeah, no fucking kidding,” I growl. “The attending nurse walked in the room when I was there. She thought I was you.”

If possible, his face loses even more color. “Why were you visiting her?”

“That’s moot at this point. Why haven’t you told anyone about her? And how long have you been married?”

He blows out a breath and looks down at his shoes, eliciting my anger even more.

“Theo—” I start, but he interrupts me.

“Seven years. We got married the day she went into a coma.”

His eyes look worried and desperate. I count to twenty in my head to try to calm my ire.

“You’ve been married for seven goddamn years and you never thought to tell your family? Why, Theo? And what in the hell are you doing sleeping with other women while your wife lies helpless in the hospital?”

He’s quiet for a minute before he hisses out a breath. “I’ll grab us some beers, then I’ll explain everything.”

I don’t want a fucking beer. I want him to tell me what in the hell is going on. Even so, I give him a curt nod and walk around the couch and sit on the opposite end where Theo just had a girl on his lap.

He comes back into the room and hands me a beer before taking a seat on the recliner. Leaning forward, he puts his elbows on his knees and dangles the beer from one hand between his legs. His knees bounce, reminding me of the day Ella was in the hospital. I thought he was anxious over what happened to Ella and possibly going after Chase. He was anxious all right, because he knew Jules was right down the hall and he or I could be recognized at any moment. It actually surprises me, now that I think about it, that none of the nurses called him by name.

I sit and wait, growing more impatient by the second when he stays quiet. Luckily, he catches my mood and starts talking.

“Jules and I met when she brought her car into the shop. The mechanic on the north side couldn’t fit her in for a few days, and she needed her car fixed immediately. She was from the north side but was sweet and kind and so damn pretty. Being from where we’re from, I never thought I had a chance with someone like her, but I asked her out anyway. She completely took me by surprise when she accepted.”

His eyes glaze over as he looks off in the distance.

“You know how shit is around here, and when you find someone good, you don’t want them part of that. You don’t want it touching them. I wanted to keep Jules as far away from it as possible. I fell hard for her and knew she was the one. We had plans. We were going to leave here and start a new life. I wanted to wait to get married until we left, but she didn’t want to wait that long.”

“So, what? You were just going to leave? Disappear into the beautiful fucking sunset and never tell us?”

He looks down at the bottle in his hand before taking a deep swallow, then lifts his head. I’m not sure what his eyes hold, but the look is dark and pain-filled. There’s also a bit of fear, which I find strange. What is there to be afraid of?

“We were going to tell everyone before we left. The day we got married, which was the day we were going to tell everyone, something happened.”

“What?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.

His eyes slide away. “Someone attacked her.”

“Fuck!” I curse, and lean forward, mimicking his position by resting my elbows on my knees. I snatch up the beer, open it, and down half the bottle.

I bring narrowed eyes to him.

“Why are you shacking up with all these females when you have a wife lying comatose in the hospital? Doesn’t seem like she was much of ‘the one’ if you have no problem breaking your vows.”

He still doesn’t look at me when he answers. “Because she’s no longer here.”

“The fuck she isn’t, Theo. She’s only miles away.”

His eyes come back to mine and they look cold-blooded, like he feels not one ounce of guilt for cheating on his wife for years while she lies helpless in the hospital. As soon as the look appears, it’s gone.

“A man has needs, Luca,” he informs me quietly, like I don’t know that.

I nod, then lean forward. “A man with a wife in the hospital gets real fucking acquainted with his hand. Or as fucked as this sounds, he gets a divorce. What he doesn’t do is repeatedly and unashamedly break his vows by whoring himself out to women.”

He flinches. I know I’m being an ass. It can’t be easy on him having a wife he can’t touch, but fuck if I’ll be okay with him cheating so easily. I’ll never be okay with anyone cheating under any circumstances. And it’s not like he held out for long. He’s been doing it for years. He’s always been a manwhore. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember a lengthy period of time he hasn’t had some woman around.

Ignoring that for now, I state something that’s been bugging me. “I’ve been dreaming about her.” His eyes snap to mine. “For years. If I never knew about her, why is she in my dreams? And why is she always so sad and asking for my help?”

His knuckles turn white as his grip on the beer bottle tightens. Lines appear around his mouth when his lips form an angry line.

“No clue. There’s no reason she should be.”

I watch his eyes for any deception. I hate to think about my brother lying, but he’s already done so by omitting the truth about Jules. Fortunately, there’s nothing nefarious in his expression.

Aria calls her dad’s name from her room, and Theo gets up to check on her. I watch as he disappears down the hallway. Suspicion forms in my mind as I wait for him to reappear. When he does, my eyes lock on him as he reclaims his seat.

“Aria.” He frowns at my bringing her up. “Is she Jules’s?”

“No,” he grunts. “Jules and I were only together for a few weeks. She’s from a woman I met about a year before I met Jules. She showed on my doorstep several weeks after the accident and left Aria for me to raise. She disappeared, and I haven’t seen her since.”

I nod.

“The nurse made it sound like Jules gets no visitors. Does she not have family?”

He takes a pull from his beer before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“She does, but they’re dicks. They knew about me and her and demanded she have nothing to do with me. When she refused, they cast her out and disowned her. That was another reason why we were leaving. We wanted to start somewhere fresh where no one knew us or our background.”

Although it’s still fucked-up that he kept Jules from us, I can’t say I blame Theo. Especially with the huge social and upbringing gap between him and Jules. The world is a cruel place, and some of the people in it are even more so.

“Do they know about her being in a coma? They haven’t tried visiting her?”

He shifts back in his seat, getting comfortable by throwing an ankle over his knee.

“I called them the night of the accident, but they didn’t answer. I left a message on their voicemail. They never called back or tried visiting. She has a much younger sister. I think she was five or six back then. God knows what they’ve told her about Jules.”

My teeth clench at the notion that they’ve soiled Jules’s name to her little sister. What in the fuck is wrong with people?

“You need to tell Mom and Dad about her.”

He looks down at his lap, then brings his eyes back to me, resolution set in his gaze. “I will.”

I notice the time on the cable box and get to my feet. “I’ve got to get going. Jazz stayed late for me, so I need to get to the shop.”

Theo stands as well, setting his bottle on the end table. He follows me to the door, and I turn back to him.

“I’m sorry about what happened to Jules.” I grip his shoulder when his jaw begins to twitch. “Was the person that attacked her found?”

“No,” he grunts darkly.

“Fuck, man. I’m sorry.”

His nod is stiff. “Thanks.”

I leave him at the door, my anger still present, but not white-hot as it was when I first arrived.

As I walk to my truck, my mind drifts back to the nagging questions; why have I been dreaming about Jules and why does she keep begging me for help?