CHAPTER 2
I opened my eyes and looked around groggily. Lucas hovered just to the right of my bed and a pretty blonde stood on the other side, chewing her lip nervously as the nurse checked my vitals.
“Lucas? Why are you here?” I growled, my voice low and raspy from lack of use. “Weren’t you in London? Shouldn’t you be protecting billionaire teenage rock stars or something?” I searched my memory, trying to piece together a coherent thought. I was in the hospital, my head hurt like hell, but other than that I felt okay. Experimentally, I shifted my legs and tried to stretch my arms. My left shoulder screamed in protest.
“Stop moving, dear,” the nurse said gently. “We’re all happy that you’re back, but I’m trying to get an accurate read.”
Happy that I’m back? Where had I been? I closed my eyes briefly and the whooshing sound of helicopter blades beat through my ears, the acrid smell of fire-singed fabric and debris rushed into my nose.
“Landry!” I shouted, my eyes flying open. “Where is he? Is he okay? What about the rest of the crew? The campers? The girl?” I struggled to sit up in the bed, pulling at the wires taped to my chest when they wouldn’t give.
“Mr. Fox, I need you to calm down,” the nurse said, pushing me back down onto the pillows firmly. She glanced up at Lucas and the blonde before speaking again. “You’ve been unconscious for close to five days. Can you tell me the last calendar date you remember?”
Lucas’ face was a mixture of worry and confusion, but the blonde looked like she was about to pass out. She probably needed to lie down more than I did. If this nurse would let me get up I’d gladly let her have the bed.
“I need to know, Lucas. I need to know what happened.” I strained to look around the nurse to see my brother.
“Mr. Fox, the date?”
“It’s May,” I told her impatiently. “Probably the fifteenth or sixteenth, I guess?”
She looked to Lucas again. “Of what year, Mr. Fox?”
I took a deep breath, trying to curb my irritation. The nurse smiled at me encouragingly.
“2014.”
“I see,” she said. Turning to Lucas and the blonde, she spoke softly. “I’ll send the doctors right in.”
“What’s going on? Lucas, what happened?” I started to sit up again, jostling the cords, and one of the machines started beeping incessantly. “Where’s Landry, McDaniels? What about Sloane? And Dempsey?”
“Just try to calm down, B.”
“Not until I know what happened to my crew and those campers.” Why wouldn’t he tell me? And who was this girl?
“Campers?” Lucas and the blonde now had identical looks of disbelief on their faces.
“I’m coming, Fox! I’m coming!” I heard a little voice coming down the hallway, and suddenly the door burst open and a tiny towheaded whirlwind hurled herself onto the bed directly on top of me. My arms closed around her automatically to prevent her from tumbling down, and she looked up at me and grinned.
I realized then that she looked just like a mini version of the beautiful girl standing like a statue at the foot of my bed, her huge eyes terrified and sad when she looked at me.
“Did you miss me, Fox? Did you? I missed you a lot!” the little girl cried.
“Sorry, sorry!” A petite brunette slipped through the door a moment later, holding her hands up helplessly. When she saw the little girl perched on my chest, a huge smile spread across her face. “She was so excited to hear you’d woken up, I couldn’t hold her in the waiting area any longer!”
When no one spoke, she looked to the pretty blonde. “Avery? What’s wrong?”
Avery. That name was familiar but I couldn’t place it. Now I knew her name, but it still didn’t explain what she was doing here, or why her mini-me was trying to burrow her way under my arm to curl up by my side. I looked to Lucas helplessly, hoping for some clarification. Reaching forward, Avery pulled the little girl off my chest and into her arms.
“Annabelle,” she said quietly. “Fox is still—” Her voice hitched. “Still not feeling well,” she continued. “You can’t climb all over him, okay?”
Avery and Annabelle. I searched my memory again, trying to recall where I’d heard those names before. I wouldn’t put it past Lucas to bring a date while he visited me in the hospital, but this seemed more complicated than that. My shoulder throbbed and I reached up with my other hand to rub the muscle.
Annabelle sniffled and Avery hugged her tightly.
“Mama—” she protested, but Avery was already walking over to the door.
“Go with Auntie Heather, please. I’ll be out in just a minute and we’ll go down to the cafeteria to get some frozen yogurt.”
Annabelle glanced over her shoulder at me with an imploring look. “Bye, Fox.”
“Bye, Annabelle,” I said automatically.
Avery jerked her head up and turned at the sound of my voice, her eyes searching mine. For a brief second, our gazes locked and I couldn’t look away. Lucas cleared his throat to get our attention.
“B, what is the last thing you remember?”
“Lucas, don’t you think we should wait for the doctor? And your parents?” Avery said timidly, flicking her glance back to me.
Between the worried look on Lucas’ face and the scared expression on Avery’s, I’d had enough.
“This is bullshit.” I sat up and pulled the sensors from my chest, starting a cacophony of beeping from the machines by my bed. I reached over to enter the bypass codes, stopping the noise. “Tell me what happened or I’m getting out of bed right now and finding out for myself.”
Lucas scrubbed a hand through his hair and looked from me to Avery. “Do you know who this is?” he said, gesturing to her.
“No, but you’ve never been big on introductions so don’t worry, I’m not offended. Is this your girlfriend?”
It still wouldn’t explain why her little girl acted like she knew me, but I was grasping at straws here. I managed a quick smile for Avery, hoping to get the greetings out of the way so Lucas could fill me in on why I was here and, more importantly — when I could get back to my crew.
Avery’s face paled and she put a hand on the bed rail to steady herself. Lucas came closer and slid a palm under her elbow, ready to catch her if she fell. He looked at me over the top of her head.
“No, B. Avery isn’t my girlfriend. She’s your wife.”
* * *
Time hiccuped.
“My… what?” I asked incredulously. Not the time to fuck with me, Lucas. Seriously, not the time.
Lucas glanced at Avery, her face growing paler by the second, before he spoke. “Your wife, Beckett. You and Avery are married.”
“That’s impossible. I’ve never even met her before today.”
The door to my room swung open again and two doctors came in with the nurse from earlier.
“Mr. Fox! Thank you for deciding to join us,” the woman doctor said to me warmly. She looked to the monitors and frowned. “What happened?”
The male doctor stepped forward, picking up the discarded cords and sensors. “He took them off,” he said shortly. “Really, Fox?”
I looked up at him, actually seeing him for the first time. “Buchanan?”
“You can’t just remove the equipment,” Buchanan said in exasperation.
“Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Fox were acquainted in early medic training,” the female doctor explained to Lucas and Avery. “He made a special request to be a part of the care team when he realized who our patient was.”
She turned to me. “You already know Dr. Buchanan, so allow me to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Gretchen Simms, chief neurologist.”
I shook the hand she offered automatically. This was getting stranger by the minute, and I could feel my anger building.
Dr. Simms had her stethoscope on my chest, and I breathed deeply for her when she requested it, trying to calm down. After submitting to the rest of her quick examination, I pulled myself up farther in the bed and crossed my arms over my chest, wincing slightly when my shoulder strained and the bandages on my forearms rubbed together.
“Can you tell me the last thing you remember, Mr. Fox?”
I paused, hoping that if I answered correctly, she’d answer a few questions of mine. “A helicopter.”
“Yes, good,” she said, nodding. “You were airlifted to the hospital after your motorcycle accident.”
“What? No,” I protested. “In the Oka-Wen.” Blank looks all around. “The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Avery sit down heavily in a chair. Lucas remained standing, his arms crossed as well, likely unaware that he was mirroring my own actions.
“The forest?” Dr. Simms repeated.
“We were out for days, it was a big one, had a lot of re-burn.” I ran my fingers through my hair agitatedly. “There were lost campers, I had to double back, we got caught up… Landry had the other girl. Landry was hurt. They fell. Is Landry here? Where is everyone else?”
I needed someone else in this room with me, someone who could corroborate my story, someone who wouldn't make me feel like I was delusional. I wished in vain for McDaniels or Sloane to come walking through the door, even Dempsey, though lately all he did was mope about that girl, what’s her name… Avery.
Avery.
My eyes flew back to her, catching the way she watched me with an expression that was one part fear, one part hope.
“You’re Chase’s Avery,” I said.
Before she could respond, the door to my room opened quickly and my mother rushed in, directly over to my bed, the General at her heels. “Oh, Beckett,” she exclaimed, hugging me with tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “It’s so nice to see you awake.”
“Don’t cry, Mom,” I said in a low voice, taking her hand in my slightly busted one. “I’m okay.”
The General stood close behind her, his usually stoic expression visibly relieved. I felt immediately guilty for what they’d been through. The nurse said I’d been out for five days? My mother must’ve been panicked. And the General was probably wondering why I wasn’t already out of bed and back to work.
Savannah looked to Avery, noting her distance and the frightened expression on her face. She then looked to Dr. Simms and Buchanan, whose composure remained neutral.
“What’s happening?” my mother asked warily.
Dr. Simms cleared her throat. “Beckett, can you tell me what month it is? What year?”
This again? “May 2014.” The edge in my voice was even sharper now.
The room was too silent.
“Are you sure about the date, Mr. Fox? I want you to think very carefully,” Dr. Simms said.
I felt the anger, the frustration bubble into my chest again. “Of course I’m sure!” I shouted, no longer willing to cooperate.
My head started to pound, and all I could hear was the roar of blood rushing to my ears. I took three deep breaths, trying to steady myself so I could think, and closed my eyes. I suddenly realized that something seemed off. My body was banged up, but that was to be expected. My shoulder was killing me but my thigh felt pretty good, considering the trauma to the muscle…
The blood drained from my face as I whipped the blanket back, frantically pushing the hospital gown aside to get a good look at my leg.
The thick wounds covering my thigh were healed, the marks faded to a pinkish white. I stared at my scars, my brain scrambling frantically to keep up.
“Fox?” a gentle voice called.
Avery got up, crossed the room to me, and placed a hand on my arm. “What is it?”
I flinched at her touch, looking up at a room full of people staring at me with concern.
“WHAT… THE HELL… IS GOING… ON?” The timbre of my voice reverberated through the walls, and I dropped my head into my hands, lost and defeated.