The Rescue!

by Anna Keats

  The way that he nuzzles into me has a startling impact. Immediately, I long to draw him near and pummel him with deep hard kisses. Taking the photograph back out of his pocket, I study it intently. It’s not so much that I need any more proof that this is indeed me and him. It’s more that I want to study exactly the expression on both of our faces; taken in that still moment, almost a decade ago, of both of us united for all time.

  I feel my shoulders besieged with the weight of a sudden grief. …Because that is what this feels like; a bereavement, for something that has died. I have worked out that as much as I might want it, me and Adam are not currently an item – and soon he will return, back to the home he told me about, in downtown Sunset Tracks.

  It seems so cruel, to have him so arbitrarily snatched away like this. To find him, have him, and be told that he had been mine, but is no longer, makes me feel cheated. But I need to know for sure.

  “Was it real?” I ask him.

  “Was what real?” soothes Adam, running his fingers up and down my spine and caressing me gently on the shoulders. It feels damned fine. No matter what he says, it still feels like we have a connection. And my body seems to agree.

  “Was it real, that photo…?”

  “You think I had it faked?” he asks incredulously.

  I laugh, briefly.

  “No, I thought we might be,” I say. “I need to know that we actually were… real…. And….”

  I am only halfway through this response when another burst of animal lust surges its way through me. This isn’t what I am expecting, but it seems more confirmatory than anything else; revealing a real feeling, buried by repressed memories.

  Adam smiles, unleashing more pheromone which rockets all through me.

  “Oh, we were real alright,” he grins. “Maybe a little too much so,”

  Now our eyes are drawn to each other. He is sitting over me, on the bed peering into mine…

  Boom! Boom! Boom! My heart rate increases.

  “Why didn’t you call, or get in touch?” he asks me straight up, his brown eyes dancing at mine. “I tried to, but there was no reply, then I got told you’d left town… Imagine my surprise when I come back here to discover you right where I left you…”

  I struggle to take all this in.

  “You… left…?” I say.

  “Yeah, ‘til recently, I was gone for nearly ten years… but I’m back again,” he breaks off, changes his serious face and then smiles. “Maybe I got a premonition about needing to save girls from throwing themselves under train tracks!”

  His twinkly eyes bore into mine, teasing. There is a moment, of almost total silence, in which only a machine bleeps from somewhere in the background. I feel the heavy, dry air around me and my head lightens.

  Adam pulls his golden head towards me and then leans a little too close. His lips tantalize me with their softness. Before I know it, it is too late and we are kissing, passionately. I can feel my heart racing away, like the train on the tracks did, yesterday.

  For a minute, my mind starts wandering and I remember he had said something about having news. I wonder what it was when things start to turn hazy and, suddenly, I am lost in a white daze.

  “Aurelia…” he calls, from somewhere, far into the distance. His fingers dig into me, urging me to keep awake.

  But I can’t. And I simply slide off into a voyage of white.

  Chapter 5

  "I kiss a girl, she passes out, it happens all the time..."

  I hear his voice saying, as he fastens his hands around mine. Once again, I am coming around in the hospital bed to the sound of his Southern tones.

  Struggling to sit up, I almost rip the monitor thing from my thumb - eliciting a very dark look from the warty nurse.

  "Ms. Rogers, a fainting spell is nature's way of telling you to sit very still...," she says, plumping up the pillows behind me.

  Then she delivers a choice stare to Adam.

  "Don't try and get up again, else I'll be forced to call Sister..."

  ".... And she's even more terrifying!" quips Adam, but I notice that he waits for her to clack across the room before saying this.

  "So, do you want the good news first?"

  I catch his eye. It is twinkling in the insipid light streaming in from the shaded windows. When he's like this, I feel like I really have known him a lifetime, and not just the two days it has been.

  "There's bad news?" I say, sitting myself up in bed anyway.

  "Well, it's nothing much, but I think the police want to speak to you about the accident...," he drifts off, a dreamy look coming into his amber eyes.

  "That won't take long. I can't remember a thing...," I break off to look at him closely. Why can't I remember him? I so want to.

  "...And I can't remember you either I'm afraid...," I say, getting in quickly before he can ask. "But please don't feel offended because it's nothing personal, I don't even remember me yet!"

  "A guy could get paranoid; fainting, amnesia... I guess I have that effect on women...," he smiles wistfully but inside seems serious. Then, he begins;

  "That thing about yesterday, I...," he says, looking abashed.

  My heart takes a deep-sea dive. I may not remember anything about my life, but I know the look of a man when he’s just about to dump you well enough.

  Adam views me uncomfortably, the pink tinge starting in the corner of his cheeks once more. I nod along, dejected, expecting the next few words.

  "I shouldn't have... it was...," he says.

  "A mistake?" I finish wearily. Inside me sighs. "I'm sorry too...," I lie.

  Adam's clear brown eyes beam into mine. He looks unsure, as if he was going to say something, and then thought the better of it.

  “Ah, um…,” he flusters. “…Wasn’t going to say that exactly. But what I will say is that it was wrong of me to pounce on you like that. You’re still in trauma. So, I’m sorry…,”

  His hand is laid out, across the crisp white hospital bed sheets. It stretches over, to meet mine, tantalizingly close. Just as he gets near enough to touch, he suddenly flinches.

  “I… shouldn’t take advantage. Just because I know you, doesn’t mean you know me, just yet. And anyway, for all I know, you might be married!”

  A stab of something cold goes through my core. At the base of my spine, I give a shiver. I don’t know why, but this thought chills me to the bone.

  Immediately, I scan my hands, scrutinizing them for a ring, or even any sign that a ring might have been there. There is none.

  “I… don’t know…?” I say hopelessly. Once again, I find it all crashing down on top of me. …Getting to the bottom of everything feels impossible. And nothing is coming back, nothing.

  Seeing my distress, Adam reaches over and this time does take my hand.

  “Hey…,” he says, giving it a squeeze. Instantly a surge of something red hot shoots all the way through me like a firecracker. He eyes me tenderly.

  This is so disconcerting, I am an emotional wreck, but still have the fires of hell burning below me. Damn! I want to remember who I am, just so I can take this beautiful man and pick off from where we left off!

  “There’s no need to…,” I begin, then stop, embarrassed. It just won’t do to throw myself at him like this. However, in the split second that has gone by, I find that his face has drawn closer to mine and his hot breath is on my cheek.

  We just sit there, for a moment, in silence, then, instinctively I wrap my fingers around his sculpted cheekbones, and before I know it, we are kissing, once more.

  “No…,” he says, pulling away. “I don’t want you to…”

  “It’s alright,” I assure him. “I’m not about to faint… this time…”

  He holds me securely in the frame of his arms.

  “Well…,” he says, with a sly smile. “I’ve got you tight now…”

  He burrows into the back of my neck and begins to slide his lips across the base of my neck and across to my ears. It tingles and send
s spasms of unexpected bliss radiating to my core. I am feeling kind of lightheaded, but this time in a good way – I don’t think I am about to faint.

  No, the feeling I am getting is more of an intense melt… Despite Adam’s protestations, he is still here and caressing me intently. His fingers work on my shoulder blades, which are exposed at the back of the hospital gown.

  “Quite a knot there…,” he says, running his talented fingers all around them. He manipulates my muscles in a way that makes me feel immediately relaxed, but also ready for anything. Because I have a feeling that anything might be just about to happen.

  “You’re a natural,” I say, fascinated by the machinations of his chunky fingers. “Are you a physio, or a masseur?”

  For some reason, this utterance seems to tickle him greatly. He shakes his head.

  “So, um, what do you do?” I ask. It comes out all wrong and I end up sounding like some school ma’am or someone interviewing him for a job. But if he is daunted by my question it does not show. He just smiles and says;

  “Me, I’m a gambler…,” he hesitates, before once more eyeing me for assurance, indicating that he is still unsure.

  “So, you take risks then…?” I say, charmed. “Why not take one now…? But if you’re going to wait for my memory to come back, we could both be dead first!” I laugh. But when I look, he’s not laughing back. He seems serious.

  “Come on…,” I say, gently, leading him by the hand to the inhospitable bed. It will be an experience, I think, hoping to God that nurse Ratchet doesn’t come back.

  We make love on the hospital bed, which despite the hefty price tag, is just as uncomfortable as I would expect.

  My body still aches and throbs with pangs of sudden pain, but they are soon forgotten. We are far too engrossed with pulling each other close and discovering the feel of the other’s skin on us.

  Adam’s smooth sheen caresses me like velvet. He is on top, unbuttoning the top of my hospital gown and sending thrills up and down through my spine. His hand massages my unfettered breasts, circling and delighting them with his index finger. Immediately, I feel myself getting a little wet.

  But Adam is in no mood to rush and instead, focuses in deeply on my pleasure. It’s risky, and we never know if the footsteps which pass periodically across the hallway will come in.

  All the same, it doesn’t stop us from tearing the last vestiges of each other’s clothing off, and then we are there... naked from the waist up.

  “Don’t stop,” I moan, as he gives a little kiss across my chest and down towards my nipples. He doesn’t even need to do anything now, I can feel myself about to explode already, from the touch of his fingers.

  With no control over myself, I dig my fingers in deep to his shoulder blades and burrow in hard; caressing and slavering over his soft olive smooth skin.

  His coat and upper clothing are long gone, peeled off and strewn aside; his gaping torso offering tantalizing glimpses of his jeans below.

  All this time and I have never realized the beautiful curve of his behind.

  Unable to stop myself, I dig my hands in hard and feel his silky buttocks. He kisses me back, nuzzling his way into my senses. His embrace is the push I need to send me leaping over the brim, and I climax there and then, his hot fingers on my shoulders, and his moist kiss fizzing through me.

  “Beautiful…,” he laments, as if somehow disappointed. “Please don’t, I could watch all day…”

  Until this moment, we have barely done anything more than just kiss each other, but right then, he moves in a little closer.

  I give a little nod and he begins, slowly, to unbuckle his trouser belt. I can’t wait for him to prize his skinny jeans off and immediately help him glide them back over his legs, before discarding them in a heap by the door.

  I can see him in all his glory, a firm bulge packing out the front of the grey boxer shorts he has on. It is as if it is straining, at the leash to get out.

  Unbidden, I lift up my gown and within seconds we are making full and complete love, on the hard mattress. The insatiable need for his skin on mine drives me crazy. I dive into his body like it’s an Olympic swimming pool.

  For the first time since all this started, I feel something real. A belonging, like we are meant to be together. Adam holds me tight, stroking my body and running his fingers through my hair. He brings me to the precipice of orgasm and then ramps it back up some more. By the time he is ready to climax, I am already drenched in juice, running through my legs.

  “Oh my God,” I just about murmur, as he teases me to the point of total madness. I just don’t think I can stand anymore, as a torrent of hot come rushes through me, soaking me completely.

  Every sense aches exquisitely, ratcheted up in some weird animalistic state that I never even knew existed before. As he holds me deliriously in his arms, caressing me gently and calm, my mind races, as my body collapses into pure bliss.

  “I don’t care what that nurse says, this is the best kind of bed rest…,” I mutter, as we drift off, into each other’s arms, in the dull haze of the wet fall afternoon.

  Chapter 6

  “Mr. Mulwinney…!”

  Clack, clack, clack.

  The sound of heels scraped across a polished hospital floor reach me too late. Swiftly, the door opens and without warning a harsh voice assails me.

  "Mr. Mulwinney!!"

  The expression of perfectly crafted horror on the nurse’s face should send me diving beneath the Egyptian cotton sheets to hunt for my lost dignity.

  But it doesn’t. In fact, it has the completely opposite effect. Completely unannounced, I feel a giddy laughter rising up within me, like bubbles.

  "I would thank you to reacquaint yourself with your clothing...," she hisses. I wonder who speaks like this in the 21st century.

  My eyes dart under the covers, scurrying quickly for my boxers. They aren't there.

  "I believe these items are yours," the voice says.

  I turn around and find to my horror she is holding my pants, with hands covered in surgical gloves and her nose mildly wrinkled in disgust. I don't know where to look as she deposits them into my lap.

  From below me, Aurelia erupts into convulsions that must be laughter, although she is trying to keep it in. She manages, just, to remain silent but she is powerless to prevent her body from shaking hard.

  “I… was…just…,” I say, haplessly grabbing my clothes and figuring out some way to get dressed whilst not being seen.

  “I am well aware of what you were doing, Mr. Mulwinney!”

  She stares at me with a visceral hatred emanating from her dark eyes. I get the feeling I am being issued with some mystic curse.

  “We take the welfare of our patients very seriously. I am already concerned about the amount of time you are spending with Ms. Rogers. Whilst she is my patient, I do not wish her to become stressed or excited. She is both of those things with you!” she decrees, her eyes flashing some more.

  “No need for that ma’am,” I say pulling on my pants finally and leaping up off the bed.

  I turn to Aurelia, who has calmed enough to stop the heaves of laughter and is trying her hardest to avoid the nurse’s ardent gaze.

  “So, um, I’ll be around… later this evening?” I mutter into her ear. She is sitting, huddled up on the bed, her hands about her knees.

  She gives a nod but doesn’t speak. I guess she is embarrassed. Immediately I feel a pang of guilt for putting her in this situation but also, I then feel a burst of annoyance at the way the nurse has handled that. It’s one thing for her to have a go at me, but another to do it to her.

  Retrieving my jacket, all I want to do is hold her shoulders within my arms and tell her everything is going to be alright. She looks so lost. She should be here, with me, someone who she knows – sort of – to help her make sense of everything. The last thing I want to do is to leave her here, with no one and nothing.

  Then, she turns to look at me, her keen gaze tells me tha
t she wants me too, but is just uncomfortable about saying so. I lean in deeply, to speak to her quietly and an overwhelming desire to kiss her again starts within me.

  “See you next visiting…,” I say, finally, holding her hands in mine.

  “You certainly will not!” barks the nurse. “You have been banned from this ward and if you come back, you will have to police to answer to. Not just me…!”

  Her eyes are flashing madly at mine. Man, she hates me. Just before I am about to go, I remember something. It’s the thing I should have told her right at the start. Unfurling a piece of paper from my inner pocket, I pick out the letter and deposit it softly in Aurelia’s lap.

  “It’s addressed to you – from the solicitor,” I say, “I was going to tell you before, but, um, got waylaid.”

  The nurse eyes me with suspicion. But having delivered the letter I gesture that I am done here, before heading out the door to be swallowed up by the gray, damp day.

  Chapter 7

  “Agnes Rogers, your father’s aunt. She passed away some time ago…,” says the solicitor.

  He is a young man, barely out of his twenties, but stuck in a time warp.

  His dark hair suffers from an overload of hair cream and is dragged across his head at a severe angle, which makes him look older. His pallor and watchful demeanor eat me up, as I wander about the staid office he occupies.

  “Yes, yes,” I say, impatiently. “Some relation I have never heard of has left me some cats in her will, or something…”

  I can’t help keep the amusement out of my voice. From the wording of the letter, it doesn’t sound as if it will be a big deal, although Adam seems to think otherwise. Deep down, I wonder if he knows something that I don’t, about whatever I have been left. With my luck, I can’t imagine it being anything to get excited about.

  Then, the young man gives a tentative glance and coughs nervously. Instantly, I chide myself for being so rude. He is only doing his job.

  It is now seven days after I have left the hospital and we are downtown in an insipid office block. Out of the partly opened window a stray breeze blows in, bringing with it the damp chill of the fall day beyond.