Behind The Woods: A Romantic Suspense Thriller

by Emma Vikes

  Behind The Woods

  Emma Vikes

  © Copyright 2019 - All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination. Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18.

  Interior Book Design and Typesetting by FormatNow International www.FormatNow.com

  Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  EPILOGUE

  The Story of the Amnesiac

  A Note From The Author

  A Knock From The Past (Sneak Peek)

  Description

  Chapter 1

  Also by Emma Vikes

  About The Author

  Blurb

  Jasmine Green engrosses herself in work since her little brother disappeared, a case that she still tries to figure out even after a year of his disappearance. When a severely injured man gets hospitalized under her care, the irresistible attraction that she feels for this mysterious man has blown her mind.

  The problem is, due to amnesia he has lost his memory completely. Sometimes she wonders what if his mysterious hero has a family – a wife and kids.

  But the undeniable chemistry that she shares with this Adonis is sizzling hot and she really wants to help him to unlock the big puzzle of his life – his true identity.

  Wes wakes up in a hospital not knowing who he is. All he knows is that he was beaten up to death, and a nurse found him and saved him.

  Now all he wants to know is his identity. But between figuring out who he really is and falling for this gorgeous nurse, sometimes the truth about who you are can get ugly.

  Will Wes find out who tried to kill him?

  Will he able to recall his past?

  Is there any other reason why Jasmine wants to be involved in this case?

  Join the nail-biting, adrenaline-pumping thrilling ride to unlock the puzzles with Wes and Jasmin!

  Warning: This amnesiac might not remember who he is but pleasuring a woman is his second nature.

  So be ready for the heart thumping thrills and the toe-curling love making sequences.

  “Behind the Woods” is the second book in “The Phoenix Series” of standalone contemporary romantic suspense books.

  This story offers no cheating, no cliff hangers and a guaranteed HEA.

  Chapter 1

  Jasmine

  The hustle and bustle of the hospital welcomed me the moment I walked in. There was the familiar smell of strong antiseptic mixed with the lemon scent of floor cleaner the janitors used. To someone who wasn’t used to this place, it could get overwhelming. For me, it felt like home. I had lost count long ago of the number of times I’d been in and out of this hospital.

  When I was younger, it was from my grandmother and then my mother being sick. Later, from the long nights spent here when Dad was in an accident, and then every time I had to rush Damien in because of his worsening asthma.

  This place felt more like home to me than the one I lived in. When the time came to choose a life career, becoming a nurse was the obvious choice for me.

  “Hey, Jasmine!” Ben greeted me with a bright smile. He was oddly chipper for someone who just finished a graveyard shift.

  “Hi, Ben. Here’s the coffee you asked me to grab you.” I handed him a cup of steaming Americano and waited patiently for his endorsement. The only reason I agreed on buying him coffee was because otherwise Ben would stall this entire thing if given the chance. It had happened numerous times before where Ben ended up finishing the endorsement at seven, which meant that I needed to work fast to catch up with the medications due for my patients.

  Ben thanked me and took a sip, taking his sweet time. The rest of our co-nurses told me that Ben only did this when he knew that I was going to take the shift after him because he had this huge crush on me. I wasn’t keen on that idea since dating someone you worked with didn’t sound good to me.

  “Ben, could you get on with the endorsement? I remember that we have a 6:30 medication due to Mrs. Kinsley. I don’t want Dr. Yao to get mad at me for giving it to her late.”

  He nodded and then settled the coffee on the counter, grabbing the chart and handing it to me. He told me everything that he had done, the conditions of the four patients that he handled in the past twelve hours and what I needed to check from time to time.

  “Oh, and the fourth patient is a John Doe.”

  John Doe. The name we gave to people who were as yet unidentified. In a small town like Norwynne, everyone knew everyone. To have a stranger come into town and be injured enough to be in hospital was very out of the ordinary.

  “There wasn’t any identification found on him?” I asked. “There hasn’t been any missing person report?”

  Ben shook his head as he sipped his coffee again, wincing at how hot it was. “No. We couldn’t contact the police after we got him out of surgery. That’s also one of the things that I need you to do.”

  I nodded and took note of that. “How was he found?”

  “Steven found him. He was walking his dog in the woods and he found the guy in the ravine. He was covered with dirt, had a bullet wound to the chest and head trauma. He’s been all patched up since Dr. Geller removed the bullet. It was just a few inches away from his heart. He’s a lucky guy.”

  When you’ve worked in a hospital for five years, hearing miracle stories is no longer shocking, but it was still nice to know that someone was lucky enough to survive something that bad. “What do you think happened to him?”

  Ben shrugged his shoulders and leaned closer to me. “I’m not entirely sure. He’s been shot, yes, and he must’ve hit his head from the fall. Do you think that he might be a lover of someone’s wife? The husband found out and was hell-bent on killing him, then dumped his body in another town to cover his tracks?”

  I stared at Ben in amusement and then patted his shoulder gently. “You’ve been watching too much soap opera for your own good, Ben. I’m going to go and check on John Doe and see if he needs new dextrose.”

  Ben rolled his eyes and then moved away from the counter, making his way to the small room that we leave our bags in. “It could happen. I mean, he seems like the kind of man that would entice a woman to cheat on her husband.”

  Rather than scolding him for the rude comment, I ignored it and told him that he’d better go home and grab a few hours of sleep before his next shift started. Working in the hospital sometimes took your life from you. For someone like me, I didn’t mind. I’d lost all reason to live my life the way a normal person would, anyway. There wasn’t any room for fun things and adventure anymore. Not when I had to shoulder a burden that removed any essence of happiness.

  I began my duties for the four patients I was assigned to.

  I work on the fourth floor in Norwynne General Medical Center, the local hospital here in our tiny town. I
’d lived in Norwynne my entire life. My family moved here five months before I was born since it was the town that my father grew up in. Growing up, I always imagined that I would move on to a city, establish a life there and find the love of my life. Norwynne didn’t really offer many options when it came to those aspects of life. But I’d come to a point in my life where it didn’t matter anymore. Not much mattered to me anymore, since…

  I snapped myself out of my thoughts before I veered in the wrong direction.

  My last stop for this round was John Doe. I thought about the conversation I had with Ben. It was very surprising to have an unidentified patient. Something like this could’ve made the news in Norwynne. I guess whoever did this to him could be out there, waiting to finish off the job. The last thing the police needed was the suspect tipped off about what happened to his victim. Or maybe I’d been listening to too many serial killer podcasts.

  John Doe was lying still on his bed when I entered his room. He looked pretty banged up. They must’ve had a fist fight before he was shot and thrown into the ravine. I moved closer to assess him even more. Black and blue bruises painted his face, a part of the discoloration was a swirl of purple and yellow. There was a bandage wrapped around his head but blonde hair spilled out of it, pale and striking against the white hospital pillow.

  I checked his vitals, his blood pressure and monitored the ECG machine he was hooked onto. As I carried out my duties, my eyes kept roaming over his face. He was very handsome despite how banged up he seemed to be. A strong and chiseled jaw, thin, chapped lips and tanned skin that gave him this kind of golden glow.

  If Ben’s theory was correct, I wouldn’t blame the woman who had been with him. Who could’ve said no to someone this gorgeous?

  I was checking his catheter to see if he needed a new bag when I heard him groan. The sound startled me and I stood up quickly, watching him to see if there was any more movement. His right arm moved an inch to the side, and it took another moment but he groaned again and slowly, very slowly, his eyelids fluttered open.

  Blue-green eyes stared at me and I had to stifle a gasp. It was like staring at the crystalline ocean during warm summer mornings.

  “Hello,” I greeted him meekly, my stomach fluttering at the way he stared at me. I had to hold onto the railing of his bed so I didn’t fall down. “I’m Jasmine, your attending nurse for today. I’ll call Dr. Geller and tell him you’re awake.”

  I turned around and made my way to the door when he spoke. “Wait.” I paused and slowly turned back to look at him. I saw the uncertainty in his face and, when he spoke again, I could hear the confusion seeping from his voice. “Where am I?”

  When I looked at him more closely, I could clearly see the fear painted in his eyes. I had never encountered a patient like this but according to Ben’s endorsement, this man suffered head trauma and he must’ve hit it pretty bad if he needed stitches to stop the bleeding. In this sort of case, there was a possibility of some temporary loss of memory. Still, I wasn’t a doctor.

  “You…you were in an accident. You were injured and you’re in a hospital. In Norwynne. I’ll call in Dr. Geller and he can tell you more about your situation. Are you comfortable?”

  His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He looked like a scared, caged animal. He continued to look around the room, a cautious hand touching his head where the bandage was. He winced when his hand brushed against the fabric. “What…what happened to me? How did I get into an accident?”

  He was obviously suffering from memory loss. “I’m going to get Dr. Geller, okay? He’s going to explain everything to you.” But it was like he didn’t even hear me. I don’t even think he noticed when I slipped out of the room because when I came back in, he jumped when the door swung open.

  He looked at the two of us. He stared at me a little while before turning his attention to Dr. Geller.

  “Hello,” Dr. Geller greeted him warmly as he checked the chart I handed him. “It was about time for you to wake up from your operation. How are you feeling?”

  John Doe was quiet for a while before shrugging. “Kind of sore all over, but my chest hurts more than the rest of my body. Why do I have a huge bandage on it, anyway?”

  Dr. Geller pursed his lips. “You were shot in the chest, quite close to your heart, actually. And you suffered a deep laceration to your head. One of our staff found you in a ravine, unconscious and bleeding, and rushed you here.”

  John Doe tilted his head to look at me and I quickly shook my head. “Oh no, it wasn’t me. I’m just the nurse in charge for you today.”

  Dr. Geller continued. “You hit your head on a rock and managed to tear it open. Do you remember how you got into the situation we found you in?”

  John Joe’s chest rose and fell as he breathed in and out, his expression solemn as he tried to remember what had happened to him. He slowly shook his head. “I have no idea what happened to me, doctor.”

  Dr. Geller nodded as if he understood that this would be a common reaction to the circumstances. “Now, you had no ID on you. What’s your name? Do you have any family members you would like us to contact for you?”

  John Doe frowned in confusion. When he looked up at us, I could feel the panic coming off of him. “I don’t…I don’t remember who I am.”

  Dr. Geller, remaining calm, reassured the man. “Memory loss is something to be expected considering the head injury you suffered. Most likely, your memories will return soon, after your body has had time to concentrate on healing itself. We’ll have you scheduled for an MRI, anyway. Just as a routine follow up check. The good news is, other than those two injuries and the temporary amnesia, you’re fine so you’ll be out of here within a week. If you excuse me, I have somewhere to be. Jasmine, here, will take good care of you, I’m sure.”

  Dr. Geller turned to me and said, “A quick word, Jasmine.” I followed him out into the corridor. “Schedule those scans and contact the police and tell them about his case. I’m not entirely sure if we should deem him as a good guy judging from his injuries. He might be faking the memory loss. We have to be alert on this case.”

  It made sense that Dr. Geller would be cautious about this man. Norwynne rarely ever had cases like this. We were locals in a small and quaint town where a case like this was out of the ordinary and disrupted our peace. For Dr. Geller, who had lived here longer than I’d been alive, cautiousness wasn’t a surprise.

  “Yes, Doctor.” I nodded and went back in the room to finish my duties.

  John Doe spoke again. “Do you really think my amnesia is temporary?”

  I looked right at him, seeing the panic in his eyes. Feeling bad for him, I said, “Probably. It’s not something you should worry about. Your memories should come back within a few days.”

  “What if they don’t? What am I gonna do then?”

  I placed a hand on him, wanting to make him feel better but the sudden jolt of electricity that sprang between the two of us made me pull away immediately. His eyes darkened as he looked at his hand and mine. I cleared my throat and it made him look back up to me.

  “You’re going to be fine. You’re well taken care of.”

  His lips turned upward into a small smile as he looked at me. He nodded his head slowly. “Yes. I do have a feeling that I’m going to be well taken care of. Thank you, Jasmine.”

  I almost melted when he said my name. Add the way he looked at me, the way his blue-green eyes bore into mine, and the small smile on his face – it was a combination that would catch anyone off-guard.

  Oh, dear god, this was going to be a problem.

  Chapter 2

  John Doe

  I didn’t know who I was.

  There wasn’t a single memory of my life that I remembered. I didn’t know what kind of life I led, or if there were people who were frantically looking for me. I didn’t even know my own name. I didn’t even know if there were people who cared. If there were, wouldn’t there have been a missing person’s report? Perhaps even from ano
ther city?

  I wasn’t sure how long I’d been awake for. Maybe four hours had probably passed. There was a gentle knock on the door and my insides tightened, the anticipation of seeing Jasmine again intensifying. Despite my current predicament, it felt like she was my silver lining.

  Waking up to the sight of her kind face had made everything less terrifying. She had deep brown eyes that contrasted with her long blonde hair and soft, white perfect skin. She was slender but not too skinny, with soft curves everywhere. And there was also something about her touch that seemed to jostle something inside of me. Something that I knew meant trouble for me.

  I should’ve been trying to remember my identity but Jasmine had preoccupied my mind since the moment I woke up this morning. She was like a calming, secure beacon that I was safely tethered to. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. The kind way she told me that I would be alright, that I was in good hands. The startling electricity that zinged in my veins when she touched me made me crave her touch again.

  Someone came into the room. It was the man that had given me my breakfast tray earlier. He was old and thin, frail even, but his smile was warm and kind. He put a new tray on the table and wheeled it close to me.

  “Do I have any clothes to change into?” I asked him.

  “There are clean gowns in the cabinet. Are you okay to take a bath on your own?”

  Jasmine had mentioned this when she had checked on me earlier. She had told me that if I was still too sore to take a bath, she would help me. The idea was extremely inviting. It led us into an awkward conversation that made the existing sexual tension between us even more palpable.