When the door opened, JD turned and watched Nurse Nancy approach the side of the bed. As was her routine, she checked his chart. He waited for her to comment about his food tray.
Sure enough, with her lips tightly pursed together, she glanced meaningfully from his dinner tray to him. She commented that he hadn’t touched his carton of milk. She jotted that down in his chart before lifting her sharp, brown eyes to his face.
“I know, Miss Nancy, you’re about to give me a piece of your mind,” he said, sitting up.
“All right, it’s essential for you to have vitamin D in your diet. Now, why didn’t you drink your milk this time?”
“I didn’t want it,” he mumbled, hoping she wouldn’t give him another speech about the benefits of drinking milk. When she passed him a paper cup containing a single pill, he took it along with the small cup of water. He returned the empty cup to her.
“Miss Nancy, I believe you about the whole milk thing, and it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s that I’m lactose intolerant,” he said, laying his head back against the pillow and closing his eyes.
“How do you know that?”
“Know what?” He covered a yawn with his hand.
“You said you were lactose intolerant. How do you know that, JD?”
He rubbed a hand across his flat stomach, and his mouth fell open as a blip of a memory pressed through the recesses of his mind. He vaguely recalled drinking a strawberry milkshake. He believed he enjoyed it, but the consequences were enough to stay in his subconscious mind for him to know it was something he didn’t want to repeat. Slowing opening his eyes, he smiled. “Trust me, I think I’m right about this one.”
Nancy patted his shoulder. “Good. It’s starting to come back—bits and pieces, just take your time. I’ll go let the doctor know.” She hurried to the door but stopped to tell him that she would update his food chart to indicate he should only receive lactose-free dairy items.
“Okay,” he mumbled, watching her leave, and for the first time since he had awakened, he felt encouraged. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep holding onto that snippet of memory. He could almost taste the sweetness of the strawberries in that milkshake. “It was so good, and later, I was sick as a dog.” He smiled as sleep claimed him.
Chapter Fifteen
Valerie
“JD, where are you?”
Valerie found herself in a maze of identical corridors where one led right into another one. There were no markers or signs to differentiate or identify where she was. She lost her sense of direction and started pushing open doors to find a way out. As she was about to open another door, she stopped and smiled when she heard her name again.
“Valerie.”
She spun around and saw him standing nonchalantly against a door. She wasn’t going to pretend she wasn’t happy to see him, so she rushed over to him, stopping short of throwing her arms around his neck. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi yourself,” he said, pushing away from the door and running a hand down her right arm until he captured her hand in his. Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed it. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me too,” she managed to say when he leaned forward and kissed her cheek, only to linger there until he began kissing the side of her neck. When he did, Valerie turned her head toward the warmth of his face. His lips quickly swooped down on hers.
Delighted to see him and the effect this level of intimacy was having on her, it didn’t immediately register that he sported a fair amount of stubble on his face, something she’d found sexy and gave him a badass look. His hair was also much shorter, barely there. He looked good. He felt good, stronger, and healthier, and she was happy to see him.
Hesitantly, she reached up and slid her arms further around his shoulders. His body appeared harder and solid, more defined than it had before, as were the thighs he pressed so intimately against hers when his arms cocooned her in a warm and inviting embrace.
I know this is just a trance, but I’m going to enjoy it anyway.
She broke off the kiss and dropped her head to his shoulder.
They remained that way for such a long time, neither speaking until Valerie lifted her head and her eyes shifted just above his right shoulder to the nameplate attached to the wall outside the door.
John Doe No. 6.
She stepped back a fraction. She took a good look at him again. There was something different about him, not just his appearance. He was stronger, more alert, and sexier. As seconds ticked by, he simply gazed into her eyes.
“What’s your name?” she asked, hoping not to break the magical connection between them.
Holding her hand, he turned and pointed to the nameplate outside the door before gently tugging her hand, encouraging her to walk down the hall with him to another door. She let him lead her into the room.
It was a small linen closet with white cabinets filled with linens and pillows. When he turned to embrace her, Valerie let him. He whispered that he had thought about her and was afraid he wouldn’t see her again. She melted against him as the sincerity of his words hit her.
“Hey, I remember your name is Valerie, right?”
“Right.”
“Valerie, where are we and how do I get out of here?”
He was seeking answers, so she told him that they were in a place beyond dreams and out of shadows. That their connection defied the logic of what most people thought of as normal. How could she explain her gift that allowed them to touch and communicate in this intermediate space unseen, unheard, and undetected by others when she couldn’t understand it herself?
Should she reveal what she suspected really happened to him? That after being shot, he probably died and that the event had been so traumatic and sudden that his mind, his consciousness or spirit couldn’t let go? That he was clinging to something that was no longer available to him? Sadly, that he was very likely in a transitional state and could disappear from her life forever if he knew and accepted the truth?
No, I can’t tell him any of that yet.
Selfishly, she didn’t want to divulge too much information because she wanted him to stay in her life—even in this transient limbo existence. But he looked so forlorn, so lost and confused, that she knew she had to tell him something to give him some peace. Taking a deep breath, she looked into his eyes—those beautiful, soulful, pain-filled eyes, and began.
“I have this gift where I can connect with people who may be…lost.” She searched his face, trying to gauge his reaction. He had none. “I feel there’s a bond that keeps drawing us together, and I feel it’s essential that I find you and help you.”
“Really.”
“I know it sounds strange, but things are happening to me that have never happened before.” Valerie knew she was rambling, but she couldn’t stop herself. It was as if the floodgates had opened. It also didn’t help that he was holding her hand, caressing her fingers, and steadily drawing her closer to him. “I’ve been trying to make sense of why I’m able to touch and feel you, like now. You understand what I’m saying?” He shook his head, then ran his finger across her bottom lip. Valerie bit down lightly on his finger and smiled when he poked out his bottom lip in fake hurt.
So adorable.
“You felt that?”
“Yes, and once again, it hurts.”
“Whatever is happening between us has somehow become a part of my life, both here in this space and in the reality that I know for a fact is my life…that life is not in this space.”
She watched his expression as if he was processing her words. He didn’t say anything, and she realized she was holding her breath. In that quiet moment, she caught herself studying him. This healthier and more defined JD sported a six pack, and his chocolate brown eyes that sparkled with a sexy mischievousness surely had been a detriment of any woman’s willpower.
He closed the space that had been between them and brushed his lips over hers. That’s all it took, and her body softened, tingled, and molded into hi
s.
Damn.
He traced her jaw line with his lips and gently tugged on her earlobe, his warm breath tickling her ear. She couldn’t help but respond to him. The warmth of his breath and feather-light lips sent a ripple of sensuous heat right down into the pit of her stomach…and then he spoke.
“Being here in this place, whatever is happening doesn’t make any sense to me. But you make whatever this is sensible, and you’re real to me, Valerie.”
Struggling to remain focused, his softly whispered words weren’t what she expected him to say. She didn’t think he understood that she’d meant that he’d died and that she was there only to help him release his spirit and move on. But how could she tell him that when he felt so alive and so male? Tears began welling up in her eyes because she knew in her heart that she had developed seriously inappropriate feelings for this man—a man who could never exist in her world again.
All of Aunt Ruby’s warnings about consequences for disobeying the rules finally slammed home and washed over her like a cold shower. Those rules were for people like her, and she’d blatantly ignored them. Now she had to deal with the enormity of her disregard for not respecting why those warnings existed in the first place.
She had to let him go, and she had to find a way for him to let go as well. It had to be now because she wasn’t helping him by keeping him in limbo, and his whispered words resounded in her mind. He was most likely in limbo because of her. How could she have been so selfish?
She pushed away from him, resolve strengthening her decision to put as much physical and emotional distance between them as possible. “I…we can’t do this anymore, JD.”
He backed her into a rack piled high with fluffy white sheets and towels and lifted a hand to cup cheeks before whispering against her lips, “No more of this, you mean?”
Valerie could only murmur a defeated response when his lips descended on hers. Her unshed tears retreated and caused a painful ache in the back of her throat. His lips were persuasive and gentle as his strong hands caressed her face and glided down her back to the swell of her derriere. She savored every moment of kissing him and took delight when her hands caressed the solid core of his stomach beneath his t-shirt. When he deepened the kiss, devouring her and rousing her passion, her hands moved on their own accord until she felt scarring.
JD tilted his head as if hearing something before releasing her. “I have to go now.” His smile was sad as he gave her one last kiss before turning and walking out of the linen closet.
Besieged with a multitude of emotions and sexual heat flooding her, it took Valerie several minutes to collect herself…better now that he was out of her immediate proximity. She gulped in air as if that would help her calm down and think rationally again.
Intent on following him, Valerie smoothed out her clothes, but just as she was about to leave, the linen closet suddenly opened, and an orderly walked in pushing an empty rolling cart. Remaining completely still, she watched the older gentleman man quickly fill his cart with clean linens.
Unfortunately, the orderly didn’t immediately leave after he’d filled his cart. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and pressed several keys. Valerie decided to leave but had to squeeze between the man and his cart. Standing in the opened doorway to get her bearings to get back to JD’s room, she inadvertently pushed the door to the linen closet closed behind her…and halted.
The door slammed shut with a thud.
Damn.
She’d forgotten her ability to touch and move things while in a trance. Spinning on her heels, she stared at the closed door, guessing what was about to happen, and it did.
The orderly slowly opened the door with wide, spooked eyes that panned the corridor.
When JD’s voice, rather his strangled cry, filled the hallway, Valerie didn’t waste time thinking about the orderly and raced down the endless corridors that appeared to multiply. This wasn’t the case when he’d walked her from the room of John Doe No. 6. Undeterred, she stopped short and went perfectly still, closed her eyes, and cleared her mind.
JD, where are you?
She was relying on their uncanny connection for him to guide her to where she needed to go next. Seconds ticked by until that brass plaque flashed in her mind, and she turned to her left and opened her eyes to see a familiar-looking hallway.
Passing several doors, her heart thudded and raced as fast as her feet pounded against the marble tile flooring. The butterflies came to life in her stomach, signaling she was nervous. Why would she be nervous now? Reaching a door slightly ajar, she raised her hand slowly and gave the door a slight push until it opened wider.
She spotted what appeared to be a male lying on the bed with his back to the door.
She stood in the doorway, not wanting to disturb the patient, but felt compelled to go inside. Quietly stepping inside, she saw several monitors that beeped as they monitored his vital functions. She walked steadily toward the bed, and the patient must have sensed someone had entered the room. He turned over.
He looked directly at her, obviously expecting a doctor or nurse, but he looked surprised. “Hello,” he said, struggling to sit. “W-who are you?”
Valerie froze on the spot, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Transfixed, she could only stare into the face she would know anywhere.
“It’s…you,” she murmured. Confusion then slow recognition swept over his face.
“I know you, don’t I?” he asked.
Finding her tongue, Valerie swallowed hard and inched closer to his bedside so that he could see her face more clearly in the lighting nearer his bed. “It-it’s me, JD…Valerie.”
He sat up straighter. “Valerie?” Frowning, he repeated her name before pushing himself up and dropping his feet to the floor. He stood up awkwardly and took a tentative step toward her. “Do you know me?”
Valerie didn’t miss how his eyes searched her face, and she took a step back. She didn’t want to agitate or confuse him any further. “Yes, well, we sort of know each other. We met on a road one night…one really foggy night,” she murmured.
***
JD aka Cade
Squeezing his eyes shut, his face contorted as if in pain. He stumbled backward, toppling the food tray containing his uneaten meal and sending it crashing to the floor.
JD didn’t know what was happening to him, but he couldn’t ignore the wave of pain that slammed through his chest, causing his entire body to convulse. The monitors immediately began blaring and beeping and flashing, their warning alarms reverberating off the walls. He’d managed to lower himself to the floor while grabbing at the bed rail for support and then struggled to get up amidst the contents that had fallen to the floor.
A new surge of pain flooded through him, but he ignored it. His focus remained on the woman who said she knew him. When his vision blurred, a powerful memory slammed into his brain, forcing him to breathe through the pain like the doctors taught him. It was then that he realized that he did know her. Yes, he did remember a lone road one foggy night. In an instant, he remembered seeing her…seconds after his chest exploded.
***
Valerie
Dear Lord, what have I done?
Unable to move her feet, Valerie stood wide-eyed with her hands covering her mouth, watching as different emotions played across JD’s face. She feared she had pushed him too far. She wanted to go to him, to console him, to explain.
Feeling helpless and on the verge of tears, she backed away from him, relieved to hear the pounding of rubber-soled shoes thundering down the hallway toward them. In the next instant, several doctors and nurses rushed into the room and, as if choreographed, lifted him off the floor and put him back into the bed. One nurse turned off the alarms on the monitors while another pushed the overturned tray and spilled food out of the way. The trained medical staff maneuvered around the patient issuing orders, attending to him, and taking his vitals.
A matronly nurse began attending him and at the instruction of on
e of the attending physicians administered a sedative to calm him. She spoke soothingly as she bathed his sweating brow, then patted his hand.
An orderly came in and cleaned up the spilled mess.
Following several tense moments, the doctors and nurses looked on anxiously as the patient was stabilized. Valerie crept closer to the bed. The monitors were once again humming their rhythmic beep-beep-beep, and now assured, the medical attendants let out a collective sigh as they left the room.
Only the matronly nurse remained behind recording in the patient’s chart and rechecking monitors. She spoke to the patient, who’d obviously been fighting the sedative and had begun mumbling incoherently. “What is it, dear?” she asked.
His eyes fluttered opened, and he struggled to make his words understood. “Sh-she knows w-who I am.” He turned and pointed a trembling hand toward the door.
The nurse turned around and, not seeing anyone, encouraged him to rest. “Honey, there’s no one there. Now, close your eyes and sleep. You gave all of us quite a scare.” She tried to soothe him, but he was insistent.
“No…s-she’s right t-there…Valerie, tell her who I am…Valerie.” His voice finally faded as he succumbed to the sedative.
Valerie backed up to the spot behind the door. Feeling horrified, guilty, and remorseful, she could do nothing more than watch him as he slept. She understood what the doctor said when he’d murmured it was “touch and go” at this point.
JD almost died…he could have died before she even got to know him or really talk to him in the real world. She knew she should leave. It was best for him if she did, but she just couldn’t make herself leave.
You’ve done enough for the day.
Finding Cade (Dream Catcher Series Book 1) Page 13
