Then he saw himself standing at a Metro bus stop on 8th Street, waiting for the bus.
A bus?
Behind him, he heard a snap like someone stepping on dry twigs, and before he could turn to look, he immediately felt a pinprick in the back of his neck and then nothing.
JD woke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily, the memories already beginning to slide away from him, but not before recalling the murderous expression on the man’s face as he emerged out of the thick, heavy fog. That triggered another memory. Valerie also mysteriously materialized out of the fog on the same path as the shooter.
Where’d the hell she come from?
Chapter
Twenty-One
Valerie
Valerie awakened groggy and disoriented. Prying her eyes open, she squinted and looked toward the large window of her hotel room. She was surprised to see that it was dark outside. The only illumination to her room came from the tall lamp posts out in the back parking lot. Fumbling to turn on the lamp on the nightstand, then turning the small clock around, she saw that it was 9:45…in the evening.
“Damn it, I overslept,” she said, flinging the heavy comforter away and snatching up her cell phone from the nightstand, intent on calling the sanitarium. “I’ll just go to Bryland,” she said, dropping her cell phone back down before swinging her feet to the floor and sprinting into the bathroom, which was located around the corner from the nightstand.
After freshening up, Valerie caught her reflection in the large bathroom mirror. “How the hell could I’ve been so stupid and not set that alarm clock?” After quickly brushing her hair and her teeth, she scooped up her toiletries from the bathroom vanity, letting out an unladylike curse, and breathlessly rushed from the bathroom.
Her bare feet skidded to a halt when her eyes flew across the now well-lit hotel room. She screamed in surprise at the unexpected tall figure lurking by the door.
He was there. JD…Cade.
He was in her room, leaning against the door frame, watching her as if he didn’t have a care in the world. She couldn’t help but count the number of times she had seen him like that.
“Oh my God, wh-what are you doing here?” There was no disguising the hysteria in her voice at his presence. Dropping her toiletries onto the bed and moving cautiously toward him, she pinched her own forearm hard enough to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Was she?
Nope, definitely not dreaming, and she wasn’t having a vision. This was real. He was there.
Think. Say something, anything.
“Al…JD, you shouldn’t be here. You’re recovering from surgery. I was coming to see you tonight.” She hated sounding as fearful as she was.
“But honey, I came to see you, babe, and save you a trip.”
Valerie picked up a hint of sarcasm in his endearments. Running her eyes over him as he lifted himself heavily from the back of the door, she watched his lips tighten. She sensed he was in pain, and when she saw sweat trickling down his forehead, she rushed over to him.
Putting her arm around his waist so that he could lean on her, she steered him to the chair at the desk, then dashed across the room to the small refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. Untwisting the top, she hurried back and handed him the bottle. She watched him drink down a third of the bottle in one gulp. She noticed he was dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt, and sneakers. Surely, he hadn’t just walked out of Bryland?
This is bad, she thought, near panic. It was bad enough she’d lied to him about almost everything, including his name. Now, here he was in her hotel room, and if anything should happen to him—she would never forgive herself.
Needing to keep her hands busy, she ripped off a couple of paper towels from the counter of the tiny kitchenette sink and knelt in front of him. She dabbed at the sweat on his forehead. Her hand halted mid-dab when she realized he was glaring at her.
She tried to smile reassuringly, but his expression stopped her cold. Without a word, he lifted his hand and caressed her face, running his thumb along her bottom lip. Slowly raising her eyes to his, she looked into his mesmerizing eyes that she knew she could drown in if she let herself, but she steadied herself instead. “Why did you come here, JD?”
“Shouldn’t I risk my life to come see you, my beautiful fiancée?” he asked, setting the water bottle on the desk and sliding his free hand around her waist. “I missed you, honey, and we haven’t been able to be alone to…well, you know.” He pulled her closer, forcing her to drop her hands to his thighs for balance. He kissed her teasingly at first, then harder. “You have no idea how desperate I am to be with you again, baby. It’s been months, and I’m about to explode.” Reaching for her hand, he said, “Feel this, baby.”
That’s it! Drama Class 101 is over!
Valerie bolted up from his lap and backed away from him as if he’d lit a match under her, and in a very intimate way.
“What the hell? Are you crazy?” The shrillness in her own voice surprised her as she watched him stand up and gulp the rest of the water before marching toward her, his strength restored.
“But baby, I know we’ve been a conventional couple, so come on, let’s make up for lost time…right here, right now in that big, beautiful bed. It looks firm, and I remembered I like a firm mattress.” He let his eyes slide to the bed, licked his lips, and reached for her hand. “We’re about to get buck wild up in here.” He grinned, reaching down to unbuckle his belt.
“Knock it off,” Valerie screeched, slapping his hand away. His sexual innuendos and play on words weren’t funny. She wasn’t afraid of him anymore. If anything, she was insulted at his boldness and frankly pissed at him for coming there. Pulling herself up to her full height and hiking her shoulders back, she decided to put him in check. “Have a seat,” she said, extending her arm, pointing to the chair he’d vacated. He sauntered over to the bed instead, stretched out, and leaned back on one elbow. Valerie sucked her teeth. With her arms crossed under her bosom, she glared at him. She hoped her body language indicated she wasn’t in any mood for whatever thoughts were rolling around in his head. Still, she was concerned about his health.
“You’re supposed to be confined to bed and on IV medication, not coming here for…” An appropriate word suddenly escaped her, but her cheeks grew hot, and her breasts rose and fell above her crossed arms.
“For some insanely satisfying and gratifying levels of intimacy,” he supplied, grinning. “Let’s call it what it is, shall we? Let’s get the fucking started right here on this nice big bed.”
When he reached down, rubbing his hand across the wide bed then reaching for his belt buckle again, Valerie’s gasket blew. “Now look, you cut that bullshit out right now,” she said, pointing her index finger at him. “You do remember what bullshit is, don’t you?”
Lifting himself up to a sitting position, he met her eyes. “Yes, Valerie, I do remember what that is, because from the moment you walked into my room and proclaimed to be my fiancée, I believe I’ve been handed a truckload of bullshit from you, honey!”
Oh no.
Valerie regrouped and swallowed hard before walking over to him. With barely a foot of space between them, she asked, “Al, honey, wh-what does that mean?”
“Funny how that little endearment just doesn’t flow from your pretty lips, and you want to know something else? You don’t act like a loving fiancée. I don’t feel like I know you as a man would know his fiancée. But what surprises me even more, sweetheart, is the fact that I am positive that I don’t know who the hell you are. So you tell me where the bullshit is really coming from.”
Valerie summoned up a believable response. “Listen, Dr. Porter told you that things may come back to you slowly, and there will be periods of confusion, but I’m at a loss as to how to help you. But I did search for you because I was so worried about you.” Her voice grew somber when he turned away from her and walked across the room to the mirror hanging over the desk. “You have to believe me, Al.”
***
JD aka Cade
Her words faded into the background when he looked into the mirror. He squinted to see beyond the fog that appeared to hover in one spot of the mirror. It was a picture he thought he may have seen before, except it wasn’t a picture, and it wasn’t one of the countless TV dramas he’d watched at Bryland. Instead, he was seeing himself standing in the middle of a road, then seconds before the image faded, he saw Valerie come into view as two men appeared just over her shoulder. They bypassed her and came straight at him.
And here she was again, coming up behind him, about to put her hand on his shoulder.
He didn’t give her a chance. Turning abruptly, he reached for her forearm and pulled her up against him. “I don’t believe anything coming out of your mouth, and don’t you dare call me Al again because it’s not my name, is it?”
“No, your name isn’t Al,” she admitted.
“Then what is it?” He released her. But he couldn’t erase the images that had been running through his head for the past twenty-four hours. So many, he’d developed a headache trying to hold onto the images and pictures floating inside his head.
Before she could respond, her cell phone rang. After nodding she could get it, his ears perked up and listened to her speaking to someone she whispered to him was her assistant.
As she spoke into the phone with one eye on him, he realized the one thing that remained a constant for him in whatever mental journey he’d been on was her. He kept seeing her as if she’d appeared out of thin air.
He sensed she was involved with what happened to him, and he was tired of playing games with her. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now. After giving her room a once-over when he’d arrived while she was in the bathroom, it looked like he had gotten there in good time. When he’d spied her travel bag lying on the bed, he was positive she’d packed to leave tonight.
As she talked on the telephone, she held up a finger to indicate she needed another minute, then proceeded to write on the notepad on the desk. He paced the floor, replaying how he had come to be there, in her hotel room.
It had actually been easier than he’d thought.
After she didn’t show up for visiting hours or call him on the phone as she’d been doing, he bided his time until visiting hours were over. Once the nurses’ last shift change occurred, he pretended to already be asleep during the incoming nurse’s routine bed check—thus avoiding the dreaded mind-numbing sleeping pill. He’d already spent his dinner hour staring out the window, devising a plan to turn the tables on his beloved, but the first order of business was getting out of Bryland.
He’d donned a pair of orderly scrubs he’d confiscated from the staff locker room near the solarium. He’d then made his way to the closed administrative offices located on the second floor. He’d crept into Dr. Porter’s outer office, where he hid in the coat closet until the janitor finished cleaning the doctor’s office and left. He knew exactly what he’d been looking for…his medical records, which were on the computer.
Armed with Travis’ login and password, which he had memorized, he was able to access his records. He then began searching for a piece of information that Valerie had omitted telling him…where she was staying in town. Also, Valerie had been evasive about telling him her last name, and it wasn’t something he’d thought to ask. When he’d checked the visitor sign-in log, he realized she tried to disguise her last name instead of omitting it since she would have shown ID when she checked in. After a few keystrokes, he figured out her full name—Valerie Myers—and where she was staying.
He’d felt comfortable hacking into Dr. Porter’s computer, he realized. Hell, he’d thought it was too easy. But somehow his brain and fingers automatically knew exactly what to do.
Am I a hacker?
After finding the name of Valerie’s hotel, he left Dr. Porter’s office and worked on a plan to get into town. Thankfully, he recalled overhearing the volunteer candy striper, Jackie, telling a couple of the nurses that she was going into town after her shift to pick up more supplies for her arts and crafts workshop planned for the following day.
Returning to his room, he’d fashioned a life-size body form with his pillows, then covered them with his blanket to throw off the night nurse who might pop her head back in to check on him. He knew she wouldn’t come in to disturb him if she thought he was sleeping peacefully. He already had jeans and a t-shirt courtesy of Travis but realized he needed a jacket to go out in the chilly weather. He slipped down the back stairwell and to the janitor’s locker room. Inside he found a heavy flannel button-down shirt, slipped it on, and using a swipe card hanging inside the locker room, he’d quickly been able to exit out to the employees’ parking lot located in the back of the building.
Spotting Jackie’s old model compact, he was prepared to pop the door lock, but to his surprise, it wasn’t locked. Afterward, he’d slithered onto the cramped back floor.
He did feel bad for hiding in the back of Jackie’s cluttered compact. But had she not talked incessantly on her cell phone for the entire drive into town, that was after tossing her heavy purse into the back seat and down on top of his head, he would have spoken up. Instead, he had to endure her entire conversation where she’d droned on and on about how fine and sexy Travis was.
Yeah, right.
When she arrived in town and brought the car to a jarring, teeth-grinding stop and reached for her purse, she immediately froze when her hand touched his.
“Jesus,” she shrieked. She quickly snatched her had back and scrambled to throw open her creaky driver’s side door. Before she threw herself out onto the sidewalk, he’d been finally able to unbend his body.
“Jackie, it’s me, JD,” he’d said. She recognized him. Only then did he dare to stretch out his six-foot frame as much as he could on her cluttered backseat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“Oh God, were you eavesdropping on my conversation, JD? Oh my God!”
“No, honest,” he said. She looked ready to beat the daylights out of him. “Your bag prevented me from hearing anything but mumbling.” Then after chastising him for leaving the sanitarium and threatening to turn the car around and take him back, he had to do some fast talking, but first, he had to get out of that car.
Standing on the sidewalk with her fanning her face and him with his chest heaving trying to gulp in air, he felt horrible for frightening her so badly. But he really did think she was more embarrassed that he might have heard her professing how sexy Travis was.
Yeah, right.
“JD, what are you doing in the back seat of my car? You nearly gave me a heart attack. If I’d dug my hand into my purse, you would’ve gotten lit up with a face full of pepper spray.”
“Hmmm, not the same as getting shot if you’d had a gun, but I would’ve deserved it,” he’d said and tried to look contrite. He patted her hand until her scowl vanished.
JD decided to appeal to her romantic side, and he knew she had one because she was always giving him the details of the romance novels she’d read before passing them on to the patients. He still had the one she had given him. Pleading with her not to rat him out, JD hinted that it had been months since he had been with a woman and was desperate to be with his fiancée. Continuing his plea, he went on to tell her how heartbroken he’d been because Valerie hadn’t returned to see him and feared he wouldn’t see her again because she had to leave to return to her job.
He knew Jackie was privy to the hospital grapevine. She was aware of his sad situation, and gradually, he could see her relenting as he tugged on her heartstrings. Talking faster and looking as pitiful as he could manage, JD explained how awful it’d been that he couldn’t really be with his fiancée because they were constantly watched or interrupted. When her eyes softened, and she smiled, he smiled too—and he knew he had her.
With her fit of giggles and swatting at him playfully, she told him that she had seen his fiancée’s car parked at the Clover Hotel. It was one of
the classier hotels in town, she added. When she asked if he knew her room number, JD shook his head.
“Awww…well, Parker, the night desk clerk there, he has a crush on me. He’ll tell me anything I want to know if I let him sneak a peek down my uniform top.”
When she giggled, JD gawked at her as if she’d grown two heads. “Okay, so you want me to go in there and kick his ass for doing that shit. Done,” he’d said, walking away until she grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Huh? What? No, JD. I like him, too. I’ll get your fiancée’s room number, but you’ll have to slip in low so he can’t see you over the counter. I’ll drop you an extra room key card. Sometimes they work, but hey, just whisper at your fiancée’s door. Now, get back in the car. The hotel is about eight blocks up this road.”
When she’d offered to pick him up in an hour, he’d told her that he was going to need much longer than an hour, adding they had to make up for the months they’d been apart. He also told Jackie that he would have Valerie bring him back to Bryland.
Pulling up to the curb, Jackie pointed out Valerie’s rental car in the parking lot. When they exited the car and she rounded the hood, she’d pulled him aside and asked if he had protection. He shook his head no. “Damn, I forgot.”
“No worries,” she said, digging into her purse excitedly.
“Um, Jackie, I don’t think pepper spray is the best protection for what I’m aiming for,” he’d said and was rewarded by her infectious giggle.
While he’d waited for Jackie to approach Parker, the nerdy-looking desk clerk checking out a hotel guest, JD had given Valerie’s rental car a side-eyed glance before sprinting over to it.
***
JD aka Cade
“JD, please say something. Are you all right?”
Hearing Valerie call him the name he’d come to accept for the past few months brought his mind back to the present. She had finished with her telephone call and now watched him with cautious eyes. With her concern for him, he hated thinking what was so obvious now: that she knew how and why he been shot and left for dead.
Finding Cade (Dream Catcher Series Book 1) Page 18
