Chapter 7
702 Words
The first thing that Mia felt was blinding pain. Her whole head felt like someone had taken to it with a pair of steel-toed work boots. She tried to move her arms, but it was difficult; she tried to move her legs, but that also didn’t work. She couldn’t seem to get her limbs to do what she wanted them to do. She turned her head, slowly, wincing.
“Hey,” a deep voice said. “Hey, are you awake?”
Mia opened her eyes, closed them again as the light stabbed her head.
“Hey.” A hand touched hers. “Are you there?”
“Hurts.” Her voice was ragged and rough.
“Yeah, I know. I know it hurts. But you’re going to be fine.”
She opened her eyes again, squinted at the man sitting next to her. He looked vaguely familiar.
Nick met her eyes and noticed for the first time that they were an unusual color of brown – they were so light and clear, they were almost gold. He stared into them, wondering how he had missed them at the bar.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
She closed those amazing eyes again. “I remember – the club. Leanne and Vanessa and Sally… I was talking to some guy.” Her eyes flew open. “You’re the bartender.”
“Yeah. And that guy you were talking to at the club? He put something in your drink.”
She gazed at him. “He – what?”
“Yeah. Rohypnol.”
“The date r**e drug?”
Nick nodded.
Despite the pain in her head, Mia tried to sit up, panicked. “Are you saying that he – he –”
Nick got to his feet, alarmed. “No. Hey, no. I got to you in time… he didn’t get anywhere close to that.” He touched her shoulders carefully, easing her back down to the pillow, noticing how pale she was. “Just relax, OK? You had to get some stitches on your head. You need to stay down and rest.”
Mia reached up with one shaky hand and touched her head. A bandage. She squinted at the stranger next to her bed.
“So – so I don’t understand. You stopped this guy… and you stayed with me? Here?”
“Yeah.”
“Didn’t you call my friends?”
“I couldn’t. Your purse has gone missing, and nobody knows where it is. Which reminds me.” He smiled at her, and she stared at his gorgeous face, feeling fuzzy and slow. “What’s your name?”
“Ummm." She blinked, as though confounded by the question. "Mia. Mia Ferris.”
“Well, Mia Ferris. I’m Nick Spencer. It’s good to finally meet you properly.”
“I'm sorry." She shook her head, and her hair tumbled over her curved cheekbones in warm, loose waves. "I still don’t understand what’s happening here.”
“Look, I’m going to get the doctor, OK? He’ll need to check you over anyway, and he can explain everything better than an i***t bartender can. Hang tight – I’ll be right back.”
Mia watched him leave the room, and looked around. She was obviously in a hospital, but that was all she knew for sure right this second. Where were her friends? Where was the guy from the bar who did this to her?
Nick reappeared, and stood back watching as the doctor came over to Mia.
“Hi, Mia. I’m Dr. Innis.”
“Hi,” she responded automatically.
“How are you feeling?”
“Dizzy. Sick.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Ummmm.” She closed her eyes, trying to zero in on someplace specific. “My head, mostly. Also my neck and shoulder. My cheek.”
She reached up to touch her face, but Dr. Innis gently stopped her hand.
“Don’t touch, OK? The guy who drugged you punched you there. It’s not broken, but it’s going to hurt for a while.”
She stared at him, totally bewildered.
“He – he punched me?”
- Writer
