Behind The Woods

by Emma Vikes

  There were so many angles to be looked at in the situation and all could be considered possible but none of it would be confirmed if Wes couldn’t remember anything. Having the local police on his case would only mean more trouble for him.

  I finally slid my finger on the green button to answer Paul’s call. “Hello?”

  “Jasmine.” He sounded tired and groggy as if he just woke up from a good sleep. That was probably true. It was six in the morning. “I’m sure you know why I’m calling you this early.”

  I leaned against the wooden chair that I was sitting on. “I’m not entirely sure I understand you, Paul.”

  He sighed. “John Doe is missing from his room; from the hospital. I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday but I couldn’t reach your phone.”

  My phone battery died yesterday. I hadn’t checked on it until this morning. I saw his missed calls but didn’t want to call him back.

  “Cristina Gonzales says she bumped into you yesterday morning and that you were going to give John a visit.”

  I wanted to tell him that he no longer went by John now but stopped myself. I didn’t want Paul to think that I had any kind of relationship with Wes other than the nurse-patient one we had. “Yes, I did. I left shortly after I gave him some clothes. Didn’t you review the CCTV footage?”

  On the other line, I heard Paul exhale an exasperated breath. “That’s the thing, Jasmine. There isn’t any CCTV footage of yesterday. The system was hacked. We don’t know how.”

  It couldn’t possibly be Wes who had done that. He’d had no time or opportunity to hack into the security system and ruin the footage.

  Relief coursed through me. I didn’t have anything that would ruin my alibi. “Well, even if there was, you would’ve seen me leave after a while. When I left, he was still in his room.”

  Paul didn’t respond. My heart raced as the thought of someone else spotting me leave with someone in tow frightened me. Everyone had been minding their own business when we left and I had thought no one paid us that much attention. But if there was even one person who saw me with Wes, that would be the end of it. I could almost feel the cold iron of the bars that would imprison me.

  “You’re the only person he knows in Norwynne, Jasmine. He might come to you and seek help. If he does, you call me right away, understood?”

  For the second time, relief bloomed in my chest. “I’ll keep that in mind, Paul.”

  “We’re also looking for him, Jasmine. Not because he’s a wanted criminal but because he’s a missing person. We don’t know who he is. He might stir trouble in our quiet town. Have you heard about the gunshots that happened in the parking lot?”

  Another shot of fear went through me. The back window of my car was shattered. If I brought it to any shop here, they would see the broken window and know that I had helped Wes escape the hospital. My stomach dropped and I tried to calm myself down before answering. “No.”

  Paul cleared his throat. “The security guy guarding the back exit of the hospital had been tied up in his office. He had no clue who had come up and hit him from behind. When he woke up, he was tied in a chair.”

  “Do you think all of this could be linked to John’s disappearance?” I didn’t want to know the answer to that question but knew that I had to hear it.

  “We’re considering the possibility. It can’t simply be a coincidence. Or maybe John had seen that there was something going on and chose it as a chance to escape.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  “I have some things I need to look at. I’ll talk to you soon, Jasmine. Remember to call me if he comes to you.”

  I said goodbye and ended the call.

  “You look like you’ve heard the worst news possible.”

  I jumped at the sound of his voice. I hadn’t heard the door of his bedroom open. His hair was tousled under the soft light of the rising sun, turning his pale blonde hair into a light orange glow. For some reason, his blue-green eyes seemed to stand out more and despite the distance between us, I could see the hard planes of his stomach. My hands tingled at the memory of touching the dips and curves of his body, his soft groans echoing in my ear.

  Now wasn’t the time to think about that.

  “Paul just called,” I said quietly, setting my phone down on the table as Wes took a step closer, his features getting nearer and sharper. “He asked me if I went to see you yesterday.”

  “What did you say?” His voice trembled when he asked.

  I flipped my hair to the side and rested my back on the chair. “I told him the truth: that I did but that I left soon after I gave you the clothes.”

  “Is there anything that backs up that claim, or destroys it?”

  “Coincidentally, the security system had been hacked during the entire ordeal. And no one saw us coming out of your room or leaving the hospital.”

  Relief sparked in his blue-green eyes as he took a seat in front of me. “That’s great. So, we’re safe.”

  “Paul knows that there was a gunman inside the parking lot. If anyone sees that the back window of my car has been wrecked, then we’re going to have a problem.”

  He exhaled loudly and ran a hand through his hair, stress seeping out of him and radiating into me. I placed a hand on top of his. The urge to comfort him came so naturally.

  “We’re going to figure this out. We could have it repaired outside of town. My house might be near work but it’s also near the exit point of the town.”

  The silence that followed us was louder than our words. I wondered what he was thinking about, but then he flipped his hand so he could interlace it with mine. He held onto me tight, and then he looked up, his eyes bright with the same feverish desire that I’d seen last night in the bedroom. When he’d asked me to stay, when he’d told me he wanted me, when he’d said that he needed me.

  My heart soared in anticipation and the walls I tried to build up a few minutes ago began to crack all over again. The atmosphere was crackling with sexual energy - one touch was the only trigger we needed.

  I quickly removed my hand from his grip and stood up. “We should cover that today, you know? Hide the evidence quicker. Paul might give me a surprise visit. You, we can hide. The broken window of my car? Not so much.”

  I was talking so fast I sounded like a crazy person, moving around the kitchen, attempting to look for the ingredients to make us a decent breakfast. I was willing to do anything as long as it wouldn’t lead us back into each other’s arms or even within inches away from each other. After last night, after granting myself the pleasure, I had to make sure that it didn’t happen again because the situation was precarious. Wes was still a stranger to this town and a stranger to me. It could mean danger.

  But hot damn can he fuck…

  I turned on the stove and almost slammed the pan on it, drizzling it with oil and then grabbing the bacon in the fridge. I grabbed four eggs from the pantry, and then another pan, scrambled the eggs and began to finish up an omelet for the two of us. My mind was in a frenzy and I had no idea what I should be doing exactly except for distracting myself because the electricity between us was so fucking astounding, it was impossible to ignore.

  I jumped when I felt hot hands on my waist, spinning me around to meet Wes’ blue-green eyes. “Jasmine.”

  He leaned closer and flicked off the stove, pushing me against the kitchen island. I exhaled loudly, a hand on his chest ready to push him away even if my senses were going into overdrive from our close proximity. “I’m trying to make us breakfast, Wes.”

  “I have another breakfast in mind.”

  I should’ve pushed him away but when his lips met the heated skin on my neck, every rational thought I had and every excuse I came up with just flew right out of my mind. His hands slipped under my shirt, and he ran them along the curves of my body, his thumb circling my nipples tenderly. I gasped when I felt him bite my collarbone and then he stripped my shirt off of my body, leaving me naked
in my kitchen.

  His eyes were filled with dark desire that fueled mine as he kissed and sucked my skin everywhere, leaving a mark wherever his mouth went. He settled me on top of the counter and, for a moment, I wondered if he was going to fuck me with his mouth. But he pulled down his boxers and then looked at me, still asking me for my permission.

  It was the opportunity I needed to shake my head and tell him that this shouldn’t happen, that last night was a one-time thing. But I couldn’t find the voice to do it as I tilted my head back, arching my back and pushing my hips to his, saying the opposite words instead, “Have your way with me, Wes.”

  I gasped when he filled me with himself, hard, thick and rough. I used one hand to hold onto the edge of the counter while the other was on his head, pushing him to me. I crashed my mouth against his to quiet my moans of delight. When I came, my head was buried in his shoulder and the intensity made me bite him. He groaned and after a couple more thrusts; it was his turn. He quickly pulled out of me, releasing himself all over my body.

  Not that I minded. It was kind of hot.

  But damn, if we went on like this and I kept losing self-control because of him, I would fall into a hole I had dug for myself.

  I rested my head on the crook of Wes’ shoulder, trying to regain my normal breathing. Wes stood still in front of me, calming himself too. I didn’t want to look up and meet his blue-green eyes, afraid of what kind of emotion I would see in them. Despite what had happened between us, despite the natural chemistry that seemed to be there, we were still strangers.

  I stepped aside, pulling my hair into a tight ponytail as I exhaled a loud breath, my eyes searching for the shirt I was wearing before he stripped it off of me. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to respond or what I was supposed to say to him. He knew I enjoyed the sex as much as he did. I didn’t even say no to him when he gave me an opportunity to, but every time that the cloud of desire left us, rationality pummeled into me like an out of control train.

  “Jasmine?” His voice sounded raw and deep, the sound of it echoing in the pit of my stomach.

  I cleared my throat. “I should finish breakfast.”

  “But we just had breakfast.” The teasing, casual tone in his voice wasn’t helping.

  Biting my bottom lip, I looked up to him and then flashed him a tight smile. “That was exercise, Wes. We need nourishment.”

  I moved around the kitchen again and I could feel his gaze upon me. “Is there something wrong, Jasmine? Didn’t you want that to happen? Did I cross a line?”

  I stopped moving my hand on the pan and closed my eyes. Knowing that the right answer was yes, there was something wrong. But what was supposed to be wrong was the only thing that seemed right in such a long time. For a while, my world had spun on a different axis and what happened between Wes and me, no matter the cons that it could bring, re-spun my world back on track.

  “No, Wes,” I said, my voice low and quiet. “Nothing’s wrong. I just really want to make sure that we can have a nice and nourishing breakfast. Sex can’t be the only thing served this morning.”

  Chapter 6

  Wes

  Jasmine was avoiding me. Well, technically, she was avoiding the discussion of sex and that it had occurred between the two of us. She was pretending that it hadn’t, and was dancing on her tiptoes around it.

  I wanted to ask her why, especially after that heated session we just had in her kitchen. But right after she calmed herself and regained her breathing, she had finished making breakfast and we sat together and ate without speaking.

  She announced that she needed to get the window of her car done as quickly as possible in case Paul suddenly showed up. She left me a phone so I could call her in case something happened and told me not to answer the door no matter what. Then she left.

  I’d been stuck in her house for four hours and I was bored out of my mind.

  I wanted to talk to her about what happened between us, why she suddenly seemed so nonchalant about it, as if she didn’t see fireworks when she came because I sure as hell did. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she just wanted to have sex. Casual fuck buddies. Maybe I couldn’t remember anything about my life, but I understood well enough when a woman just wanted sex. To be honest, I never thought Jasmine would be the type but, well, what the hell? You could never judge the fantasies of a pretty face.

  Among other things, I wondered about the incident in the hospital. And if those guys had really been after me. Then there were my dreams and fragments of memories of a man I couldn’t recognize. My life was one big ball of tangled mess and I couldn’t sift through it to make some sense of it because I didn’t have the memory to do so. With a sigh, I leaned back against the couch and looked around the house, my eyes falling on the frames hung on the opposite side of the wall.

  I hadn’t really had the chance to look around the house. I was too rattled from the incident of leaving the hospital. And the kiss that we shared in her car - despite how great it was - only left me rattled even more and left me with more unanswered questions, especially the nonchalance I was getting from Jasmine.

  I stood and took a look at the picture, a small grin making its way on my face as I looked at a younger version of Jasmine.

  And then my eyes fell on the picture of a little baby, cradled in a white blanket. There was a solemn look on the faces of a couple who must be Jasmine’s parents, and a little girl beside them, looking at the baby with tears shining in her brown eyes. It was the only picture that wasn’t placed inside a frame and, gently, I plucked it out of where it was placed and flipped it. I saw a scribbled note in scrawny handwriting.

  Wesley James Green

  You will be loved and remembered even when you’re not here.

  Her brother must’ve died as an infant and she constantly thought about him which was why she didn’t hesitate on naming me Wes for the time being. I stared at the picture again, amazed by how a family could still love someone even in death and remember them after so many years, even if he didn’t grow up with them.

  As I lowered the picture, it made me think about myself. Did I have a family that I couldn’t remember? Were they out there looking for me?

  The last time that Paul had visited me at the hospital, after the interview, he had told me that there hadn’t been any missing person’s report. But that was two days ago and the probability that something could’ve turned up by now was there. I took Jasmine’s laptop. She had left it on the kitchen table and scribbled her password on a Post-it, telling me I could use it if I wanted to.

  I didn’t know who I was so stalking people I knew on social media wasn’t an option and so I had ignored the laptop.

  But now, I had something I wanted to know. I typed in her password and searched Google for articles for a missing person in the last month. I ended up looking through the articles that went back five months ago. I could’ve been held captive for months, a prisoner by those people who were hunting me down to kill me. I must’ve pissed them off pretty badly.

  My eyes scanned the list of names, only reading the male ones. Jonathan Lawley, Alexander Davis, Christopher Light, Julian Thorne. None of them looked like the guy reflecting back at me whenever I looked in the mirror. At least these people had someone out there searching for them, tearing the world apart looking for where they were.

  It seemed as though no one was looking for me.

  The sudden sound of someone outside Jasmine’s front door brought me back to my senses and I instantly shot upright. When the door swung open, I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. My shoulders sagged in relief when I realized it was just Jasmine. She was carrying a bag of groceries and was staring at me in wonder. I helped her with the grocery bag, trying to act all nonchalant like she had been this morning after our little session.

  She pulled something out of one of the grocery bags and tossed it to me. I caught it. “What’s this?”

  Jasmine ran a hand through her hair and sighed. She seemed tired but the tension that f
ell on her shoulders after breakfast was gone. Somehow, she looked lighter than she did when she left. She even offered me a small smile. “I couldn’t keep you here at home forever, Wes, even if I wanted to. At some point, you’re gonna want to go out. Other than the people at the hospital, no one’s seen you yet. We can’t change everything about you but we can change your hair color.”

  “Is it safe with the wound I have on my head?”

  Jasmine nodded her head and motioned for me to take a seat on the chair. “Yes. Come here, I’ll help you.”

  I sat on the chair and she got a towel from the bathroom and draped it over my shoulders. She opened the package and then prepared it for me. I didn’t see what color it was and I could only hope she chose one that would mask my features well enough. “So, the car’s fixed?”

  The liquid felt cool on my scalp as Jasmine placed it on my head. “Yes. It didn’t take long, but I drove a fare way out. Surprisingly, I bumped into someone I know.” I tensed at that comment and I felt her arm suddenly on my shoulder; a calming gesture that settled my nerves. “It was someone I used to date. He used to live here in Norwynne but ended up moving away.”

  I wasn’t sure what I should be worried about now. I didn’t want to pry. In all honesty, I was simply Jasmine’s patient that she helped escape from the hospital and had screwed twice, both times initiated by me. She cleared her throat and then I looked up to meet her warm brown eyes. “Seeing him made me realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man.”

  Her comment made me suck in a breath as she removed the gloves she was using to put the goo in my hair. There was a sparkle in her eyes that made my stomach lurch. “Really?”

  The corner of her lips twitched in a small smile as she played with the hem of my shirt. “When I left, I was trying to think of how I was going to tell you that the sex we had before breakfast would be the last time. But then I realized, there’s nothing wrong with having a casual sexual relationship.”