“You weren’t kidding when you told me how beautiful she is.”
I laughed, nudging Hugh gently with my elbow. I didn’t miss the fierce glare Sarah shot at Ben. A pain severed my chest, but coughing, I slapped a smile on my face and turned back to Hugh. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr Barnstable.”
“Please, call me Hugh.” He was a typical elder gentleman, his white bushy eyebrows the only hair left on his head and his round body making me see him as a jolly grandfather.
Gesturing for me to sit, Hugh pushed my chair in under me and took the seat beside me. I didn’t fail to miss how Ben and Sarah sat closely at the other side of the square table.
“So, tell me,” Hugh spoke with an enthusiastic voice. “What do you do, Kloe?”
Thanking the waiter when he placed my drink in front of me, I took a large gulp before answering. “I’m a therapist.”
His eyes widened. “Really? In what forte?”
“Post-stress rehabilitation.”
He nodded, giving me more smiles. Usually Ben’s business dinners focussed around his work as a lawyer, and it was refreshing to be included. I liked Hugh instantly. I did notice, too, how his angry glare kept cutting to Ben and Sarah who were engrossed in their own private discussion. Sarah’s frequent giggle made my skin crawl.
“I would garner that a very hard but productive job, Mrs Grant.”
“Please, call me Kloe. And yes, it’s thoroughly hard work, but so worthwhile. To see a once withdrawn and frightened client finally make a home and a family, for them to be able to smile every morning, it then becomes the best job in the world.”
Hugh took a sip of his brandy after giving me the biggest smile. “Are you aware of the man who has been found after twenty-one years?”
Taking another drink, I gave him a nod. “It’s hard not to, really. He’s a popular subject with the media right now.”
“So, is that the kind of client you work with?”
It was nice that Hugh was interested in my work. Ben and I didn’t really talk much about our jobs. We’d both come to the conclusion that neither of us had an inkling what the other was on about. But sometimes it would just be nice to curl up after a hard day and vent to each other.
The evening followed much the same, Hugh and I talking about everything in general, and Ben and Sarah lost in their own little world. Hugh looked ready to launch for Sarah by the end, a bit like me, really. Her never-ending fits of flirty giggles with my husband had given me a damn hernia after all the muscle tension.
“Well, it was lovely to meet you.” Hugh reached in and gave my cheek a lingering kiss. “Please don’t act the fool, Kloe,” he whispered in my ear before he pulled away.
I blinked back the tears and gave him a nod.
“And I hope we can catch up soon.” He handed me his card which I slipped into my bag.
“Me too,” I told him honestly when he gave my hand a soft squeeze.
After dropping Sarah off at her ‘condo’ as she stupidly referred to it, Ben was quiet on the way home. I guessed he was angry that I had turned up an hour late. Oops.
Shutting the front door behind me, I followed him into the kitchen. His back was to me as he fixed a drink. “You want one?”
My heartbeat had been rampant with rage all night after my husband and his secretary’s behaviour. But, right then, as I looked at my husband’s strong back, a back I had embedded my nails into, a back I had stroked soothingly when his mother died, a back that had carried me, laughing, across the beach on our honeymoon, the furious rhythm of my heart slowed and acceptance curled around me.
“How long have you been screwing Sarah?”
He tensed but didn’t turn around.
Stumbling, I sat at the kitchen table. “You at least owe me honesty, Ben. How long?”
Finally, he turned around. His eyes were rimmed with tears and remorse but he still didn’t meet my stare. “I’m so sorry, Kloe.”
I nodded. My throat hurt and I forced myself to swallow. “Sorry for lying, or sorry for screwing your secretary?”
Wincing, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the counter. “Both.”
“Both, huh?”
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel. I wasn’t sure if I felt anything right then. Other than nausea.
“So you’ve been fucking her at work, and then coming home and fucking me as well.”
Again, he flinched.
Laughter burst from me, a hysterical cackle that finally made Ben look at me.
“What a stud! Eh? Christ, I’m surprised your dick hasn’t fallen off!”
He stood his ground when I shot up and advanced on him.
“So tell me, how long?”
“I don’t know. Once or twice.”
“You don’t know?” I stared at him in shock. “You don’t know! Jesus, Ben.”
His throat bobbed up and down when I slapped him in the chest.
“And the baby?” I asked with pure hatred. “Why the fuck were we trying for a baby when you’ve been fucking that… that slag behind my back?”
“Kloe,” he whispered. “Please.”
Holding up my hands, I gulped at the grief trying to free itself. “Oh, I’m sorry, shouldn’t I refer to her as a slag?”
“That’s not…”
“Fuck you,” I hissed. “FUCK YOU!”
He didn’t follow me. Then again, I didn’t expect him to. I knew he’d be on the phone to his fucking bit on the side.
Well, fuck him. And her. Fuck them both.
BETTY CAST A QUICK GLANCE my way as I sat in the corner chair filling in paperwork. Judd was still asleep but I’d visited every day for the past eight days. They were planning on bringing him out of sedation today and I wanted to be there.
“Has he even apologised?”
I huffed out a breath. “Only around six hundred times via messenger.”
Her mouth fell open before her jaw clamped shut and her eyes flared with rage. “Via messenger? What the hell? Coward!”
I nodded, agreeing with her as I yawned and stretched my tired neck on my heavy shoulders. “Yeah.”
“You’re more than welcome to stop at mine, Kloe.”
Shaking my head, I smiled. “Thank you, but I have to find my own place. I can’t stay at Claire’s forever.” Claire was my best friend. She lived with her partner, Helen, in a one-bedroom flat. Apart from the long commute to work every morning, my back couldn’t withstand another night on her lumpy sofa. “I have a house viewing tomorrow.”
“Ben should move out,” she growled angrily. I loved her loyalty.
“I’m not sure I want to stay there, Betty. I just know they’ve… done it in my bed and I don’t think I could stand …”
She nodded solemnly, her eyes lowering from my gaze when her cheeks reddened with her temper. “I just don’t want you to be alone.”
“I won’t be alone. Dave is coming with me.” Dave was my five-year-old bit-of-every-breed dog. He was more loyal to me than my husband, apparently.
Betty chuckled and we both turned to the door when Dr Krum walked in flanked by two men who looked like they’d be more comfortable in the middle of a boxing ring.
“We ready for this?” he asked as he looked to Betty then me.
“As I’ll ever be,” I answered as Betty nodded.
“We’ll have to restrain the patient.” My teeth clenched. His name was Judd! “For the safety of ourselves and him.”
He was so matter-of-fact, so detached from seeing so many patients that I had to stop myself from shouting at the emotionless man.
Altering the medication that was being filtered through a tube to Judd, Dr Krum also administered another drug. “It will probably take around thirty minutes before he wakes.” His German accent was actually quite soothing and I found myself staring at him. I’d never had dealings with him before. Hilary, the usual doctor, was on annual leave.
I could admit to myself that I was nervous as my gaze moved to
Judd. In a way I didn’t want him to wake, the peace he found in his sleep probably the most beneficial rest he’d had in years. Yet I was also eager to find out who he was, to see the emotion behind his eyes, to hear the way he spoke – if he spoke. I wanted to help him talk about whatever he needed to talk about, whether it be his life or the damn weather. I was the sponge for his emotions, his words and his pain, and I was more than willing to soak them up for him and help him work out each and every one.
I sat in the chair in the shadowed corner as, slowly, Judd Asher opened his eyes in his whole new world. His new life.
He was angry, and he had every right to be. The way he screamed and thrashed as Dr Krum’s restraints did their job made my belly tighten. Despite his thin frame he was strong, his anger fuelling his rage to free himself.
“Judd!” Dr Krum attempted to soothe him many times, saying his name over and over. “Let us help you, Judd.”
Silently I shook my head. It was quite saddening to realise just how stupid some professionals really were.
Judd continued to jerk on the bed, his legs kicking as he tried in vain to rip himself from that which held him down. He didn’t say any specific words, just screamed with rage, and, undoubtedly, fear. I knew the cuffs were essential, but I loathed that he’d been restrained all his life, and finally he’d left it behind to find himself tied up once again.
The horror on Dr Krum’s face when he realised nothing he was doing was calming his ‘patient’ finally had me standing and showing myself to Judd.
Judd stiffened and his blazing green eyes slowly turned my way.
“Hello.” My voice was soft, quiet. “I’m Kloe.”
He continued to stare at me with a force that physically crushed me. There was something feral behind those amazing eyes, something fevered and hot, but at the same time, inquisitive, curious of me.
“What’s your name?” I asked, keeping my tone gentle and as soothing as I possibly could.
Dr Krum frowned at me as if I was stupid.
Judd reared back slightly and licked his dry lips. His gaze pierced right through me, into me, and I allowed him to see me, every single part of me. In that instant I was more open with this stranger than I was my own husband.
“Anderson.” His voice was rough and gravelly, timid but daring as he refused to lower his eyes from me.
I rewarded him with a smile. “Hello, Anderson.”
The room was silent and I held up my hand to the doctor when he made to move too quickly. Bloody fool!
Judd – or now Anderson – growled at him like a wild animal, his teeth bared in warning before he spat at Dr Krum, the globule of phlegm hitting him right in the eye. I bit into my cheek to hold back the bark of laughter.
“Jesus! He’s a savage!” he hissed, angering me when I saw the recognition of his words hit Anderson.
“Get out!” I ordered both him and his minions when they shot towards Anderson, and as the men held down his legs, Dr Krum stabbed a syringe into Anderson’s upper arm.
Instantly, he sagged back onto the bed.
“You’re out of line!” I shouted. “How dare you treat him that way?”
His eyes widened on me. “And you, Ms Grant, are way out of your depth. He needs putting down!”
Betty gasped.
I had to grab onto the table to stop myself from propelling my fist at the ignorant prick. “You ever talk about Anderson that way again and I will wipe the floor with you and your ignorance.”
Dr Krum quirked an eyebrow at me, mocking me. “Of course you will.” He sniggered, his lip curling at me before he walked out of the room.
One of the men who had held down Anderson gave me a guilty smile and had the decency to apologise.
“What an ass!” Betty seethed after the door closed and we were once again alone with Anderson.
“I’m sure they have to pass a test on insensitivity to become a doctor,” I fumed as I stood beside a sleeping Anderson and tidied up the loose hair that had fallen out of the band I’d put it in after washing it that morning.
“So.” Betty smiled at me. “Anderson, huh?”
I nodded, looking into the peaceful face of a scared and turbulent man. “I think it rather suits him.”
“You think that’s the name his captors gave him?”
I nodded. “Yeah. He won’t remember Judd, or his life before.”
Sadness consumed me like never before. My bones shivered as I remembered the stern stare of those hypnotic green eyes, the way they had locked onto me and held me hostage. This man spoke with his eyes, his emotions presented themselves through the shimmering heat of his stare, and all the pain, all the suffering, all the fear and the dread glared at me with both a hunger for help and a caution to stay away.
But I wouldn’t stay away. Even if it wasn’t my job I don’t think I could have walked away and forgotten about Anderson.
He was buried inside me. He’d climbed inside me with that stare and embedded himself into my soul.
I just prayed my soul was strong enough to carry the both of us through what was to come.
“JESUS, KLOE.” JAMES SCOWLED AT me from where he sat perched on the edge of his desk. “He’s a main consultant. You can’t speak to him that way.”
“You.” I pointed to James, my temper on the edge right beside his. “You’re my boss, not him. I don’t work for Krum. And thank God for that. The man is incompetent! He shouldn’t be working with sensitive patients. He shouldn’t even be working with animals. He’d have them all put down.”
James sighed, rubbing his temples at my stubbornness. “You need to tread carefully. The health authority is keeping a close eye on this. It’s a high-profile case, Kloe, you should know that. And everything you do or say will be recorded and documented. Not to mention how influential Dr Krum is.”
“Influential? To who? The Gestapo?”
Shooting me another glare, he clicked his tongue in frustration. “All I’m saying is please just be careful, at least until Asher is transferred to Seven Oaks.”
“And when will that be? I can’t help him if he’s sedated continuously because that man can’t be bothered. He’d rather keep him anaesthetised to save himself some effort!”
“Look, Kloe, I know things are awkward at home at the…”
“My personal life has nothing to do with my dislike for Krum, James! The man is an arsehole!”
Shrugging, he stood up and walked around his desk, planting himself into his chair so he could stare straight at me – or rather my chest. Lifting an eyebrow at his blatant optical groping, I coughed to shift his attention to my face again. He didn’t even have the nerve to look ashamed.
“Anyway, what’s your preliminary assessment?”
I snorted. “Not a lot. I’ve managed to speak two words to him since last Friday. He was under sedation for eight days, then for another three. I can’t start therapy until Anderson is actually sentient.”
He rolled his eyes and I gave in trying to fight my side. James was just as much under the thumb of the health authority as Krum was.
“However, his test results are back,” I went on. “He’s undernourished but nothing that will cause a permanent condition. The weakness in his legs is due to lack of use. From what I can guess he was confined to that basement for a very long time, chained to the wall from what forensics have ascertained at the farmhouse. I suppose he was lucky they gave him a bucket for his toilet needs.”
James winced at the contempt in my voice. “And his health now?”
“Better. I’ve already noticed an improvement in his physical appearance. It’s amazing what soap and water can do as well.”
“Well, just be careful. I know you’ve trained in all aspects of violent behaviour but still, you need to be cautious. I’ve received an email stating that Anderson will be woken again this afternoon.”
My foot tapped on the floor with annoyance. “And why wasn’t I informed? I was there yesterday.”
James’ brows elevated.
“Are you really surprised after last time, Kloe?”
“I was the only one there that broke Anderson’s attention enough to ease his fear.”
“And was it his fear that spat at Dr Krum?”
“No, that was his shrewdness.”
“Kloe,” James warned. “Look, just watch your back, that’s all I’m saying.”
Grunting in resignation, I nodded and stood up.
“And keep me updated,” he called out as I closed his office door behind me.
Paula, my co-worker, grimaced at me from where she sat on Barry’s desk.
“I presume that went as expected.”
“God, sometimes I hate the bloody rules and regulations that keep us controlled like little soldiers.”
Barry passed me a mug of tea and I gave him a grateful smile, taking a sip and allowing the hot liquid to soothe the annoyance in my chest. When I’d taken the job I knew there would be guidelines and policies I wouldn’t agree with, but surely a professional should not be allowed to treat a patient the way Krum had. Even I knew that. So why was I taking the rap for his insult to a man in my care?
Anderson didn’t deserve what Krum had said, violent or not. Krum knew we dealt with uncooperative patients every bloody day, and I had to wonder why Anderson had gotten a reaction out of a man who should have been accustomed to that behaviour.
Downing my drink, I picked up my bag. “I’ll be out for the rest of the day but I’ll have my mobile on.”
Paula nodded. “You’ve a meeting in the morning with Harry Birchin. Don’t forget.”
“I won’t,” I shouted as I pushed open the double doors to leave.
“Yeah,” I heard Paula mumble after me. “I’ll text you in the morning.”
“What would I do without you?”
Claire grinned at me when I climbed out of my car outside the house I was viewing. “I love it already.” She jumped up and down with excitement. “That eager to get rid of me?” She looked repentant for a second, her head shaking wildly in denial before I laughed. “I’m joking. I know you wouldn’t push me out.”
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