by Tia Siren
"What other business ventures?" I asked. I ignored his other comments about us being even. It was because of him that I had no memory. I didn't give a fig if he had to piss into a tube. Let him.
"It's about my... is this really the place?" he asked, his eyes darting around the busy room. The place was packed, but no one was paying us any attention. And besides, I wanted to hear what he had to say. I needed to hear.
"Speak."
"Fine. Look, you've been to your place, haven't you? You probably wonder how you been affording such a luxurious spot. Well, it wasn't on just your waitress salary and tips, believe me. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’ve been paying your rent the last few months. But now I need the money back. Well, actually, last month I needed the money back. But now considering everything that—"
"Kate! What are you doing?"
At the sound of my name, I spun around to see Liam rushing toward me. He looked terrified at the sight of me. As if he could not believe that I was there.
"Oh great, Doc!" Danny said when he spotted him. "It's about time you got her down here."
"What do you mean got me down here?" I asked, not sure what Danny was talking about.
"Don't worry about that, Kate,” Liam said. “Let's get out of here so we can—"
"I've been asking to see you for hours,” Danny interjected. “They said you were on your way, but you never came. Honestly, I was surprised when you did turn up."
One look at the guilty expression on Liam's face confirmed this sentiment. "How long has he been awake for?" I asked, trying to control the temper that was slowly boiling inside of me.
"Not that long," he said.
"How long!" I screamed. I hadn't meant to scream so loudly, but for some reason, I was suddenly furious.
"All morning," he relented, letting off a sigh. "That was the reason that I left your place this morning. To come and see him."
"Her place?" Danny asked. "What the hell were you doing at her place?"
"And why didn't you tell me?" I asked, my voice trembling as I ignored Danny. I didn't care about Danny or the fact that we were lovers and I had just been revealed as cheating on him. All I cared about was Liam and why he had lied to me.
"Because I didn't want you to get too excited–listen will you?" He cut in before I had a chance to interject. "Amnesia is a very complex problem. If we offload too much information on you at once, then there is no telling what might happen, or how you might react. I wanted to come in here and see what he had to say before I let you talk to him."
"Yeah, like find out how to steal my girl," Danny said angrily.
Again, I ignored Danny. He was a rodent as far as I was concerned. My biggest concern was with Liam, who had been and was still lying to me. It was obvious from his body language and the way that he refused to meet my eyes that I wasn't getting the full story.
"That it?" I asked calmly. "That's the whole truth?"
"All of it," he confirmed, looking relieved at the thought that I was believing his lie. Of course, I wasn’t though. Not by a long shot. "Now, how about we go get some lunch and–hey! Where are you going?"
I didn't let him finish, and I certainly wasn't going to be having lunch with him. All lunch would do is give him a chance to double down on the lie and leave me more confused than ever. I had so many things to be mad about that I didn't know where to start.
First, the man that was the only link I had to my past turned out to be a total douche bag. From what he said, he had all but pimped me out. Apparently, I owed him money, and I thought the only way to pay him back was to whore myself like some gutter trash. The only reason I hadn’t gone through with it was the car crash. Thank god, for that.
And he claimed we were dating, but obviously, he only wanted to use me as a means to make cash. It made me feel dirty and confirmed the suspicions that I had about my life before the amnesia.
And then there was Liam. He was my ticket out of that crappy life. He was my light at the end of the tunnel. But now it seemed that he was just as bad. He was lying to me, and I didn't know why. But it didn't even matter really. A lie was a lie, and if he couldn't be trusted, then who could be? I wanted to believe him, but I didn't know if I should. For all I knew, he and Danny were working together, and I was being played for a fool.
I stormed from the cold, isolating enclosure of the hospital, my face running red and my blood boiling. Like when I had woken up a few days ago, I was totally alone. And like that time, I didn't see any way out of it.
CHAPTER 15
LIAM
It took me several moments to comprehend the fact that I needed to go after her. Once she was done yelling at me and had stormed off, I was able to process what had just happened. Well, not the overall picture, but the finer points. Including the one that mattered.
There was actually only one point that did matter, and that was that Kate was mad at me.
She wasn't just mad at me either, but furious. I had never seen her so angry. Not since the first time we were dating, and I told her that we should break up. But that was a year ago and that was a different Kate. In the context of our new relationship, I had never seen her as angry as just then.
I could have left her to cool off, but I figured that would only make things worse. If she had time to process everything and really think about what I had done, then there was no telling what she might come up with or what might come back to her. The problem with dealing with an amnesia patient was that one never knew what was going on in their mind. I had to act fast and try to stop the bleeding before it got out of control.
I just had no idea what I was going to say. Everything seemed to be working against me. Not only did she now know that she and Danny were dating, but she knew that I knew that. She also knew that I was aware of him being awake and opted to not tell her. Although in my head, the reason for that was perfectly justifiable, to her, it might not seem that way.
As it took me a little longer than I would have liked to react to her leaving, I didn't manage to catch her until she was already several blocks from the hospital. Even then, as I called her name, she refused to slow down or even acknowledge that she heard me.
Reaching her, I grabbed her arm, only for her to pull it from my grip and keep walking. Sighing to myself, and ensuring that I didn't let my temper get away from me, I ran forward, jumping in front of her and cutting her off entirely.
"Hey, what the hell?" I said, instantly regretting that I did. Maybe I should have been a little softer.
"Oh, that's nice," she spat back. "Great apology." And she sidestepped me, powering down the sidewalk.
"Hey come on! I was–I'm sorry." I caught with to her. I was going to grab her by the arm again, but luckily, she stopped on her own accord, turning on me.
"Do you even know why you are sorry?" she asked.
"Yeah. Because I lied to you. I should have told you he was awake."
"That's a start. But barely even scratches the surface." She seethed with her hands on her hips.
The problem was that I had no idea why she was angry. I thought I did. I thought it was because I had lied to her. But as she stared daggers at me, I slowly came to the conclusion that there was more to it than that.
"Ah," I began, with no idea where I was going to go from there.
"You lied to me about lying," she fumed. "And then you knew about me and Danny, and you lied about that, too. Basically, everything you have told me about Danny is a lie, and I want to know why. Now."
Hands on her hips, she continued to stare at me. I could feel the heat coming off of her. And as much as I would have loved to have told her everything, I couldn't. It was too complicated. To tell her the real reason why I never told her about Danny would have been to admit everything. I would have had to tell her that I didn't want her to get her memory back, and then I'd have to tell her why. I couldn't do that yet. I wasn't ready.
"Kate, listen. I wanted to tell you but..."
"But what?"
"He's
not a good guy Kate. Not even a little bit. You deserve better than that. I didn't want him to hurt you." I saw on her face that it was too late for those sorts of platitudes.
"Forget it. You just don't get it." She threw her hands in the air and stormed away. This time though, I didn't chase her. There was no point. Instead, I let her go, wondering if I would ever see her again and knowing that if I did, she probably wouldn't want anything to do with me.
--
Danny hadn't moved since I left him. That was more on account of the fact that he couldn't move. But still, it served my purpose nicely.
The ICU was empty as it tended to be at that time in the afternoon. A lot of the doctors were in the middle of a shift change, as were the nurses. What that meant was that I had a few minutes alone with Danny. Those few minutes were going to be used to get the answers that I needed to win Kate back over.
"Okay, you're going to tell me everything," I said as I pulled up a seat beside Danny. "Understand? How you know Kate, what your relationship is, and what you hope it to be. If you lie to me, or I think you're lying to me, I'm going to turn this little switch here–it’s the morphine. I will shut it off and walk away."
"What?" he asked, looking from me to my hand, which was placed firmly on the morphine drip.
"There is nothing wrong with your hearing. So, I'm going to assume that you heard me just fine, and your response was a result of shock more than anything."
"Look, I barely know the broad. You want her, you can have her."
Hearing him call her a broad actually made me want to turn the drip off straight away. But I relented. I needed information first.
"How do you know her?" I asked calmly.
"She works for me," he rushed. "That much is true. At my strip club. Diamond Dolls.”
“She’s a stripper?” I asked, feeling hot jealousy surge through me.
“Nah,” Danny said. “Just a waitress. She doesn’t show her tits or nothing. Damn shame, really. That’s why I was trying to get her to work for my side business.”
“What fucking side business?” I asked.
“I run a little escort business. Mostly, it’s dancers from the club, but I thought, shit, a knockout like Kate? She’d rake in a ton of cash for me. And I could definitely use the extra income.”
I looked at him with narrow eyes. He was an even bigger piece of shit than I thought he was at first. “All right, Danny, I need you to slow down. So you and Kate aren’t dating?”
He snorted. “Nah, I just told you that because it seemed easier than the truth. Plus, I mean, I heard about the amnesia thing. I thought maybe if that’s the story I told her, she might let me hit that shit.”
My fist clenched around the morphine button, itching to turn it off and let this son of a bitch suffer. But I still needed info from him, and he wouldn’t be able to speak at all without the painkiller.
As sleazy as this asshole was, I was relieved to know Kate had never been with him. I would never have believed she could stoop so low as to share a bed with a guy like this.
“Okay,” I said. “So did Kate come to you, asking for the escort job? Because that doesn’t sound like her.”
He shrugged as best as he could with two arms in casts. “She didn’t ask me. I asked her. I’d been asking her for a few months, but she kept telling me to drop dead.”
“So you decided to ask her again?” I asked. “Why?”
“Look, not that it’s any of your fucking business, but I owe some people some money. I needed some extra cash, fast. I figured Kate was the answer to all my problems. I just had to convince her to be an escort for me.”
“And?" I pushed. I looked around the ICU quickly, seeing that it was still empty.
“And she fucking said no, again. I think I got pissed off. Wasn’t paying attention. That’s how we got in the accident.”
"So what now? Why were you so insistent on seeing her when you woke up?"
He chuckled bitterly. "The amnesia, Doc. I figured if she didn’t remember anything about her past, I would have a much better chance of convincing her to work for me. Well, I was trying to tell her that she already worked for me as an escort. And that she owed me money for her apartment. And that we were dating, too.” He laughed again. “I may have been overreaching on that last one, but I figured, fuck it, why not give it a shot?”
“You really thought that would work?” I asked him.
“Who knows? Maybe. I didn’t know she had a pissed off doctor looking out for her. But like I said, I need money. I’d love to be all noble and shit, but these people I owe, they’re gonna do worse than break my arms if I don’t pay them back. So if I have to con Kate, I’m gonna do it. That’s the best angle I got right now.”
“She won’t believe you,” I said.
“Eh, she doesn’t know what to believe right now. And I can be real persuasive.”
It was odd, but I actually felt a sense of relief as the information sunk in. Some might call it bad news, but to me, it was the best news I had heard all day. As far as Danny was concerned, Kate was nothing to him. All he really wanted was money, and he would leave her and me alone.
"So, if your debt got paid, then you would leave her alone? Is that right?"
"Yeah, pretty much,” he said. “I don’t have anything against the girl. She’s actually kind of sweet. Which is why she was an easy target. But yeah, if my debt was gone, I could just get by with my regular girls. She will never hear from me again. And then you two can ride off into the sunset or wherever it is the two of you wanna go. Doesn't concern me in the least." His smile was repulsive and sleazy, and yet, it was the best thing I had seen all day.
“How much do you need?” I asked.
“It ain’t pocket change, Doc.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Twenty,” he said.
“Twenty thousand dollars?” I asked.
“No, twenty bucks. Of course, twenty thousand, numb nuts.”
"Consider it done," I said, getting to my feet. As I did, Danny let out an audible sigh of relief at me letting go of the morphine drip. I would never have turned it down. That was against the law and would see me in jail. But it still made a nice threat.
And besides, I was in too good a mood to think about anything like that. As I made my way to the break room, all I could think about was how happy I was that Danny was out of the picture. It would be tight, but I had just enough money in savings that I could give Danny the money, and that would see Danny gone from my life forever. And Kate’s life, too.
It might not be a cure all, but it was a start. Hopefully, once Kate heard what I had done, she might be more inclined to forgive me. If nothing else, I could dispel all the lies Danny had told her. I could put her mind at ease that she had never dated Danny, and that she had never been a prostitute. And, even if she didn't and still wanted nothing to do with me, I felt an odd sense of relief at knowing that I had helped set her on the right path.
It was another sign that I was in love with her. If she never spoke to me again, I could spend the rest of my life knowing that she was happy. As sad as that was for me, this was bigger than me. This was about her. I would do anything for Kate, even sacrifice my own happiness. Maybe I really had changed.
CHAPTER 16
KATE
By the time I had gotten home later that same night, my rage hadn't subsided one little bit. If anything, it had only grown. There was so much I was mad at, and I wasn't even sure that it had anything to do with Liam.
Sure, I was angry that he lied to me and didn't tell me right away that Danny was awake. But was that really what was getting to me?
As I fell back in my bed and really thought about it, I came to realize that it was my amnesia that had me so riled up. I was sick of feeling helpless. I had felt that way since I had first woken up, and it was a feeling that refused to go away. From not knowing my own damn name to having to be shown where I lived. From being approached on the street by strangers who knew me, right on
through to having my own lover thinking he was better off lying to me.
Really, I shouldn't have been so harsh to Liam. He was only trying to protect me. Although the reason he thought that he had to was beyond me. I was so sick of people feeling sorry for me. I wasn’t a little girl.
I wasn't going to call Liam, though. I wasn't going to give in. He was still going to have to prove to me that he truly cared. I had a sneaking suspicion that him not telling me was also serving his own self-interests. Although again, I had no idea what those might be.
Even though it was early in the night, barely past eight, I was all but ready to crawl into bed and fall asleep. There was no need for me to be awake. There was nothing out there for me. Not that night. And I would have fallen asleep, too, were it not for the sudden knock on the door.
Whoever it was clearly wanted to see me. They hammered on the door like they were trying to knock it down, and if it wasn't for the fact that they might just have succeeded, considering how old the door was, then I would have left them. But as it was early and they were making enough noise to wake the entire building, I relented and skulked out of bed toward the door.
"Okay, Jesus,” I yelled as I made my way to the shaking door.
I assumed it was going to be Liam, and I mentally prepared myself for the confrontation that was sure to take place. But to my relief, it wasn't Liam. It was Liana, looking frazzled.
"There you are!" she screeched, storming into my apartment. "I've been calling you all night. Don't you check your phone?"
I instinctively reached for my pocket, only to notice that my cell wasn't there. "Sorry. It must be in my purse. I've been distracted."
I sighed as I closed the door and followed Liana into the kitchen.
"I'll say,” she said. “I heard that Danny woke up?"
"Yeah, he did,” I said. “Pretty crazy.” I paused and looked over at Liana. “Wait, how did you know that?"
“Wait, didn’t you talk to him?” Liana asked. “You know he’s our boss, right?”