Stolen Memories: A Novella (6 page)

His phone vibrated on the desk and he answered lazily. I listened to his one sided conversation trying to catch my breath. His demeanor changed instantly when he answered.

“What’s up Smith...when....okay. We’ll be ready.”

He hung up as quickly as he answered. I watched as he looked at me wearily.

“They got your sister out, baby. She’ll be here in twenty minutes. I need to tell you this now. It’s bad.”

My sister looked terrible. We probably should have taken her to a hospital, but Hunter was afraid that my father might have a way to get ahold of her if we did. He made one call and the same doctor that checked me out was there within thirty minutes. It was amazing what money could accomplish.

I stayed on one side of Cassie and my mother on the other as the doctor examined her. Between the two of us, we were able to keep her calm enough that he could fully assess her condition without causing a panic attack. Hot tears fell from my face as I watched her wince or jerk back in pain over and over again. The doctor was as gentle as possible, but there was no way possible to make it comfortable for her unless we put her to sleep. Cassie pleaded to stay awake.

Her husband had dislocated her jaw, broken her wrist and a few ribs; there were so many cuts and bruises we could barely recognize her. Both of her eyes were black and I hoped he hadn’t broken her nose, but as it was she would probably need surgery one day. The worthless man had also raped her, once that she actually confirmed. More than likely he had forced her a lot throughout their marriage. My greatest fear had been that my father had married her off to someone like Michael, and it killed me that I was right. The guilt I felt about not saving her sooner suffocated me.

We got Cassie settled in the guest room next to my mom’s, and I breathed a sigh of relief that she was safe with us. My heart broke for everything she had gone through, but I was thankful Hunter had gotten her away before her monster of a husband killed her. After the past week and a half, my nerves couldn’t take anything else. Hunter stood outside the bedroom door as we settled her in bed.

“Thank you for saving my daughters,” my mom whispered. Her hands cupped his face as she spoke, and she kissed his forehead before letting go. Something in that statement needled at my conscious, but none of my lost memories came forward.

“You know I will do everything I can for all of you, Eliza. You’ve always been my family.”

Mom leaned back and straightened up. It was so odd seeing her broken. She was the strongest woman I knew, and I’d inherited so much of her spirit that it physically hurt me to see her this way.

“It’s been a long day; I think I’m going to go bed. I’ll see you both in the morning. Goodnight kids.”

We both told her goodnight and watched her walk to her room. Her strong shoulders showed the wear of the day, but earlier I had only seen relief when she held my sister. My eyes closed against the pain and guilt that I felt radiating from my mother.

All of this was my fault.

I sat across the room watching as Hunter brooded. He stood staring into the fireplace, holding a glass of scotch in his hands. The clink of his wedding band against the glass triggered something in my memory. I grasped hard at the images flashing through my mind.

“We got married on the beach. Then we went back to the hotel and made love twice. I was terrified about how I felt, but you made me feel better. You ordered room service and they brought us champagne. The stems of the glasses formed a heart. I smuggled the glasses into the bottom of my suitcase because I wanted a memento of our day. You laughed at me when you found them. Your ring hit made that same sound when we drank the champagne. I remember because I thought it was one of the sexiest sounds I had ever heard.”

He turned towards me with a look of surprise written all over his face.

“You remember?”  

“Not everything yet, but it’s something at least. I remember our wedding.”

He sat the glass of scotch on the mantle and crossed the room. Tears stung my eyes as I peered up at him. Strong arms pulled me against him. His lips brushed my neck, and I felt the familiar flutter of need start to fill me. I ran my hands up his muscled chest, looping my arms loosely around his neck.

“It’s something, baby.”

“We should celebrate.”

He raised an eyebrow and I giggled. Who was I? Before all this, I never giggled.  

“I need to talk to you. It’s kind of important.” Hunter’s phone started ringing and I groaned as he pulled it out of his pocket. “Damn it. I’m so sorry, baby, but I need to take this right now. We need to talk soon. I’ll try to make this quick.”

I waved him off and from past experience I knew he would be on the phone for at least an hour or two. He’d ruined quite a few nights that way. Just because I was his wife now meant things would change.

I wandered the house absentmindedly, giddy at the fact memories were starting to come back. My thoughts wandered to seeing Hunter in the hallway with my mother. Something she said triggered part of a memory, but it wasn’t enough to bring it back. It was just a glimmer and then it was gone. She’d said
thank you for saving my daughters
.

Hunter had always been someone who wanted to help the people around him. He thrived being the white knight that swooped in to save the day. It was something I teased him about constantly when we were younger. I needed to ask him why we decided to get married in the first place. Amazingly it had never come up. Something about the memory prickled against my skin.

The relief I’d felt when I found out I had married him and not Michael took over when Hunter told me we married. As much as I’d fought my feelings for him in the past, I was certainly embracing them now. Something told me I was missing a bigger piece of the puzzle, and I wanted to know what it was.

I woke up to Hunter’s tongue lightly stroking me. A quiet whimper I recognized as my own filled the otherwise quiet room. My fingers tangled in his hair as I fully woke up. I arched off the bed as he pushed a finger inside.

“That feels amazing.” My breath caught in my throat as he found a spot that felt even more wickedly amazing.

His eyes met mine, but his tongue didn’t stop its wonderful ministrations. As I looked between us, I realized Hunter had taken off my panties and the tank top I’d changed into before going to sleep. How in the hell had he done that without waking me up? My eyes traveled farther down the bed and noticed that Hunter was stroking himself as he lapped at my clit. My back arched off the bed as he softly bit down on my inner thigh.

“Hell of a way to wake a girl up.”

“Well, when I want to fuck my wife, I do what needs to be done.”

I love it when he calls me his wife.

Hunter slowly crawled up the bed, positioning himself above me and balancing on his forearms. His lips brushed against mine gently as he pushed his hard cock inside. I whimpered softly as my body adjusted to him. His lips moved to the place behind my ear that drove me fucking wild and I arched into him. A small grin crossed my face as his thrusts increased.  

His hand clamped down on my breast and squeezed hard as he fought off his orgasm. My head was spinning. Two minutes ago I was asleep and now I was trying not to scream. The sound of my moans and his grunts bounced off the walls as we got closer. Hunter dug his face into the side of my neck, muffling himself as he found his release. I bent my head down and bit his chest to keep from screaming. He would probably have a bruise later, but it was worth it.

He rolled to the side and skimmed his nose over my nipple. I yelped as his fingers pinched down on my sensitive clit. The asshole started laughing and leaned up to place a kiss on my lips. His smile was contagious and I started grinning back at him.

“You’re insane, you know that?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you love it.”

I love you.

It was too soon to say that though. Hunter wrapped his arms around me and within minutes we were both asleep.

It was a little shocking the next morning when he kissed me before running out the door. His goodbye felt rushed, but he reminded me again that he wanted to talk to me about something important as soon as he got home from his business trip—an unexpected business trip that took three days. It was hard not to be a little upset that he’d taken off without discussing it with me first, but in the same breath I was counting down the seconds until he walked through the front door. I was surprised how easy and natural it was being married.

My sister slowly got stronger each day. I spent every second I could with her. On day two of her recovery, I had broken down in her room and told her how sorry I was for putting her in danger. She had suffered because I hadn’t figured things out sooner. Cassie tried to make me realize that from the first month of her marriage, her life had been a living hell. None of us had known what she was getting herself into when she married that bastard. When she thanked me for stopped my marriage to Michael, I almost lost it. We all knew that she would probably be dead if it wasn’t for Hunter finding her.

Cassie had sobbed into my shoulder, but she assured me it was cathartic and a good release for the terror she had felt for so long. My heart ached for her. She finally felt strong enough to come and sit in the living room for a few hours on the third day of Hunter’s trip. My mother and I fussed over her, treating her like she was made of glass. We knew she was tired of being babied, but it was hard for us to rein it in after being so worried. My memory loss fell to the backburner because even though I wanted my memories back, I was more worried about my sister than trying the therapy options.

I heard the front door open and a huge grin crossed my face. Hunter walked into the living room and I jumped up to kiss him hello. He wrapped me up in his arms, digging his face into my neck and inhaling my hair. My hands traveled up and down his back like I couldn’t believe he was actually home. His presence immediately made me feel better. My sister looked between us with a frown on her bruised face.