Page 12 of Prelude to Madness
Did I even know my husband anymore? Had we grown so far apart he was lost to me in more ways than one?
It was time to get him back. Time to get back to him, time to reclaim my husband.
Half an hour later, I entered the hospital, ignoring the unknown man lying in the room next to Rick. He could go fuck himself. Rick was my focus, and I’d do what I could, sit for as long as necessary until he woke up.
“Everything alright, son?” Mum asked as I took my place next to his bed. “You look different somehow.”
I felt different, more positive about the outcome.
“I’m good. You go home, and thank you for staying. Rick hasn’t always been the easiest man to get along with. I know he wasn’t what you envisaged for me, but he’s my life, my soul mate.”
“He makes you happy, and that’s all that matters. I’ll come back tomorrow. See how you’re both doing.”
She kissed my cheek and left me alone with my husband and my thoughts.
I took his hand in mine, brought it to my lips, and kissed his cool fingers.
“You’d best come back to me, you arsehole. Don’t you dare leave me to go through life alone. If you don’t make it, I’ll bloody drag you back here and kick your sorry arse from here to kingdom come.”
I swore his lips twitched as if he were listening and had heard every word I’d said.
He’d better be. Leaving was not an option.
Eric
“Angel, wake up. Where did you go?”
My captor’s gravelly voice in my ear sent shivers through me, affecting parts of me I’d beg him to touch again.
I rolled over. Once again, I was in his bed. How the fuck had I got here? The last thing I recalled I was eating my meagre dinner back in my cage, but here I was, lying in comfort in a soft bed, cocooned in the warmth of his embrace.
“I was in my cage. You left me there.” I couldn’t hide the disappointment I’d felt waking there with his denial ringing in my ears.
“Couldn’t let His Highness find you here, and then there was the fit. I think maybe I gave you too much, and you passed out. I thought I’d lost you, angel.”
I remembered feeling strange, voices in my head, the walls moving. Yeah, I’d stopped taking drugs for a reason and because of someone.
“Aren’t you scared he’ll find me again?”
“He’s not around right now, so we can carry on what we started, and hopefully, this time, we’ll both get to finish. I’ve so much I want to do to you, angel.”
He nuzzled into my neck. Such an affectionate gesture, considering our actual relationship: captor and prisoner.
“I want to fuck you so bad, angel.” He stroked my arm with a featherlight touch. A shiver ran through my body. I wanted that too but refrained from telling him. I didn’t want to seem desperate, as much as I was.
He handed me a pill. “Here, take this.”
It was a small, pink, insignificant pill. I hesitated, not wanting to take it. As much as the drugs heightened the senses, they also dulled them and made me forget. Despite what I’d said yesterday, today I had to remember what was happening to me.
I was losing time, losing my memory or losing my mind.
This time, I didn’t want to forget any of the time I spent with him.
“No. I don’t want it.”
“It’ll make you feel good, angel.”
I threw it to the side and turned to face him. “Not this time.”