Page 17 of Prelude to Madness

Although I nodded, I had no intention of lying here in my bed. The moment I was alone, I’d be going down to at least take a look.

“Why don’t you go home? I’ll be fine here, and to be honest, I’m really tired and need to sleep some more. Come back tomorrow, and we’ll have a Christmas of sorts.” While I didn’t remember everything about our life together, pieces were starting to slot into place.

Slowly but surely, memories were filling the gaps, and my dreams were fading.

“I don’t want to leave you.” He squeezed my hand. “Not when you’ve just come back to me.”

“Hey, it’ll be fine. I’m not going anywhere. The doc says I’m fine. I just need a little time to regain my strength. Now go. You look tired, and I’m going to need you to help me remember and get through the next few days.”

That seemed to do the trick, and he stood, then bent down and kissed my forehead.

“I’m so glad you’re back, Rick.”

Eh, that was still not sitting right. I couldn’t forget being called Eric. Or angel.

True to my word, I did go to sleep. For a little while anyway.

“Angel? Where did you go?”

What the fuck? Why was I back here again in my captor’s bed?

“I don’t know. One minute I was here and dying. The next I was in a hospital. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore.”

“I can assure you this is real, angel. Would your dreams have this in them?”

He placed my hand on his hard cock. “I can give you this again. If you want it.”

I squeezed, and it grew beneath my touch. He was right. This couldn’t be a dream. So where had I been?

“I missed you. Missed fucking you.” He pulled me towards him and gripped my arse, squashing our cocks between us, my hand still tight on his.

“Are you sure this is real?” This was the only place I’d lost time. Back in the hospital, time passed at a normal rate.

I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself back to the hospital room. As much as I wanted to stay here with him, I had to know what was real.

“I’m still here, angel. You can’t wish me away. Now, let’s rest awhile. Then I know what we can do to pass some more time. I’m tired. We should sleep.”

He slept while I lay awake, trying to figure out what was going on. I was confused, my head filling with memories of Dex. That hadn’t happened the last time I was here, and I started to think maybe this wasn’t real after all. The question now was how did I get back.

Tiredness finally claimed me, and I sank into the arms of my captor, his breath warm on my cheek.

“Rick, come on now. It’s time to wake up. We need to take your vitals.”

A nurse stood next to my bed.

“We thought we’d lost you again. It was difficult to wake you up, but here you are, good as new.” She took my blood pressure. “Everything looks fine. I’ll leave you to get some rest. Dex will be back in a few hours, so you have time.”

With that, she left, but by now, I was awake and finding it difficult to go back to sleep. Maybe now was the time to see the guy who had rammed into me.

I stood on wobbly legs, dizziness almost pulling me back down. I drew in a few deep, steadying breaths and took a small step, then another and another until I was at the door.

I glanced over at the nurse’s station. It was empty. Two doors led off the hallway. I had no idea which one was the right one, but there was only one way to find out.

I walked down the hallway, using the wall for support. This was harder than I thought it would be, but I’d started, so I needed to finish. A few more steps.

Unlike my room, machines beeped. He must have been in worse shape than I was. A man was lying in the bed, an oxygen mask over his face, obscuring his features. Something about his form, his build, looked familiar.

I moved a little closer, totally exhausted by now. I needed to sit down. If I could just make it to the chair at the side of his bed.