Page 14 of The Two Last Moments

I go closer and hold out my hand. She takes it with a tiny, grateful smile.

“Lark, you’ve described a generalized loss of almost every aspect of your identity,” Dr. Cruz says. “You still remember how to talk, walk. You remember the latest pop music hits and who’s president. Yet you can’t connect to specific memories of your life. I believe you have dissociative amnesia.”

“Does that mean I have a brain injury?”

“No. Your CT scan was clear. The root cause of most dissociative amnesia is psychological. The fact that you’ve lost your memories means you’ve gone through something emotionally traumatic, and it’s probably not the physical injuries alone. Most people who are hit by a car don’t experience dissociation of this kind. It’s rare.”

Lark squeezes my fingers.

“A lot of trauma victims have trouble remembering the event at first,” I point out.

“True. But Lark did hold on to a few recollections about the triggering event, which is curious. She remembers the headlights from the car. And she remembersyou, Danny, though that was the first moment she met you. Right? She remembersyou, yet Lark has dissociated from nearly everything else.”

“I don’t have a clue why that would be.” If the doctor is suggesting I’m keeping important info back, she’s wrong.

“But how do I get my memoryback?” Lark asks.

“There isn’t one agreed-upon treatment in these cases. Some people with dissociative amnesia aren’t bothered by it at all. They simply go on with their lives until their memories return, believe it or not.”

“That’s not me. I’m definitely bothered.”

“Understandably. Most likely, your memories will come back on their own. Perhaps in response to certain triggers, like seeing familiar things from your life before. Or being faced with the events that caused you to block your memories in the first place. At the same time, we don’t want to re-traumatize you. We should take this slow and steady.” She stands up. “I’ll come by again to see you tomorrow morning. Does that sound all right?”

“I guess.”

“We’ll work through this together.” We watch Dr. Cruz leave the room.

As soon as she’s gone, Lark fixes me with a glare. “You heard her. I need something to trigger my memory. Tell me what happened the night of the accident.”

“She was talking about easing into it.” I’m still hung up on the wordre-traumatize. That’s exactly what I’ve been afraid of doing.

“That’s bullshit,” Lark spits out. “You know more than you’ve told me. I want to know what you knownow.”

“Is this about Dr. Cruz’s suggestion that I know you from somewhere else? I swear to you, I don’t.” I run a hand over the stubble at my jaw. “And I’m not going to mess around with your psyche in the hopes that it doesn’t hurt you.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Shouldn’t that be my choice?”

“It’s my choice too. Now that we’re friends, you should know I can be stubborn when I want to be.”

“You’re not the only one.” Lark kicks off her blanket and lowers her feet to the floor. Her hospital gown has ridden up, revealing a long stretch of slender leg and pale, creamy thigh, mottled with bruises. There’s a flare of heat in my chest and my stomach, and I glance away.No perving on the injured girl.

I’m too busy chastising myself to realize what she’s doing until a few seconds have passed. In that time, Lark has walked on unsteady legs to grab her street clothes from a cubby.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask.

“You’re the only friend I have. Ifyou’renot going to tell me what I need to know, I have no choice but to find out for myself.”

“Hold on. What does that mean?”

Angry green eyes turn toward me. “I’m going to the scene of the crash.”

She heads for the bathroom, holding the back of her gown closed, and stumbles.Shit. I swoop in just before she falls, my arms closing around her. She’s so small that she’s practically weightless against me. I could probably circle her waist between my two hands.

My cock jumps, because as close as she is, I want her even closer.

I clear my throat, edging backward to gain a little distance. “Let’s get this straight. You told me no escape attempts, and here you are, making a break for it?”

“Yesterday, I promised not to bite anyone, not that I wouldn’t escape.”

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