“Yes, that’s right,” she cries again, swiping tears from her eyes. “And your last, I hope,” she adds, giving a nervous laugh.
My smile fades, and Axel shakes his head slightly in disappointment. “He doesn’t remember, Xanthe. He remembers what you had before.”
My head hurts from everyone around me talking in riddles.
Xanthe
I seeit in his expression.He doesn’t remember me.The way he keeps looking to Axel for confirmation is one of the many signs he doesn’t have a clue about the promise he made me. “What do you remember?” I ask.
“N-Nottingham,” he replies.
“Okay, but we can fix it. I can update you, and we can get back on track,” I say, my voice wavering slightly. This is not the big reunion I had planned.
The door opens, and a woman comes in. She looks from me to Axel and then to Fury. “What’s going on?” she asks, staring pointedly at me. I remember my uniform and snap out of the current terror I’m feeling.
“Who are you?” I ask politely.
“His wife,” she says firmly.
I inhale sharply, and my heart twists painfully. “Not strictly true,” snaps Axel.Strictly? Why isn’t he saying it’s not true at all?
She steps in front of me, effectively pushing me to step back, and places a gentle kiss on Fury’s head. He looks pleased to see her, relieved even, and he takes her hand. I stare at the connection, wondering how many lies he’s told.
“I should . . . erm,” I look back at the door, “go.”
“Don’t go,” says Axel. “Not on your own, anyway.”
“I just . . . I need to . . . oh god.” I rush from the room, unable to hold it together.
Annabella looks up from behind the desk. “Xanthe, what are you doing here?” she asks, jumping from her seat and rushing to me while looking around suspiciously. My supervisor places an arm around me protectively. I’d told her Donnie was stalking me. How else would I explain not being in work for weeks?
“I came to see my . . . friend.”
“Hottie in room two?” she asks with a grin. “Wow.”
“How is he?” I ask. “Like really?”
“He’s doing good. He’s showing improvement every day, and once he can get up and walk, the doctor will release him.”
“Really? That soon?”
“Well, apart from his memory, there’s no lasting damage. He’s very lucky. The neurologist will have him come back in afew weeks to see how he is. You know what brain injuries are like—he’ll need monitoring for any permanent changes.”
Axel steps from the room, and Annabella gives my arm a gentle squeeze before she goes back to work.
I look through the window in the door. The woman is sitting on the bed showing Fury something on her mobile phone, and he’s smiling.
“Who is she?” I ask.
“Jo.”
“His ex?” I almost screech.
He nods, taking me by the arm. “We need to get you back to the clubhouse and then we’ll talk.”
By the timewe get back, I feel sick. Fury talked about Jo, but he didn’t mention she was his wife or that they were still a thing.
I follow Axel into his office, and Grizz joins us. “What’s going on?” he asks, looking back and forth between us.