Page 29 of His Forgotten Colton Fiancee
Chapter 7
Austin Jones. She kept repeating the name to herself as the man with glasses talked with her.
It was scribbled on the notebook she kept on the bed tray. Otherwise, she wouldn’t remember who visited.
Having a visitor who professed to be her best friend was wonderful. Quinn still felt terrible, but she was determined to recover, and determined to find out what happenedto her and why. Last night she’d managed to sleep in an opiate-induced haze. Nightmares assaulted her—whiteness, a huge bang, flying through the air and never landing, her head splitting apart...
Darkness.
Shaking, she’d awakened with sweat dampening the hospital gown, her palms cold and clammy. Quinn forced herself to go back to sleep.
Only to experience another dream. She was naked,rolling in bed with a dark-haired man who kissed her as if his last breath depended on it. Pleasure shot through her like a rocket, such incredible passion. She had never felt anything like it.
Quinn had awoken from that dream sweating for a different reason. For a long time, she’d remained staring at the ceiling, trying to find an anchor.
The morose, but friendly man now in her hospitalroom claimed to be her business partner.
She wrote that down, as well. And the name of her business—Good Eats.
Austin was the guy who secured all the accounts for the catering business. The catering business that was losing money, he informed her with a sad face.
He’d come today to visit, two days after her “accident” and the first day she stayed in a regular hospital room.
Noone but her brothers and West was allowed in ICU, where she’d been transferred after the ER. Quinn had spent one night there. Fortunately, the doctor had decided she was recovering nicely, and had her moved to the third floor. Private room. No nurses constantly hovering, checking her every five minutes. Her nurse helped her out of bed earlier today to sit in the chair. Quinn felt proud of herselfas she’d walked up and down the hall, her nurse at her side in case she suffered a dizzy spell.
The earlier exercise left her exhausted.
Quinn listened as Austin talked. Left wrist taped up tight—no broken bones, only a sprain—cuts and bruises on her body, she ached, but the pain was manageable. She felt fortunate to be alive after what happened, for Austin told her things West did not.
The bomb blast leveled much of the building. Knowing how close she’d come to punching out made Quinn’s hands shake as she reached for the glass of water, took a sip through the straw.
Much as she hated the constant interruptions with nurses coming in all the time to check on her, the hospital felt safe. The room offered a window view of the town she no longer remembered. Earlier, her brotherBrayden had informed her they’d paid for privacy and an off duty cop to stay outside her room at night.
During the day, with all the nurses and orderlies running about, no one would threaten her, Brayden assured.
The CT scan showed she had no serious brain damage. The neurologist felt confident she would recover with rest and time.
Pen in hand, Quinn scribbled notes as Austin talked.When he finally came up for air, she asked him the burning question.
“Austin, who exactly is Demi Colton and why would the police search for her? Did she set off the bomb that hurt me and killed Tia?”
Austin squirmed in his chair. “Um, no one knows who set off the bomb, Quinn. The police are investigating. As for Demi Colton, that’s something your brothers should answer.”
Terrific.Brayden and Shane sidestepped the name ofDemi, but West Brand kept bringing it up, asking her if she remembered the woman.
And when she denied knowing a Demi, he refused to share anything more about this mysterious woman. Instead, he asked different questions.
All these questions, when she had some of her own that weren’t answered. And her brain still felt foggy, her life filled withuncertainty.
“Who is Demi?” In frustration, she raised her voice.
Reeling back, he held out his hands. “Okay, okay! Demi is your sister. Your half sister. She’s the one everyone in town thinks is the Groom Killer, going around and killing men before they marry. There was evidence linking her to the first murder, but she fled town. She’s been missing awhile now. No one knows where she went.She was pregnant when she left.”
In dumbstruck disbelief, she listened, scribbling down notes as he talked. Her sister. Brayden and Shane never mentioned her.
West only wanted to know what she knew of Demi.
“The first groom murder was Bo Gage, her former fiancé.” Austin leaned close, his voice lowered. “Bo was marrying Hayley Patton and his bachelor party was at your father’s bar.When Bo’s brother, Carson Gage, arrived, he found Bo dead, a black cummerbund in his mouth.”
