The Rented Husband (Southern Nights Series)

Chapter 36

     She logged in the sound of something beeping, a monitor maybe. She recognized the sound of air being pushed through a vent somewhere near by.  Other than that, it was eerily quiet.  She sat there for several long minutes, struggling to push past this thick haze her head was swimming in when she heard him call her name.

     “Liv?”  Brody called out her name the minute that he noticed she had opened her eyes.  He remained quiet, letting her gain her bearings but he could only hold his tongue for so long.  He needed to see her, hear her voice.  “Liv, baby.” Standing up from that cursed chair, he made his way to the side of the bed and knelt down beside her.  Her confused eyes turned in his direction and he could see the millions of questions passing through them.  

     Swallowing, he lifted his hand and lifted a curl of hair that lay haphazardly across her forehead and pushed it back off of her brow.  “How do you feel?”

     Her pink tongue, slipped through her lips, coating her bottom lip.  Noticing the dryness of her lips, he grabbed the glass of water sitting on the tray beside her bed. She took and sip and swallowed finally able to speak. Her brow knitted as she looked up at him.  “I’m not to sure,” she said slowly, desperately trying to put pieces together. “Where...where am I?”

     Brody sighed.  The vision of her lying in that motel bed, with Patton standing above her and that damned needle in her hand burned brightly in his mind.  Dropping his hand back to his side, he searched her face for any signs of recognition.  “You don’t remember, do you?” He asked her.        

     She shook her head and squinted her eyes.  “Brody, Brody O’Connor, is that you?”

     Brody went to grab her hand and she pulled it back, holding it close to her chest.  “What are you doing here?”  She asked, her tone more accusing than questioning.  “Why am I here? Where am I?”

     She tried to sit up, needing to put distance between herself and this guy.  She worked with Brody O’Connor but other than that, she didn’t have a clue as to why he would be here, with her.  

     “Olivia,” he pleaded, placing his hands on her upper arms, “Calm down. We’re still in Hawaii.  Do you remember your sisters wedding?”

     She smacked out at his hands.  “Don’t touch me,” she squealed, not liking how familiar and how comforting that simple touch was.  No one touched her like that.  “And of course I remember Caley’s wedding, she’s my sister but my question to you is why in the hell are you here?”  She started to shake her head, needing to stand up, needing to get away from him.  

     “No,” he told her firmly but gently, reaching out for her hand this time.  “You need to lye down Liv.  You’ve been through quiet an ordeal and getting upset isn’t going to help anything.  Rest a minute and try to remember what happened.  Think baby.”

     “Quit calling me that Mr. O’Connor.  You don’t know me from Adam and I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone.”  She didn’t need to think about anything, she knew exactly who Brody O’Connor was.  He was Raleigh’s own playboy extraordinaire and the last person that she wanted to see right now.