SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️

Chapter 176

Then again, I only needed to wake up again to see him, right? Because I had a sinking suspicion that my mind had a body as well, and bodies needed to sleep. I could picture my body in my mind—feel it—but it felt different than I remembered. It felt stiff and battered.

I wondered, for a moment, what had happened. Had I parked it in a bad area? I should have just rolled the windows down rather than have them smashed like this. Oh wait. That's... cars. A car. I was a car? What? No. Not right.

A noise suddenly grabbed hold of my consciousness—ah yes, that whole body thing again.

I had ears.

"Mr. D'Agostino, we understand that you're upset," someone far away said, "but seeing as you're not his husband by legal marriage we can't let you stay here."

A rolling wave of thunder answered the voice. "I dare you to try and get me away from him."

Odd... I hadn't known thunder could talk.

I also hadn't thought thunder could sound so familiar. I felt something rush through me, my consciousness, tethering me, a blooming heat that sucked me into the thing that kept my senses grounded, waking me up... making me...

I jerked, eyes still closed, and then the pain hit me.

My legs, my arms, my whole body... it hurt. It all hurt so badly. Ached and stung and ripped and bled and blistered--so many different types of pain all at once. I fought not to pass out again, fought to focus on anything but the pain... beeping. I heard beeping.

I listened to the rhythm, trying not to move, to make myself hurt.

In truth, my mind wasn't completely awake yet: it felt as though I were swimming to the surface of an underground river, but the air above was as black and airless as the water below. I had been drifting in the darkness for a long time before remembering who I was. Aerin... my name was Aerin. I could hear noises and knew I was awake, but the sounds were all wrong.

The squeak of rubber on linoleum had replaced the gentle thrushing noise of the trees outside of Sebastian's home. The rattle of trays in a metal cart instead of my husband's snoring and quiet sleep-mumbling. Everything smelled like bleach instead of the spices I was used to.

What's going on? I faintly wondered, struggling to rouse myself. This isn't home... where am I?

I slowly creaked my eyes open, blinded by the fluorescence above me. My head swiveled on my neck and I saw machinery and cold steel. A blackout curtain covered what looked like a hospital window, but that didn't make sense. I swallowed my dry throat and turned to face the other direction, but I nearly jumped out of my own skin when I saw Sebastian sitting in a chair.

Hunched over, hands folded, knuckles against his forehead as he shook.

"Baby?" I croaked in a voice that sounded nothing like me.

"Aerin?" he whispered, head snapping up with a jerk; his eyes were round and attentive when he jumped up and lunged over to the side of the bed, reaching out with a single hand and cupping my cheek. Heat bloomed and I sighed, gently nuzzling it, instantly half asleep. "You're awake."

"Mmhmm," I confirmed, kissing his palm before looking at him dazedly. "Where am I?"

He went stiff and frowned, brows furrowing. "A human hospital."

My heart jumped and I stared at him in disbelief and fear.

"Babe, why?" I asked, and the heart monitor immediately began to go nuts. "I'll get caught--"