Glenn groaned as he came back to consciousness, his head throbbing like someone was tightening it in a vise that only pressed at his temples. “Mr. Chase? Can you hear me?” he heard a nurse ask.
Opening his eyes was a mistake, he quickly realized, as the light stabbed painfully through his blurry vision. “Yeah.” Running through the mental checklist, he thought, Light sensitivity, check. Dizziness, check. Nausea, check. Massive head pain, check, check, check. Another check for good measure, while I’m at it. Shoulders starting to tighten up and feel like rocks? Migraine, check. “I think it’s just a migraine. I get them from time to time. Have a script for Imitrex, usually does the trick.” Wincing as his own voice hurt to hear, he said, “It’s got all the classic symptoms.” Speaking softer, he related the list of symptoms to her.
“Let me shut the curtains, then, and check your vitals and talk to the doctor. We should be able to get you something a little faster acting than that.” He heard her draw the curtains shut, wincing again as the sound grated painfully to his ears. He kept his eyes closed as she took his blood pressure and temperature again, fighting the temptation to cover his ears with his hands at the sound of her writing on the chart. “Be back in just a moment, hang in there, hon.”
True to her word, she came back in a few moments. “Doctor agreed that it sounds like a migraine. Have you ever had Demerol before?”
“Once, when I was in the service and had a severe migraine, visual distortions and all. Worked fine.” Opening his eyes cautiously, he watched as she injected the syringe into his IV line, the fluid trickling down into the vein in his hand.
“Good. This shouldn’t take too long to kick in,” she said. “I’ll check back on you in 15 minutes or so and see if it helps, ok? Anything else you need?”
“Once my head stops pounding, I should be good. Thanks.” Arching his back, he felt a few joints crack and the tension lessened a bit. Leaning back, he fought off a yawn. So tired… don’t really understand why, since I slept long enough. There are worse ways to shake a migraine, though.
Another yawn, and he felt sleep rising up to welcome him with a soft embrace. Giving in, he fell into the darkness.
“Feeling any better? Checked in on you before, but you were sleeping.”
“Much better, it’s mostly gone at this point. Just after-effects, thanks.”
“Good. There are some people here to see you, if you’re up to some visitors?”
“Certainly. More interesting than watching TV,” he said with a grin.
“I’ll send them on in, then.”
Confusion set in as two unfamiliar faces walked into the room. The man was dressed in leathers, his brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, highlighting his high cheekbones. Probably Native American somewhere in the line, from the looks of it. He didn’t recognize the woman, either, but he was hardly complaining at being visited by someone as beautiful as she was. Light brown hair framed her face, flowing as she moved gracefully into the room. Curvy in all the right ways, his mind whispered, and he didn’t even try to disagree.
“Mr. Chase, I’m Shiobhan McGowan, and this is Robert Jackson.” He shook their hands, still somewhat bemused. “I’m sorry to intrude on you on a time like this, but it’s an important matter.”
“Call me Glenn, please. And have a seat, I don’t mind the company, not at all.” Ignoring the mental comments part of his mind was making, he said, “I’d be glad to help, if I can.”
“We understand that you were recently attacked outside of the club ‘Dancing Shadows’?” Robert asked.
Glenn nodded. “Yes, I was. I’m a bouncer there.” Frowning, he said, “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what happened. I was out by the street, and someone hit me from behind. I’m not even sure why I was outside the club. It’s all a bit fuzzy to me.”
The woman, Shiobhan, handed him a picture. “Do you happen to remember seeing this woman? She was last seen at the club, and we have reason to believe that she was taken from there against her will.”
“Are you guys cops or something?” he asked as he studied the picture. Something tugged at the back of his mind, but when he tried to put his finger on it, it slid away from him.
“No, she’s my sister. We haven’t involved the police yet.”
Looking closer at the picture, he shook his head. “I can’t say for sure. She looks somewhat familiar, but I’m not remembering anything definite. I might have seen her in passing, there’s usually a lot of faces there. I’m sure that the police would be able to help you better, with Amber Alert and all.”
Looking at Robert, Shiobhan said, “Can you even file an Amber alert on a college student?”
“I’ve no clue. Not sure what the age cutoff is for that.”
“Well, we don’t have much we can go to the police with at this point. She’s only been missing for some twelve or so hours, which is usually too soon to file a report, I think. But it seems to me that it’s a little bit more than coincidental that she disappeared from your club around the same time that you were attacked. Something tells me that the two events are not unrelated.”
Reaching towards the table by his bed, Glenn snagged the detective’s business card and handed it to the woman, watching the way she moved to take it from his outstretched hand, his skin tingling as her hand brushed his. “Look, that’s the guy investigating my attack. Give him a call, worst case scenario he tells you to file a missing persons report later on. We can only hope that they jump on the ball quicker instead, given everything.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” She slid the card into a pocket in her blouse, and bit her lower lip, obviously in thought. “You don’t remember much of anything about the attack itself?”
“Not really, no,” he said. “I have a few flashes of memories, but it’s like a jumbled up puzzle that’s missing a lot of pieces, and I don’t know how they’re supposed to fit back together. I was thinking of going over there tomorrow night and see if I can put some of the pieces together. Maybe being back at the scene will help me remember. If you guys want to meet me there, you’re more than welcome. I’d go tonight, but the doctors want me to stay overnight for observation.”
His temples started pounding again, and he winced. “Which, given the migraine I just dealt with, I’m not entirely unhappy about, truth be told.”
Shiobhan smiled, and his heart did a little flip-flop as she did so, delighting the way it seemed to brighten the room. “I would appreciate that very much. I have something that might help with that, if you’re not adverse to trying something herbal?”
“I’m willing to try about anything once.” Especially when administered by someone as cute as you are…
She reached into her purse and pulled out a vial, checking the label and nodding in satisfaction. Opening it, she dabbed a few drops on her fingers and moved to the side of his bed. Leaning forward, she placed her fingers on each of his temples and gently began rubbing the oil in. He breathed deep, smelling something crisp and clean, as the coolness of the liquid and the gentleness of her touch seemed to pull the pain back. Realizing that he had instinctively closed his eyes in pleasure, he reopened them to realize he was staring down her shirt at a delightful expanse of soft skin, and closed them again.
He opened his eyes again when she was finished, and looked around in amazement as his vision seemed sharper and clearer. Shaking his head, he felt no remnants of pain or tension, the fog that had been clouding his mind gone. “I have no clue what was in that, but that certainly worked miracles.”
Smiling, she handed him the small bottle. “Here, keep this. Hopefully, you won’t need it, but if you do, you’ll have it handy.”
“Thank you,” he said with sincerity. “I was thinking of heading there tomorrow around nine, I figure it’ll be dark by then and I’ll have a better chance of remembering if it’s as close to the other night as possible.”
“We’ll see you there, then, Mr. Chase– Glenn.”
“Count on it.” He watched the two leave, part of his mind wondering what their deal was, another part concerned that they were right and her sister being kidnapped was the reason he’d been attacked. Neither part objected to watching Shiobhan walk away… only that she disappeared from sight far too quickly.
He sighed to himself and turned the TV on briefly, before realizing he wasn’t in the mood to flip channels. He stood carefully and stared out the window again, thinking. He’d never dealt well with hospitals before, but he was feeling more restless than usual at the moment, wishing that he could go and do something to help find the missing girl.
A soft knock on the doorframe broke his train of thought as he turned to see Melissa in the doorway, her delicate fingers tapping on the door. “Hey hon,” he said with a smile. “Tried to IM you earlier but you weren’t online.”
“Something came up, and I needed some time to think things over without being interrupted by others.” She ran her nails through her platinum blonde hair. “I saw your post and wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Yeah, just being held for observation overnight.” Something about the way she was standing didn’t seem right, like she was unsure of herself or her welcome. Holding out his arms, he asked, “So do I get a hug from my favorite woman, or no?”
She crossed her arms, hugging herself, and didn’t respond for a few long moments. A chill ran down his spine, and he let his arms drop to his sides. “I know this is sudden,” she said softly. “And hardly at a good time. But this isn’t going to work.”
“What isn’t going to work?”
“Us. You and me. We… we aren’t going to work.” As he stared at her in shock, she pulled the diamond engagement ring from her finger, toying with it briefly before she walked closer and set it on the bed, glimmering in the light between them. “I cleaned out the few things I had at the apartment.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her key and set it beside the diamond ring.
“‘Lissa… what’s going on? I don’t understand,” he said, his voice breaking.
“No, you don’t,” she murmured, looking away from him. When she finally looked back at him, his eyes pleading for answers, she sighed. “I’ve got a lot going on right now, and this project I’m involved in at work is demanding even more of me than I had anticipated. It means a lot to me. You’ve always known how important my work is to me. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that what has been holding me back has been… us.”
Fingers rubbing the white mark on her ring finger, she added, “I think it’s probably for the best that I realized this now rather than later. My work is just more important than either of us, and that’s what I have to put first.”
As he stood frozen, dumbfounded by words he had never expected to hear, she turned and walked out the door. Great, a dark part of his mind whispered, the bitch didn’t even look back on her way out the door. Part of him wanted to scream, to hit something, anything, but his self-control kept him calm through the fury.
If her job’s more important to her than I am, then I’m better off without her. This is just a really fucked up time to find out. Picking up the diamond ring, he fought off the urge to throw it into the trash, and slipped off his claddagh ring, holding both in his hand.
Shaking his head, he slid the ring onto his right hand with the crown turned inward. Flipping open his laptop case, he tossed the engagement ring into one of the pockets and slapped the cover closed again.
Now what am I going to do? he thought, as loneliness washed over him.
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