Page 150 of Mayhem and Minnie

I weigh my options.

The nurses appear terrified—for good reason. One of them nods to the security guy and he comes toward me, ready to restrain me.

Fuck.

I could fight him. At my normal capacity, I wouldn’t have a problem winning.

But the pain in my ribs tells me I’m not at my normal capacity.

My entire body hurts, and there’s still blood flowing down my arm from the ripped IV.

The man stops in front of me. Two other security guards are behind me.

Since I’m not about to allow them to take me away or restrain me, I suppose all that’s left to do is fight.

Just as I’m about to throw the first punch, a melodic voice calls my name.

“Marlowe?”

I pivot, my breathing labored.

I blink a couple of times to make sure I’m not seeing things.

She’s there.

Minnie. My Minnie.

She’s wearing a face mask that obscures her features, and it appears to work because none of the men are yet in thrall with her.

She’s dressed in a hospital gown, and there’s a wide bandage wrapped around her forehead.

“Minnie,” I mutter breathlessly as I rush toward her. “Are you all right? What’s this? What happened?”

“Oh, this?” she says as she touches her bandage. “It’s just a bruise from when the airbags got deployed. You have one too,” she mentions. Reaching for me, she touches my forehead, tracing the contours of my own bandage.

“The airbags?” I frown. Images of the crash slowly come to me. But why did we crash?

I’m a good driver. I didn’t drink. The roads were in fairly good condition.

Flashes of a fog appear in my mind, but I shake my head as pain stabs at my temples.

“Are you all right?” she asks worriedly when she sees me wince.

“Yes, yes. But what happened? Why did we crash?”

“You…don’t remember?” she asks carefully.

I shake my head.

“Some animal ran in front of the car. You tried to avoid hitting it and the car slid off the road,” she exclaims. “Come. You need to take care of that.” She points to my bleeding arm.

Still out of it, I allow her to take me back to my hospital bed.

A female nurse comes to tend to my wound, but I instinctively shrink away, baring my teeth at her.

I hate people touching me, but this is more than that. I physically feel ill the closer she comes to me. And as she hovers over me, my stomach recoils.

I’m about to ask her not to touch me, but Minnie seemingly anticipates it as she intervenes.

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