Page 61 of The Billionaire Benefactor

Chapter 18

Roman’s head felt like a spike was going through the front of it, radiating around to the back. His mouth was dry, and he worked to swallow. His anger only sent more pulsing pain through his head. He tried to breathe deeply. What a way to wake up. He heard Blake shouting something in the hallway. Even that sound pierced his head and he winced.

“Roman,” his mother said. “Are you alright?” She grabbed his hand and squeezed.

“My head hurts,” he said. “What is going on in here?”

Her lips pursed. “Sweetheart, Blake was just trying to help.”

“How did he think that would help?” He pulled his hand away from his mother and rubbed his temples. “What happened?”

“Do you remember?”

Roman worked to roll back his memories. There’d been a game. He could hear the familiar sounds—helmets and pads crashing, shouts on the field and whistles, the crowd and announcers. He frowned. Something had been upsetting him, but he couldn’t get his thoughts to settle on what it was.

There was a hit—then he remembered looking up at faces surrounding him. Coaches, trainers, medics. Vague memories of being in a small space, like a tunnel. An MRI?

“I remember pieces,” he said.

Blake jogged back into the room. His face looked tight, but he shifted it to a smile and came to the other side of Roman’s bed. “How’s your head, man? You took quite the licking.”

“Feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it. Hey—want to explain yourself?”

Blake looked sheepish and glanced at Roman’s mom before answering. “I’m sorry. I misunderstood. You were calling her name in your sleep and I thought—”

Roman looked at his mother. “I was calling my mom? What does that have to do with…?”

“No, you were calling Jenny.”

Jenny. The name seemed familiar, but it was slippery. He couldn’t put a face to the name. “Who?”

The silence filled the room with tension as Blake and his mother exchanged glances, both with furrowed brows.

“Would someone please just help me understand what’s going on?”

“We should call the doctor,” his mother said. She looked like she was going to cry. “I’ll go ask at the nurse’s desk.”

As she left, Roman shifted his gaze to Blake and blew out in frustration. “I feel awful and you guys have me all confused. What is it?”

Blake leaned on the bed rail, coming down lower so it was easier for Roman to look at him without moving his head. He was thankful for that little gesture. Every movement sent waves of pain through his skull.

“Can you tell me about waking up?”

He grunted. “You were here. Why do you need me to tell you?”

“Just…humor me. Please. What do you remember from this morning?”

Roman closed his eyes, remembering. Even this took effort and made his head pulse.

His mother’s voice nudging him from sleep. It was a whisper, but he knew the sound from anywhere. He was hearing from down in a tunnel. It was dark and sounds were hollow and fuzzy.An unfamiliar ceiling. Panels like in an office building with a fluorescent light.

“I woke up hearing my mom talking. To you, I think.”

“That’s right.”

Head piercing. He couldn’t move his arm. It was under something—someone. A woman. Her chest was pressed to his side, legs tangled with his. “Good morning, Roman,” she’d said. The voice…unfamiliar, but his mind caught on it, like a vague dream slipping away. Pretty face, kind smile. Her fingertips on his cheek, sending an explosion of feelings through him.

“There was some woman in bed with me.”

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