Cara POV
"Yes," the nurse readily agreed, her eyes gleaming. "You are right. He is very handsome."
I giggled again, the sound loud in the sterile room.
I waited for him to rush over, to take my hand and tell me how worried he Had been. But he just stood there, his knuckles white against the cardboard coffee cup.
"Is she... fully awake?" He asked, his voice gravelly. He didn't look at me; he looked at the nurse.
"Waking up and quite vocal!" the nurse chirped, patting my arm. "In a minute I will go get the discharge papers started, since her 'hero' is back to look after her." tension in the room.
The nurse went on adjusting my IV, seeming not to sense the
The warm blanket of the painkillers was still there, but a tiny prickle of confusion started to poke through.
Why was Edward wearing the same charcoal overcoat his brother had been wearing yesterday? And why did he look like he was in physical pain instead of being happy I was awake?
The man finally moved. He stepped into the light, and as the shadows fell away from his face, my heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't the soft, boyish face of Edward. It was the sharp, intimidating, and utterly breath-taking face of Charles Kitt. My boss.
My stomach did a slow, dizzying flip. Oh no.
I hadn't just called my boyfriend gorgeous. I had called the most powerful man in the city. A man who terrified me and who I am sure dislikes me... gorgeous.
Panic flared, clashing with the drugs.
Why always you in these kind of awkward situations Cara?
But, why then had he spent the whole night by my hospital bed. He even caused the nurse to think he is my boyfriend.
I wondered if he had temained thanks to a sense of guilt since the accident had happened at the office.
He's probably worried about a personal injury suit that can be filed against his precious company. I eyed him speculatively.
Charles gingerly walked towards the bed, as if approaching what might be a dangerous creature.
"Are you alright?" His gaze flickered everywhere but my face, " Did the doctor say something?"
"Is she alright?" He asked the nurse, "I mean, is her head okay?
The nurse frowned at the question.
"The doctor said she might experience temporary amnesia." She explained.
"Is there a mistake?" Asked the flustered nurse, embarrssed at the thought that she had made a mistake,
She looked from my loopy smile to Charles confused face.
I was enjoying how tense Charles was looking and I decided to drag this amnesia joke a little longer.
"Aren't you my boyfriend?" My voice was pitiably low and I forced tears into my eyes.
I was enjoying watching him squirm.
"Cara you really have amnesia?" Edward's voice came booming as he walked into the room.
Behind him trailed Violet.
It was silly of me to suspect my boyfriend and bestfriend.
"It appears so." The nurse nodded. "But fortunately it is only temporary."
The nurse made her excuses and left.
As the door clicked shut behind her, the silence in the room became heavy.
At the sight of them together I felt a discomfort in my heart but I brushed it away.
"So," Edward leaned closer to me. "Do you know who I am?"
Leaning into the prank, I answered.
"No, who are you?"
Edward straightened up with a gleam in his eyes.
"I am your boyfriend's brother." He announced then pulled Violet to his side and kissed her.
A quick, possessive press of lips that sent me reeling.
"This is Violet, my girlfriend." He turned and looked at me, "She is also your bestfriend."
It must have been the drugs or the shock of the situatuation because I could not react. I just lay in bed, looking at them both.
I wanted to scream the truth, to slap the smirk off Violet's face, but if I did, I'd have to admit I was awake and loopy enough to call my boss "gorgeous."
The trap had snapped shut, and I had no one else to blame but myself.
"That is right, Cara. You and Charles are crazy about each other." Violet concurred. "The perfect couple."
I looked from Violet to Edward and wondered if I had somehow jumped into an alternate universe.
Maybe I had a weird type of amnesia where I was remembering things that had never happened.
This has to be the upside down. I thought. because that is the only place where Charles would date me, as if!
I clenched the duvet so tightly that my hands went white.
Violet walked to to my bedside and sat beside me.
"I am so sorry that Edward and I are just coming." She said with a sly smirk.
She glanced at Edward with hidden meaning in her eyes. "Edward did not want to let me go last night and I woke up so exhausted."
"But i'm sure you did not miss us, seeing as Charles spent the whole night beside you." Violet continued.
"Devoted as always." Violet turned to Charles.
"So this is my boyfriend?" I asked in a small voice.
Charles, his face clouded over took a step towards his brother. "Edward, what is the meaning of…"
Edward grabbed Charles and looked at me with puppy dog eyes.
"You are going to break my brother's heart." Edward said sounding very loud.
"You have been with Charles for two whole years and you don't even remember him after you only bumped your head."
Violet stood up and rested her hand on Edward's shoulder.
"She just needs a little time to rest, I'm sure she will remember Charles soon enough."
"Violet, don't go too far." Charles barked.
Before he could speak any further, Edward pulled him out of the room, leaving Violet and I alone.
****
Charles POV
I angrily shrugged off Edward's hold on me immediately we got outside the room.
"Calm down bro." Edward said and tried to place his hand on my shoulder and I shrugged him off.
I eyed my younger brother, wondering at the kind of antics he was up to now.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" I demanded.
"You need to get back in there and correct that lie you and your mistress just made up." I continued. "I will not be a part of fooling that poor girl."
Edward looked at my unyielding expression.
" Then I guess I will have no other choice than to dump Cara." He shrugged heartlessly then turned as if heading back to the room.
As he reached out to turn the handle, I grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
"Have you no heart?" I growled.
I found it hard to believe that my brother could be so heartless, so sick.
"Easy bro." Edward chuckled and pulled my fingers off him. "If I didn't know you better I would think you are in love with her."
I glared at my brother, disturbed by his very accurate presumption.
"I don't have to be in love with the girl to know that dumping her while she is laying on a hospital bed is unconsciousable."
"If it worries you that bad then just tell her she is your girlfriend." Edward suggested, his eyes gleaming.
"It's just for a little while." He added, "Enough time for me to enjoy Violet fully."
He must have seen that I did not look convinced.
Edward scowled. "I've been dating Cara for two whole years bro, and she still won't give up the cookie. She says she's keeping it till marriage."
"I'm so bored, I'm only having fun with Violet." He continued, "I'm saving Cara to be my wife."
"And when Cara's amnesia is gone?" I asked tiredly. "What next?"
"I'll get back with her." Edward answered confidently.
"Cara loves me too much to ever leave me." He continued.
"When that time comes, all I need to do is beg her. She always comes back."
My shoulders slumped slightly.
Edward was telling the truth. I had watched him get away with unforgiveable behavior.
All he ever did was cry and invoke their late mother, and Cara would immediately wipe his tears and forgive him.
I knew how the story would end, Cara would always take Edward back. It did not matter what happened.
And I had been his constant enabler, always letting my kid brother get away with anything.
I straightened resolutely.
I would no longer be a part of this rubbish.
I would tell Cara the truth, all the consequences be damned.
When I stepped back into the hospital, Cara's eyes met mine and my knees felt weak.
I stood there, the CEO who could dismantle a billion-dollar company with a single phone call.
Feeling like a fraud because I couldn't tell a girl with a head bandage that I wasn't the man she loved.