Page 23 of One of Those Amnesia Stories

He stepped forward and placed a firm hand on the loud man’s shoulder, pulling him away from the bed with enough force to put a reasonable distance between us.

“Stop shouting in her face,” he said.

His voice was low and controlled, a welcome relief after the relentless volume that had been hammering against my already aching head.

I looked at him properly for the first time.

At least this stranger possessed basic human decency.

The loud one rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking sheepish. “I wasn’t shouting.”

The other man gave him a look.

He lowered his eyes. “Okay. I was shouting.”

The first stranger’s eyes remained fixed on me, searching my face with an urgency I couldn’t understand. I narrowed my gaze at him in return, irritation rising beneath my confusion.

The door opened again.

A man in a white coat stepped inside, a tablet tucked against his side. He gave the two men a brief glance before turning his attention to me. “Good to see you’re awake, Mrs. Quinn. I’m Dr. Reed, the neurologist looking after you.”

I froze.

“Miss Quinn,” I corrected immediately.

The doctor paused, his brows drawing together as he glanced toward the first man. He studied him briefly before turning his attention back to me.

“Of course. My apologies, Miss Quinn.” The smile returned, though there was a flicker of caution in his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“I have a splitting headache,” I told him, offering my sweetest smile, “and two strange men have apparently decided my hospital room is a perfectly acceptable place to loiter.”

He blinked, his gaze sweeping around the room in genuine confusion before returning to me. “What strange men?”

My eyes darted between the two strangers standing beside my bed. “These two!” I pointed toward them, then looked back at Dr. Reed. “Wait… can you not see them?”

A wave of dread washed over me.

“Are they ghosts?” I asked, lowering my voice as the absurd possibility suddenly seemed disturbingly plausible. “Is this one of those hospitals?”

Dr. Reed’s brows shot up as his eyes moved between me and the two men. “Oh, these two! They’re—wait, what do you mean by ‘one of those hospitals’?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but the loud stranger launched into another outburst before I could get a single word out.

“You’re so mad about the party that you’re going to pretend you don’t know me?” he demanded, staring at me in disbelief. His brows drew together, his mouth falling slightly open, hurt flickering across his face. “Seriously, Alessia? That’s what we’re doing now?”

The headache behind my eyes pulsed harder.

I planted my palms against the mattress and tried to push myself upright. A vicious wave of dizziness rolled through me, followed by a surge of pain that made the room tilt sideways.

“That’s it.” I sucked in a breath and glared at him. “I’m killing him.”

The first man was beside me before I could get fully upright. He leaned closer, alarm flashing across his face as he watched me sway. “Don’t move,” he ordered.

His hand hovered just above my shoulder, close enough to catch me if I slipped, but he never touched me. With the room still spinning and my head throbbing, fighting him felt impossible. Exhaustion won, leaving me sinking back against the pillows.

His gaze held mine for another second. “I’ll take care of it.” He turned toward the loud man, his entire posture going rigid.

The loud man immediately raised both hands in surrender, his eyes widening as he took an uncertain step backward. “I wasn’t even doing anything.”