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Ava
After leaving Target, I drove home, put my things away, and sat down on the couch with my coffee. I couldn’t stop thinking about my encounter with Grayson. His six-foot-three built body, short, meticulously styled dark hair, masculine jawline, and bright blue eyes made him the sexiest man I’d ever seen. I vaguely remember thinking that same thing at the bar that night. What bothered me was that he thought I was terrible for pretending we had never met or slept together. The truth was I had no memory of him, but I couldn’t very well tell him the truth. If he thought I was already crazy, he’d think it more if I had. Only a few close friends knew about my condition, and that’s how I liked it. I’d been through enough with guys over the years and was finally okay with being alone.
The following morning, I awoke to a note on my nightstand.
“Two new paintings are ready to be taken to the gallery. – Freya.”
Freya was not only one of my protectors, but she was also an incredible artist. She could paint anything, and the meticulous detail in all her paintings blew me away. She wanted to be seen and noticed, which was how she fulfilled her needs by painting. A local art gallery fell in love with her work and agreed to display some of her art. In addition to my interior decorating job, selling her paintings helped secure our livelihood. Sometimes, she brought the paintings in herself; sometimes, I did it for her. She wanted me to take them in for her today since I had a lot of work to do. That was how we worked as a system, mostly. We respected each other and everyone’s time except when Freya put me to sleep and brought Grayson home from the bar.
After showering and getting ready, I took the wrapped artwork from the other bedroom, loaded them in my car, and headed to the gallery.
“Good morning, Ava.” Lucian smiled when I walked in. “No Freya today?”
“She asked me to bring them in for her. She has a busy day.” I smiled as I handed him the paintings.
“Excellent. I’ll get these hung as quickly as possible.” He reached into the top drawer behind the counter and handed me a check. “Here is the commission for the other sold paintings.”
“Thanks, Lucian. I’ll make sure she gets it. Have a good day.”
“You too, Ava.”
Lucian was under the assumption that Freya and I were sisters. We’d been doing this for the past four years, and her paintings sold faster than she could paint them.
I climbed into my car and headed to the paint store to pick up some paint samples for a living room I was redecorating for a client.
“I never would have picked those colors myself,” Colette said when she walked into the room.
I turned to her and smiled. “You wanted the room to look more open, and these colors will do just that.”
After we sat down and I showed her some furniture ideas on my laptop, I left. I was driving down the highway, listening to music, when two cars started road raging, wreaking havoc. Everything went black.
“Welcome back, Ava Williams.” Grayson smiled as he stood over me.
I was confused and had no idea what had happened.
“What happened?” I asked. “Where am I?”
“You’re in the emergency room at Cedars. You were in a car accident. You don’t remember?”
“No.” I slowly shook my head as I looked away from him.
“That’s strange. The good news is that you have a few scrapes and bruises, and you’re going to be okay.”
I turned my head and looked at him, taking note of the medical scrubs he wore. My eyes focused on his badge—Dr. Grayson Kind, Trauma Surgeon.
“You’re a doctor?” I tried to sit up, but he stopped me.
“Just relax for a bit.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
“Can I get you anything?” one of the nurses asked.
“Some water.”
“Sure thing.” She smiled.
I couldn’t believe he was a doctor, and his last name was Kind. I’d wondered if he was related to Charlotte. Grayson walked back into the room, and I asked him to put the head of the bed up. He did as I asked and stared at me as a small smile framed his lips.
“I’m happy you’re okay. Imagine my surprise when they brought you in.”
