A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(145)

My gaze zipped to his parents, only to find they were staring right back, alarm in their eyes. Brenda returned her attention to her son. “Oren?” she said fearfully.

“Yeah?” His soft, raspy voice made me shudder. He reached for his mom again. He’d never once tried to reach for me.

He knew who she was. He knew who his father was. He knew who he was.

But he didn’t know who I was.

Fear, dark and cold, rushed into me. Oren didn’t know who I was. How could he not know who I was?

“Where’s Zoey?” he asked, glancing around the room.

“Oh shit,” Phil whispered.

I covered my mouth with both hands and took a step backward. Oren’s parents exchanged a horrified glance before they looked across the bed at me, anguish flooding off both of them. I shook my head, trying to deny it, but one of the worst things possible had happened. He’d lost his recent memory, at least four years of it...because he still thought his sister was alive.

Catching all the distress in the room, Oren said, “What’s wrong? Is she okay? What happened? Why am I here? Where’s my sister?”

Brenda whimpered and laid her hands on him in reassurance, but he must’ve sensed her pain.

“Mom?” His voice trembled with fear.

His parents looked to me again, and Oren turned my way, his gaze accusing, as if I was interfering in a private moment that a stranger should not interrupt.

“I, uh...” My voice trembled as I lifted my hands and backed another step away. “I’ll let you have your family time.”

His parents nodded their thanks, and Oren turned back to them, already forgetting me.

Tears streamed down my cheeks. My legs felt like noodles and in no way able to support me, but I kept walking, letting myself out of his room and quietly shutting the door behind me.

I was halfway down the hall when I heard him scream, “Noooo...Zoey.”

It was a miracle his vocal chords could be that loud after how hoarse he’d been. But the pain behind his screams let me know he’d found a way to use them regardless.

Noel, and Quinn, and Zoey, and just...everyone flew out of the waiting room just as my legs gave out and I started to collapse.

My brother dove at me, barely catching me. “Caroline? What the hell? Are you okay?”

Another cry from Oren’s room had him lifting his face and glancing that way. “What happened?”

I grabbed hold of his shirt as our friends gathered around, looking panicked and worried. Tears streamed down my face and clogged my throat. I couldn’t talk.

“He doesn’t...” A sob seized me, and I squeezed my eyes closed.

“Caroline?” Worry filled Noel’s voice as he stroked my face.

“His memory,” I got out. “Lost years. Still thought his sister was alive.” I met the eyes of every person gathered around me. “He doesn’t remember any of us.”

Days of exhaustion, fear, worry, heartbreak, and guilt took over then. I passed out cold, everything going dark and blessedly numb.





I woke in a hospital bed. At first, I had no idea what was going on or why I was there. When I remembered Oren, and his coma, and him waking up with only half of his memory, I gasped and sat upright. Then I whimpered and cradled my head because it throbbed like hell.

Noel, who’d fallen asleep in a chair next to my bed, jolted awake. “Hey. Easy,” he murmured, reaching out to comfort me. “It’s okay.”

“Wha...?” I slowly lowered my arms and looked down at myself. I was still in the scrubs I’d been wearing for days, but my hands were now bandaged. “What happened? How long was I out?”

Breathing out a long sigh as if he were worn to the bone, Noel sent me a tired smile. He hadn’t shaved in days, and his eyes were lined with weariness. But he slid up to the side of my bed to sit by me and comfort me as if nothing whatsoever was afflicting him.

“You passed out after—”

I waved him quiet, wincing when I thought about the horror that had lit through me when I realized Oren had no idea who I was, and the pain that came when I heard him scream for his dead sister.

“Yeah, I remember that part.”

Noel nodded and gulped. “The staff brought you in here and looked you over. You’re suffering from some severe exhaustion and dehydration, kiddo.” He took my wrists and looked down at my bandages. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d gotten hurt that day, too? Your scratches could’ve gotten infected.”

I shrugged and glanced away. “I don’t know. I didn’t really notice, I guess.” Or care.

He blew out a breath. “We’ve both been so worried about him, we haven’t been taking care of ourselves. Tonight, we’re going home and we’re sleeping in real beds and letting Aspen fill us with a warm, home-cooked meal. No arguments.”

“But Oren—”

“Still doesn’t remember either of us.” I choked out a sound of denial, and Noel’s face flooded with grief. “We’re not doing him any good by staying here and making ourselves sick, Caroline. The doctors said he could get his full memory back in a matter of minutes, hours, days, or—”

“Never,” I said, the word echoing through my head.

I’d seen the movie The Vow with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. It’d been based on a real, live couple, and she’d never gotten her memory back.