Zach's POV

"I think he's waking up, darling, look!"

Soft fingers graze my cheek, causing a pleasant shiver running through my body, slightly easing the pain in my stomach. My head is pounding like shit, and my eyelids are heavy. No matter how hard I try, I can't bring myself to open my eyes.

"I think you're right, mom. Can you get a doctor, please?"

The sound of a familiar voice rises to my ears and sparks the urge to look into this person's face. Light is blinding me as I finally manage to open my eyes and for a moment, I can't see anything.

"Hey," The most beautiful woman I've ever seen is sitting next to my bed, holding my hand, looking at me through her mesmerizing grey-blue eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Frowning, I tilt my head and pensively eye the lovely figure. I know she's familiar to me, but I can't remember who she is.

"Zach?" Her brows furrow and a hint of uncertainty flashes over her face. "Can you hear me?"

I'm about to nod when the door opens and a person wearing a white coat followed by a middle-aged woman with the same grey-blue eyes than the beauty holding my hands enter the room. It's only now that I realize I'm lying in a hospital bed. What the fuck?

"Mr. Wood, I see you're awake," the doctor remarks with a self-importantly expression. "I didn't expect to see you again that soon, actually."

I watch him checking the beeping monitors next to me before he turns towards me and directly stares into my eyes.

"How do you feel? Do you have pains anywhere?" he asks and shines a very bright light into my eyes. I already hate this man.

"Mmh...," I mutter, feeling my hoarse, deep voice scratching in my dry throat. "My head is fucking pounding, and my stomach hurts."

"Alright, the nurse will give you some painkillers," the doctor informs me and then raises his brow, giving me a reproachful look. "You should be more careful, Mr. Wood. You need to take better care of yourself!"

With those words, he exits the room again, leaving me alone with the two women which look so familiar to me, and still, I don't remember from where I know them. Somehow, that feels fucking wrong to me.

"Zach," the tiny voice next to me lets me turn my head in her direction. "What's wrong?"

She strokes her soft hand over my cheeks again while her beautiful eyes never leave mine.

"Uhm... Who... I mean..." I pause, awkwardly biting my bottom lip, "Sorry, but...ehm...where do I know you from?"

I can see the color draining from her face as she pulls away her delicate hand, leaving a weird, empty feeling on my cheek. It's obvious that my words have hurt her and a feeling in my chest tells me I really hate hurting this woman. It's like I feel the pain myself.

"I...I'm Liv. Your girl...friend," she whispers faintly. "Don't you remember?"

Fuck, what is wrong with my head? Why don't I remember this beautiful woman being my girlfriend?

"I...I mean, I kinda remember your face..." I reply, feeling confused as hell. "I just...uh...fuck!"

In that moment, an elderly, friendly smiling nurse enters the room, breaking the tension hanging in the air.

"Mr. Wood, I've got something to stop your pain," she chants, placing two plastic cups on my nightstand, one filled with three pink pills and one with water. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

I take the bitter pills into my mouth and swallow them down together with the cold water.

"I...uhm...I think there's something wrong with my brain," I grimace at the pounding pain rushing through my head which forces me to close my eyes.

"He doesn't remember me." I hear my apparent girlfriend's voice. "I'm his girlfriend."

"Oh, don't worry about that, darling," the nurse returns warmly. "That's not abnormal after a general anaesthetic. Just give him some time. Don't overwhelm him with questions. In most cases the patient gets his memory back."

Exhaustion paired with pain pulls me into a sleep-like state, and I can't help but give in to the tiredness overcoming me.

~

"Sweetheart, stop crying. I'm sure everything will be alright again!"

"But what if he doesn't get his memory back, mom?"

I blink into the light of my hospital room and need a moment to adjust to the painful brightness. Once my eyes are able to take in my surrounding, my face relaxes, and I smile.

"Liv?"

Liv breaks away from the embrace of her mother and both turn their head, looking at me with surprised faces. In a heartbeat, Liv is next to me again and glances at me through teary eyes.

"Yea?" she breathes. "Do you need anything?"

"How about a kiss?" I give her a crooked smile.

Liv narrows her eyes and slightly tilts her head before she warily asks, "You remember?"

"What? That you are my beautiful girlfriend?" I tease her and chuckle as she rolls her eyes. "Yes, that I remember."

I can see how the tension leaves her body and she exhales with relief.

"I'll leave you two some privacy." Callie gives us both a warm smile and then exits the hospital room.

"Now come here!" I order and struggle a bit to scoot over in my bed to make space for Olivia.

She carefully sits down beside me and crawls under the blanket I hold open for her. Ignoring the pain in my stomach, I wrap my arm around her and pull her closer, soaking in her sweet scent.

"What happened?" I ask, thinking about the incident with Liv's father. "The last thing I remember is getting kicked into my stomach by that shitface."

"You passed out after that, and the ambulance took you to the hospital. The doctors made an ultrasound and found an internal bleeding in your stomach. This time they had to operate, but they told us that the surgery went very well," Liv explains, snuggling her face into the crook of my neck.

"What happened with him?"

Liv lifts her head and faces me, clenching her teeth.

"He ran off, the coward he is," she murmurs, resting her head on my shoulder again. "Are you planning to sue him?"

A deep sigh leaves my throat and I close my eyes. "No, I don't think I'll sue him." I think for a moment and then ask, "What day is it today?"

"Monday."

"What?" I half sit up, immediately regretting it as a sharp pain rushes through my body. I lay down back again and wait a moment, taking a deep breath. "What happened to Sunday?"

"You slept most of it and the few times you opened your eyes, you weren't really awake," Liv chuckles and tilts her head to look at me. "Logan and Jude already left, only mom stayed here. She didn't want to leave me alone."

"Did you get any sleep?" I ask, frowning slightly worried, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

"A bit," Liv mutters, trying to escape my piercing gaze.

"You didn't go home, right?" I assume with a reproachful undertone.

"No." Liv's voice is so quiet, I can hardly hear her as she mutters, biting her lip.

"Then sleep now, baby," I say and warmly smile into her exhausted face. "But first I need my kiss!"

Liv giggles and cautiously leans over, pressing her soft, plump lips against mine. For a moment, we stay like this, just sharing a sweet moment of closeness and intimacy.

"I love you," I whisper, smiling against her mouth, earning a content sigh from her.

"I love you, Zach!" she breathes, pensively eyeing me for a second. "I'm glad you've got your memory back."

With that she closes her eyes and rests her head on my shoulder again, and only a minute later, light snoring reaches my ears, putting a loving smile on my face. Before I give in to my own tiredness, I grab my phone which is lying on the nightstand and type a short text directed to Caleb.

*There's something I need your help with! I'll call you tomorrow. Zach*

Caleb's reply comes within a few seconds.

*Aye, Shorty.*

***

The next day

I sent Liv home today, telling her to take a long relaxing bath and get some proper rest. Well, that is one reason. The other one is that I need to have some privacy to do an important phone call.

As soon as I'm alone in my room, I grab my phone and dial Caleb's number.

"Shorty, what's up?"

"I will help you with your problem you were talking about," I don't even bother to greet him or waste time with being friendly. "But I need you to do me a favor in return!"

"I'm listening."

"There's a person who needs to be taught a lesson."

"Shorty, I don't know if having another dead man on my conscience would help with the problem, I told you about."

"I don't ask you to fucking kill him," I object, rolling my eyes. Caleb is taking his business way too serious. "I just want him to understand he shouldn't mess with me and need to stay away from Liv. For good!"

"Well, in that case, I'm sure we will find a solution. When can we meet to discuss the approach of my issue and how to solve your problem?"

"I'm in hospital, Caleb," I sigh, staring at the sickening white ceiling above me. "Won't get out for at least ten days."

Barking laughter resounds through my phone, "Your stays in the hospital are becoming a habit, huh?"

"Very funny, Caleb," I growl grimly.

"Don't be such a pussy, Shorty!" Caleb utters another throaty laugh. "Alright, I will visit you there. See you later."

"Wait!" I quickly oppose before he hangs up. "I don't want Olivia to find out about this."

"So, we're having secrets already, Mr. perfect boyfriend, mmh?"

"She has enough on her plate already," I murmur quietly.

"Sure, Shorty," Caleb remarks mockingly. "How to discuss how to proceed from here then?"

I think for a moment and then say, "I'll try to get Liv to make plans for tomorrow evening. I will let you know once I talked to her."

"Good. See you, Shorty." Without waiting for a response, he hangs up.

Later that day, Liv returns bringing pizza from the Italian restaurant right around the corner. We enjoy it together and watch a movie on my phone afterwards, cuddling in my hospital bed. Once the movie is over, I look down at my girl.

"Baby, why don't you invite your girls for a nice evening tomorrow?"

She looks at me, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why?"

"I just thought it would be nice for you to have some carefree time with your friends."

"It's fine, Zach. I'd much rather stay with you here," she warmly smiles at me, making my heart leap and hurt at the same time knowing I'm keeping things from her again.

"Come on. You haven't had a night with your girls in such a long time," I try to coax her. "I'm sure it would be fun, and I wouldn't mind having a bit of me time as well."

Liv cocks her head and faces me unconvinced. "Are you sure?"

"Yea." I give her a broad grin and place a lingering kiss on her lips. "Totally sure."

"Mmh," Liv thinks for a moment. "Okay. I'll talk to them."

"That's my girl." I smile, but in reality, I feel like a traitor. Even though I'm doing this for her, I hate the fact that I'm lying to her.

Liv grabs her phone and texts her friends and only a minute later their replies start to come in.

"Mmh," Liv looks at her phone and frowns. "Nora can't come tomorrow and Abbey has plans already too. Thursday would be better."

I nod and use the moment Liv texts her friends back to send a short message to Caleb that he should visit me on Thursday.

With a deep sigh, I put away my phone and close my eyes.

"Is everything okay?" Liv asks worriedly. "Do you have pain?"

"No, I'm fine, baby," I open my eyes and warmly gaze at her. "I just want to go home. I hate being at the hospital."

Liv pensively eyes me for a second and I can almost hear the thoughts crossing her head.

"Because of your mom, right?" she then asks and places her small hand on my chest.

"Yea, and my stepdad died at the hospital too, since Franco's henchman was so intelligent and shot him in a public place." I roll my eyes. "Of course, someone called the ambulance, but even though the doctors did their best to save his life, he passed away the next day. I was by his side until he did his last breath. Unlike Terrence, who didn't even show up once."

"I'm so sorry, Zach!" Liv whispers. "I didn't know you were with him when he died."

"It's okay, darling." I stroke over her cheek with my thumb. "Let's talk about something else."

Liv nods sadly and looks out of the window. The rest of the evening, we watch another movie and eventually fall asleep in my hospital bed.

*****

A bit later than promised, but here's the new chapter.💁🏽‍♀️😌

What do you think about Zach's plans to talk to Caleb?

I'm on vacation until Friday the 13th, so I won't update until then.

Please comment and vote.🥰

Katie🤍