Addicted to Mr. Parks (The Park #2) (4 page)

Chapter Six

My head felt like rocks were imbedded into my brain. My body was cold and numb. My vision was blurred, and I was completely confused.

“Hey, she’s waking up.”

I vaguely heard a woman’s voice and tried to open my eyes, but when I did, a bright light made me close them immediately as it shot piercing pains to my head. I blinked to try and regain some focus, but it was no use. I couldn’t see and was starting to panic from loss of vision.

“My head,” I murmured to myself, my hands automatically gripping at it. Shaking, I tried to sit up to take in my surroundings and soon realised they were completely unfamiliar, and so was the lady who was standing over me.

“Don’t try and stand, sweetie. The nurse is on her way.”

The nurse? Who is this woman?

“You passed out after being violently sick,” the stranger tried to explain. “We couldn’t get you to wake up. I think you may have had a little too much to drink.”

My head was thumping, and the room was so bright it hurt behind my sockets when I tried to open my eyes. “Where the hell am I?”

“In the hospital, sweetheart.”

I blinked, my vison returned a little, and I could see an older lady sitting by my bedside.

“Who are you?” I breathed, recoiling harshly as she took hold of my hand. “Shit.” I winced at the pain in my hand as I pulled it away. Glancing down, I saw I was wired to a drip. I was in a hospital bed!

The strange woman smiled warmly, her old brown eyes concerned for my wellbeing.

“My partner and I found you sleeping under a tree last night, darling. I couldn’t possibly leave you. The doctors have called your next of kin. She’s on her way. I told them I would stay with you until your aunt arrives.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. My head was spinning. I felt dazed. “The hangover from hell” was putting it lightly. I frowned. “I was sleeping against a tree?” I looked down at myself, confused as to why I was still dressed in last night’s clothes.

Before the woman could answer me, a young nurse pulled the curtains across and entered my space. She yanked out the clipboard at the bottom of my bed and glanced up at me. It wasn’t a look of concern, more a look of disgust, like I was wasting her time. She was wasting mine. I had no idea where I was and how I got here.

“Evelyn, I’m Nurse Faulkner. I’ve been looking after you for most of the night. How are you feeling?”

I looked around the cold, white room again. My memory seemed to have lost out on a day, and I hardly knew my own name. “What?” I rubbed at my aching forehead, willing my brain to remember. “Why am I here?”

The nurse couldn’t have been much older than me. Petite, slim, black hair that went well with her green eyes, and she was dressed in a light blue tunic. She placed the clipboard back into its slot at the end of the bed after she’d examined it.

“Alcohol poising,” she said. “You are extremely lucky Mrs. Watts here found you when she did. Evelyn, the consequences could have been a lot worse.”

She was telling me I had alcohol poisoning? No. I couldn’t have. “We have fitted an intravenous drip to top up your water, blood sugar, and vitamin levels. You’re quite lucky we didn’t have to pump your stomach.”

Pump my stomach? The nurse scribbled a few things on a board. “We will monitor you until your alcohol levels have dropped and blood levels are back to normal. Then you will be okay to go home and rest.”

“I need to go home now. Where’s my phone?” I tried to stand, but the nurse quickly came to my side to push me back into bed.

“You will have to wait until your relative arrives, Evelyn. I cannot let you go home by yourself.”

I quickly spotted my smartphone on the side table and grabbed at it. It was switched on, and I had numerous missed calls. It was then I saw it was six o’clock in the morning.

“Disorientated” was an understatement.

“You called my aunty?” My head felt too heavy to hold up, and my body and bones were shaking, even more so because under no circumstances did I want Cheryl to see me in a state.

The nurse nodded. “Yes, she should
—
”

“Evey?”

Shit. It was her. I sagged back down into the bed, praying to be taken out of the situation. Why oh why did I constantly put myself into turbulent scenarios? I was a hazard to myself.

Cheryl called my name again, until she walked past the open curtain, glanced in, and spotted me lying in the bed. Taking a step back, she looked into my room, gave me the once-over with her eyes, and inhaled a sharp breath through her nose. Her blonde hair was in its usual claw clip. Her eyes were red and puffy and her clothes baggy as if she’d just thrown anything on to be here by my side.

“You stupid, stupid girl,” she said.

My eyes closed on their own. I couldn’t look at her disappointment a minute longer. I would have rather slipped back into an alcoholic coma.

“I’ll give you a moment.” The nurse left, and Mrs. Watts spoke to Cheryl briefly before looking back over towards me to say good-bye.

“Listen, thank you for your help, Mrs. Watts. But I really didn’t need it. You should have left me where I was.”

“Evey,” Cheryl scolded me like I was a child, which made me grimace like one. “Thank you,” she told Mrs. Watts again before she left.

I was about to explain myself quickly, but Cheryl didn’t allow a word to escape from my mouth.

“I don’t want to hear it, Evey.” She shut me up, holding up her palm, so I snapped my mouth shut. “You told me you were sober. You told me you had your life together.” She pointed her finger towards me to enunciate her every word, and my gaze drifted back and forth between it and her mad eyes.

Swallowing what felt like razor blades, I tried to explain again. “I have—”

“I have to miss my daughter’s first ballet performance for this, Evey. Her heart is broken. It’s also broken because you promised her you’d be there.”

My swollen heart leaped into my mouth. Shamefully, I’d forgotten. “That’s today? Shit.” I forced myself to stand up even though it was painful. One hand was clutching at my head, the other holding my stomach. However, I ignored the aches and pains and how sick I felt because it was nowhere near as painful as imagining Darcy’s disappointed face or small broken heart. Ignoring the drip, I looked around for my shoes, trying to ignore Cheryl pushing me back onto the bed.

“Chez,
we
need to go.”

She pulled on my shoulders and forced me to look at her. “You think I’m going to let you near my daughter in this state?”

My head recoiled away from her sharp features and harsh words. “What?” I whispered.

She dropped her hands from my shoulders and turned her tired eyes away from me. “You need to sort yourself out before you even think about seeing my kids.” She pointed her finger in my face again, making me wince. “You lied to me. You told me you had your shit together.”

I threw my hands up. “I do have my shit together.”

“No, you don’t,” she yelled. “You’re in bloody hospital with alcohol poisoning. When are going to get help, Evey? This can’t go on. Next time could kill you. Don’t you see how serious this is?” Tears began to drop from her eyes, falling onto her cheeks. “This can’t go on,” she repeated, her voice croaking.

Drowning in her words, I swallowed hard and sagged back down onto the hospital bed. My heart dipped because I couldn’t watch her cry. I’d caused her tears and pain, and the guilt cut me apart.

“Chez, I wouldn’t have got in this state if I remembered Darcy’s concert.”

Slamming her palm on the bed, she hissed, “Don’t you dare use my daughter as an excuse not to drink. You need to do it for
you
! What the hell is wrong with you? Tell me!”

“It’s nothing,” I yelled.

Cheryl glared at me and shook her head. “I’m going to get a cupper. Stay put,” she warned. My head fell back onto the pillow, my eyes closing in exasperation.

Moments after the curtain was closed and Cheryl exited, it was opened again by a hasty, panicky man who made my heart jolt in its cage.

“Evelyn?” He was breathless, looking torn and tortured.

“Parks?” My head sprung from the pillow, his image giving me whiplash. I had to blink a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t still disorientated. “What the hell are
you
doing here?”

He ignored my rational question and outburst and marched to the side of my bed. “I came as soon as I traced your cell phone to the hospital.” His eyes frantically scanned the whole length of my body, and he scowled as he noted the drip.

“You traced my phone?” I asked in astonishment.

The guilty glance he tried to hide told me he wasn’t being completely honest. “I have a board that monitors your calls. Anyway, never mind that
—
”

“You monitor my calls?” I cut him short, waving my hands around.

“I may have told the team to monitor your number, yes. I’m not sorry I pried.”

I stared at the most infuriating man I had ever met. Why the hell was he here? My veins burned with the fevered blood that ran throughout my body. “You shouldn’t be here. I don’t want you here. Get out before I call security.”

He touched my arm gently, his concern laying deep within his eyes. “You don’t mean that.”

I threw off his hand quickly, ignoring the heat of his touch. “Are you fucking serious? I disgust you, remember?”

“Then why did I just die a thousand deaths worrying what the hell may have happened to you? If something bad had happened to you, I…” He ran a firm hand through his glossy, dark hair.

“You what?” I urged him, because I wanted to know what he may have done, because something inside me ticked when I thought of him being in a bad way over
my
bad way.

He mustered up all his strength to form the words. “If something happened to you, I would have to live in a world that you wouldn’t be a part of anymore. I couldn’t live that way. I don’t want a life without you, Evelyn.”

What? He couldn’t say things like that to me. “You already have. You left me. You said I disgust you. You acted like I didn’t exist when I fell at work yesterday.”

I waited for his response, but it was quickly abolished as my aunty sauntered back into the room with a tea in her hand. She almost stumbled when she saw Parks hovering over me. I cringed as I watched her eyes roam over his grey-suited body, and when she spoke, her tone was all breathy.

“Oh, excuse me, Doctor. Have I missed anything?”

I threw my head back onto my pillow furiously. “He’s not a bloody doctor, Cheryl. He’s leaving.”

“Oh?” she asked. “I thought
—
”

“No, he’s not. But while you’re both here, maybe Cheryl should find out the reason why I’ve been drinking again?” Both bewildered heads shot towards me. “That’s right,” I told them, my eyes bulging as I stared at Parks. “This man here—” I nudged my head his way, “—has been fucking with my mind, causing me to drink because I can’t deal with the situations he puts me in.”

Parks almost choked on my words. His face screwed up, and my aunty almost dropped her tea. “Evey, what are you talking about?” she demanded.

Parks straightened out his tie sheepishly. He didn’t want my aunty knowing our business; neither did he want to be painted with dirt. “You’re tired, Evelyn. We will talk about this more privately.”

My brows shot up cryptically. “Will we?”

Cheryl propped her tea onto a nearby table so fast it spilt, then turned to face Parks with crossed arms, making her gold bangles jingle around her wrists. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on? Who is this man if he’s not a doctor?”

“He’s my boss.” I shook my head, getting annoyed. “No, not my boss, the CEO of the company I work for and a complete and utter mind-fucking tosser.”

“Evey!” Cheryl scolded my language, and the insidious glare I got from Parks almost made me want to place X-Men glasses over his pupils before he burnt me alive.

“I apologise for your niece’s behaviour.” He scowled at me, then stepped towards Cheryl. “I’m Wade Parks.” He bent down and charmingly kissed her cheek. She glowed scarlet, but then she saw my glower and shook herself out of it.

“Now, I’m no dummy, so I would say you two know each other well.” She pointed, her finger moving back and forth between us.

“Ha,” I scoffed.

“What about Alex?” she wondered. Parks’s jaw tightened while I grimaced.

“Alex is not relevant right now, Chez. What is, is that I want this man out of my sight. Please. Take him away from me.”

My aunty was becoming increasingly concerned, but she nodded and turned to Parks. “Right, you heard my niece, she doesn’t want to see you. For some strange reason,” she added, all girly.

“All I ask is for one minute.” He put on that undeniable charm of his, and my aunty relented like a bloody schoolgirl as he touched her arm.