Chapter 5 Missing a step

❣️ TERRY'S POV ❣️

I woke up, checked the bedside clock and it said fifteen minutes past six in the morning. I looked around for my phone and I can't remember where I left it last night.

I didn't want to move an inch away from her, so I settled back beside her and admired her beautiful face. She's my heartbeat.

I kissed her lips lightly and she stirred, then her eyes stuttered open and her dimples came to view as she smiled at me.

"Good morning, sweetie!" She greeted me, touching my lips.

"How was your night?" I asked, gripping her hand to keep it in place.

"Full of love, sweet dreams and a lot of fantasy" She pouted her lips funnily.

"You almost broke my waist last night, how did you get such energy?" I asked, thrusting a finger into her rib playfully.

"Do you want more this... morning?" She laughed and threw the sheets over us.

"No, please!" I avoided her and left the bed.

"I can't believe he's running, later he will start claiming Samson of this generation!" She joked laughing heartily.

"I accept defeat, ma'am" I said, picking up our clothes and undies.

"Alright, I just want to be lazy about today, and I hope to spend quality time with you, is that too much?" She whined and wanted to leave.

"Not at all, I'm definitely not going anywhere today!" I laughed and grabbed her from behind, "you have got no shame at all to be walking around nude, is tempting me part of the plan today?"

"Look who's talking about shame, he's still naked!" She laughed.

Her laughter is infectious, so I joined her as I carried her into the bathroom.

We took a quick shower, dressed up in outdoor clothes, ate and went for a ride with two hired motorcycles.

We drove slowly beside each other. It's midsummer, so we didn't bother about the cold because it actually felt good to have air swoosh over us.

"Let's drive towards the Northern part where there's a lonely road and beautiful views, I want a real ride!" She shouted so I could hear her.

"Alright! It's been a while since I engaged myself in such outdoor activity, I love it!!"

"I couldn't think of a better birthday gift. For the whole of today, I have taken a break from work and I will make sure to give you an everlasting gift!" She said and released her hair for the wind to play with.

I smiled at her and sped off, she gave me a hot chase. When we got to a lonelier road, we stopped under a tree with shade to take pictures.

We sauntered deeper into the desert and played around like two lazy kids. It felt good to not worry or think about anything, not having to work... It felt good, she knew how to gift a workaholic.

Sitting on the sand, the sun shone brightly and our clothes and her hair were swooshed by air, she looked elegant and I couldn't resist her.

I bent towards her, kissed her ear and ran my hand caressingly through her cheek down to her arm, she quivered.

"Hey, let me take more pictures. The view is wonderful, look at the way the sun is washing over the sea and it's so beautiful!" She was thrilled by the amazing view, but I am thrilled by her.

"Yeah, but not more beautiful than you" I said, necking her.

"Gosh, Terry! You always teased me about how flirtatious I am, now I see you seducing me" she said and wriggled away from me.

"No, don't play hard to get now, can't you see the condition I am in?" I said following her, she moved backwards and kept snapping me with the camera.

Her phone rang. She looked at it and hissed. I told her to take it and she claimed it was no one important.

She is really serious about no calls, no work, but I didn't trust that would happen considering her kind of work.

When I caught her, she jumped into my arms and crushed her lips on mine. My hands traveled down and squeezed her ass, she bit my lower lip in return.

"Ouch, that hurts!" I complained.

"Shut up and drive!" She captured my lips again and cursed when her phone buzzed again inside her bag.

"You have to take the call, it might be important" I rasped, bringing her down.

"God damnit! Am I the only doctor in that hospital? I'm definitely not taking this fûcking call!" She swore and clung to me.

"Honey, come on, there might be an emergency" I beseeched.

"That's the problem, emergency! I will sue Rose for this!" She flipped her hair and took the call with stubbornly compressed lips.

I ran my fingers through her hair to stretch it because it's all messed up. She listened to the person at the other end, when she finally cut the call, her expression changed.

"What?" I asked, cupping her face and lifting it up for a kiss.

"A suicide case, says he took some toxic substance and... Gosh, why did you tell me to take that call?!" She pushed my face away.

"Well, change of plans" I shrugged.

"I wanted us to spend today together and someone just ruined it, thanks to you!" She disentangled herself from me, picked up her camera and headed back to where we packed our motorcycles.

That was the end of the ride for us and she was really pissed off.

❣️ MITCHELL'S POV ❣️

I declined Terry's offer to drive me to the hospital when we returned the motorcycles to the vendor's shop. I hopped into a taxi and that was the last thing I remembered.

When I woke up, I was in a strange room, lying down naked in a bed and I wondered how I got there and what happened to me. I was still pondering that in my head when a telephone beside the bed rang.

I grabbed it immediately and asked who it was.

"Ma'am, good morning? I just want to remind you that the twelve hour payment on the room you are in has expired and you will be charged three hundred dollars in the next ten minutes..."

I dropped the phone and quickly dressed up. I didn't know how I got there, but this is obviously an expensive hotel and I hate to even think about what I was doing there.

Of course I can afford to pay for it, but darn it, how in God's name did I get there to even wake up naked?!

I found my bag, phone, jewelry and shoes beside the bed where whoever undressed me kept my clothes. If the person(s) didn't want anything from me, then what could it be that the person took away?

I frantically ran out of the hotel and was too devastated to go home and stay alone. I gave the cab driver Terry's home address.

It was a two minute drive, but I felt exhausted and it looked as though my head would blast at any time.

"Hey babe! What happened to you?" Terry asked worriedly when he opened the door to see my troubled face.

"Oh, nothing... I..." I trailed off and walked past him into the living room.

"I called someone at the hospital yesterday to see if you got there safely after you missed ten of my calls and she said that you didn't show up. I called her again this morning and she told me that the patient died early this morning," Terry coaxed.

"I... Actually, I... Can we not talk about this today? I'm sick, I don't know if you will let me stay here tonight?" I said and sat down before I crumbled.

I wasn't sick, I was afraid... I feel nauseous whenever I think about how I got into that hotel room and why I was there alone, naked. What sort of dream was that?

"Babe, you know you don't need to take permission to do that, this is like your own home now. You are not yourself, what is it?" He pressed and squatted down beside me, he took my hand and squeezed lightly.

I felt safe for the moment. I didn't know what to tell him and I knew he would keep pressing until I told him what was bothering me.

So I simply kissed him deeply and passionately, I put the words into the kiss and didn't give him a chance to ask me anything else.

*Two days later*

I stepped out of my house and went for a jog. Honestly, I haven't been able to get over what happened to me, so I went jogging to clear my head that weekend.

Annabelle, the lady I met at Terry's place, joined me. I thought it was a coincidence until she started a conversation with me and even threatened me.

"If you think I'm joking, take a closer look at yourself!" She snorted, threw a big envelope at my face and went her way without looking back again.

I wanted to ignore it. I know people can do anything when they are obsessed with someone and call it love, so I decided to see what was in the envelope. I opened it and got the shock of my life.