Chapter One

So I asked my FB followers if they'd hate me if I postponed the Untamed series to start on a new project that I've been obsessing over. Most people said I should do what I wanted, to let the proverbial writing sails take me where they may.

So here is the first chapter of that (yet untitled) new series. Tell me what you think!

CHAPTER ONE

Hannah’s awake.

Logan sped down the white-tiled halls of the hospital, his heart lodged in his throat. He’d spent the past week keeping vigil by her bedside, it figured that she’d wake up from her coma the one time he actually left her side to grab some non-hospital food and a shower. On the bright side, at least she’d wake up and find her boyfriend clean.

Eight days ago, he was doing this very same thing, rushing through the hospital, though it had been under very different circumstances. Last week, the phone call he’d received from her parents had been one of utter hopelessness and despair, their voices so mangled that it had taken him a few seconds to grasp what they were saying.

“But she’s on her way home,” Logan had said, staring at the romantic spread he’d laid out on the table on the patio. For some reason, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the flickering flame of the candle on the table while Hannah’s dad once again tried to explain the situation.

“She was in a car accident,” Dan said. “She hit the concrete median and her car flipped.”

“But Hannah’s an excellent driver.” The flame danced around, threatening to blow out with the evening breeze as Logan struggled to hold the phone up to his ear. “What the hell?”

He didn’t know how he made it to the hospital or how he even managed to remember the floor and room number. All he could recall was walking in that small room and finding the love of his life laying on a hospital bed surrounded by various machines and tubes, her head wrapped in white gauze. As he crept closer, he saw that her normally light mocha skin was bruised all over, that her right arm was in a cast of some sort, that her chest was barely rising and falling.

“She hasn’t woken up,” Cheryl, her mom said. “She’s in a coma.”

For the very first time in his twenty-three years, Logan was completely at a loss. He had no idea what to do next. In the past, when he and Hannah would get into trouble, he’d always come up with a solution to get them out of it. Standing there at the foot of her hospital bed, grasping the metal railing tight, he had absolutely no clue how to fix her.

For the next eight days, he sat by her bed and prayed. Still, the feeling of helplessness didn’t abate because even as her bruises began to fade, she was still trapped in a place he couldn’t reach.

Now she was awake, and the rope that had wrapped itself tight around his lungs for the past week was finally loosening with each step he took to her room. He didn’t bother knocking on the door; he just turned the knob and went right inside, unable to wait a minute longer to see her.

She was sitting up, taking a sip from a cup that her mother held. Her dad stood on the other side of the bed, looking on with a strange look on his face.

Dan looked up as Logan entered the room, his expression gluing Logan’s feet where he stood.

Something was wrong, Logan could feel it in the pit of his stomach. “Hannah?”

At the sound of his voice, Hannah and her mother turned to him, but whereas Cheryl’s face held a welcoming expression, Hannah’s face was completely blank.

Hannah looked back to the woman beside her. “Who is he?” she asked in a roughened voice.

Cheryl cast a quick glance at Logan before turning back to her daughter. “He’s Logan Pierce, your boyfriend.”

It took Logan longer than it should have to piece together the information. In his mind, there was absolutely no way Hannah could ever forget him. They had been a part of each other’s lives since they were born. He couldn’t even remember a time when she didn’t exist in his life.

He stared at Hannah from across the room, unable to move. She met his eye for a few moments then turned away, looking at anything else but him.

“What’s going on?” he asked, the need for an explanation finally spurring him to move closer to the bed. God, he wanted to hold her, to kiss her and make sure she was well, but something held him back, the fear that she’d shrink away from his touch.

Logan started when Dan touched his shoulder.

“Because of the brain trauma, she is suffering from retrograde amnesia,” Dan began. “She can’t remember a thing. Not even us.”

Logan never once took his eyes off Hannah, the girl he’d loved for as long as he could remember. “How long do the doctors expect it to last?” he asked nobody in particular, though he was really expecting the answer to come from Hannah.

“They don’t know,” Cheryl said. “Could be hours. Could be months.”

“We’ll give you two some time to talk,” Dan said, walking to the door.

Cheryl gazed down at her daughter and touched her shoulder. “Will that be okay?”

Hannah nodded, still evading Logan’s gaze. “I’ll be fine.”

After her parents left, Logan came closer, his fingers grazing the blanket at the foot of the bed. “So you don’t remember me?”

Finally she looked up and fixed those big hazel eyes at him. “I don’t remember anyone,” she said. “Those two people out there claiming to be my parents. I have no clue who they are. I have to just believe them when they say they’re my parents.”

“You seem to be comfortable with them.”

“What choice do I have?” Her eyebrows drew together and she bit her lips together; telltale signs that she was trying to keep her tears at bay.

“Hey, don’t cry,” he said, coming even closer. He fought the instinct to soothe her by rubbing his palm in circles on her back like he used to do. “Your memory will return and everything will be just as it was.”

She inhaled deeply. “I hope so.”

“At least you’re okay, physically.”

She held up her arm that was confined in plaster to a ninety-degree angle. “Mostly.” She studied me for a long, quiet moment. “So you’re my boyfriend?”

Logan nodded.

“How long have we been together?”

“Well, we were born a day apart and grew up together. But as boyfriend and girlfriend… since we were sixteen.”

“Long time.”

“Yeah.” He wanted to tell her that they’d planned on the rest of their lives, but thought it might have been too much too soon. One day at a time. “Our parents are best friends, and we grew up next door to each other.”

“Did I love you?”

Her question, asked so innocently, was like a punch to the gut.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that if you don’t—”

“Yes, you did,” he said, turning away to rub at the corner of his eyes.

“Did you love me?” She gave a weak wave with her hand, swatting the question away. “You know what, don’t answer that. That was a stupid question.”

“Yes,” I said, my eyes fixed on her face even as her image was starting to get a little blurry around the edges. “You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved.”

She lay back onto her pillow and closed her eyes, her lips pinched together once more. “I should get some sleep.”

It was only after she turned away that he allowed his face to crumple.

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Some details:

- It will be released in installments, much like the Disarm series. 

- I believe there will be four novelettes overall

- If I can keep up the rate at which this story is flowing out of me, I'd say each installment should be released within 10-14 days of each other.

So... what do you think? Tell me in the comments which one you'd rather read first: Untamed or Hannah & Logan's story.

* This excerpt is copyrighted and cannot be copied or otherwise used without express permission from the author.