Hide My Memories: A Romantic Suspense Thriller Series (Hide Me Series Book 1) by Lisa Ladew

to pay and food to buy. Plus, she was scared if she took time off after only a few days working with the department, it wouldn’t look good on her record. She didn't want to do anything to jeopardize this job. Well, anything more than bizarrely finding a hidden body on her second day.
    "The deputy said we can go,” West told her.
    Katerina felt relief course through her. "Oh great," she said.
    West checked his watch again. "Yep, just in time for the end of our shift."
    Katerina tried to laugh but found that it stuck in her throat.
    West drove back to Westwood Harbor slowly, silently. Katerina watched out her window, glad for the silence.
    Once back at the ambulance bay they quickly did a post-shift restocking, then checked out.
    Before she could make a beeline for her car, West stopped in front of her and seemed to struggle with his words. Katerina didn't think she could stand anything he was going to say. She thought she saw pity and fear in his eyes. She didn’t want to deal with either. She squeezed his arm quickly and thanked him for all his help. Then she ran around him and all the way to her car.
    On the way home, staring up at the yellow moon, the images slid back into her mind, taking up their old, familiar place.
    A bitter disappointment sliced through her, as slick as any knife. But then she realized that it was only two images competing for space in her thoughts.
    The woman with the liquid brown eyes was gone.

Chapter 13
     
     
     
     
    He took the day off work. He couldn’t concentrate anyway. He hadn’t been able to concentrate for three days now. He sat in the parking lot of Ironwood massage, his car out of reach of the eye of the few security cameras, and watched the building. Three days ago, he'd gone in to that building to get a massage and that's when it had happened. What exactly had happened, he wasn't sure, but he knew it was nothing good. He'd been laying on the table, drowsing, waiting for his massage therapist to come in and start. It'd been years since he got a massage and he was looking forward to it. When she finally came in everything had seemed normal, but then when she touched him, he’d felt a strange draining sensation that had made him even more tired. His head had felt like it weighed one thousand pounds. It had seemed to him that she drugged him – stuck a needle right in him somewhere and shot something into one of his veins – but he couldn't seem to care about it. He tried to make himself care about it, because if she was drugging him, she knew . But he couldn't.
    And then she had been out the door. He hadn't even had the energy to lift his head up and see what was going on. He might even have fallen asleep. But then she'd come back, his energy had returned, and everything had been normal. The massage had been pretty good, nothing to write home about.
    But when he'd gone to pay the receptionist, she had apologized. He called the receptionist’s face up in his mind in full detail. She had been cute, and perky, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Just the sight of her had interested him but he had quelled his interest. Westwood Harbor wasn't his domain.
    "I'm so sorry about your first therapist, sir," she had said.
    "First therapist?"
    "Yes, she got sick and had to go home," the receptionist had said, her wide eyes fixed on his. "But we don't think she's contagious or anything," she had added.
    He had puzzled over that the entire drive to work. He had tried to remember exactly what had happened when he felt so sleepy and drained.
    And finally, he decided that he had to talk to this ‘first therapist’. He had to find out what had happened to her. He wanted to know how she had drained him or what she had done to him. Had she taken part of his soul? Had she taken part of his memories or thoughts? He didn’t think he believed in that sort of thing, but he thought he’d better be safe. Because if she had, that would make her very dangerous, and there was only one thing you