Manhattan Muse: A Contemporary Romance by Vivian Wilde

other day, and to the bathroom all by yourself.”
    I looked away from Sophia in humiliation. It was true – I couldn’t do anything by myself anymore. I couldn’t lift a fork to my own mouth. I couldn’t clean myself up in the restroom. I was helpless and dependent – two qualities I refused to submit to for my entire life.
    She wheeled me the rest of the block in silence before returning me to my bed. I was so angry that I couldn’t think about anything but my frustrations. For once, I was glad the drugs sedated me and allowed me to slip away into a deep sleep.
     
    I was awaken ed by a zipper running the length of a bag. Through my cloudy vision, I saw a blob at the side of my bed raise a finger to its lips. The glow of the fluorescent lights made a dark mass of spikes glisten in their beams. The figure slipped a surgical mask over its mouth before folding into my sheets, enveloping me with its limbs.
    “I wanted to see if you were alright,” it hummed into my ear. I felt his beard prickle against my cheeks and was automatically thrown back in time to the memory of that same stubble grazing my breasts in the most emotional night of my life.
    “Adam,” I managed before a tear crept down my cheek to let me wallow in my sorrow. That experience could never be recreated after the procedures I had just undergone. All that it could ever be was a memory. This realization made me overwhelmed with emotion.
    “I’m so sorry, Moo-Moo,” Adam said, cuddling me closer. “You deserve better than him.”
    In my drugged stupor, I was still certain I had heard him wrong. I was confused and, as my mind raced through all of the possible things that one phrase could mean, I was praying it wasn’t the one I began dwelling on.
    “What?” I breathed.
    “Did you not hear?” Adam said, sitting up. I saw his pupils dilate in fear. After two more moments of crippling silence while he tried to gather his words, he finally spoke. “Nate… Nate was spotted taking Minka, his costar, home after the Grammys. I… I have the texts. I’m friends with her.”
    My heart sank into the depths of the bed as he pulled out his phone. As he showed me the texts and gossip sites, I lost feeling in my limbs. My breathing became shaky as the heart rate monitor shot through the roof. The anxiety crippled me as nurses flew into the room and began yelling at Adam to leave. Arms flailed through the air and mouths moved, but all I heard was a constant ringing in my ear.
    As Adam was shoved through the door and out of the hospital, the nurses believed they had solved the problem as they sedated me with more medication. They didn’t realize that the damage had already been done.
    Everything I had been holding onto had just snapped in half and I was left holding its feeble end.
     

Chapter 14
    The TV lit up HLNs Weekend Express as I dealt myself a game of Solitaire. I always liked listening to Natasha Curry and, after running my eyes over her perfect teeth and flowing brunette tufts, I had decided that she was the look I would try to emulate when I got better.
    I wanted the full bodied wig, even lashes, and the perfect blush to swipe across my pale cheeks. I wanted a collection of bold lipsticks, a chic wardrobe, and fabulous earrings. However, I had to make a mental note to myself to perfect walking in heels.
    As I was struggling to flip over the next card in my stack, a light knock sounded at the door. Peering towards the door, I saw two bodies through my privacy curtain. One belonged to Sophia while the other was indiscernible because it wasn’t fully in my line of sight.
    “Molly?” Sophia called hesitantly.
    “Yes?” I said, continuing my game.
    Her hand swept the length of the curtain so that she could talk to me beside my bed.
    “You have a visitor,” Sophia said. The way she was looking at me told my brain to kick into panic mode. “However, I told him you might be too tired for visitors.”
    “Who is it?” I whispered, growing