Almost there, buddy.

Almost where?

A horn blared, tires screeched, and frantic voices exchanged meaningless words because everything was meaningless. None of it made sense. Where was I?

Didn’t someone need help?

A sharp pain stabbed my chest at the thought. I was unworthy, a sadistic ass who’d done horrible things…who had I done this to? And why would I do something so…what had I done? Why was trying to remember making my head throb like a fucking drum, pounded on by brutal drumsticks that inflicted the most horrid pain? I felt those strikes clear though my eyeballs to my teeth.

Hands grabbed my body and lifted, sliding me onto something cold and hard and bumpy. An engine rumbled to life. I groaned as I rolled, though an arm steadied me, as did the leg stretched out at my side.

A bright light woke me, searing my eyes and intensifying the throb at my temples, which kept time to the rhythmic beep that irritated my ears. I rubbed the blurriness from my vision and took in the small room. What the hell? Had I lost a fight, beaten so badly I’d needed hospitalization?

Why couldn’t I remember?

Someone shifted on my left, and I found a guy slumped in a chair, his dark blond hair a mess on his head. His drawn face displayed signs of fatigue.

“Thought I’d lost you, man.”

I blinked. Something wasn’t right. He must have been in the wrong room, or confused.

I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, he was still staring at me, waiting for an answer. “Why are you here?”

“Seriously? We get into one fight and this is how you’re gonna play it?” He brushed the hair from his brown eyes. “That’s cold. If I hadn’t come back, you would’ve bled to death. Lucky for you, you sonofabitch, it was a clean shot, so no permanent damage.”

I blinked again, feeling as if I were missing several cards from the deck. “I don’t remember. How long have I been here?”

Some of the anger left his shoulders. “You’ve been laid up three days. It was touch and go for a while. You lost a lot of blood, and they didn’t know how long you’d gone without oxygen.”

What the hell? No one choked me out. It just wasn’t done. I choked my opponents.

“Must have been some fight.”

He raised a brow. “That’s a mild way of putting it. No one can piece together what happened.” He gave me a heavy look, then lowered his voice. “Which is a good thing since you-know-who vanished, though I’d like to get my hands on whoever did this.”

“What are you talking about?”