Accidentally in Love With a God (2012) Read Free

with no signs of brain activity. You were in a coma, but you beat the odds, young lady,” the nurse elaborated, checking my IV drip. “A true miracle.”
    The word “miracle” jarred me. Was it truly? Was getting hit by a cab and being in a coma the magic key to get rid of Guy? I remembered the dream I’d had before waking up, but it could have been just that, a dream.
    I mentally held my breath, hoping the universe had taken pity on me while the nurse spent the next few minutes observing me like a lab rat before she turned to my still sobbing parents who were alternating between hugging each other and making calls on their cells to family.
    “Can I speak with you both outside for a moment?” the nurse asked. “I need you to fill out some paperwork.”
    Frantic, they each kissed me on the forehead. “We’ll be back in two seconds, baby,” my mom sputtered. “I love you—oh, thank God you’re okay. We—I, we just love you so much, honey. We’ll be right back.”
    “I love you guys, too,” I mumbled.
    They disappeared behind the curtain out into the hall. The heavy door made a loud thug! as it closed behind them.
    “ Emma?”
    Crap! I jumped. “Holy Virgin of Guadalupe. Not you.” I covered my face with my hands.
    “ We have some unfinished business to discuss, you and I.”
    “Go away,” I mumbled with a raspy voice. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”
    “ In fact, no. I cannot, nor do I truly wish to.”
    “Why did it have to be a cab?” I croaked. “Where’s a red Double-Decker when you need one?”
    “ Please, my sweetness, do not say such things. Do you know they were ready to pull the plug and dice you into tiny pieces like a pig at the butcher? Damned organ harvesters. It took every ounce of energy I had to bring you back.”
    How awful that must have been for my parents. They were both doctors. So if they’d made that choice, it was because they’d lost any hope for me. “Don’t act like my savior. You did this to me.”
    There was a long pause. “And now I see that you were right…this cannot go on.”
    Could he be saying what I thought? “You’re going to leave?” I whispered. A tiny part of my heart protested; the rest of me rejoiced at the notion.
    “ Not exactly.”
    The ratio of protest to rejoice flip-flopped. “Then?”
    There was another long pause, and that’s when I noticed my ears were ringing. No, they were vibrating.
    “ I cannot leave you, but you can free me.”
    “Do you hear that?”
    “ Hear what?”
    I shook my head from side to side. Maybe it was a side effect from the head injury. “Never mind. What did you say?”
    “ Free me.”
    He was serious. I could hear it in his voice. I didn’t bat an eyelash. He was actually offering me a chance to get rid of him? To get my life back? “What will I have to do?”
    “ Travel south.”
    “Florida?”
    “ Mexico.”
    “Sorry?”
    “ Mexico. You know, that little country on the map below yours. Home of tequila and the taco.”
    “I don’t understand. Why there?”
    “ That is where I am, physically.”
    Holy crap. “You have”—I swallowed hard—“a body?”
    “ Is something wrong with your hearing? Yes, I have a body, and you are to go to the jungle and find it.”
    Holy pickles. This entire time I thought he was some nomadic soul who’d simply glommed onto me for kicks.
    My head began to spin. What did he look like? What if he was like one of those images my mind had dreamed up on hundreds of occasions? There was the one where he stood like a pillar of destruction, donning ancient armor, overlooking a cliff, the wind ripping through his wild ropes of black-as-midnight hair. Then there was my personal favorite where he lay nude across a plush velvet couch next to a fire, his abs rippling under his bronzed skin, and his golden waves of hair draping down his shoulders as he waited for me.
    What was I thinking? Did I have brain damage? Was I really worrying about what he’d look like? “What,