My Billionaire Stranger Read Free

in my head.
    “Hi, I’m Imani, I’ll be taking care of... your brother is it?” She lays her iPad down on Marcus’s bed and smiles extending her hand.
    “Yes, yes, I’m Elena, nice to meet you.” I shake her hand. I don’t usually shake hands with family members but she stuck it out there so I can't be rude. Upon closer examination I realize just how much she looks like Marcus, exactly like him.
    “Nice to meet you Elena, how’s he doing today?” 
    “The same I suppose, he’s so still; I’ve never seen him like this… it’s strange. Marcus is perpetual motion, he always has been; we’re twins, we haven’t been close the past few years though,” she says. Her voice is laden with sadness and I sense a deep pain. After being with him for just one shift I can’t imagine life without Marcus.
    “Twins, ah, I was just thinking how much you look alike, it makes sense now. Someone said you don’t live here in Seattle where are you from?” 
    “Maine… about as far away as we can get from each other in the continental United States.”
    I move to the bedside and listen to his lungs while we continue to chitchat.  She seems sad about the distance between them, but I don’t want to be too nosy. Twins that don’t keep contact, there must be something serious going on between them. I watch Elena slide her hand back into his before relaxing into her chair and find myself wishing it were my hand in his instead of hers.
    “It’s just the two of us, our parents aren’t alive.” she explains. 
    “I’m glad he has someone here with him.” I say smiling. “I believe he can hear you when you talk to him. I always tell family members to speak to their loved ones, you never know, it could help.”
    “Oh, I have heard of that but I wasn’t sure if it were true; I’ll start talking to him, do you think I should read to him too?”
    “Sure, anything that stimulates his brain can be helpful.”
    “Ok, part of me wishes he would show some kind of response but… I mean, oh I don’t know… ” Elena’s voice drifts off. She seems uneasy, I can’t tell if she’s worried that he won’t regain consciousness or that he will.
    “You don’t want him to wake up?” I can’t believe I asked that question out loud, but I couldn’t help it. “Well Marcus is a little… difficult, maybe I shouldn’t say anything in front of him if he can hear me…”
    “Oh… ok, well if you want to talk about it I’m always just outside the room on the other side of that window, I’ll be charting there.” I point toward the window.
    “Ok, thank you Imani,”
    At my charting station outside Marcus’s room the bustling of the ICU continues behind me but all I can think about is Elena’s comment about Marcus being “difficult”, what did she mean by that? And why don’t they keep in touch, they’re twins it’s weird. After catching up on my charting I consider googling him or looking through his chart to see what kind of work he does. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t research my patients. But then again I’ve never had a patient this mysterious before either. Ok, so looking to see where he works isn’t too ‘stalky’, is it? I can do that can’t I? I flip to the first page of his chart where his admitting information is located and look for the box titled place of employment. Dominus? What kind of place is that? Hmmmm that sounds a little like ‘dominatrix.’ I feel silly about comparing the two and giggle to myself. Maybe I’ll google it.
    No, it’s none of my business.
    My God Imani can’t you just take care of the guy and leave his personal life alone?
    Elena steps out of his room snapping me from my thoughts wearing a beautiful long camel colored coat drawn tight around her waist with a wide belt.  I can’t help but admire her suede Ralph Lauren boots with at least a four-inch heel. She pulls off a casual exotic look with ease and any woman with shoes like that is automatically my