His mistaken Identity

Chapter 15

Jane knew she had to look away. Damn! She screamed in her head. She should really look away, but her eyes were glued. There was no way to unsee what she had just seen. Her eyes soaked up the details like a dry sponge dropped in a tub full of warm, soothing water.

And the details were nice. Seriously worth a second or third look. Jane would probably be on her tenth look, except she hadn’t looked away since she opened the door. He was six feet of perfect muscle formation. His strong legs kept him upright even as one hand was braced against the shower stall wall. It was where the second hand had frozen that caused her throat to dry up in a heartbeat.

It was definitely very rude to stare at someone ‘taking care of business’, she thought, giving herself a half-hearted mental slap. Not that his hand was doing anything but just holding it at that very moment. But there was no doubt what he had been doing just seconds before she startled him. She almost wished she had entered the bathroom a little more quietly. Almost. It would have been a great show, she imagined.

Heat filled her cheeks at her own dirty, inappropriate thoughts. Bursting into his bathroom had not been her best decision, she realized belatedly, although with little regret.

Thankfully, the phone in her hand rang again. In an irritating tune that managed to snap her out of her daze and blow a little oxygen back on her flames of anger, which had brought her storming in with little thought about what she might find.

Although she didn’t need Einstein’s IQ to hazard a guess of what a man did in the bathroom alone behind a closed door. But it was just a little beyond her to admit, even to herself, that she may have stormed into his bathroom with ulterior motives.

She cleared her throat. Finally forced herself to blink and looked up at the man’s turned face. There was thankfully no smugness in his eyes or a knowing smile stretching his lips like a man who knew he had no reason to feel embarrassed or self-conscious. He looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

Still operating with half her brain wandering dangerous corners, Jane raised her hand and showed him the phone. “The damn thing won’t stop ringing and it keeps waking up Tony.”

Now that she said it out loud and was standing in the man’s bathroom, Jane realized there were several other options she could have taken which didn’t involve invading the man’s privacy.

Well, it was too late to think of that now. With mammoth effort, she kept her eyes away from his still hard parts and placed the phone on the unit next to the sink before quickly exiting and closing the door.

Christopher looked at the ringing phone and then the closed door. He considered laughing for a moment, then he just groaned and hit his forehead slightly against the tile. “Somebody shoot me now, please.”

His eyes traveled down to his hand. He was no longer close and his hand no longer held much interest. Not when a more tantalizing option had just stormed in and out of his bathroom like a wild wind. “s**t!” There went his stress relief.

~~~

Jane stood on the other side of the closed door. Her head was thrown back, supported by the door frame. She could still hear the water running inside.

Was he still doing it? She wondered. More heat filled her cheeks. It traveled all the way up to the tips of her ears and down to her neck. God, that was awkward.

It took her a few more seconds before she moved away from the door. If in that time she had strained her ears just a little to catch any sound on the other side of the door, she would never tell and nobody had witnessed it.

She needed to catch her breath. It absolutely had nothing to do with the man inside the bathroom. Who she was definitely not imagining. At least, that was what she told herself.

Shaky legs took her away from the bathroom door and out of his bedroom. She was back in the living room, seated next to her sleeping son, when something clicked in her mind.

It was uncomfortable to acknowledge it, but she had been running the bathroom incident in her mind repeatedly like a favorite song. And that’s how she realized something. There had been no scar.

Jane sat up straight and frowned. True, she had been rather distracted by other body parts, but she would have remembered if she had seen it. He had been standing in profile, but the correct side had faced her. She should have seen it.

Enock had a large ugly scar on the top of his left thigh. She couldn’t have seen it the first night here because the man had on a pair of shorts. But in the bathroom, he had been naked as the day he was born and she should have seen it as clear as day. That scar was so visible there was no way to hide it.

Of course, she had heard of people treating scars so they are less pronounced and visible. But she had never heard of scars completely vanishing. Was it possible? And had Enock done the same in his aim to recreate himself into a totally new person?

For the first time, she really began to consider the possibility that the man who had brought her to his home was not Enock. She wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad about that yet.

Jane lowered her body back onto the couch and looked at her son, contemplating the possibility.

***

After a week confined to the walls of Christopher’s house, it felt strange to be out in public again. It probably didn’t help that at the back of her mind, thoughts of kidnappers still lurked. Jane was antsy, to say the least, and her emotions were beginning to affect Tony. He stirred and whined insistently, like an unhappy baby. Which clearly he was.

Jane gently rocked her son as she stepped into the supermarket. She needed some things for Tony again. Christopher had left her some money before leaving for work that morning.

Lewanika was one of the smaller shopping malls and it wasn’t too far from his house, so Jane hadn’t thought it would be a problem. It certainly had enough shops to have all she needed.

She had walked over, telling herself the walk and sun was good for her health. Now she looked like a person waiting for something bad to happen any second. Every sound made her jump and look around.

Jane figured she just needed to get what she had come for and then she could get back to the safety of Christopher’s house and breath easy.

Tony was wrapped and tacked securely against her chest with the help of a wrapper that went over her shoulder and both ends tied together. In one hand, she held the house keys tightly, like she was scared to lose them. The money was in her pocket and so was the phone Christopher had given her in case of an emergency. She only had two numbers saved, his and his friend, Thomas, who she was yet to meet, but that didn’t matter.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled as though she were being watched. Jane stopped walking, a shudder traveled her spine. She was tempted to run back to Christopher’s house without purchasing what she had come for. Jane shook her head and drew a deep breath. She was now becoming paranoid; she thought.

Jane focused on the bottles in her hands. Tony needed some paracetamol syrup. Jane wanted to see if she could figure out what to buy without help. Help meant drawing attention to herself and her son, something she definitely didn’t want to do.

The uneasy feeling persisted. It really felt like someone was watching her. Not able to take it anymore, she turned her head and looked behind, but there was no one suspicious she could see. Everyone seemed to be going about their own business.

Feeling foolish, she chuckled nervously to herself, but secured her arm around Tony and tried to read the instructions on the box faster. The quicker she got back to the house, the better she would feel.

“Is he sick or are you just buying as a precaution?” a female voice asked from somewhere too close for comfort.

Jane jumped. Yelped and nearly dropped the box she was holding. She turned sharply to the source and found an older woman standing there, studying her.

It was the first time Jane was laying her eyes on the woman; she was sure, but there was something vaguely familiar about her. It was like seeing the relative of someone she knew and could see the resemblance, but for the life of her, she couldn’t put her finger on it as to who exactly the woman reminded her of. Jane frowned and took a step away. The need to be careful and protect her son almost overwhelmed her.

“God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just thought you could use some help,” the woman said with an apologetic smile.

Jane wasn’t buying it. She searched her mind for what made the woman familiar, but couldn’t place it. The woman looked to be at least in her fifties. Dark skin and tall with a lean body. She was not dressed in any fancy wear, just a simple dress that did nothing to complement her body. Her black short hair had several strands of gray. She didn’t look like the kind of woman who took too much time making sure they looked good. The woman actually looked like life had taken a few swings at her and she hadn’t dodged them.

Jane shook her head. “No, I am fine. Thank you. I will manage.”

Her tone had been cold and dismissive, but the stranger made no move to walk away. Jane saw how the woman’s eyes kept returning to where she carried her son. Luckily, Tony was fully covered. There was no way for any person, especially the strange woman, to see her son’s face.

But it didn’t stop the woman from trying, and this made Jane very uncomfortable.

Sensing her nerves get tighter with apprehension, Jane turned to return the bottle back on the shelf. Her hand visibly shook, but she didn’t drop anything. Thank God. As soon as she was sure the bottle was safe, she took off down the aisle as fast as her legs could carry her.

She didn’t draw a full breath until she was out of the supermarket and rushing to the exit of the mall. Jane immediately retrieved the phone from her pocket and dialed Christopher’s number.