Chapter 17

"Mr. Hamilton?" called a distant voice in the darkness. "I think he's regaining consciousness."

I opened my eyes a little, the light blinding them shut again.

"Mr. Hamilton?"

I opened my eyes a little bit again and looked up and saw bright fluorescent lights and white everywhere else. I looked for the man calling my name and saw that the voice belonged to a giant blur hovering over me.

"He's awake," said the man.

"Oh my God!" cried a woman in the background.

"Thank God!" cried another woman.

"Do you know where you are?" asked the voice.

I nodded. I was pretty sure I was in a hospital.

"Where are you?"

My mouth was too parched to speak well.

"Hospital," I croaked.

"Do you know what city you're in?" asked the doctor.

I shook my head. How the hell was I supposed to know what hospital I was in let alone what city it was in.

"How about what state you're in?"

"Michigan?"

"Oh my!" cried another woman in the background. She sounded vaguely like my Aunt Grace who I hadn't seen in years.

"Aunt Grace?" I croaked.

"Yes honey, I'm here!"

My Aunt Grace appeared above me. She was even prettier than I remembered her if not thinner. She had a look of despair on her face.

"What happened to me Grace?" I asked. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

She looked up at the doctor and she suddenly looked crestfallen and then looked back at me.

"The doctor wants you to figure out what happened on your own, honey."

"How bad am I?" I asked.

"You're a lucky young man," said the doctor. "You have several cuts and bruises, some of the cuts took several stitches to close. You suffered a broken arm and some pretty serious head trauma. Other than that you're fine. Like I said, you were lucky."

"Can I see him?" asked another female voice.

I saw the doctor nod and a young woman appeared over my bed. She was absolutely gorgeous with long red curls and a beautiful round face with soft features. The thing that caught my eye, however, was her gorgeous emerald eyes. They were misted over, which added a certain softness to them. She looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't place her.

"I was so worried about you," sobbed the woman. She buried her head into my chest and cried.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"You don't remember me?" the woman sobbed.

"I'm sorry I don't."

"That's Ashley," said Grace. "She's been your best friend for about a year. You two have been dating now for about two months."

"You're my girlfriend?" I asked the woman. If she was I was one lucky guy. She was absolutely hot.

"One of them," said Ashley.

Now I was confused. One of them? Was I cheating on her?

Two more women came to the bed.

"Doctor, if you don't mind?" said one of the women. She was the older of the two. The other girl looked like she couldn't be more than thirteen years old.

The older woman leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. "I'm Sarah. We've been dating for a little bit longer than you and Ashley have."

"I have?" I said. Sarah was beautiful as well. She had a firm athletic body that was a beautiful coppery color of skin. Her long dark hair made her look extremely exotic. The young girl that was standing next to her was a younger carbon copy so I assumed it was her daughter.

"Don't worry Greg. We're all fine with dating you at the same time. You are gonna receive quite a few shocks the next few days as you regain your memory."

"Well if all of them regard dating beautiful women like you two I will be ok with it," I said forcing a smile through the drugs they had me on.

"There is one more," said Sarah. "She's my daughter."

"You mean the young girl at the foot of the bed? She can't be more than twelve or thirteen."

"Fifteen, Gregory," said the girl angrily.

"What's her name?"

"Bree," said Sarah. The girl still looked miffed at having been slighted.

"How did I end up with three girlfriends?" I asked.

"You need your rest before we tell you that story," said Sarah. "Just know that we all love you and hope that you get better."

I fell asleep basking in the love of my Aunt Grace and these three lovely girls. I just wondered how they got into my life.

After a few days I was to the point where I could beg off most of the hardcore pain medication. My head was pounding on a regular basis but not as bad as it was before. My arm was in a cast so it really didn't hurt too much. It mostly itched. The pain in the head overrode all the other pain. The three girls and my aunt rarely left my side. If they did, only one was gone at a time. As far as my memory was concerned, it was starting to come back. I knew I was in Florida and that I was ninetee n and finished my first year of college at South Florida. Most of my memories of the girls that came back regarded Ashley since I knew her longer than the other two. It seemed like my memory was returning to me in a wave. It started from when I was sixteen and still home and kept rolling forward in time. I was at about the point of when I was halfway through my second semester of college. I wondered why Heather wasn't in the picture and no one was telling me why.

I got some details on how our little foursome developed. It had started with Sarah and when Sarah realized how much I loved Ashley she made room in our relationship for Ashley. I was told how Bree fell in love with me and how I was her first lover. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had three girlfriends and one of them was underage. To top it off they were all nudists! I remembered Ashley having a nudist streak but all of them? Including me? What was happening to me?

Of the three girls Ashley seemed the most concerned about my welfare. It seemed like she was blaming herself for what happened. I still didn't remember what happened so I didn't know if she had a part to play in it or not. I did manage to overhear that I was in an auto accident and that it involved a semi truck.

Ashley was the only one I really felt any emotional attachment to. All of my memories of her were of a wonderful friendship we had. I still didn't remember the other two although I did recognize Sarah as Grace's neighbor.

"We're gonna need you all to leave for a bit," said one of the nurses as she came into the room. It was Betty who I had nicknamed Broom Hilda.

"I'm staying," said Ashley defiantly.

"The doctor is coming in to examine him," said the nurse. "He deserves his privacy."

"I'm not leaving," said Ashley.

"Come on Ashley," said Sarah. "We can come back later."

"NO!" yelled Ashley. "I'm staying here with him. He shouldn't have to go through any of this alone."

Ashley was now crying hysterically. I was at a loss for why she was freaking out.

"Ash, why don't you go," I said.

"NO!" she screamed. "I'm staying here and that's final."

"The doctor will be doing some things that Mr. Hamilton might want to keep private," said Betty.

"He aint got anything I haven't seen," said Ashley sternly. "I'm staying."

"I'd listen to her if I were you," said Sarah with a smile.

"Is it ok with you Mr. Hamilton?"

I shrugged my shoulders. At this point even I was afraid to tell her no.

"I don't care," I said. She was right. Even if I couldn't remember being her boyfriend I still remembered being naked in front of the little nudist a few times. I wouldn't be too embarrassed.

I saw Ashley whisper to Sarah before they left and soon I was in the room alone with Ashley awaiting the doctor.

"Can you tell me what that was all about?" I asked after everyone left.

"What?"

"Your little outburst," I said. "Why do you feel it's so important to be here."

Ashley sighed and then buried her hands in her face as she began sobbing.

"Ash?"

"It's my fault you're in here," said Ashley. "If I hadn't... Shit! I can't even tell you why it's my fault because you're supposed to get those memories on your own."

"How would it be your fault that I was in a car accident?"

"You remember?" said Ashley, her eyes open wide in disbelief.

I shook my head. "No, I overheard one of the nurses talking about it. I don't know any of the details."

Ashley took my hand into hers and the lifted it to her face and rubbed it on her cheek.

"I love you more than anything in this world," said Ashley. "If I ever lost you I would be devastated. If I ever lost you and it was my fault I don't think I could bear to live. I almost lost you and it was my fault."

Ashley collapsed with her head lying on my chest and sobbed furiously.

The doctor chose that moment to walk in.

"I can come back," said the doctor who seemed perturbed.

"No, it's fine," said Ashley. She instantly composed herself and used her hands to clear away the tears on her face.

The doctor performed his examination and then ended by testing my short- term memory to see if there was any lasting brain damage. When the doctor left I was expecting everyone else to return but that didn't happen. Instead I found Ashley's hand on my rapidly inflating manhood.

"Um Ash, I don't think you should be doing this here," I said.

"I told Sarah to keep everyone out of here for twenty minutes after the doctor left," said Ashley.

She looked into my eyes and smiled. I stared into her emerald orbs and saw intense love radiating from them. I had to admit that I could easily have fallen in love with Ashley. She and I were such good friends in school. Best friends to be exact. I wondered who had made the first move to bring us to where we were today.