He finally left the room a few minutes later, heading toward his locker to take something for the pain and, maybe if he had time, which he knew damn well he didn’t, put an ice pack on his shoulder.
Unbeknownst to him, Lawson had followed him.
“Excuse me, um…Dr. Donnelly?” Lawson asked tentatively from behind him.
John continued in his clipped pace down the hallway. “Good job in there.”
“Thanks,” the young doctor said, still following him.
“What do you need, Lawson?” John asked shortly.
“Are you… okay?”
John’s teeth mashed together, and he stopped abruptly, causing the young resident to collide into his back before quickly side-stepping around him to face him.
“Sorry,” Lawson fumbled, wiping his nervous palms onto his dark gray scrubs.
“I’m fine,” John repeated, attempting a bland smile of reassurance.
Lawson hesitated, eyes darting once more to John’s shoulder. “Do you need anything?”
John sucked in a tight breath, trying his best not to show his impatience. “That’s usually my question.”
Lawson was overstepping. John was in charge. Lawson was simply a crewmate. He wasn’t supposed to question his captain.
Lawson flushed, his cheeks reddening the longer they stood there, and he nervously took another step back. “Right, yeah. Okay, sorry…”
Lawson finally tucked tail and returned to the nurse station to take another patient. John had hoped that would be the end of it. But somehow, Lawson was everywhere he turned today. And by the end of the shift, John’s shoulder was throbbing.
The last patient of the day was a homeless man found unconscious outside a gas station. The paramedics wheeled him in on a gurney and transferred him to a hospital bed. Lawson and another junior resident, Reyes, came in to assist.
But as the paramedics were transferring the patient to the bed, the man reared to life, bucking wildly. Usually, John was the first to jump in and attempt to restrain, but with his aching shoulder, he hesitated. And Lawson saw it. In a flash, Lawson shouldered past John, forcing him to take a step back as the young doctor took over.
John watched closely, eyes fixed on Lawson’s strong arms as they bunched and tensed as he gripped down, pressing the homeless man down onto the bed as Reyes attempted to inform the man where he was and how he had been found. The patient proceeded to be hostile, forcing the staff to administer a sedation shot. Less than two minutes later, the patient was sufficiently subdued.
John praised the team for their good work and quickly left, feeling utterly useless and desperately wanting to go home and stew in a big glass of whiskey.But he couldn’t because he had booked his therapist appointment for right after his shift.
He was cursing under his breath when he heard Lawson. “Dr. Donnelly…”
Before John could give another placating answer, the young resident rushed out, surprising him. “You’re in pain.”
John stilled, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard that. No one did.
“I can tell,” Lawson said knowingly. “I used to work with horses that would do the same thing when they had a cramp or were in pain.”
John tilted his chin, curious. “Horses?”
They were deep in the city, and there weren’t any horses for at least twenty miles or more in almost every direction.
“My dad runs a dude ranch in Arizona,” Lawson informed him, and despite his nerves about approaching John, his eyes were locked with his.
Jesus, his eyes were blue, John thought, unable to look away from the stunning color, a mixture of blue and gray.
“A dude ranch?” John stared, slightly dumbfounded, and realized then that he knew absolutely nothing about Lawson, which was pretty normal under their circumstances. Choosing to work in the emergency department meant nonstop action most days and very little time to socialize. And even if John did talk to someone, it was either his second-in-command, Dr. Samuels, or the charge nurse, Steph.
Lawson was low on the conversation list.
“Horse ranch for tourists,” Lawson said, his full lips thinning into a tight line. “But also for people who just need to get away from places like this—busy cities or jobs. Get back to nature.”
