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“I would prefer to stay with you, but I don’t want to invade your patient’s privacy,” Charlie replied.
Oliva giggled before Will could answer. “Oh, don’t worry about Carlos. That man is happy to talk to the wall. He likes new guests.”
Will nodded. “It’ll be fine. He won’t mind.”
Charlie stepped up and quickly signed his name while Will skimmed over the chart, making sure there had been no significant changes since his last visit. There were several regular doctors who made rounds at the hospice and oversaw any of Carlos’s emergency needs while Will focused on his day-to-day needs and comfort.
“Everything okay?” Charlie asked as he stepped close. His chest bumped Will’s shoulder, and the haunting scent of Charlie’s cologne wafted past his nose. It was everything he could do not to inhale deeply. Charlie was not doing this on purpose. He was simply reading more meaning into Charlie’s actions, and it was ridiculous. Charlie was overprotective by nature. It didn’t mean that he still had feelings for Will or wanted anything more from him.
“Yeah, we’re all good here. This should be a relatively quick visit,” Will replied, leading the way along the hall to a set of wide stairs. He hurried up them as if he were being chased, while Charlie’s footsteps were measured and steady.
He needed to remain calm. Everything was fine. He was still in control.
At the top of the stairs, he made a left and walked a few doors down before stopping to wait for Charlie to catch up. Of course, the man had a smirk tilting up one corner of his mouth as if he knew how rattled Will was feeling. But that was normal. People were trying to kill him, and he’d slept with his ex. Anyone would be feeling rattled right now.
With a tug on the front of the button-down shirt he’d changed into at his house to make sure he at least appeared pulled together, he knocked on the frame since the door was already standing open. A head popped up from a mound of pillows in the center of the hospital bed and turned toward the door. Wrinkles doubled as the man grinned broadly at Will.
“Dr. Monroe! Is today your day? I completely lost track of time.” Carlos cackled and waved a thin hand at him to enter the room.
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” Will said with a smile.
Carlos picked up the remote from where it sat on the bed next to his hip and leaned toward Will as he lowered the volume on the TV. “I’ve got the cute nurse keeping an eye on me today. That’s enough to make any man forget what day of the week it is.”
Will snorted. “As long as you behave yourself.” He set his bag on a nearby nightstand and opened it. He pulled out his stethoscope and placed the ends into his ears so he could listen to Carlos’s heart and lungs.
“Behave myself,” Carlos scoffed. “I’m a dying man. I’ve got an eternity to behave myself. I need to sneak in my misbehaving now while no one wants to punish me.”
Charlie chuckled from the open doorway. “You seem like the type of guy who spent his life misbehaving.”
Will rolled his eyes and Carlos shifted in the bed to look toward the doorway around Will. A wide grin spread across Carlos’s thin lips when he spotted Will’s companion.
“You’d be right about that, but I still ain’t got it out of my system,” Carlos agreed with a laugh.
Will straightened when he heard that Carlos’s lungs were clear and his heart’s condition didn’t sound as if it had worsened in the past week. Cancer might be eating away at his body, weakening it steadily, but Carlos was a fighter. He was still going strong longer than anyone would have expected.
He put the stethoscope away, picked up Carlos’s wrist, and checked his pulse. “Carlos, this is a friend of mine, Charlie Sands. He’s…” His voice drifted off, not quite sure what to say. He decided to leave it there and concentrate on counting.
“I’m keeping an eye on the doctor after some recent run-ins he’s had,” Charlie finished.
Getting the information he needed, Will released Carlos’s wrist, but the older man caught his hand before he could move away. “Perez been after you?”
“It’s okay, Carlos. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Bullshit!” Carlos snarled. “You think I’m so close to death that I can’t see the faded bruises on your face?”
“No, but I might have been hoping that your eyesight degraded enough with age that you’d miss them.”
Carlos scoffed at him. “The rest of my body might be falling apart, but there’s nothing wrong with my eyes. You sit and tell me what’s happening.”
“There’s nothing to tell. Has there been an increase in your pain levels recently?”
“Pain is fine. Still manageable under what you’ve been giving me. Sleep is fine, too,” Carlos snapped out before Will could ask. “I talked to Francisco. He told me about Santino.”
