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I nod. I don’t want to burst her hope bubble, or mine.
But who knows, maybe one thing out of this mess will go my way.
2
Rex
“Ow! Dang it.” Not wanting to swear with a grade school-aged kid on the other side of the curtain getting his broken arm set, I grit my teeth while the ER doctor I consider a friend watches the technician hook me up to the EKG machine.
“Stafford, quit being a wuss. You just put down a three-hundred-pound drunk. You can handle a few electrodes on that big-ass head of yours.”
Shit, easy for him to say. “Doc, what about my leg?” The drunk in question had been waving a hunting knife he didn’t want to part with when I made the stupidest decision of my life.
Arriving at a local dive bar thirty minutes before last call, my partner, Austin James, and I thought it would be an easy call. The inebriated customer who’d tripped while threatening the staff was out cold when we arrived, but he didn’t stay that way for long.
Two long hours later, after finishing the poking and prodding, Dr. Jack Monroe gives me the bad news. “Definite concussion. Oh, and your captain called, so he knows.”
“Damn it. C’mon, I’m fine. I’m not even seeing double. I’ve never been injured on the job. I don’t even need meds, and I can—”
“Rex, you’re officially on medical leave. You’ll need to make an appointment with your family doctor for a follow up. You know the drill. We’ve already sent the paperwork. You rest and be a good boy, then in a week to ten days, once your stitches are out, you can go back to work.”
Fuck! I let my head fall back onto the too-small pillow and grimace. Bad move. With pain radiating through my skull, all I want to do is sleep and rewind the clock. I should have taken Austin’s warning to move back when the linebacker-sized drunk jumped up before we got to him. The guy ran toward me and instead of getting out of the way, I took the hit.
“Do you know where my partner is? I, uh, need a ride home.” I ask Jack.
“He’s in the waiting room with your sister. We’re overflowing with cases, so only one visitor is allowed. Which one do you want me to bring back?”
Knowing I’ll never hear the end of it if I choose Austin over my sister, I let out a long sigh. Throwing an arm over my eyes to block the glare of the overhead lights, I say, “Send in Kiersten.”
Without having to look for verification, I feel the temp in the room drop at the mention of my sister’s name. I can’t help but grin.
The doc and my sister have some history, although I don’t know the details, nor do I want to, but I take any chance I get to rile up either one of them.
“No problem.” Jack leans into the hallway, waving down a nurse. “I’ll see you around. Stay out of bars. Or at least the ones that cater to the knife-wielding, heavyweight division crowd.”
“You’re hilarious. Hey, come back, don’t you want to see Kiersten?” I laugh and immediately regret it as pain lances through my head. Shit, this sucks.
No more than five minutes go by before I hear my younger sister push aside the privacy curtain. “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to be an MMA fighter? I know a guy who knows a guy who can hook you up.” Letting out a scary cackle, she drops a kiss on my forehead. “You should have told that loser I’m the only one allowed to knock you on your ass.”
Her words tease, but I see real concern in her eyes. She talks tough, but she’s a softy way deep down.
“Yeah? Guess you should’ve been there then.”
“If only. But then you wouldn’t be on medical leave and able to pay up on the bet you lost to me.” Kiersten’s face splits into a huge grin. I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
Sitting up, I swing my legs to the side, groaning as I steady myself. A nurse suddenly appears, and my heart speeds up. For a moment, I think it’s the no-nonsense beauty I used to trade verbal barbs with while trying to talk her into a date. No such luck. It’s Miranda something, I can’t remember her last name. This nurse is pretty and curvy too, but if I’m going to date a nurse, I want it to be the uptight, sexy nurse who did her best to put me in my place every time we crossed paths. If she only knew how that turns me on.
Unfortunately, Heather Campbell, the woman of my dreams, transferred to the ICU. Last I heard, she’d finally dropped the stuck-on-himself anesthesiologist. And, after almost a year of not seeing her, I still have a hard on for someone who continually shot me down.
Both Kiersten and Miranda send me glances full of concern while I do my best to get my mind and my dick off of Heather.
“I need you to be a good and compliant patient, Rex. Don’t play this off.” Handing me a prescription for painkillers, Miranda begins going over the doc’s orders and the concussion protocol.
I tear it up before handing it back. “I don’t need this. Tylenol suits me fine.” Flashing me a quick smile, Miranda turns to my sister.
“Are you his girlfriend?”
Snorting, Kiersten grabs her waist, laughing. “Nope. I’m his sister. He’s perpetually single. He’s an expert at convincing the women he dates to give their exes a second chance.”
