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“You shouldn’t have hidden this from me,” he said, pulling the older man into a tight hug, his chest constricting on him while a knot settled in his throat, making breathing difficult.
“We already talked about it, son,” Miles told him, patting his back. He pulled away first and smiled at Travis and the smile held none of the weight Travis was so used to seeing. “But I’m glad you know. I’m glad it’s out. Come on. Let’s get that wound looked at.”
Travis didn’t argue, knowing Miles wouldn’t settle until it was done.
The R.V. was parked at the small town beach and on the outside, it looked like any other R.V., a little dusty, the back of it peppered with stickers from any number of national and state parks.
The inside, though, it was equipped well enough to operate as a small clinic.
Travis recognized Dr. Xi Qing before she even turned around. Her slim figure, clad in pristine white scrubs that never seemed to wrinkle, was one he’d seen often over his years of working with Miles. He didn’t know if she was with the Bureau or if she was somebody else Miles hired outside the government’s employ, although he suspected it was the latter.
Xi didn’t seem to have a stick up her ass, as opposed to the uptight way most doctors employed by the feds did.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, offering a quick smile before turning back to whatever she had on the counter in front of her. “Hello, Travis. I hope you haven’t done yourself too much damage since I saw you last.”
He grimaced and settled on the exam table that was bolted to the wall.
“I’ve actually been trying to rest.”
“Nice to know thatsomeof my patients listen to me.” She turned and pinned Miles with a hard look before focusing on Travis. “Shirt, please.”
Knowing he’d end up bared to the waist at some point today, he’d opted for a button-down and he quickly stripped off the shirt, already bracing for the acerbic response he’d get when she saw he’d ripped through the staples.
“You reinjured yourself,” Miles said, voice clipped.
“I told you we shouldn’t have released him.” Xi gave Travis a dark look and instructed him to lift his arm so she could a better look at the injury. “At least you did a halfway decent job trying to close it back up. Although ... how?”
“I had a little help.” His voice came out neutral.
But Miles’ eyes narrowed on him, a line appearing between his brows. “Help, hm?”
“They didn’t do a bad job. Too bad they didn’t have the right tools ... ” Her voice trailed off and she sighed. “But at this point, with the injury as old as it is, there’s no point in trying to put fresh staples in. I’m going to get a culture, then clean it.”
Setting his jaw, Travis focused on the cabinet in front of him, stifling the flinch as she swabbed it for the test she wanted to run. He didn’t bother telling her he didn’t think there was any new infection. He was actually feeling pretty decent today—other than the pain from her digging around in his wound. She’d only sweetly point out thathehadn’t been the one to graduate from medical school, had he? If she needed advice on human trafficking rings or perhaps rescuing kidnapped children or other scary shit, she’d ask his advice—she’d said that to him, word for word, the last time he’d tried to tell her he didn’t need extra lab work.
Since she was right, he’d stopped arguing with her.
All it did was drag these visits out.
“Bit of a sting,” she advised him.
He swallowed a curse as she doused him with what felt like liquid fire.
The pain eased over the next minute and he breathed through it, glaring at her when she glanced at up at him.
“Bit of a sting?” he said. “How do you definehurts like hell?”
“Don’t be a baby,” she said in a brisk voice as she stripped off her soiled gloves and put on a fresh pair. “If you’d stayed in the hospital another forty-eight hours as I’d advised, you wouldn’t have to put up with my piss-poor bedside manner right now.”
He choked off a laugh and closed his eyes. “Just get it done.”
“The worst is over. I’m putting a new ointment on. It’s still in the research stage but the results coming in are phenomenal—as long as you don’t have any unwanted side effects and you stick to the prescribed regimenandkeep drinking the supplement I ordered, this should help cut your healing time by as much as thirty percent.”
That had his eyes flying open. “Thirty percent? You’re shitting me.”
“It may not be that much, but it’s possible,” she said, eyes focused on her task.
Something cool smoothed over the wound. It still hurt like a bitch, but in comparison to whatever she’d used to clean it with, this was a balm.
