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In my peripheral vision, I notice Chad casually push himself off the wall. He takes a step closer to the group, his hands slowly sliding out of his pockets.
“Kael,please,” Dr. Copeland sighs.
“No, Doc, I want to know what Devon’s gone without in his life, and fuck him because I haven’t sponged a cent off anyone, least of all my old man. Every dollar in my bank account is there because I’ve earned it. I’ve never asked anyone for a single thing. Can he honestly say the same?”
Devon takes a deep breath and looks at me warily. “You think I haven’t read the newspaper articles about you?” He sits forward again. “You’re such a loser, man. You’re either getting arrested, thrown out of nightclubs, or hooking up with girls young enough to be your own. You’re a washed-up has-been who can’t play bass for shit. Your own band doesn’t even want anything to do with you anymore.”
“You better shut up about my band.”
“Calm down,” mutters Dr. Copeland.
I should borrow some of the man’s placid approach, but who am I kidding? I don’t. Of course I don’t. Little punk’s got some damn nerve. The tension in the room swiftly takes a turn for the worse, and before anyone can stop me, I lunge across the circle at the son-of-a-bitch with my clenched fist aimed firmly at his face.
Devon falls backward when I land on top of him. We roll and wrestle for a few seconds, fists flying, legs kicking, upending chairs, and people are yelling all around us. He catches me with a quick jab to the stomach, and I immediately punch him back, enjoying the way it feels to finally let loose again. The room is instant chaos. Someone shouts my name, someone else lets out an ear-piercing scream, and I think I catch a glimpse of a tweed jacket in the mix there somewhere, but I can’t be sure because Devon just caught me with another beauty hard across the jaw.
Fucker.That hurt.
The blow stuns me a little and I go down on one knee, taking Devon down with me. Breathing hard, he clings to my forearm that’s wrapped around his neck. I squeeze tighter, taking in his face, a mix of different reds, blood and rage, and then I take another swing at him, and then another, like a wild dog that’s been worked into a frenzy by the scent.
It’s not entirely lost on me that it takes Chad and two other orderlies to eventually break things up. They drag Devon kicking and struggling back across the room, and I also make a mental note of the fact that Dr. Copeland didn’t hesitate to jump in either, and as it turns out, he’s the one with his knee currently pressed into the middle of my back, shoving the side of my face into the cold, hard floor.
From this position, all I can see is the scrambling legs of orderlies and nurses trying to get the other patients out of the way.
The ruckus around us quiets slightly once Devon’s dragged from the room. I watch him go with the rich metallic scent of his blood still lingering in the air, and it’s in that moment my attention is drawn to the open doorway that leads into the main common area where a set of curvy female legs stand in the doorway.
Before I can react, I’m hauled to my feet with my arms locked tightly behind my back. Chad shoves me stomach first into the nearest wall while a couple of other orderlies secure my wrists. Bit over the top if you ask me, but I’m guessing they want me secured in case I look like starting something up again.
But they don’t need to bother. I’m no longer in the mood for fighting.
Craning my neck, I notice the woman is still standing in the doorway, and I let my gaze slide over the rest of her body, my eyes lingering on her waist and the gentle swell of her hips.
She’s wearing a fitted gray skirt that stops just below her knees and a crisp white blouse that inches down low in the front, showing off just enough cleavage to keep me interested.
Long blonde hair curled softly at the ends trickles down over her breasts, and when I find her face, everything inside me freezes. The world suddenly goes quiet, and I’m left staring into bright blue eyes that make everything else in the room look dull. They’re the kind of eyes you could lose yourself in if you weren’t careful.
Beautiful. Breathtaking. Brilliant blue eyes.
Something inside me shifts.
A small sigh falls from my lips, and I know I should look away. But I can’t.
Okay, so that might have more to do with the fact that Chad has my head pinned against the wall beneath his gargantuan-sized palm, butwhatever.
“Get him out of here,” the woman says. Fire flashes in her expression, the brightest ocean now drowned out by scorching flames, and she’s glaring back at me like I’m something she just scraped off the bottom of her sky-high heels. “Well done, Mr. Jenkins. No phone call today. Your privileges have been revoked.”
Hauling me off the wall, Chad shoves me clumsily toward the door where she’s standing, my feet dragging and slipping behind me because of these fucking stupid socks.
Steeling me with a look I’m sure she’s perfected over the years, she lets her head fall to one side, waiting for me to arc up, almost daring me to bite back.
And that’s when I see it.
A quick flash of recognition passes over her face, a brief moment of awareness as to who I am and what I do for a living. But it comes and goes like a spark of lightning, and next thing I know she’s giving me a go-screw-yourself look from behind a pair of foxy, red-rimmed glasses.
She doesn’t know who she’s messing with, though. You want to play with fire, sweetheart? Watch yourself, or you might just get burned. Life’s too short to take shit from anyone.
“I didn’t want a phone call today,” I say self-righteously. “Maybe you should check your facts first, lady.”
“I don’t care what youwant, Mr. Jenkins. Pull that crap ever again, and you’ll be back out on the street before you know which way is up. The door isn’t there to keep you in. It’s to keep the bad boys out.”
