AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Donovan flutters his eyelashes and fans himself as he puts on a falsetto. “Oh, Jason!”
“I don’t sound like that!”
I smack his shoulder. He laughs at me.
Funny how quickly we fall into these old roles.
“What—are you two friends now?”
“We’re more than friends.” My eyebrows hike up my forehead. Donovan must hear how that sounds because his face starts to redden. “Not…like that. Get your head out of the gutter.” He clears his throat. “We’re roommates. Ever since his divorce.”
“He’s divorced?”
“Feeling a little vulture-y, are we?”
“It’s not…like that,” I protest.
“Uh-huh. You can ask him any questions yourself. He’s on his way to surgery, but I might be able to grab him if he hasn’t gone in yet—”
“No! I mean…we’re tired. It’s been a long day. Maybe later?”
“Come over for dinner tomorrow.”
“Great!” I smile widely to hide the fear pounding in my chest. “Can’t wait.”
And then I turn to book it to the door, but—
“Are you going to give me your number, or am I going to have to track you down?”
“Right! Sorry.”
He takes out his phone. I enter my number in quickly so he doesn’t notice my hands are trembling. When I give it back to him, he leans in. His lips brush my cheek. I feel the stubble on his beard and catch a whiff of his cologne—peppermint and leather. “It’s really good to see you. We’ll catch up later. The three of us.”
The three of us. I don’t know why, but something about the way he says that…it makes my heartbeat flutter in a way that has nothing to do with the anxiety.
I take Otto by the hand, and we exit Lighthouse Medical, bursting into the blistering cold.
“Mummy, who was that?” Otto asks once we’re in the car.
“Just an old friend.”
He yawns. “I liked him.”
I wring my hands over the steering wheel.
“Yeah, baby. Me too.”
33
Jason
Every king needs his castle.
This King has something even better: an Operating Room.
It’s my domain. I know every inch of it.
It’s technically called an Operation Theatre, which makes sense to me because the second I step inside, I feel like I’m on stage. There’s the bright glare of the surgical lights. High-definition monitors zoomed in on each small movement of my hands. My surgical team waiting in the wings, rapt and wide-eyed, diligently handing me the tools I need to complete the job.
