Mom nudged him in the side. “Deacon…”
The door flew open, and Derek stepped inside, holding Little Deacon in one arm, while Lizzie came in behind him holding Cam. Emerson took up the rear, carrying the bag of supplies for the boys. He took a look at all of us on the couch, just sitting there like nothing significant just happened. “Just saw the news. What the hell is going on?”
Fourteen
Sicily
I was scrolling through social media on my phone when an article popped up.
World-Famous Oncologist Deacon Hamilton Arrested for Assault. “What the…?” I clicked on the article and quickly scanned through the two paragraphs, along with the photographs and the video. I watched the video, watched Deacon beat the shit out of Mason, who was less than half his age. “Oh my fucking god…” I immediately texted Dex. Uh…did you know your dad’s been arrested?!?
He texted back immediately. Yep. He’s out now. I just left their condo.
Why did your dad beat up Mason in a bar?
You saw the video, huh? Awesome, right?
I guess I’ve been more focused on your dad being in jail…
Look, I’m starving and haven’t had dinner. You know, because my dad was taken downtown, and Mom had to bail him out. I’ll grab something and swing by to tell you the tale.
I actually have leftovers if you want that. I’d signed up for one of those meal subscription services because I didn’t have time to shop, and I didn’t want to keep eating out all the time. Otherwise, my nice clothes wouldn’t fit anymore.
Even better. Be there soon.
He walked inside ten minutes later, in the same clothes he’d been wearing earlier that day.
I was in my sweatpants and a t-shirt, and I didn’t have time to change, so I chose to do my hair and makeup instead. His plate was already on the coffee table, warmed up and ready to go.
He must have been truly hungry because he immediately went to the couch and started to eat. “Damn, this looks good. You made this?”
I dropped into the seat beside him. “Yes, technically. But everything was sent to me, so all I do is piece it together and cook it, so I can’t take that much credit.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” He sat at the edge of the seat and scarfed it down, shoveling the food into his mouth.
He didn’t eat with many manners, but that didn’t bother me. It was kinda hot that he ate like a man, like he needed those calories and nutrients to keep up that strong body and brilliant mind.
He finished everything and left it on the table. “Maybe I should sign up for that.” He relaxed back into the couch, making himself at home, one arm propped up behind him, his knees apart, his shirt rising slightly to reveal a glimpse of chiseled abs and the band of his boxers.
I forced myself to look away. “So, your dad’s a felon now?”
“Not a felon,” he said with a chuckle. “Assault isn’t a felony. Well, in this scenario, it’s not.” He sat up again and righted himself, his back straight once again. His hand absent-mindedly went to his cheeks where he caressed the coarse hair on his jawline. “It all happened so fast.” He turned to look at me, to see me in my gray sweatpants that were cinched around my ankles, my loose black t-shirt without a bra underneath. “You look cute, by the way.”
“In this?” I asked incredulously. The guy had seen me in lingerie. There was even a stain on the shirt, but since it was kinda dark, he probably couldn’t see it. I was one of those people who would continue to wear something and not wash it, even if there was a bean stain on it from a burrito.
“Yeah.” His eyes lingered for a bit before he cleared his throat and changed the subject, as if he realized he was staring way too much. “Anyway, my dad had been low since Mason stood up my sister at dinner, so I asked him to get a beer after work today, just to get his mind off it. It seemed to be working…until Mason walked over to say hello.”
“Oh no…” I already knew how this story ended, but it was an intense climax, regardless. “And your dad just went for it?”
“No. Mason actually assumed my dad was Derek, so he said a couple things to give his identity away.”
“I know Derek and your dad look alike, but I would never get them mixed up.”
“He’s never met Derek, just heard about him, and Daisy and Derek look kinda similar, so he probably just assumed my dad was her brother. You know, because he looks half his age and is even more ripped than I am. Anyway, when Mason turned away, Dad figured it out…and went apeshit on him.”
“You didn’t try to stop it?” I asked incredulously.
“Ha.” He released a maniacal laugh. “Oh, I tried. Dad shoved me out of the way without a second thought. By the time I rebounded, it was a done deal. My dad kicked his ass. End of story.”
“Mason kinda egged him on when he called him an old man.”
“Yeah, the bitch totally deserved it. Just said that to get under my dad’s skin because the minute prior, he thought he was Derek. So yeah, someone called the police, Mason pressed charges, and then my dad was taken to jail. But he was there for like an hour because Mom wrote a check and got him out of there like nothing happened.”
“Geez, what a nightmare.”
He shrugged.
“What did Daisy think of all this?”
“She was furious, obviously. But she and my dad talked. They’re fine now.”
“How is this going to affect your father? You think Mason will sue?”
“Oh, I’m sure he will.” Dex looked at me again. “He knows my dad is loaded. He’d be stupid not to.”
“That must sting…to give him money.”
He shook his head. “Dad doesn’t see it that way. He got to humiliate him for a price—and the price was worth it.”
“I’m glad your dad is okay.”
“Yep. Mason didn’t get in a single hit.” He released a quiet chuckle. “Had no idea my dad’s a gangster until tonight.”
“That was sweet of him to do that…because he loves her so much.”
“Yeah, it was.” He looked down at his hands for a moment as he rubbed them together. “Now he can’t even hide it. She’s totally the favorite.”
“I hope that this doesn’t affect his work or career in the long run, seeing his name in the tabloids like that.”
He shook his head. “I highly doubt it. All he has to do is explain why he did it, and everyone will fall in love with him again.” He stared at his empty plate for a while before he shifted and looked at me full on. “Well…thanks for the food.”
“Of course. I’m glad you liked it.”
“Even off the clock at…” He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. “Nine thirty at night, you’re still feeding me.”
I chuckled. “It’s my job, and I take it very seriously.”
He slid his phone back into his pocket and looked at his hands again.
I expected him to rise to his feet and leave, but he stayed, holding a long silence like there was something he wanted to say.
I had a guess what it was.
“Have you…given what I said any more thought?” He traced his thumb over his knuckles as he studied his hands, studied the veins that branched out from the center and led to his fingers. He had large hands but slender fingertips, perfect for gripping a woman tightly…and cutting someone open.
I sat in the opposite corner of the couch, my knees pulled to my chest, several feet in between us, but his warmth somehow traveled all the way to me and wrapped me in an invisible blanket.
When I didn’t answer, he looked away from his hands and stared at me.
It’d been a week since our conversation, and yes, I’d spent most of my free time thinking about it.
“I want you to know that I haven’t been with anyone since you.”
I couldn’t say the same, but I shouldn’t feel guilty about that. He was the one who dumped me the day after he slept with me for the first time.
“It’s fine if you don’t have an answer. If you
need more time, I’ll keep waiting. I’ll wait…forever.” He held my gaze for a while, and when no response was forthcoming, he turned away.
“I guess…I’m just scared.”
He turned back to me.
“Ever since we met, there’s been this pain in my heart because I’ve always known, from the beginning, that you were what I wanted. The more I got to know you, the worse it became. And then when I finally got you, even before that, I knew that I wanted to spend my life with you.”
My confession didn’t spark a reaction from him, even though that would probably weird out most men.
“You could argue I felt that way about Vince too, but after you…” I shook my head. “It’s not the same at all. It’s a really vulnerable place to be in, to love someone with your whole heart, to fantasize about marriage and kids…when he’s already broken your heart. I love my job because of the work we do, but I also love it because I get to spend my entire day taking care of the man I’m hopelessly and stupidly in love with.” I didn’t hold anything back anymore. I didn’t care if I looked pathetic and desperate. He’d already dumped me, so what was the harm? “I’m afraid if I let you in again…you’ll go back to her someday.”
“No.”
“You might have a change of heart—”
“Never.” His brown eyes commanded my attention. “When she told me she made a mistake and wanted to be with me, you know what popped into my head? You. And that was the end. Marriage and kids are not on my mind at all right now. I gotta be honest about that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want those things when we finally get a chance to be together, to be happy, to give each other happiness. And if that’s how you really feel, then I don’t see what other choice you have. You’ve got to give me another chance.”
I believed every word he said, but I still couldn’t do it. I’d been broken by two men in the span of just a couple months. I wanted normalcy. I wanted security. I wanted to feel safe. “I need some more time to think about it.”
The same look of disappointment filled his gaze like last time, but he covered it up as quickly as he could. “Sure…whatever you need.”
I let the housekeeper into his penthouse and then set the mail on the counter. I opened his mail and paid his bills so he wouldn’t have to worry about it. I sat at the dining table and took care of the water, electric, his cable service, and a couple other subscriptions. I took pictures of every check I wrote and sent it in an email to him so he would have everything on file.
Berta did her cleaning in the kitchen, and I rested my feet on the bottom rung of the chair so she could sweep underneath me. When she grabbed the garbage to take it out, the plastic ripped, and everything spilled out everywhere. “Shit…at least he doesn’t eat soup.” She chuckled then went to grab another bag before she picked up everything.
I glanced at the mess before I got back to work.
But then I realized something.
My eyes shifted back to the garbage—and I saw the picture frame.
The glass was cracked, and there was a stain on the photograph now.
Berta pulled it out of the pile and took a look at it. “Do you think he meant to throw this away?” She looked at the front and the back, as if there would be instructions.
It was like a weight lifted off my chest, seeing that frame in the garbage. In the back of my mind, I wondered where he’d stored it in his apartment, if it was in the rear of the closet like it’d been at his place in Brooklyn, if it was in his nightstand. I never invaded his privacy and took a look myself because that would just be wrong, but I’d always wondered…did he still have it? Now I knew. “Yeah, I think he did.”
It was three in the morning when my phone rang on the nightstand.
The sound made me jolt up in bed, and despite the fact that I was still asleep, I answered the phone with a steady voice. “This is Sicily.” I didn’t even check who the caller was because my eyes were closed. My fingertips felt the cool sheets. My body was tense on the soft mattress.
“We’re trying to reach Dr. Hamilton. He’s at the top of the call list.”
“For what?” I opened my eyes and looked into my dark apartment, seeing my half-open closet on the other side of the room.
“The transplant. The heart will arrive in forty-five minutes. Will he take the procedure, or should I call the next physician on the call list?”
When I heard that, I was instantly awake. Fuck, what day was it? “Uh…” I pulled my phone away from my ear to see the calendar. Tomorrow—well, actually today—was Friday. Perfect. “I think so. Let me call him.”
“I already did. He didn’t answer.”
“Just give me five minutes, okay?”
She sighed. “If I don’t hear from you in five minutes, I’m calling the next physician.” She hung up.
I flew out of bed and threw on a sweater before I called Dex. No answer. I called again and again, pulling on my shoes and grabbing my purse because I was seriously about to sprint down the street to get to his apartment and wake his ass up.
But he answered on the fifth call. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t even have time to appreciate the way he called me that without even thinking. “Oh, thank god. I just got a call from the hospital. The heart is being medi-flighted and will land in like forty minutes. You want to take this procedure, or should I tell them to call the next person on the call list?”
He was quiet.
“Today is Friday. I can cancel all your appointments at Kline. I need an answer right this second.”
His voice had been raspy a moment before, but now it was strong and clear. “I’m in.”
I waited in the back seat of the car and watched Dex jog out of the building in his blue scrubs. He made it into the back seat, and we drove off right away. At this time of night, there was no traffic—which was a godsend.
He looked wide awake despite being woken up in the middle of the night. His hair was combed back, his jaw was cleanly shaven, and his eyes were bright like it was the middle of the afternoon instead.
“I didn’t have time to grab you something, but I got these from home.” I opened my bag and placed the homemade turkey sandwich, chips, and sliced apples on the center console between us. “And the mug has some coffee.”
He pulled the sandwich out of the bag and took half. “Thanks. You didn’t have to come, by the way.”
“Where you go, I go.”
He smiled before he took a bite of the sandwich.
“Are you nervous?”
He took his time chewing before he answered. “No.”
He went from being utterly terrified and uncertain to the most confident man I’d ever met. It shone through even more after Catherine tried to make it right between them. That had seemed to give him the vindication he needed to embrace who he was, his skills and brilliance.
“I do the best I can, but in the end, God is the one who decides.”
“Your family doesn’t seem religious.”
“We aren’t. But there’s something beyond medicine we don’t understand. There’s only one thing it can be. I’m the best at what I do, and I give every patient the greatest chance of survival. But sometimes, it’s not up to me. I’ve learned to make my peace with that. I focus on the thousands I’ve saved, not the few I’ve lost.”
“That’s a great way to look at it.”
He continued to eat his sandwich before he moved on to the second half.
“How long will you be in the OR?”
“About four hours. So, you can cancel my morning, but I’ll be available for the afternoon.”
“Alright. Anything else I can do while you’re in there?”
He shook his head. “You can go home and get some sleep.”
“I’m not going to be able to sleep until you’re done. I’ll be waiting for you in the office, like always.”
He was finished with his sandwich, so he just stared at me, completely calm like he wasn’t about to scrub in and do a very tri
cky procedure, having the gift of a god but the humility of an average person. “That’s my favorite part about surgery…knowing you’re waiting for me.”
On a particularly challenging day, I tried to give him something to look forward to.
He loved food, so I grabbed his favorite meatball sandwich from the deli across town, getting there right when they opened, and then picked up his favorite soup from another place, and then some fried churros with chocolate sauce. It was a very eclectic meal, but regardless of the outcome of the procedure, he deserved something good.
Four hours passed, and there was still no sign of him.
Ugh, I was getting nervous.
I let his office and headed to the hallway toward the OR, about to enter the galley to see what was going on, but Dex came out of the OR and stepped into the hallway, his gloves and mask gone because he’d scrubbed out. There were windows all around the OR room, so I could see that the nurses weren’t preparing to transfer the patient to the ICU.
He was covered with a white drape.
No…
Dex didn’t seem to notice me as he walked down the hallway, his hands on his hips, looking at the floor as he slowly made his way forward to where the family waited for news. Dex’s face was ghostly pale, his eyes were lifeless, and he looked dead himself.
I stepped in his way and pressed a hand to his chest to tell him I was there as gently as possible.
He lifted his chin and looked up at me, and slowly, his eyes started to moisten.
It broke my heart. “I’m so sorry.”
He dropped his chin again and cinched the bridge of his nose between his fingertips, taking a moment to steady himself and combat his impulse to have an emotional breakdown. “I need to talk to the family.”
“Can I do that for you?”
He released his nose and looked at me again, composing himself as a professional. “No. But I know you would if you could.” His arm hooked around my waist, and he gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the temple before he continued to head to the waiting room, this time walking at a normal pace.
The Doctor Who Has No Chance (Soulless Book 11) Page 10