“Paul Anderson. Twenty-seven. Was unconscious when we arrived on scene.” One of the men I know by Matthew rattles off the information on our new patient. “We started an IV in the field …”
“Room five,” I tell him as I follow, pulling my gloves on.
“That fucking dick …” the man shouts.
I come up beside him on the gurney. “Sir, I need you to calm down,” I tell him, shining a light in his eyes. His pupils are dilated. They said he was unconscious … He needs a head CT.
I reach down to look at his right arm, and he hisses in a breath when I touch it. “I know it hurts, Paul, but I have to look at it.” He allows me to grab his forearm and turn it over. He hisses in a breath when I feel around. “It looks like his radius is fractured, but he’ll need an X-ray to be sure. We’re gonna get some scans of your arm,” I tell him, and he nods as big brown eyes stare up at me.
“What if it is fractured? Will I need surgery?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“We need to do X-rays first,” I say, and he lets out a long breath. “Did any family arrive with you?” I ask him.
He nods quickly. “Brothers …” he grinds out. “They’re in the waiting room.”
“What are their names?” I ask softly.
“Jakob … and Karter …”
“Okay, Paul. I will go update them. I’ll see you soon,” I tell him just as the nurse begins to administer medication.
I remove my gloves and throw them in the trash. “Is there a Karter and Jakob here?” I ask, walking out into the waiting room.
Two men stand from their seats by the far wall and walk toward me. “I’m Jakob,” the shorter man says as he comes up to me. He has blood on his shirt as well, but not as much as his brother with the broken arm. He has big brown eyes and thin lips. His light brown hair is short in a buzz cut. “And this is Karter,” he says, pointing at the man who walks up next to him.
This man is much taller. His dark gray eyes are narrowed in anger, and his defined jaw looks hard. He also has blood on his button up, and blood runs down the side of his face from a cut on his hairline. Tattoos cover his forearms and knuckles. Even without them, he looks threatening.
“How is Paul?” Karter asks. His deep voice leaves no room to guess if he’s pissed or happy.
“He has some cuts on his head and face. I was informed he was unconscious when paramedics arrived.” They both nod once. “They are taking him to get a head CT and X-ray his arm.”
“He’s gonna be okay?” Jakob asks with fear in his eyes.
I nod. “Yes. If the CT scan shows no bleeds, they may choose to keep him overnight for observation. So, the latest will be tomorrow.”
Jakob lets out the breath he’s been holding.
“Karter, was it?” I ask the other man, and he nods.
“Yes, ma’am.” His eyes bore into mine.
“You need stitches,” I tell him, looking at the deep laceration.
As if he didn’t even know he had a cut, he lifts his hand to it and pulls it away. When he sees the blood on his fingers, he sighs. “I’ll be fine.” He grunts and goes to turn away.
I reach out, grabbing his upper arm. He comes to a stop and turns back to face me. His eyes go from my hand on his arm to meet mine. His muscles flex, and I let go of him quickly. “You need stitches,” I repeat. “It won’t take long.” He just stares down at me with those penetrating gray eyes.
“I don’t think …” He begins.
“I do,” I say, lifting a brow in challenge.
People like this come in here all the time. Hotshot men who think bleeding is a sport. Usually, he would sit in here for hours waiting to be seen since he’s not critical, but we’re actually not all that busy just yet. It’s still early in the evening. On nights like these—game nights—we get slammed afterward. Sports seem to bring out the worst in people. Their team loses, all hell breaks loose. Nothing new.
“As soon as I’m done, I’ll check on your brother.”
“I’ll wait right here, man.” The other guy slaps him on the back, and he grunts as if that hurt him. “We’re gonna be here for a while anyway waiting for Paul. Just let her help you.”
That seems to talk him into it because he swings his hand out in a large gesture and says, “After you.”
He follows me to an open room, and I close the curtain as he sits on the end of the bed, resting his hands on his thighs. That’s when I see the cuts and blood on them.
I grab a pair of gloves out of their box. “What happened?” I ask.
He looks up at me, those dark gray eyes starting to drain some of their anger. “Fight,” he says.
“I got that,” I say with a nod. “Details,” I dig, getting a few things I need from the top cabinet and setting them on a tray.
“There’s not many. One had my friend cornered. When I intervened, more came to his defense.”
“Are they in as bad of shape as you?” I ask.
He arches a dark brow, and the corners of his lips start to twitch. “Think I can’t handle my own?” He doesn’t sound offended. More like he’s trying to be playful.
“I think you fared better than your brother did,” I say honestly, and he snorts. “But I don’t know what the others looked like.”
“Let’s just say, when I was done with him, he was no longer conscious either,” he says, bowing out his already large chest.
Cocky bastard! “You sound awfully proud of yourself.” I pick up the tray and bring it over beside him.
“I just gave the guy what he asked for,” he says with less humor.
“Men,” I say, shaking my head. “No different than children.”
“What does that mean?” he asks with a chuckle, his earlier mood starting to ease up.
“Means you can’t keep your hands to yourself,” I answer honestly.
I watch as his eyes land on my chest, and I roll mine. I don’t have big boobs, and my scrubs make me look even less endowed, so I’m not sure what he expects to see.
“What’s your name, gorgeous?” he asks.
“It’s not gorgeous,” I reply dryly.
This happens more often than I like to admit. Drunk men hit on me or try to get special attention outside of the hospital. It’s annoying most of the time, but I have to say he’s the cutest one to ever hit on me. They could also just look at my badge, but for some reason, they like the conversation.
“Don’t want to tell me? I’ll just ask the other nurse you were talking to …”
I look up at him, and he lets his previous statement hang in the air. But I knew what he meant—I was watching you. “Raegan,” I say, giving it up.
“Raegan.” He says my name softly and then nods to himself. “Let me take you out on a date.” That was quick! I just continue to stare up at him. He shrugs. “For the good will.”
“This is my job. And I don’t date men who start fights,” I state, leaving out the part that I’m in a relationship. He doesn’t need to know my personal life.
His smile grows bigger, and he leans forward, placing his forearm on his thigh. I have to lean back to keep his face from touching mine. “How about the guy who ends them?”
I roll my eyes and start to put my gloves on. I put my right one on first and then go to put my left one on.
“Figures,” he mumbles to himself, straightening to sit up.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says, and his lips go back to a thin line as if his mood has switched.
God, I thought I had bad mood swings.
“I’m just going to clean it. And then the doctor will come in and stitch it up for you.”
“Just do what you have to,” he orders.
Chapter 2
Karter
My nurse is pretty. The kind of natural beauty that not all men tend to notice. But I do. She has dark brown hair pulled up into a messy ponytail. A few loose strands fall down around the side of her face as if she’s been running around all day. She has light blu
e eyes and a small round face with pretty pink lips. I hate that she’s wearing scrubs, though. They don’t show off her body as much as I’d like them to. I wish she had been my blind date tonight. I would have gladly lost that hundred dollars to Jakob for her.
Then I saw the ring on her finger—married. Just my luck.
But there’s something about her. She looks familiar. “Do I know you?”
She looks up at me, her eyes meeting mine for the briefest second before she looks away. “Not sure. But I know that I don’t know you.”
I let it go because I could be mistaken. Maybe she just has one of those faces.
I watch her move around the room in complete fascination. The way she doctors my wounds as if I’m a little bird with a broken wing should make me feel a little inadequate, but it does the exact opposite. Makes we want to play doctor in a whole different way.
“How long have you been a nurse?” I ask as visions of me and her back at my house while I examine her body come to mind.
“Long enough,” she answers, and I can’t help but smile at her annoyed tone. She moves to stand between my legs, her eyes right in front of mine. “This may sting a little.” She holds up a huge cotton swab with some ointment on it.
I open my mouth to ask another question when she pulls away and looks me square in the eyes again. “Every time you talk, you move. I need you to be very still. Please.”
I close my mouth and nod. She finishes cleaning my wound and then the doctor appears to give me twelve stitches.
Twenty minutes later, he is walking out, and she is removing her gloves and moving away from me. “Who can I talk to about my brother?” I ask, worried about Paul. He looked pretty bad when the paramedics hauled him off in the ambulance. He was just lying there as if he was sleeping. Just the thought of me thinking he was dead has me fisting my hands.
“I’ll go and check on him now.”
I stay seated on the end of the bed as she leaves, considering she didn’t tell me I could move, and then look down at my watch and sigh. It’s almost nine o’clock. Well, I have to say this blind date takes the cake. Even if the ending had nothing to do with my date.
“Excuse me, miss? I’m looking for a patient,” a familiar male voice says coming from the other side of my curtain.
“What’s the name?” I hear Raegan ask.
“Karter Brooks.”
“He’s right behind there.”
Moments later, the curtain snaps back. “Eddie,” I say, hopping off the bed and ignoring the pain in my back. Fuck, that one guy slammed me into the wall hard.
He’s dressed in his police uniform and pulls his shoulders back while placing his hands on his belt, smirking at me. “A fight? Really, Brooks?”
I reach out my right hand and shake his. He pulls me in for a one-arm man hug and slaps my back. I flinch. “Whoa. You okay?” he asks, pulling away.
“Just a little sore.” Nodding, I look over his blue uniform and frown. “I didn’t know you were working tonight, or I would have called you personally.”
“I got called in.” He smirks. “So I saw the other guys. How bad are you all?” His eyes go to my freshly stitched face, and he lets out a low whistle.
I shrug. “Paul was hurt pretty badly. The paramedics showed up, and we gave our statement to the police and then left. Thankfully, we knew them all, or they would have made us stay. I didn’t stick around to check on the others. You saw them, though?”
He nods. “Yes. One was brought here, and the other two have already been taken into custody.”
“So why are you here? Am I under arrest?” I ask, smiling. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s arrested me.
“No.” He shakes his head, laughing. “We spoke with the bar owner. Seems like you all did him a favor. That man you beat the shit out of, he and his friends are regulars there ... always starting fights with customers and then when they go to leave, he and his friends jump them in the parking lot where they proceed to rob them.”
“Bastards.” I hiss. “I never even saw the other two coming.” Once I got up off the floor and charged him, another jumped me from behind, smashing my head into the wall. It got dirty real quick. But I wasn’t about to lose. I’ve been trained to win.
“Right!” he agrees. “The owner saw the whole thing go down. He’s pressing charges on the three men, and once the guy you mauled is released, he will be taken into custody. He said next time you guys come back, drinks are on him.”
“Well, then I did a good deed,” I say with a smile.
Just then, the curtain is pulled back again, and my nurse enters. She comes to an abrupt stop when she sees me and Eddie both standing. “Is there a problem?” she asks, looking at Eddie. Then she looks at me. “Are you under arrest?” Her blue eyes are wide as if she really cares if my ass is going to jail tonight.
“Worried about me already, gorgeous?” I ask with a smirk, and her beautiful blue wide eyes thin to slits.
“It’s Raegan,” she corrects me sternly.
Eddie laughs. “No, he is not under arrest.”
She looks back over at me for confirmation. “Eddie, here, is a friend of mine. I know him through work,” I inform her.
“Karter?” I hear a woman’s voice call out.
Both Raegan and Eddie look at me as if waiting for me to say polo, but instead, I stay silent. Who the hell is looking for me?
“Karter?” the female voice calls out again, and it sounds like she’s getting closer.
“Someone’s popular tonight,” Raegan says with sarcasm.
I arch a brow at her. “Jealous too,” I muse with a chuckle. “I knew I liked you …”
“Karter?” The woman who had been yelling my name walks into my room. “There you are, babe.”
Shit! It’s my blind date from tonight. How did she get back here? She looks me up and down and practically runs over to me. “Oh, baby.” She throws her arms around me, her big tits pressing in to my chest. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She pulls away and runs her hands all over my shoulders and arms.
I stand frozen in confusion. What the hell is happening? This is not the same woman who sat across from me only an hour ago. “You kicked that guy’s ass,” she says with a punch to my chest, and I look over at Eddie.
He’s hiding a grin behind his hand as he looks at me with amusement. I quickly look at Raegan, and she has this fuck you look that says she had me pegged as a total player the moment I called her gorgeous.
Placing my hands on the woman’s shoulders, I move her to the side. “Raegan …”
“I just wanted to tell you that your brother is in surgery at the moment. The doctor will update you once he is in recovery.” With that, she turns and leaves, shutting the curtain behind her.
“Wow! You were … amazing! The way you took that guy down …” The blonde continues to talk, but I block her out as I look at Eddie. He laughs and tries to cover it with a cough but fails. He knows exactly what just happened—and Jakob was right. Kandy did fuck me, just not in the way he meant. Guess I owe him a hundred dollars.
Raegan
I crawl out of my Jeep and make my way into the house. It’s two in the afternoon, and I’m on my third Red Bull. They’re doing about as good as the Monsters were. I’ve officially been up for over twenty-four hours, and I’m pretty sure I’m starting to see things.
I kick off my shoes as I walk down the hallway. I drop my purse, not caring where it falls. Opening the bedroom door, I tilt my head back, downing the rest of my Red Bull.
“Where have you been?”
I come to an abrupt stop when I hear a male’s voice. “Steve?” I ask, jumping back. “What are you doing home?” He’s never home at this time of the day.
He looks down at his phone and sighs heavily. “You told me you were going to come home after work so I could see you.”
I blow the loose strands out of my face. “I’m sorry. I ended up having to work over, and by the time I got off, I had already missed my first cla
ss—”
“I told you I wanted to see you,” he interrupts me.
My eyes narrow on him. “And I just told you I had to work late.”
He stands and runs a hand through his hair, letting me know he’s irritated with me. “I can’t do this anymore.”
I place my hand on my hip. “Do what?” I ask but not really caring. It’s almost three in the afternoon, and I have to be at work by six.
“This.” He gestures to me and opens his mouth to speak.
I raise my hand. “I’m not doing this with you. Not now. Not today.”
“Then when?” he demands.
I reach down and grab the hem of my blue scrubs and pull them up and over my head, leaving myself in my bra. I had grabbed a clean set from work ’cause I didn’t have anything else to wear to class. After tossing the top on the floor in the corner, I remove my bottoms as well and then proceed to crawl into the cozy bed.
“Are you seriously going to ignore me?” he snaps.
“Are you seriously going to be a dick?” I argue, before closing my heavy eyes.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he says again, and I ignore him.
Then next thing I know, the covers are yanked off me. I sit up quickly. “What the fuck …?”
“I just don’t see how this is gonna work.” Steve says, lowering his voice. It’s full of something I can’t place and don’t have the time to decipher.
I sigh, yanking my hair out of my ponytail and scratching my scalp. I feel a headache coming on. “What do you want to do?” I ask.
“I … it’s just …” He pauses, and I yawn. When my eyes meet his, he lets out a long breath. “Raegan, say something. Please,” he pleads after another long second.
“What do you want me to say?” I’ll tell him anything at the moment to get him to leave me the hell alone.
He lets out a growl as if he expects me to think of something better to say. “I’m not happy.”
Burn Me Anthology Page 73