“Okay, febrile seizure… young child, rapid elevation in body temperature, loss of consciousness, typical seizure actions. Emergency services called if seizure lasts longer than ten minutes with abnormal sleepiness and breathing problems.”
Lacey nodded. “That should be enough info for the exam.” Her stern expression softened into a sweet smile.
Ria knew there was a lot more information behind all the questions, but Lacey did a good job of making sure Ria didn’t waste her time on too many details, knowing she would pick up the details later. It was more important to study for what would likely be on the exam.
They studied for the next three hours before calling it a day. Then they talked about what to do for dinner that night.
“How about Chinese?” Ria asked. She had a coupon for buy one get one free, so it wouldn’t cost too much.
Lacey stared at her. “This is how you pay me back for helping you study?”
Ria smiled mischievously at her friend. “Come on; maybe he isn’t working today.”
“Let’s go somewhere else, and I’ll pay,” Lacey offered.
“No, you paid last time. It’s my turn,” Ria replied firmly. Her friend hated going to Ria’s favorite restaurant because she had a burning hatred for one of the waiters working there.
Peter was a really nice guy, as far as Ria was concerned. However, Lacey felt Peter was lazy and partied around too much, while Peter felt Lacey was too boring and studious for her age.
“Okay, then, but when it’s my turn, I’m picking El Grande,” Lacey said vengefully.
Ria nodded her head. Lacey believed in fair play. Whenever she went to a Mexican restaurant, the waiters treated her to abundant attention and drinks. By the time they would leave, she was often drunk and felt like J-Lo.
Both women gathered their things.
“Ready?” Ria asked as Lacey touched up her makeup.
Ria hid her smile. For someone who declared her dislike of Peter often, she was making sure she looked her best.
“Yep. Let’s go,” she replied, snapping the compact shut.
They always studied at Lacey’s apartment as Ria barely had enough room for herself and her mother in her own. Lacey had wanted her to share the apartment with her, but Ria had been unable to leave her mother behind, even at the cost of being dragged into her world.
Lacey often offered money to Ria, but Ria couldn’t take it. She didn’t want to feel indebted, even though she knew Lacey wouldn’t expect to be paid back. Ria didn’t envy Lacey’s money and taste for the fine things in life, either. She merely wanted to be in the situation to care for herself and her mother. Ria knew she had to find a way to fix the precarious situation they were in, though.
They stepped into the elevator and made their way to Lacey’s Avalon. Ria liked to tease her about her staid car, but Lacey said comfort was more important to her than being flashy. Ria didn’t disagree; her own piece of shit felt like she was sitting on a tractor when she drove.
They slid onto the leather seats and made their way to the restaurant. It was a local place, off the main strip. Most tourists tended to stick to the chains and even most of the locals didn’t realize how good the small restaurant was. It was one of Ria’s favorite places to eat.
As they walked in, they heard their names.
“My favorite ladies. Ria and Lacey, where have you been?” Ria smiled at Peter. He always greeted them with a smile and usually gave her a big discount on food.
“Work and school, what else?” Ria replied with a smile.
“Oh, Ria, you must always make time for fun.” Peter winked at her. “Come out with me, and I’ll show you.”
Ria laughed and shook her head. He was a harmless flirt, yet she couldn’t help appreciating his flattery. He was friendly with Lacey, but was always a little more reserved with her when Lacey didn’t return his friendly chat.
He ushered them to their usual table and went to get their drinks without asking them what they wanted. He always brought them a surprise mixed drink each time they came. So far, they had all been delicious, and she looked forward to whatever concoction he brought them tonight.
“Ria, I think he likes you. You probably shouldn’t encourage him. We may need to stop coming here,” Lacey said.
“What the hell, Lacey?” Ria scowled at her. She was trying to hide the flicker of hurt in her eyes, but Ria had known her friend a long time.
“Do you really want to date a guy who flirts with every woman he sees?” Lacey questioned.
“I thought you liked this place?” Ria asked.
“Yeah, it’s good food—period,” Lacey stated.
Ria started to snap back at her to quit being so obnoxious, but she chose to bite her tongue. Lacey didn’t date often, and when she did, it was with men who shared her serious outlook on life. When a woman looked at Peter, her thoughts would be of sex—wickedly fun sex. Subsequently, Ria was sure Lacey found him disconcerting.
She liked Peter and coming here. She enjoyed returning the harmless flirtations, letting them take her mind off all the crap going on in her life. If she had to come without Lacey in the future, she would. She had hoped Lacey would gradually ease up on him, but Ria had been wrong. Lacey was only becoming more antagonistic.
“Okay. Let’s enjoy whatever he brings us, okay? No worries.” Ria smiled at Lacey and saw her relax.
“Great. He does make a fantastic drink.” As she leaned back in her chair and looked around the room, Ria glanced around the room, as well.
It was about half-full, and she had seen most of the people before on previous visits. She glanced past one of the corner booths and something caught her attention. She looked back. She recognized the man; he was the Rocky-wannabe who had gotten her fired from her EMT job.
“What’s gotten into you?” Lacey asked. “Peter flirting with another customer?”
When Ria stared at her reproachfully, she had the grace to blush at her behavior, quickly dropping her eyes.
“Don’t look, but remember the guy who got me fired from Metro? He’s here,” Ria growled quietly.
Lacey laughed out loud, causing Ria to scowl at her friend.
“That’s how you refer to him, as ‘the guy that got you fired’?”
“That’s one of the more polite terms I use.”
Lacey laughed again, promptly turning her head to look at the man.
“I told you not to look!” Ria exclaimed.
Lacey quickly turned back to Ria. “Ria, you have told me over and over what happened that night. You should have just ignored his comments. The poor guy was obviously in pain, and you acted unprofessionally.” Lacey always had to give her honest opinion. She would never lose her cool with a patient. Moreover, she was right. It was an EMT’s job to soothe the patient, not insult them. Hell, if Ria had thought she could have gotten away with it, she would have strangled the obnoxious man in the back of the ambulance that night.
“Whatever you believe, you’re wrong. He thinks he’s God’s gift to women, and couldn’t believe I wasn’t interested.” Ria huffed.
“That still didn’t give you an excuse.” Lacey shrugged.
Ria knew Lacey was still pissed for being so unprofessional. She hated that her friend was working in the bar.
Ria was disappointed in herself. That ten minute ride had irrevocably changed her life, putting her back in the sights of those she had been hiding from. Lacey had given Ria an earful later that night for her behavior, telling her she should have laughed it off. Ria had taken her opinion in stride. They had remained strong friends through the years because neither of them pulled their punches, nor worried about hurting the others feelings.
She thought back to that ride to the hospital. She recalled thinking he had dozed off, that he must not be in much pain for him to be so quiet. In pain, men were usually quite vocal, while women were the more stoic.
When she had turned back from talking to the driver, she had glanced down at him. He had been staring at her wi
th an odd expression. She had asked him if he was in pain, which had led to the jerk going into graphic detail of which part of his anatomy had been in pain. It hadn’t been her first time being propositioned in the back of the ambulance, but those patients—both male and female—had been several decades older and suffering from dementia.
She had gotten angry yet had strived to control her temper and professionalism.
“Are you on any medications?”
“Just the pleasure of seeing you bent over me.” His eyes had been glued to her breasts as she leaned over to take his blood pressure.
She had ignored his comment, rolling her eyes. Like I haven’t heard that line before, she’d thought.
She had carefully stabilized his arm while feeling his gaze watch every movement she made.
“So you’ve never seen me fight?”
“No. I usually work another run, but the EMT for this one called in tonight.” She had then picked up her clipboard, beginning her paperwork that she would hand over in the ER.
“You’ll have to come to my next fight. I’ll make sure you have a front row seat.”
Ria had looked up from her paperwork. “No, thanks. I have better things to do with my time than watch two men deliberately hurt each other. Besides, it’s going to be a while before you’ll be fighting again.”
“I guess I’ll have to find another way to stay in shape. Want to meet me after I get released from the ER?”
“Seriously?” Ria batted her eyes and pretended to swoon before straightening and bursting into laughter. “Dude, not only are you not my type, but if I was going to date a fighter, it would be the winner, not the loser.”
His demeanor had changed in an instant. Ria hadn’t needed to imagine him as an opponent, his fierce expression causing her to slide down the bench seat, farther away from him.
When they’d pulled up to the ER, she had stepped out of the ambulance, turning to offer her assistance.
“I’m fine,” he’d snapped, taking the step down.
As he had stepped out of the ambulance, she had seen the head of the hospital come out to greet him personally, solicitously ushering him inside the ER.
She followed closely behind, turning her paperwork over to the chart nurse behind the desk. Her eyes had then followed the man as he was taken into a room, and the ER doctor promptly went in to check on him. In the time she had been an EMT, she had never witnessed someone receiving such preferential treatment.
They’d received another call not long after; therefore, she had returned to the ambulance where Chase was waiting. It was over an hour before she had to return to the ER with another patient. An elderly woman had fallen in the shower, injuring her hip and hitting her head. It had taken them a while to maneuver her out of the tiny bathroom.
As she turned her paperwork in, out of the corner of her eye, she had seen the man being escorted out of the ER room with a brand new cast. His eyes avoided hers, which hadn’t concerned her, but the stern gaze of the administrator had.
The administrator had escorted him to the door, only leaving the man when he had pointedly said he needed to make a phone call as he went out the sliding doors. When the administrator had passed her again, ignoring her greeting, Ria had begun to get nervous. However, another call coming in had redirected her concern, sending her back outside.
The man was just outside the door. As she passed him, his back was to her.
“It’s Nicholas. Come and get me.” His voice had been cold and clipped. Ria had felt sorry for whoever was on the other end of the conversation.
He had then disconnected his call, and as she’d passed him, their eyes had briefly met. The cocky, flirtatious man that had entered her ambulance was gone. Ria had almost stopped to do damage control and apologize for her remark, but she truly had felt he deserved the set-down for his behavior.
“Let’s go, Ria!” Chase had yelled, turning on the siren and lights. She’d jumped in the ambulance, forgetting about apologizing in the rush to get to the emergency.
It was a mistake she would regret.
The next morning, she had been called into her office and was fired, citing her unprofessionalism. She had been dumbfounded that a man of Nicholas’s fame had resorted to having her fired because of being rejected.
She had desperately tried to explain, but her boss had been unmoved.
“I thank you for your service to our company, but we will not allow that type of behavior from any of our employees,” her boss had replied.
Ria had looked at her boss, begging for another chance. “Mr. Lyon, I’m sorry for my outburst; it was completely inappropriate.”
“Get your things and get out.”
She had quickly cleared her things and gotten out as fast as she could. She had unsuccessfully applied to the only two other ambulance companies in the city. With her bills skyrocketing and her mother’s condition worsening, she had been left with no choice other than to take the job at the bar. Her pride had taken a hit, but it was worth it when she was able to pay the rent. Nicholas Brooks might be the local idol, but to her there was nothing to admire. He was no hero.
Chapter 3
Now, she tried to look at him without drawing his attention.
He was sitting in a booth across from a blond. He was wearing a sling. She assumed it would be coming off in the next couple of weeks. She wondered how long it would be before he could start fighting again.
“How bad was the break?” she asked Lacey.
“It was clean. I think the doctor said he’d be in a cast for four weeks, and then the sling until it healed. Dr. Hilliard said he should take at least three months before trying to fight again, but he also said he wants to check it before he starts training.
“Have you thought about approaching him and apologizing? Maybe he would be willing to help you get your job back.” Lacey looked at her inquisitively.
“I would rather wait tables than apologize to that jerk,” Ria responded with a frown.
“Okay, but I think you’re making a mistake. Of course, I didn’t realize you were enjoying your new job so much,” Lacey retorted.
“I’m not.” Ria felt her temper rising as she thought of him getting her fired just because of her rejecting him. “I’m not, but I’m sure as hell not going to ask him for a favor, either. He should be apologizing to me!”
“Are you kidding me? You know jocks don’t like to be rejected. You could have handled the situation differently.” Ria saw the fire in Lacey’s eyes again. It was clear that her reasoning didn’t explain her poor behavior in her eyes. Lacey would never understand. When she looked at men, her cold gaze intimated them, while they felt they had free rein to slide suggestive comments Ria’s way.
“You’re the one that told me to stand up for myself more!” Ria fired back.
“I meant when we were in a bar and a jerk wouldn’t take his hand off your ass, not when you were on duty.” Lacey sighed. “Ria, he was probably just trying to flirt with you. Men like him think that, because they’re local celebrities, no one will turn them down.”
Men who looked like that didn’t usually look at women like her for anything other than fun and games. She had thought he was attractive until he had opened his mouth. If he could treat a stranger with such ruthless disregard, then how would he treat someone he was in a relationship with? Ria felt sorry for the pretty blond.
She glanced back at their table, and could see the side of the blond. She was wearing a short skirt, snug shirt, and her hair had the sexy beach waves Ria wished she could figure out how to do to her own hair.
“Definitely not. I see his type, and I’m not it.” Ria turned to look at Lacey. “Nicholas saw me as the girl you get to give you a blowjob on the way home from work.”
“Ria, you still need to work on your confidence.” Lacey expression softened. “Quit thinking that because you’re half Spanish most guys only want to bang you.”
Ria was well aware of her sultry looks and had deliberately downpla
yed them since puberty. Now she had to highlight them to earn her tips.
“Okay, enough. Here comes Peter with our drinks.” Ria smiled at Peter.
“Ladies, you are going to adore this drink!” Peter handed them each a tall glass full of a pink drink with little umbrellas.
“They look fabulous, Peter.” Ria looked up at Peter to thank him and caught him staring at her.
What the hell is going on with the stares lately?
Ria and Lacey promptly took a drink then both oohed and aahed appropriately, and they weren’t faking it. Peter had a way of mixing the perfect toxin.
“Fantastic as always, Peter,” Lacey said.
Ria looked at her, surprised at how friendly she’d sounded. Peter should always keep a drink in hand to deal with Lacey.
“Thank you! The usual?”
They both nodded their heads yes; they always ordered the same meal each time they came.
“Do you think he flirts with all the women?” Lacey asked her eyes following Peter.
Ria watched Peter stop to check on a few of the tables as he made his way back to the kitchen.
“Yes,” Ria replied.
As she turned back to Lacey, she couldn’t help but let her eyes look toward Nicholas again. She felt her stomach clench when their eyes met. He raised his eyebrow then nodded his head in acknowledgement at her before turning back to his date. Ria felt the rush of disappointment go through her at his quick dismissal. Then, she was pissed that she’d cared. She had been right; he had only wanted to use her for the moment.
“You okay?” Lacey’s question pulled her from her thoughts.
“I’m fine,” Ria mumbled as she took another drink.
Lacey started talking about her next medical rotation, and Ria tried to focus on their conversation instead of thinking about the man in the corner booth.
As she finally started to relax and listen to Lacey describe another medical student’s screw up, she felt a shadow come over the table. She and Lacey both looked up, each having to practically strain their necks because of the height of the man looking down at them.
“Lacey and Ria, right?” Nicholas asked as he looked at each of them.
Stand of Redemption Page 2