by Alli Sims
Kasie slid the elastic band off her wrist and began to tie her thick red waves into a knot on top of her head and took in his features. Jase Jackson was a drop dead gorgeous man. His moss green eyes sparkled with humor or mischief when they weren’t serious and focused on surgery. He had a great smile bracketed by signs that he laughed a lot and his blond hair gave him boyish charm despite the streaks of grey throughout, that made all the women in his life fall at his feet. Except for Kasie, of course.
She wasn’t blind, she could see how quantitatively attractive he was on the outside but his arrogance was the only thing she seemed to truly notice about him. And the way everyone fawned all over him. He was an amazing surgeon but he was still just a man. When he became restless she finally responded. “I don’t find our relationship contentious in the least. I’m just not a member of your fan club. I am your resident and here to learn from you. Do we need to be more than that?”
JJ’s shoulders drooped with disappointment. “I guess not. I’m just not used to people not liking me, especially for no reason.”
Kasie sighed, her patience just about out for the day after the morning she had. “Dr. Jackson it isn’t that I don’t like you, I just don’t adore you like the rest of the world. You’re fine, good.”
Before he could respond the mostly quiet cafeteria filled with emergency sirens and notifications. Two seconds later doctors, nurses, specialists and interns left their food, magazines and books where they were and headed for the ER.
Good riddance!
~
Jase Jackson had no idea what he’d ever done to Kasie Fulgram to make her hate him so, but man did she really seem to dislike him. He hadn’t seen her smile at him in the nine months they’d been working together but she was quick with a smile for nurses, patients, hell even the janitor got a smile every time she saw him.
He’d been a medic in the Army for four years and performed more emergency surgeries in deadly conditions than one person ever should. He’d done a stint at the Cook County ER during the height of gang violence in Chicago so he knew how to quickly locate a bullet, pull it out and stitch a wound without leaving a scar. He could stop a patient with multiple wounds from bleeding to death without breaking a sweat and repair a mangled body until it was nearly as good as new. But what he couldn’t do was make Kasie like him. Dammit.
She would though. They worked well together in the ER and she was intelligent, hardworking and intuitive in her application of emergency medicine. Eventually she would see he wasn’t a bad guy, but for now he had a GSW to attend to. “Fulgram you’re with me on this one,” he yelled over the chaos of the emergency room. Apparently a motorcycle gang decided to shoot at each other in a mall parking lot so there would be at least a dozen of the walking wounded trailing in, along with those with more critical concerns.
Despite her obvious dislike of him she gave a curt nod and changed directions to follow him into the scrub room. Kasie was silent as she soaped up and rinsed off with hot water. Her emerald green eyes cut to him briefly when she stepped into the operating room and JJ gave her the patient stats and they both got to work. They were like a well-oiled machine working together. He reached inside for bullet fragments and she used water to give him a better visual, he repaired internal damage and she sutured the bullet riddled body. It was, in his opinion, like poetry.
“Great job Dr. Fulgram.”
Kasie was tired and her defenses were down, it was the only explanation why she returned his enticing smile with one of her own. “Thanks Dr. Jackson. Your work was brilliant in there.” He really was a fantastic surgeon and even the past two hours had taught her plenty about technique and quick thinking.
Jase watched her walk away and wondered, not for the first time, if she would ever call him JJ like the rest of the hospital staff. She was always so stiff and formal with him, referring to him as ‘Doctor’ as though that was his first name, not Jase. “I’m leaving in an hour Dr.Fulgram so I’ll need you to keep an eye on this patient, monitoring vitals every hour. Call me if they elevate to the red zone.” She nodded and he watched her walk away, posture straight even after the long day that wasn’t over for her. He knew she’d already been at the hospital for twenty four hours and would be here for another twelve, but he’d put in his time as a resident so he got to sleep in his own bed.
Watching her walk away Jase suspected his pathological desire to get her to like him had more to do with her skills as a doctor and the way she filled out a pair of scrubs. Kasie Fulgram was a beautiful woman, no matter how hard she tried to hide her firm round ass, plump over-sized breasts and a waist so small she used rubber bands to hold her scrub pants up. He’d spent more than a few nights imagining how she would look out of her scrubs. Were her nipples strawberry red or were they pink like raspberries? Were they large and eye catching? Were her breasts covered in freckles like the bridge of her nose? Was her pussy bare or did she have a strip or a triangle decorating it?
JJ shook off those thoughts and turned his attention back to the tablet in his hand. Kasie had long disappeared down the hall anyway and he was ready to go home.
~
It was after midnight when Kasie finally woke up, or rather when a terrified first year resident woke her up. She stretched her tired and aching body in the chair meant for a munchkin and swiped a chunk of hair from her eyes. “What is it?”
“Female. Multiple stab wounds with internal bleeding. They’re paging you.”
The way the first year took several large steps back would have been funny if Kasie were at all awake. “Okay, I’ll be down in a minute.” She was already out of the chair and splashing water on her face. She grabbed a small paper cup and filled it with hours old coffee and chugged it as she made her way to the ER. “Okay what do we have here?” She snapped on a pair of gloves and strode confidently toward the patient.
Donna, the best ER nurse around, summed it up succinctly and for that Kasie was grateful. “Multiple stab wounds, low blood pressure and blood loss for starters. We’ll know more once you get in there.”
She nodded and got to work. The woman appeared to be in her late thirties and she was underweight with stringy dark red hair. But what Kasie noticed most was the more than two dozen stab wounds covering her abdomen, breasts, arms and thighs. But she began with the large scar curving from her eyebrow, arching over her cheek and down her jaw before it ended at her jawline. It was deep and red and throbbing. “Is she sedated?” When she got confirmation, Kasie got to work, opening her up and fixing internal damage before getting to the surface wounds. Several hours later Kasie was finally ready to close her up. She allowed the first year who woke her to do the sutures.
She looked all around for the chart and found the name blank. “Why is the name blank on this chart?” That’s the quickest way to lose patient information and the blame would fall to her even though nurses to intake information.
“She had no identification at all but instead of listing her as Jane Doe I figured she could tell us who she is once she’s awake.”
“And if she sneaks off before we can get that information are you going to explain that to the Chief?”
She watched the nurse shrink away from her and she wanted to cringe. She hated the stupid hospital policy that they were to turn away anyone without identification or insurance and send them to County General. It was cruel and heartless and she was sure it would cost lives. “Look I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.” Even though one of us is going to be in big trouble if she skips out or doesn’t have insurance.
When Kasie returned an hour later to check patient vitals she was shocked to see the woman’s face clean and free of makeup and blood. Her hair was dry and no longer caked in blood, a smattering of freckles were visible across her nose and cheeks. Kasie gasped, “Holly?” The woman looked so much like the older sister she hadn’t seen since she was fourteen and Holly was nineteen and ran away. That was twelve years ago and this woman, this Jane Doe could be Holly.
She s
hook off the thought, unwilling to get her hopes up. Chances were that Holly was dead or a long way from here. “We’ll find out who you are either way.” She patted her leg and crept out of the room, where she ran straight into a tall, hard brick wall.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Kasie blinked and looked up as she registered the voice. “What exactly is the problem Dr. Jackson?”
What is the problem? “The problem, Dr. Fulgram, is that you worked on this woman without finding out her insurance status or hell, even her name.” Arms crossed over her ample bosom, she was the very picture of defiance.
“Then maybe you should take that up with one of the nurses in your fan club because they admitted her. Not me. I was called to work on her and I’m a surgeon so that’s what I did.”
He wanted to smile at the way she poked her tiny little finger into his chest but he was so damned turned on he hardly heard a word she said. “Yeah well you’re the doctor, I expect more from you.” She rolled her mossy eyes, but they were gorgeous all alight with anger.
“Then maybe you should go in there and check out my work because it was excellent and that,” she punctuated the word with another finger to his—rock hard—chest, “is what I do. Not paperwork and not asking if the patient has been identified and checked for insurance.”
JJ stepped in closer, invading her space until she was between a wall and his hard muscular body. “You knew afterwards, didn’t you Kasie? Didn’t you?”
The way her name rolled of his tongue caused an unexpected quiver in parts she’d long ago forgotten but apparently Dr. Ego could wake up with just a breathy whisper. She was even more determined to steel herself—and her body—against its reaction to him. “I did.”
Jase came closer until they were nose to nose, fighting between wanting to wring her neck and rip her clothes off. “So why I ask, is she still here?”
“Why? You want to know why?” She looked up and down the empty hallway. “He wants to know why! Well I’ll tell you, Jase,” she sneered his name, “it’s because she’s barely an hour post-op with a low blood pressure and a low grade fever. Under those circumstances I don’t think even the great Dr. Jackson would have her moved to County General!” Before she could storm away he had closed the small gap between them, hands pressed into the wall on either side of her head and captured her lips in a surprise kiss that was as seductive as it was sweet.
He tasted like cinnamon gum and coffee and damn if it wasn’t her current favorite flavor! He was a masterful kisser with soft, demanding lips that worked her over until she heard the moan escape her body and stopped cold. She looked at him with shocked green eyes and dipped under the strong arms bracketing her so she could hurry away.
“We’re not done here Dr. Fulgram,” he shouted down the hall. “Not by a long shot.” He went in to Jane Doe’s room to check Kasie’s work. And to forget about that kiss that would keep him hard until morning.
~
“She looks like half a dozen other missing girls around here,” Donna said matter of factly to a few other nurses as JJ walked by.
“No I’ll bet that’s Sylvia Whittaker, the Governor’s missing daughter,” countered Mei, a pediatric nurse.
Jase shook his head as he walked by the nurse’s station on the first floor of the hospital. For the past three days—three days!—the entire hospital speculated on who the mystery woman could be. He didn’t give a shit who she was, he just wanted her gone before the Chief found out and had all their asses. He still couldn’t believe Kasie had found a way to keep her around and he intended to talk to her about it. As soon as he found her.
Right now she was doing rounds on the patients who’d come through the ER last night so he went to his office for a few minutes of shut eye. He would have her paged to his office so he could ream her out in private and maybe gets his lips on hers again. Other parts too, if she’s willing. That thought brought a smile to his face and he whistled down every hall until reached the closet he called an office.
He closed the door behind him and shrugged out of his white lab coat and sank into the comfortable executive chair he stole from the dermatology department. His shoes were kicked off haphazardly in a corner and his socked feet were crossed at the ankle on top of his desk. “What the hell is this,” he snatched a piece of paper up that sat on his keyboard. It was a list of all the missing women in the area who matched Jane Doe’s description, along with a note.
Since you have more free time than I do, call these families and find out if they’ve heard anything about their missing daughters so we can keep caring for Jane. ~KF
“Damn you Kasie, I don’t have time for this.”
“You don’t have time for what?” She strolled into his office without a knock or a care in the world and his menacing scowl did nothing to deter her. “Oh I see you got my list. Have you made any calls yet?”
Jase bowed his head, dragging his fingers through his blonde waves to stave off the growing frustration. “No Kasie, I haven’t. Why you ask? Because I am a surgeon, not a goddamn secretary and certainly not your secretary!”
She sat back with her arms crossed and slowly crossed her legs without ever taking her gaze off him. “I see.” She stood and looked at him with disappointment in her eyes. “I didn’t realize you only cared about saving patients on your operating table.” She plucked the list from his hands and turned to leave. When she got to the door she paused but didn’t turn around. “I’m feeling a bit under the weather so I think I’ll stay home tomorrow.” With that she left.
Chapter Two
Having a day off never felt so good. Kasie couldn’t remember the last time she had a day off and slept in until, she looked at her phone, eight thirty. She’d actually slept a full eight hours last night, ate a balanced meal with a glass of wine and watched one sitcom before falling asleep in front of the TV. The long night away from the hospital would have been perfect if it hadn’t been peppered by erotic dreams of a green eyed man with a sexy smile and a sinful kiss. Damn you Jase Jackson!
Luckily she wouldn’t have to see him at all today because she was going to do a little detective work to see if Jane Doe really was Holly. She grabbed Jane’s photo, the age progression photos she had worked up a few years ago to take with her as well as the photo of Holly at nineteen dressed up to go to a rock concert. Kasie smiled at the image. Her sister was all long legs, fire engine red lipstick and blonde streaks running through her hair. She was all attitude. She was beautiful.
And she was gone.
But if the Jane Doe in the hospital was Holly she would no longer be gone. Kasie would have her sister back, which meant maybe she could get her parents back. The distant parents who had pretty much ignored her from the moment Holly left and only spoke to her now briefly at Christmas time. And if it isn’t Holly, taunted her inner skeptic. Well if it wasn’t Holly then she wasn’t any worse off than she was four days ago before Jane Doe was stabbed almost to death.
She shook off those thoughts, grabbed a banana and locked the door to her small apartment.
Her first stop was the Downtown Homeless Shelter where she passed around several photos of Holly and Jane to see if anyone could identify them. Kasie bit back her frustration at the shrugs and blank stares that met her questions. She thanked everyone for their time and left, feeling less sure than when her morning began.
Next was the Mara Johnson Women’s Shelter, a place many women on the streets often stayed for at least a few nights to get away from abusive partners. The director of the shelter was kind and accommodating but none of the women would admit to seeing Holly or Jane. She could see recognition in some of their eyes but didn’t think it would be prudent to push. She left a few copies with the director along with a business card in case the woman came in again.
Feeling disappointed and a little dejected, Kasie lifted her head towards the sun to boost her spirits. “Excuse me?” She turned at the sound of the small voice behind her. “Kasie, right?”<
br />
She nodded and relaxed her muscles so she would appear non-threatening to the woman. “I am. You’re Sophia?”
“Yep. Look I didn’t wanna say nothin’ in front of the others but I think I know the woman in the photo.”
A thrill rushed through her body, speeding up her heart and making her hope. “This one,” she held up the photo of Holly.
“No the other one. I think that’s Bo. I don’t know her last name but I’m pretty sure that’s her.”
“Are you friends?” If Jane was Holly this woman was a lifeline.
Sophia shook her short black hair. “I don’t know her that well but uh, we, uh. Well my husband used to force me to work the streets for cash and uh, Bo she, uh, she showed me the ropes.” The woman looked around nervously, smoothing her pixie cut down compulsively.
Kasie caught on to her nervousness quickly and steered Sophia back towards the door. “Thank you so much for telling me that Sophia, that can’t have been easy for you.” At the woman’s surprised look Kasie gave her a small smile. “Can you tell me what areas you’ve seen her work?”
Sophia shook her head. “Not really but her, uh, her pimp’s name is Goldfinger. You can find him by the sub shop on Central Avenue and Ninth.”
Kasie nodded as the information sank in. Her sister might be turning tricks and that thought simply gutted her but if she could find her, she could help her. “Thank you for your help Sophia, you have no idea what this means to me, really. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” She smiled and laid a reassuring hand on the woman’s slight shoulder.
“Good luck Kasie.”
She was going to need more than good luck if she was going to brave a pimp named Goldfinger in an area she knew very little about. But it was the only lead she had so Kasie started up her car and headed towards Central Avenue.
She parked on the street in front of Sammy’s Sub Shack and made sure to lock her doors as she took in all the men and women hanging around the shack. It was a literal shack with no entrance for customers. It was one room with a countertop and refrigerated unit holding all the meats, vegetables and condiments. If you wanted Sammy’s sub you had to stand outside to place your order.