Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry that I didn’t take that guy out with a shiv so that you could visit me again,” he drawled.
I snickered into his neck. “I’m glad you’re home, Copper.”
He set me on my feet and curled a crazy curl around his finger. “I’m glad that I am, too. Even more glad that you’re helping me whip CE into shape.”
I grimaced, which caused him to laugh.
He threw his arm over my shoulder and started guiding me toward the hospital.
“What do you think about Cutter’s wife?” he asked conversationally. “She seems solid.”
Gah, my brother the protector. Oh, how I’d missed him.
I caught his arm with mine, something I used to do all the time when I was younger, and practically hugged it to my body. It forced him to move closer to me, but he didn’t ask me to stop. Which I was grateful for, because I’d missed being affectionate with Copper.
Hugging him in prison was a no-no, and though I’d tried almost every time I’d gone to see him, a guard always stopped me.
“She’s a good woman,” I admitted. “I like her a whole lot.”
We talked about nothing and everything as we made our way up to the hospital floor that we knew Chevy to be on, based on the location of his phone.
When we arrived on the surgical floor, I turned the phone that had his location pulled up and said, “That way.”
We walked until the ping location ran into a closed and locked door that said ‘physician sleeping quarters.’
I sighed and turned around, looking for a friendly face.
I found her at the back of the nurses’ station that was almost directly across from where we were standing.
“Be right back,” I said as I crossed to the woman.
Val, one of my friends I’d made while a student nurse, was studying a computer screen in front of her.
Her husband was also a doctor at this hospital, and both of them were so nice that I adored them.
Years ago, Val’s husband, Felix, had been stabbed in the hospital corridor right outside the emergency room, and a shit storm of epic proportions had ensued.
I’d been a nursing student at the time and had been scared out of my mind that day because Val had asked me to help her save a man’s life that’d just been complicit in stabbing her husband in the chest. An injured man that was later found out to be one of Maven’s brothers-in-law, an undercover cop.
Needless to say, Val and I had formed a trauma bond together.
That day was also the day that I’d decided that I didn’t want to ever be a nurse.
I’d been six months out from my graduation to get my bachelor’s degree in nursing when I’d made the decision.
I’d practically forced myself to finish school, and Val had helped me cope along the way.
“Val!” I called out happily.
I didn’t see her very often because she was so dang busy. She had a plethora of kids all in sports, and worked full-time as a doctor. She didn’t have the time to hang out, and I hated coming to the hospital. So we barely ever saw each other.
But we’d never forget that particular day that I’d helped her save a police officer’s life.
Val turned and a smile lit up her face. “Rose!”
I giggled.
When I’d first gone to nursing school, I’d been determined to never, ever let anyone know my real name. Announcing that it was ‘Tequila’ always raised questions and I detested my name.
When my parents had decided on a name for all of us, I had no clue what they’d been thinking.
Mom had a love for the rodeo, and when she’d been pregnant, she’d watched 8 Seconds on repeat because she adored Lane Frost and everything he represented. That’d led her down a rabbit hole. Per my parents’ agreement, Mom named all the boys, and Dad got to name the girl.
Mom gave all the boys pretty cool names, albeit a little bit odd since we were so far removed from anything resembling a rodeo life. Meanwhile, when Dad got to name me, Mom and Dad had been in a very bad place.
According to my brothers, Dad had hated Mom by that point, and the only reason he still ‘tolerated’ her was because if they divorced, half the company would go to her.
Needless to say, when I came along, Dad had named me after something that he felt would be a big ‘fuck you’ to our mother.
Mom had rolled with it, and she’d been the one to start calling me Keely.
“Keely,” I reminded her.
She winked. “I know. But to me, you’ll always be my Rose.”
I’d gone by the name Rose for four years, so I’d still answer to it, even though I’d grown up a little bit since that day we’d trauma bonded together.
From then on, I’d never gone by Rose again, and my nursing friends had gone with it.