Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“I know it’s not easy…and if that’s what you want, then we won’t sleep together anymore. I don’t want someone in my bed who doesn’t want to be there.”
Well, shit. That was easy. It sort of made my gut twist a bit, though. “It’s not that I don’t want to be there. But it’s for the best. There are so many boys out there for you to make scream.”
“Not like you.”
“Eh. Not everyone can be this good.”
Rush chuckled, and I felt…sad, a heaviness in my soul. “I should go.” I pushed to my feet, turned around, and held a hand out to him. “Friends?”
“Friends who don’t fuck, you mean.”
“Yes, that.” I shook Rush’s hand. “Friends who don’t fuck.”
And in that moment, the whole friends-who-didn’t-fuck thing felt like the dumbest idea in the world.
“Go get dressed, Red. I’ll take you home.”
When he smiled up at me, my pulse stuttered strangely before I got it under control.
Stupid. I was being stupid. Maybe Beau had been right. I never should have slept with Rush Alexander.
CHAPTER ONE
Lincoln
Linc is the first person I’ve ever met like me. ~ Trey
Four months later
“Did Dr. Wilson ever come in?” I asked Lucy, the charge nurse on shift.
“I haven’t seen him, but you know how he is. He’ll hide out as long as he can.”
I sighed, knowing she was right. The family of my patient in room 2001 wanted to talk to him. It was so damn hard sometimes. Families wanted to speak to the doctors. It was the doctors they trusted, and I got that, I did. They went through a whole hell of a lot more schooling than I did as a nurse. People wanted to believe doctors were these all-knowing people. There was a security in speaking with the doc that they didn’t always have with the nursing staff. Again, I got it. I respected the hell out of doctors. I wouldn’t want all the pressure they had, but I wasn’t chopped liver myself. Who were the ones on the floor twelve hours a day? The nurses.
After one more sweep for Dr. Wilson, I checked the time and realized I’d have to give report in a few minutes. I paged Dr. Wilson one last time before I headed for room 2001. The family members would likely be upset at me for not being the doc…or finding the doc…but I wasn’t going to give report and bail on them without giving them the best update I could.
“How are you doing?” I asked when I slipped back into the room. The patient was a sixty-eight-year-old woman with COPD. She’d gone to the ER with shortness of breath and confusion. They’d admitted her to the floor with pneumonia.
“She’s struggling a little bit,” the patient’s daughter told me.
“It’s almost time for another breathing treatment. I’ll call respiratory therapy and get them up here.” I’d considered going to school to be an RT myself. It was what my aunt had done, but I’d discovered nursing was my calling. It was my proudest accomplishment.
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Has the doctor been in yet?” she asked.
“No…I’m sorry. He has a packed schedule today.” Which he did. “I paged him again. I’ll do my best to get him here ASAP. My shift ends in a few minutes, but Hailey’s on night shift tonight. She’s great. She’ll follow up and make sure your mom is taken care of.”
She gave me a sad smile, and I appreciated that she seemed to understand I was doing everything I could.
“Do you have any questions for me?” I asked, and she shook her head.
I did one last set of vitals before excusing myself from the room.
“You ready for report?” Hailey asked when I got to the nurses’ station.
“Can you give me five? I’m going to look for Dr. Wilson.” He was usually in by then. I made a few rounds on the floor before I found him looking at an X-ray. “Hi, Doctor. I’m sorry to bother you, but can you make a few minutes to speak with the family of the patient in 2001? They’re really worried about their mom.”
He looked at me over the wire framing of his glasses. “Yeah. I’m done here. I’ll go there right now.” He sped off. He was a good doctor, very thorough, but he didn’t waste time with small talk.
Looking for him made me a few minutes late giving report, which made me a few minutes late for what I had planned next, a domino effect that would have me late to Ash and Beau’s. We were getting together to watch the first race of the supercross season. It was always in Anaheim, so it didn’t come on until late for us.
Rush was lucky I loved him—no, no. Liked. I didn’t love Rush. I wasn’t a big fan of love, had never been in it, and sure as shit never planned on being in it.