I can’t get Dee out of my mind, but before I can make things right with her, I need to make them right with my brother. I scroll through my phone to his contact name and unblock him, then tap the phone icon, listening to the phone ring.
“Nate?” he answers on the second ring.
“Yeah, it’s me.” I rub my hand over the back of my neck and sigh. “I think we need to talk.”
“Are you sure about that? You’ve had me blocked for damn near a week now, and you didn’t even give me a fucking minute to explain. By the sounds, I’m not the only one you threw under the bus and ran over, either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I can feel the anger bubbling up, because I know he means he spoke to Dee again, but I try to keep it in check and not jump to conclusions.
“She called me to apologize, told me everything. Did you even fucking bother to get her story before you shut her out? Or did you treat her as poorly as you did me?”
He is more pissed than I’ve ever heard him, but so am I. Because even if there was nothing going on; she still used me to get to him.
“Fuck you, Xavier. You both went behind my back, remember?”
“You Goddamn, motherfucking piece of shit. Will you shut up and quit accusing us for one fucking minute to hear what actually happened? She isn’t your bitch of an ex. And I’m your brother, dammit. So stop acting like I’m the enemy.”
“Fine, continue. You get thirty seconds before I hang up again. This call was clearly a mistake.”
“It’s simple, jackass. She went behind your back to plan a surprise for you. She found out your birthday was this weekend; set it up for Jackson and I to both fly out and surprise you. And she asked me to help her, and Micah’s mom, pull off a surprise for Micah, too.”
“Say that again?”
“Yeah, fucker. Your girlfriend was doing something for you. And you kicked her to the curb, turned your back, and let her get run over.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. “She was really talking to you for me?”
“Yeah. By the way, I’m going to need a lift from the airport tomorrow. My ride is no longer in your life.”
I’ve never felt so fucking stupid. She did nothing, absolutely nothing wrong. And I didn’t even give her a second to explain. Not one. “How do I fix this?”
More than her doing nothing wrong, Xavier didn’t either. He didn’t kiss Megan because he wanted to years ago, and he wasn’t going behind my back to get my girl this time.
“Buy me alcohol and a good dinner,” he answers, chuckling.
“Not with you, dipshit. With her?”
“Beats the fuck out of me. I don’t do relationships. Ask Jackson when you call to apologize to him.”
I groan out, “How pissed is he?”
“Well, you’ve been acting like the world’s biggest asshole, ignoring both of us, and you mistreated an amazing woman who was good for you. How pissed do you think he is?”
“Great. This ought to be fun. What time do you get in tomorrow?”
“Five o’clock. Don’t be late, you owe me the courtesy of being on time with my beer.”
I crack my first smile in days and chuckle. “I’ll be there. And X-Man?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.” It’s nowhere near enough, but he’s my brother, he knows what I mean.
“It’s all good. Fill me in tomorrow on everything else?” I know he means Dee, the hospital, all of it.
“You got it. I need to call Jackson now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
We end our call and I dial Jackson next. Thankfully, it goes to voicemail, so I can grovel and apologize without him interrupting. Then I tell him to let me know when he gets in so I can pick him up, too.
I end the call and head to my own office across the hospital campus. I need to find a way to make things right with Dee, but I have to finish work for the day first.
****
I haven’t been in my office for more than twenty minutes when I get a page from the ER that I need to come immediately. I’m not on-call today, though, so I ignore it.
Five minutes later, I’m getting another page to call in ASAP.
I lift the phone from the base and press the extension I was told to. It rings a few times and then a familiar voice answer. “Trauma bay 2, this is Nurse Hogue.”
“It’s Dr. Alexander, I was paged, but I’m not on-call today. Is Dr. Richards in a surgery?”
“No, no he isn’t. I thought you’d want to take this one.” Her voice is strained and it sounds off, worried.
“Bridget, why are you paging me?”
“It’s Dee, Dr. Alexander. You need to get down here,” she whispers then the line goes dead.
I drop the phone on my desk, not caring to make sure it’s on the hook, and then I tear out of my office in an all-out sprint. I cross the medical campus in record time and crash through the ER doors, making my way to Trauma 2.
It’s mayhem in the room. X-ray is setting up, nurses work diligently over the patient—over Dee—and doctors press and question. The fact they’re waiting for an answer from her is a good sign, but the concern on their faces is not.
“Nurse Hogue,” I say as calmly as I can, slipping as much into a professional appearance as I can. “I was paged.”
She and the others look up when I speak, and I hear Dee’s weak, angry voice. “Not him. Anyone but him.”
Bridget looks down and strokes her hair, answering softly, “He’s the only one we have right now. You need him.”
Her doctor, someone new to the department, looks confused. “Who are you?” he asks.
“I’m Dr. Alexander, with ortho.” I pass my hand beneath the sanitizer and grab a pair of gloves, stepping up to the foot of Dee’s bed. “What do we have here?”
Bridget speaks up before everyone else can, “Female, twenty-six years old, auto versus pedestrian. Vitals are stable, patient is complaining of right hip pain and belly tenderness. She lost consciousness but quickly regained. GCS is thirteen now. Neuro hasn’t been down yet, X-ray is getting your images up now to confirm a hip dislocation.”
I nod and step up to the bed. “What hip hurts?” Bridget already told me, but I need Dee to confirm. She refuses to answer, though, making me feel better because she’s being so fucking stubborn.
I carefully examine her hip, and she shrieks in pain. It’s a sound I will never ever forget, and it kills me. “I need those images up, now.”
The tech asks everyone to step back and moves the portable over her body, snapping the X-ray, then sliding everything back up.
Nearly instantly the film will be processed and we will be able to view it.
“We have results,” her ER doc says.
I step over and take a look at the image, extending my finger. “Here, we have a posterior dislocation. We need to get it back in place immediately. I’m going to need help reducing it back into place. Does she have pain meds on board?” I direct this question to Bridget, and she nods her affirmation.
“I’ll get what you need,” she offers, then exits the room. She returns moments later and Dr. Tenley helps me prep Dee and we work to reduce her leg.
After multiple attempts, it becomes obvious it won’t work. And the pain, even with medicine, is unbearable to Dee. She’s shouting and her body is writhing in response to our attempts. “I need CT to take a look at this too, I’m guessing we missed some fragmenting in there, but I’ll need to get her up and reduce this in the OR. When is neuro due?”
“Right now,” another doctor answers, stepping into the room. “Do we have scans done yet?”
Bridget answers in the negative this time, and the neuro doc looks at me. “I’ll take her up for scans, then we will send her your way. It shouldn’t be more than twenty minutes.”
“I’ll head up and scrub in then.” I look to Bridget. “Walk with me, Nurse Hogue. I want history on my way up.”
She looks torn, but ultimately, she doesn’t have a choice. And I need to know what the fuck hap
pened.
“Go, Bridget,” Dr. Tenley says. “We will get her up.”
Bridget bends over Dee and whispers something in her ear, then follows me out of the room.
“What the fuck happened to her?”
“She was hit out in the parking lot. The driver waited her out and aimed for her, based on witness accounts.”
I stop in my tracks and look at her. “Who was it?”
“April Fritz hit her, Nate. They took her into custody already. She aimed for Dee and ran her down.” Her voice cracks as she tries to hold it together. “Dee saw it coming and tried to get out of the way, it’s why her injuries aren’t worse.”
“Motherfucker.” I grip my hair and pull it between my fingers. “This is all my fault. I ruined everything for her.”
“I don’t disagree,” Bridget says honestly, “but you made it right today. And you’ll continue to do that after you fix our girl. It’s why I paged you. You listened to me, right? Found the truth for yourself?”
“I did. I started asking questions and things weren’t adding up. You were right.” I exhale slowly. “Thank you for calling me. She hates me, but I wouldn’t trust anyone else with her.”
Bridget gives me half a smile. “I know. Go get ready, let me know when she’s out?”
“I will. I promise.”
I head up to the OR and get ready for the most important patient I have ever had. It shouldn’t take much to fix her hip, but she is in for a long period of rehab and healing after I’m done.
Thirty-Nine
Dee
I blink my eyes once, twice, and then open them completely. My head is pounding, my hip is throbbing, and my whole body aches in a way I’ve never felt before.
But I’m alive.
I remember it all so vividly. I was walking out of the building and headed for my car when I heard another car accelerating. I looked up and recognized April immediately.
Once she saw me looking at her, she sped up even more, and it was clear she was coming right at me. I tried to get out of the way, and I almost managed too.
I dove at just the right time, so all she was able to hit solidly was the lower half of my body. It’s how I dislocated my hip. When I landed, I hit my head on the ground and lost consciousness briefly. When I came to, I had an entire medical team loading me onto a backboard, putting me in a collar, and wheeling me into the ER.
I remember Bridget panicking at first, but then swearing she was okay to work on me. I remember her calling Nate to work on me.
I even remember him whispering in my ear as they put me under he was sorry, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. And then I was out.
Now, here I am.
“You’re awake,” Nate says. He steps up to the bed and slides his hand over my forehead gingerly. “How do you feel?”
“Like I was hit by a car, then backed over, and hit again. Between you and April I’m surprised I’m still alive.”
I’m trying to be serious; I’m still so fucking pissed at him, but the asshole just smiles that devastating smile of his at me. “I’m glad you’ve regained your sense of indignation and stubbornness toward me.”
“Why are you even here?” Fighting with him is a much more comfortable state for us to fall into than being serious would.
“I’m an orthopedic surgeon, and you needed me.”
I snort. “Hardly. Dr. Richards is a fantastic doctor, more than capable of reducing a hip.”
“He was busy.” Nate rushes the words out so quickly; I know he’s full of shit.
“Liar, Bridget paged you. I know it.”
He shrugs his shoulders and sits down in the chair beside my bed. “You needed ortho, I’m ortho. Live with it, Miss Parker.”
He is getting on my nerves, more than he ever has before, but I’m glad he’s here, too. I can’t tell him though.
“Excuse you. You can’t speak to a patient that way.” I want to move, I want to smack his smug smile off his face, but I can’t. I’m stuck here.
“I can when she’s so fucking stubborn she won’t give me a five second break, so I can apologize to her, and tell her what the fuck I found while I fixed her hip. So, do you mind?” He rolls his eyes at me.
“Fine, tell me what happened to me. But only what happened. I don’t need your apologies, Dr. Alexander.”
“Only what happened to you, got it. You have to keep your mouth shut until I finish speaking though, do you agree to my terms?”
“Yes, fine, whatever. Just talk.”
He smiles and begins, “First of all, the biggest thing that happened to you was you wormed your fucking way into my heart and made a home there. Then you taught me to trust you, and did everything you could to earn that trust. That was a big fucking mistake on your part.”
I try to cut him off, but he puts a finger to my lips. “You agreed you wouldn’t speak until I’m done. And I’m not done.”
“Take your finger away before I bite the damn thing off,” I threaten.
He pulls his finger away, chuckling to himself, then continues, “See, once I trusted you, you became someone I apparently can’t fucking live without. Who knew? Then after you went and did that, some psychotic fucking bitch tried to intervene. She used what she overheard us speaking about one night at dinner to plant a seed she knew would grow and it did. She turned me against you, made you lose your job, made me question everything I thought. She made you the enemy, when it was her all along.”
He pauses momentarily, and this time I stay silent. I know he isn’t done, and I want to hear the rest. I want to hear about April and why he is here doing this now.
“Then unbeknownst to you, I’m sure, your new best friend out here told me not to make the mistakes she did and jump to conclusions without getting facts for myself… So I looked for them. I realized what a fucking idiot I was, and how badly I screwed up. You weren’t the one who betrayed me, Dee. Not in the least. You tried to help a little boy with cancer by teaming up with his mom to surprise him—you worked with both my brothers to surprise me.”
“When did you find out about Xavier?” I whisper, not sure what else to say.
“After April lost it and we had settled with the McCarthys. He told me everything. I am so sorry I ever doubted you. I had no right to. No reason. And if you never forgive me, I’d understand.”
“I’d like to hear about my injuries now,” I say. I’m not ready to forgive him yet.
“There was some ligament damage preventing us from reducing it in the ER. I went in arthroscopically and was able to do it that way with zero problem. As you know, you will have to rehab, but you should make a full recovery.”
“Thank you, Dr. Alexander. I really appreciate it.” I look toward the door and see Bridget standing there silently. “You came to see me.”
“I did. I wanted to check on you before I go home.”
“I’ll let you two speak,” Nate says quietly, standing up, and stepping away. “I’ll check on you later, Dee. I… I really am sorry. I hope you can forgive me enough to let me try to earn your trust again one day.”
He walks past Bridget and out of the room, before she steps in and whispers, “Are you really going to let him walk away?”
“How far has he gotten?”
Bridget leans out the door and looks down the hall, then pokes her head back in. “He’s halfway down the hall now. Why?”
“Wait until he’s about to turn the corner, then call him back here for me?” I grin at her, and she laughs.
“You evil, evil genius. Oh!” She pokes her head back out and shouts, “Dr. Alexander, come quick!”
I giggle at the urgency in her voice and wait. “And you call me evil.”
It doesn’t even take him five seconds to return. “What, what’s wrong?”
“Did you run back here?” I ask him, quirking a brow.
“He did,” Bridget answers. “I’m going to head out for the night. Text me later, Dee. Let me know how you’re doing.”
“I
will, thank you, Bridget. For everything.”
She gives us a little wave, and then she leaves us alone.
“So…” I say, looking at him.
****
Nate
“So…” I say back to her. “Can I do something for you?”
“That depends,” she responds, smirking. “What would you do for my forgiveness?”
My eyes shoot up in shock, and a hesitant, sheepish grin covers my face. This can’t be happening. I pinch myself to make sure I’m not in the middle of some super fucked-up dream, but nothing happens. “Really?”
“Yes, really…” She gestures to the chair beside her bed, silently directing me to sit. “How will you earn my trust back?”
I think about this for a moment, then exhale. “I’d like to try to be your friend, if you’ll have me. I know I don’t deserve even that, but it seems like the best place for us to start.”
“Just friends?”
I swallow hard. “It’s all I deserve right now. I know that.”
“Why be anything at all? You made it clear we were done the day I was fired.” She isn’t letting me off easily, but I don’t want her to.
“I fucked up. I knew it the moment I heard April’s story for myself. But I couldn’t go to you then. I had to act first. Let my actions speak. Once I found Emily and heard her side of things, I responded immediately. I called Sue, put everything into motion to make sure you could get your job back, and April would rightfully, deservedly, lose hers. Losing you, thinking you had betrayed me, fucking destroyed me, Dee.”
“What you did destroyed me,” she admits. “I could take losing the job. It was fucked up, but it was you dumping me, without even bothering to hear my side, that killed me. You ripped my heart out when you walked away from my door, Nate. You obliterated it.”
Her words are as powerful as a million little X-ACTO blades slicing and dicing me. “I’m so sorry. I was hurt. I let my past insecurities allow me to believe the worst in you. I let them convince me the woman I was starting to fall for had betrayed me again, all to get to my brother. It was inexcusable. And the only thing I can say is I was so afraid I had let you get too close, and I was trying to run.”
Doctor Desirable: A Hero Club Novel Page 28
