by Ellen Hutton
Chapter 2
Angie
The day started off busier than I had anticipated and by 2:00 pm I had helped a woman through labor, stitched a few drunkards and attended to a naughty 7 yrs old boy with a broken arm. It was not until 2:30 that I got my first break and got to munch on something. I walked into the common room for some coffee and listened to the other staff members making light banter. They seemed to know each other and their families very well something that really fascinated me. I poured myself a cup of coffee and did not bother to indulge in their conversation; I barely knew anything about this. The common room eventually cleared and Nurse Jane and myself were in each other’s company.
“I saw you the other day Angie, at the back of a stallion riding with a young man.”
Her comment caught me off guard and I wasn’t sure if there was a question somewhere in her statement. I sipped some more from my tea before looking at her from the brim of my cup and held back my smile. Her questioning eyes begged for an explanation and after a few seconds of awkward silence I was inclined to give her an answer.
“Kyle, a man I met on my jogging trail.”
My answer was straight to the point and offered no additional remarks and needed no additional comments. However, Nurse Jane was never one to keep her comments to herself and from the look on her face I could tell she greatly disapproved.
“Kyle Westwood is the town’s Casanova dear,” she announced as if giving me a great revelation, “You best be careful with him.”
“Thank you for your advice,” I answered and got to my feet, anything that didn’t invoice work was none of her business and I made this clear by walking out of the common room and headed back to my office. Her intrusion was not unexpected given the small population of the town; everyone sticking their nose in each other’s business was very common. I sat on my desk and waited for my next patient to walk in with my mind still on Jane’s words. The door swung open after a gentle knock and as serendipity would have it, in walked Kyle in all his glory.
“Howdy good doctor,” he greeted before tipping his hat slightly my way.
“Hello,” I answered with a curt and professional tone, “Please have a seat.”
He was immediately followed by Jane who had his file in hand and placed it on my desk with a curious glance at the both of us. The Greendale system was still undergoing an upgrade and soon enough the nurses would have to manually bring the patients’ file to our desks; they would simply send it through the network.
“What can I do for you toady Mr. Westwood?” I asked and scanned through his file very fast, The words Hypertension caught my eye and with it came some sort of relief, at least the man was not stalking me. He was indeed sick but his current examination didn’t show any irregularities in his blood work or body.
“Well, I was planning on traveling in the next few days,” he answered, “I would need a check up and a clean a bill of health before my trip.”
His cause sounded valid and I asked him to sit on the examination table. He also sounded professional and a bit serious but this was short-lived as soon as my stethoscope grazed his hairy chest.
“Oooh, that tickles,” he said before winking my way. I don’t know why I chuckled at his comment but it somehow sounded funny.
“So she smiles,” he let out almost immediately obviously fascinated.
“Your heart rate is normal,” I answered before quickly walking back to his file and checking his pressure levels which also seemed normal. It was standard procedure for the nurses to give a quick check up to the patients before seeing the doctor.
“You are good to travel,” I answered almost immediately and took a seat on my chair leaving him to button up his masculine hairy chest.
“Thank you doc,” he answered before taking a seta opposite me, “See, I will be gone for three days if not more and would like to take you out to dinner tonight.”
He was direct, something I liked but also didn’t need. I shifted slightly in my seat under his piercing gaze and Jane’s words rushed through my brain. Was he really a Casanova? I had only been in Greendale a week, the last thing I needed were rumors going round about me dating the hot stud of a player.
“I am sorry, I already made other plans,” I answered with a dismissive tone.
“What about when I get back? Will you be free then?”
The man was relentless and something told me if I kept saying no to him he would take longer to leave my office.
“I will give you a call,” I answered curtly.
“You don’t have my number.”
“That was your cue to give it to me.”
It was his turn to chuckle, a perfect smile grazed his thin lips and made him look the more handsome.
“You are very funny doc,” he replied and took out his business card, “My personal cell is on that, I only give this card to the chosen few.”
His words were followed by a wink, he was arrogant but still very attractive.
“Do the chosen few include every pretty damsel in town?” was what I wanted to ask but instead remained silent. He got to his feet and gave me one last look before walking out of my office. The last few seconds in his presence showed me his perfect backside which was his chiseled almost drawn back with tight buns well fitted in his black pants. It was no secret I was getting attracted to the man but the last thing I needed was to be involved in anything in a town I planned to live for only six months. Fear gripped my heart when I thought back to my last relationship, it handed gone so well, not with the man being my professor and a married man as well.
His card was still in my hand and that was when I realized how filthy rich Kyle really was. The family owned oil wells all over the world. Kyle Westwood, heir of the Westwood empire, my gut rumbled and I knew Kyle was about to be my next mistake.
Kyle
Dr. Angie looked and felt interesting; she had put up an interesting professional front that was almost laughable. The attraction was mutual and I knew it, thoughts of her distracted me. I found her fascinating, like an interesting page turner book that only made you beg for more. I had other things to think about otherwise and as I strolled through town thinking of nothing in particular I found myself standing in front of my favorite bar “Cowboy boots”. I knew drinking was not really the best decision at the time especially with my trip coming up the next day but a beer and catching up with the boys would not hurt.
A wave of excitement seared through the air as soon as I walked in, the drunkards loved me here. I highly suspected it was because of the free drinks I always bought everyone, not really my good company. I made my way towards the bar and lifted my weight on a stool before ordering a beer. The place had the same crowd it had every day and as I sipped from my beer mug, a young beautiful blonde caught my eye. She was plain looking not as interesting as the good doctor I had seen only minutes earlier but the hunter in me just couldn’t back down.
“How is the Missus doing today?” I asked before lifting my beer mug to my lips and maintaining eye contact with her. She looked me straight in the eye and didn’t say a thing; I noticed disgust lying in her pale blue eyes but didn’t know why. The lady must have been having a bad day. She somehow looked familiar to me; I didn’t know where I had seen her before though.
“Really Kyle?”
Her words got me confused, she sounded like she knew me but I still did not have any recollection of her.
“I could buy you a drink to help you cool off, you don’t look like you have had a good day.”
“Really?” she asked again this time her voice was louder and her entire demeanor screamed danger. She was now on her feet and I anticipated a scene, something that wasn’t so uncommon for me at the Cowboy boots.
“I am sorry; do I know you from somewhere?”
My words were the straw that broke the Carmel’s back and with them, she drew out something metallic from her purse. It took a moment for me to register what it was until it was pointed straight to my face.
“Men like you do not deserve to live, you are the scum of the world, you don’t deserve to be alive or see another day.”
Confusion was an understatement to the many things going in my head, the bar had all of a sudden gone silent and everyone had their eyes on us. I was used to the occasional drink being thrown at my face with cat fights over me but this had gone to a whole other level.
“Ma’am, I am sure this is all a misunderstanding, we can work this out if you simply put eth gun down.” I tried to plead and took note of what the power shift had done to her entire being,. She loved seeing my squirm and in a defenseless mode, cowardice was something I despised and being seen in that state was by everyone else seared a deep loathing inside me.
“You think you can take advantage of me? Sleep with me? Take my virginity, never call me and get away with it? No sir, you got eth wrong one.”
It slowly came back to me, a vague memory of a young girl in one of my drunken escapades. She wasn’t exciting in bed that was why I barely recalled the ordeal, but had she really been a virgin? The night was too blurry for me to remember but it sure as hell was going to cost me my life if I didn’t act fast.
“How much? I will pay you off if you want, just put the gun down.”
She chuckled an evil sound that lit up her face and gave her a satanic look, her hands did not however let go of the piece and I got more scared.
“I don’t want your money sir, you think you can buy me off like your other little tramps in town? I will put the gun down but you have to do something for me.”
“Anything,” I answered a little too desperately.
“Say my name.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me,” she answered and tightened her grip around the gun,” What is my name Kyle Westwood?”
Of all the things she could have asked me to do? Couldn’t she just tell me to strut around town naked instead? God knows I would have down that wistfully, how the hell was I supposed to remember her name?
“Ten seconds,” she said in a slightly chilled voice.
Fear gripped my heart and sweat broke on my forehead, she looked like the typical country girl.
“Jane,” I guessed out loud.
“Ten, Nine,” the countdown had began.
“Hailey, Janet, rose, Flora, Amber.”
The situation would have been funny if the setting was of a sitcom but it was not. Her eyes were murderous and her entire demeanor was vengeful.
“Michelle, Stacy, Briana, Tracy,”
“Six, five, four, three.”
“Lisa, Nicole, Susan, Ashley.”
Something happened before she could get to the number one, someone walked into the bar and distracted her giving me the chance to leap forward and tackle her to the ground. The crazy girl was stronger than I had anticipated and after a few minutes of struggle a shot was fired and the impact made it easier for me to disarm her. Everyone else took the opportunity to rush to my aid and in no time at all, we were both on our feet with the gun on the floor and the crazy woman chanting insane words.
“Heavenly Godamn it!” she shouted while being held tightly in some man’s grip.
In all honesty, I would never have guessed the name, she was anything but Heavenly with the gun in her hand.
It took a while for me to realize I was bleeding, I felt a warm liquid trickle down my arm which was followed by a distant sting that slowly elevated and grew with intensity. I placed my right hand over my left arm and could here distant sirens, someone had called an ambulance. I couldn’t really tell the extent of the wound in all the chaos and after about five minutes, Heavenly was whisked to the Sheriff’s and I was hurled at the back of an ambulance van. The pain was blinding but the incident had been sobering, I had actually hurt Heavenly and even though she had been having a bad day and took it out on me, I still felt a pang of guilt settle on my heart.
The paramedics were talking gibberish as far as I was concerned, taking my pressure and tearing at my clothes to get a better view of the wound. It was not until we got to the hospital grounds that I realized how lucky my day was going to be. I may have been hurt but was going to be in the caring and capable hands of Dr. Angie. My joy however evaporated when again I realized she might not really be in the hospital, what if she was not on duty that day?
I took in a lungful of air and felt the wheels of the stretcher rush me to the emergency room. There were many voices surrounding me none of which was familiar and I was on the verge of giving up before Angie’s voice landed on my ears. She was my hope amidst my little hell and I immediately relaxed once I knew she was taking charge.
“It’s a bullet graze,” she announced after examining the wound, “But he has lost a lot of blood.”
I then surrendered myself to an abyss of darkness that called out to me and gave me a false sense of comfort. Her face was the last image I saw and I smiled before becoming unconscious.
Angie
Just when I thought my shift was about to come to an end, the intercom went on and I was needed to report to the emergency room. Imagine my luck when I saw the wounded party was none other than Kyle Westwood. It was obvious that he was the kind of guy who liked getting into trouble but I had not in my wildest dream expected a gunshot. Well, I guess that was the way of the west. I bit my lower lip and held back the nervousness that always came with the enormous pressure of handling a patient in the ER. Even in his bloody torn clothes, he still looked attractive. There was something terribly wrong with me, granted, I had not enjoyed any male company for the longest time but my body was simply being ridiculous. After giving him a quick examination, I deduced that he had suffered a bullet graze and had lost a lot of blood. Under mild anesthesia, I stitched his wound and administered a prescription for the pain and to stop the bleeding.
Knowing he was in the best care, I left the hospital and headed to my house. I had the perfect night planned out for myself and by myself. I had planned to slide into casual clothes, grab a beer in the local bar and hopefully some dinner before getting back home to binge on ice-cream and watch an old movie. Kyle’s image was however in my mind as I ran the hot water over my body in the shower and it was still in my mind minutes after as I slid into comfortable sweat pants. I then decided to call a cab and headed to the most recommended bar in the town. I was well aware of the eyes thrown my way when I walked in, some of the people who had been my patients at the hospital said hello while others simply nodded and lifted their beers in midair.
I sat by the bar and ordered a martini from the bartender who was as chatty as everyone else in the town of Greendale.
“Here you go ma’am,” he answered before placing the drink in front of me.
“Would you please help me with your menu?”
“Sure.”
“What would you recommend?” I asked after looking at the different dishes on the menu. They all sounded like home cooked meals and after feeding on pizza and junk food since I arrived at the town, my body was craving a wholesome meal.
“Well, the ribs are quite good,” he answered.
“I will have those please,” I answered before downing the contents of my glass and asking for a second glass of martini. The drink slid down my throat and lit a desirable fire in me, I was soon moving my feet to the country music in the bar and looking at no one in particular. A few men offered to buy me a drink and keep me company but I politely declined and enjoyed my own company. Everything seemed to have been going on well until the bartender decided to burst my fun filled bubble.
“First time at the cowboy boots?”
“Yes,” I answered and let out a wide smile as a result of my fourth glass of martini, ”How could you tell?”
“You are a bit of a loner.”
“I know,” I answered and sipped someone on my drink.
“Which is a good thing, the men in Greendale might be few but they are scavengers.”
“Is that so?” I answered and leaned in closer for some more gossip. Bartenders were
generally known to have all the gossip of the town and I was not mistaken, he dished it all out and didn’t hold back.
“Oh yes,” he answered with the obvious u excitement of someone who was about to give me the juiciest gossip ever.
“I know you are still new to town but there is a billionaire who goes by the name of Kyle, Kyle Westwood. Well, his family practically owns the entire town. They are filthy rich, they have ranches all over the town and the state not to mention the oil wells all over the world.”
I tried as much as I could to maintain a straight face as he mentioned his name. The martini did not help but the poor lighting in the club and the eagerness of the bartender to dish out the story did not betray my knowing look. He went on to narrate to me about a young woman who Kyle had slept with drawing a gun at him and almost shooting him. I of course let him rumble on and on about Kyle’s’ other escapades and didn’t tell him I was the one who received him at the hospital and stitched his wound. The rest of my time there was spent with me listening to the bartender and the different escapades on Kyle and other women. By the time I got out of the bar, I was slightly tipsy and viewed him under a different light.
The drive back to my house was filed with regret of why I felt attracted to the arrogant billionaire of a cowboy and feeling sorry for the many girls he had taken advantage of. But part of me was almost curious on what he had to offer and why the town girls threw themselves at him. The money part was obvious but was there something more to the shallow man I was attracted to?
