Deliver Me (Silver Oak Medical Center Book 1)

by Aiden Bates

  Rick nodded. "It's the law."

  "Like Charlie cares." He made a face. "Look, I just don't want the kid to wake up someplace weird and not have anyone around him."

  Rick made a face. "Well, fine. Come with me. He should be waking up soon anyway, and if he seems at all uncomfortable around you I'll put you out on your ass myself."

  "Good." Bartos held his hands up.

  They made their way up to the "hidden wing" of the hospital. Silver Oak didn't get a lot of celebrity patients, but every once in a while a big name person would come into town and need help. These rooms were accessible only to people who had a pass. No one who didn't work at the hospital could get in, and anyone who leaked pictures would be terminated and sued on the spot.

  When they got to Palmer's room, they found the guy already sitting up in bed. He looked awful. Pain had sunken his face in and left his eyes a little glassy. Rick frowned and looked at Palmer's chart to see if they might not need to increase his dosage of pain meds, but according to the nurse's notes he refused to take them. "Do you have a specific reason you're not taking your pain meds, Mr. Palmer?" Rick asked.

  Palmer bit his lip and then exhaled, and he seemed to get better in a flash. He couldn't get rid of the glassiness in his eye or the gray tinge to his complexion, but he could hide the other physical symptoms of his pain. "I don't like to be anything less than in full control of myself, sir." He looked down and away, and blushed for a second. "Hey! You're the eyes!"

  "The eyes?" Bartos lifted his eyebrows. "Is that like Mack the Knife?"

  "I've got a hot date with him in the next few days." Palmer gestured at his arm, which had been immobilized. "I'm never going to work again, but at least I'll have full use of my arms. I can go lift boxes or something."

  "Oh my God, stop that, Dylan." Bartos rolled his eyes and flicked the tip of his ear. "It's going to be fine. They can cover up a scar with makeup. It's totally not a thing. I've got three. Remember when I got glassed that one time in New York?" He moved his shirt and showed a spot on his neck. When Rick looked he could indeed see a scar there. "Look, it's fine. Don't worry about it. And stop pretending it doesn't hurt." He flicked Dylan's ear again. It was such an older brother gesture that Rick had to laugh. "They can't treat you properly unless they know what is and isn't painful. Don't act."

  The bright sheen that had seemed to come over Palmer faded away, and he went back to looking gray and miserable. "Yeah. I know. Sorry." He glanced out the window.

  Rick felt bad for the guy. With all the makeup and mud washed off of him—and in the hospital johnny—he looked much younger. "So. Are you ready to talk about what's going on with you? I guess that the orthopedist has already been by."

  Palmer grimaced. "Yeah. Yeah, she admired my scapulars. That's a compliment no one's ever given me before." He chuckled weakly, and Rick thought he heard a wheeze. "They can put it up in the PR for this film when they release it. If they release it."

  Bartos wagged his finger. "What's that?"

  "Barbary pirates. In Upstate New York." He cringed. "Ooh. Sorry. Yeah, let's talk about why I feel like I got hit by a truck."

  "I'm sure you do." Rick described the litany of Palmer's injuries to him, and explained his pneumonia on top of it. "Oh, and the hypothermia didn't help. That one was fun. Now let's do a little tit for tat, because I get a lot of weird injuries but I've never had a guy brought into my ER wearing nothing but suede britches when it's almost Thanksgiving before."

  Palmer closed his eyes. "We were filming a scene. I was fighting him."

  "Only not really fighting me." Tino draped himself across the visitor chair. "His agent sucks, and mine doesn't, and so he was fighting a loudspeaker because my contract says that I'm not allowed to do dumb stuff like sword fighting on an icy roof in November."

  Rick did a double take. "You were right, Bartos. His agent does suck. Fire him, doctor's orders. No wonder you fell!"

  Palmer sighed, which led to a coughing fit. "Well, I mean I didn't fall the first couple of times we ran the scene. But Charlie didn't like any of the takes, so we had to keep redoing it. And then he wanted something more spectacular than the attack I was using, because apparently 'real' Barbary pirates didn't just attack their enemies and kill them dead like sensible people. No, 'real' Barbary pirates did pirouettes on icy rooftops in the middle of upstate New York in November in the rain, to fully terrify their enemies or astonish them with their mad ballet skills or something." He made a face. "So yeah. We got the shot, and I fell afterward. Some nice folks passing by saw and helped me out, called the ambulance. Gave me a blanket." He scratched his head. "I wonder if that publicist person could get their names or something? I'd like to do something for them, since they probably saved my life."

  "I'll see what I can do." Bartos looked down. "We'll track them down for you."

  "Thanks." Palmer smiled up at Rick now. "And thank you. I know I've been kind of a grump and stuff, but I do appreciate what you've done for me."

  Rick threw his head back and laughed. "Trust me, buddy. You've been fine. You haven't been at all cranky. Maybe a little bit out of it, but that's to be expected. You've taken a lot of hits today. No one expects you to be perky. Everyone here gets it."

  He outlined the course of treatment that Palmer would receive, so that both he and Bartos would understand it. That was the real reason Rick had been willing to have Bartos in the room; if Palmer wasn't able to follow the conversation, he wanted someone around who would remember what was said later.

  "Do you have any questions for me?" he asked, when he was done.

  "Not really, Doc. I'll make sure he takes it easy." Bartos gave Rick a tired smile.

  Palmer grimaced. "When can I get back to work?"

  Both Rick and Bartos frowned. "You have multiple broken bones and fluid in your lungs. Not for a while." Rick put Palmer's chart down. "Hopefully they can find a way to film other scenes without you, because you're not going anywhere for quite some time."

  He saw the determined set to the young man's jaw and wished both actors a good night. He didn't want to argue. For one thing, Palmer needed his breath.

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  Stay tuned for part two of the Silver Oak Medical Center Series Coming Soon!

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  Buried Passion – Never Too Late Book 1

  Ryan is a detective with the Abused Persons unit of the Mass. State Police. He loves his job, and he’s very good at it. He balks when his supervisor assigns him to a case with the Cold Case unit, and not just because that’s out of his area of expertise. Everyone in Cold Case is an alpha, and that’s just not a comfortable place for an unclaimed omega to be.

  Nick is a detective with the Cold Case unit. He’s a strictly by-the-book detective. He trusts to procedure and precedent to get the job done. He doesn’t mind getting stuck with a highly visible case. He doesn’t even mind getting stuck with the pretty omega from Abused Persons, so long as he sits down, shuts up and doesn’t screw with the process that’s worked well for years.

  Ryan and Nick butt heads almost immediately, although it doesn’t take long for either detective to figure out that at least part of the reason for their strife is the scorching chemistry between them. When their cold case seems to parallel Ryan’s life a little too closely, and when Ryan’s methods don’t fall exactly in line with Cold Case procedure, will their differences drive them apart?

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  Television writer and omega Liam Leonard is too busy creating a name for himself and making money to look for love. His family and friends have tried to set him up with handsome and successful alpha males, but most of the time Liam passes. His career is demanding and fulfilling, and it’s all he needs .
. . for now.

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  Liam soon realizes that he wants it all—success, love, and a family—and that Cruz may be the one that can help him achieve all three. When obstacles arise, on the island and back in the city, will Liam have the strength to fight for his alpha? Will he have the willpower to overcome his own self-doubts?

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  Deliver Me

  Aiden Bates

  © 2017

  Disclaimer

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and events are all fictitious for the reader’s pleasure. Any similarities to real people, places, events, living or dead are all coincidental.

  This book contains sexually explicit content that is intended for ADULTS ONLY (+18).