Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
The entire drive to the hospital is awkward to say the least. Lorelei continually strokes Adan’s leg, murmuring that it’ll be okay and everything will be fine. She tells him that she’ll take care of him and do whatever he needs her to do. I drive, hands on the wheel, resting bitch face in action. Not because I want to be a bitch, but because it’s really, really hard for me to be in this car right now.
“You good?” Adan asks me from the back seat.
Why couldn’t he sit in the front like a normal person? No, he had to sit next to her and make things weird.
God, I’m being a bitch.
Well, my inner thoughts are, anyway.
I need to snap out of it.
“Yep,” I mutter, fingers turning white I’m gripping the wheel so hard.
“Don’t look like it.”
“Thank you, Adan. I’m fine.”
His brows go up but I don’t glance back at him to see anymore.
Once we arrive at the hospital, I text Daniel and let him know. He comes out right away and ushers us into an examination room. When he takes the compression gloves off, I can see why Adan was so quiet. Parts of his skin are bleeding and the entirety of his burns are red and swollen.
I bite my lip, it’s the only way I won’t cry.
“You’ve done quite a number on yourself, Adan,” Daniel says, examining Adan’s arms, turning them over and poking at his skin with gloved hands.
“It’s not his fault, it’s mine. He was only coming to my aide,” I say.
“Had no choice, would do it all over again,” Adan mutters. “Just tell me the verdict, Doc, so I can go home.”
“Well, you’re lucky you came back when you did so we can prevent another infection starting. The best course of action here is for me to give it a good clean and hopefully that’ll be enough. We may need to rebandage it for a couple of weeks.”
“No fuckin’ way,” Adan growls. “I can’t do that. I won’t do it. You give me another alternative or I’ll lose my fuckin’ arms.”
“Stop being so damned stubborn,” I snap at him. “What are you going to do with no arms? Huh? Walk around hitting people with your nubs because you’re so damned angry? When all you had to do was bandage the fucking things for a few measly ass weeks?”
Everyone in the room stares at me after my outburst.
Okay, well, it was a bit extreme, I won’t lie.
But I’m frustrated.
Mostly because if he loses his arms then I live with that forever.
I’ll always be the dumb girl who climbed a damned cliff and had to get saved.
“Do what you gotta do,” Adan mutters. “On one condition, she comes back and takes care of me. I’m not having another nurse.”
“No way,” I say, shaking my head. “No way.”
“Is there a reason you’re not open to this?” Daniel asks me.
Lorelei is looking at me with a curious expression, also.
“No,” I say. “No, there is not. I just don’t want to work for him. He was always grumpy and mean. I’m tired of that crap.”
“I’ll be nice,” Adan says, his voice gruff. “Don’t like the other nurses. You come back, or I don’t get the bandages.”
His face tells me he’s very serious.
Well fuck me.
Now what am I supposed to do?
“Ugh, fine. Fine. I’ll come back.”
Daniel nods. “Very well, let’s get these redressed.”
I go outside for some fresh air while Adan’s arms get sorted out. Lorelei comes to find me, and I inwardly cringe when she asks me if I’d mind having a word with her. I know exactly what she’s going to ask. She wants to know if I’m in love with Adan. I’m going to tell her no, mostly because if don’t tell her no, then I’ll look like that desperate idiot who couldn’t move on after being rejected. Adan doesn’t want me, if he did he would have said so by now.
That’s that.
It is.
That’s the end of it.
“What’s up?” I finally say to Lorelei, sitting down on a park bench outside the hospital.
“I hope you don’t mind me being so forward, considering I don’t even know what Adan and I are, but I was wondering ... is there something going on between the two of you?”
Oh, you mean did he kiss me just a few nights ago?
That was nothing.
It was an accidental slip of the lips.
For fifteen minutes.
“No,” I say, because honestly, what else am I going to say?
The truth?
I don’t even know what that is.
“Oh,” she says, looking surprised. “That’s not what it feels like.”
“Look, Adan and I had a little bet going. We had some fun, that was the end of it. As for anything more, no. We don’t have anything more. If you and he are happy, then you should go for it.”
She smiles. That simple. “Really? Are you sure?”