Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Copper and Reign were a regular staple in our life from the moment that Copper turned thirteen. She wasn’t actually Copper’s girlfriend, but she was his best friend. And even though Copper couldn’t see how in love with him that Reign was, the rest of us could.
That was why I’d have never broken Copper’s trust and gone there with his girl.
“Hey, Chevy.” Reign sniffled, making me feel bad for not wanting to pick up the call. “Are you at work?”
“About to walk in, why?” I asked, hoping that she wasn’t about to ask for a favor.
“Um,” she sniffled again. “I got in a car wreck.”
I closed my eyes and nearly sighed. “Are you okay?”
Her breath hitched and she said, “No.”
I found her next to the vending machines in the waiting room.
She was covered in blood, and she looked haunted.
“Reign,” I said quietly.
Her head jerked up, then she was running toward me.
I caught her in my arms and folded them around her, despite the blood on her shirt. “Are you okay?”
Working in a hospital, I was more than used to blood.
At least this blood was dried.
She swallowed so hard I could hear it and said, “I am. Yes. But I think I killed two people.”
My heart stopped.
I closed my eyes. “What happened?”
“I was driving…”
“You know you’re not supposed to be driving,” I ground out.
For two years now, her license had been suspended.
“I know.” She sounded broken. “But I’m so tired of being a burden.”
I gritted my teeth to keep the anger at bay, but that was futile.
“You…” I closed my mouth.
She didn’t need me berating her.
I clenched my jaw and counted to ten in my head.
“When did this happen?” I asked.
“A couple of hours ago,” she whispered. “They took me into the ER to get my blood alcohol level because they didn’t believe that I wasn’t drunk. When they realized that, they let me go. But they said that I needed to stay close in case they had any more questions.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Come on. You can come up to the surgical floor with me and wait.”
“Thanks,” she breathed. “Are you super busy today?”
Yes, yes, I was.
And I’d only gotten about four hours of sleep thanks to an emergency call in the middle of the night that required me to come up here and work a couple of surgeries when Tennenbaum, the anesthesiologist that worked in tandem with me and one other, got sick and had to go home.
“I have a couple of surgeries that I have to cover today,” I grumbled as I headed for the elevator when I would’ve usually taken the stairs. “You can hang out in the break room until you know if you can go home or not.”
She nodded and fell into step beside me. “Are you sure you don’t want to meet me up there? You can take the stairs.”
I got onto the elevator with her instead of answering.
When we got onto the floor, I showed her to the physician break room where the showers were, then grabbed her some clean scrubs. Then I went in search of the charge nurse that could give me a breakdown of the surgeries that I would be performing today.
“Hey, Val.” I nodded at one of the female doctors that wasn’t usually up here. “What are you doing up here?”
“Checking on a patient I sent up earlier.” She looked haunted. “A woman with a suspended driver’s license hit the couple head-on. The female was pregnant.”
I closed my eyes as I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the solar plexus.
“Fuck,” I said. “That was my friend.”
“The pregnant woman?” she asked.
“No, the one with the suspended driver’s license.” I sighed.
She winced. “If it helps, I think the woman may pull through. The man, though…he was very critical because most of the impact came from the driver’s side.”
That didn’t help.
“Do you know who’s charging up here right now?” I asked.
“It’s Dru,” came the raspy, soft voice from behind me.
I didn’t have to turn around to know who that was.
My dick let me know without the visual.
Aella.
My little version of chaos.
I turned anyway, though, because I was always desperate for a look when it came to her.
She may avoid me like the plague, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t allowed to look.
I smiled. “Hey, how’s your car treating you today?”
“Still grumpy,” she admitted, her cheeks heating as she looked anywhere but at me.
“I…” I was interrupted by Reign calling my name, and Aella took the distraction to run away.
Reign was no stranger to this floor.
She visited often since she had so many doctor appointments, and it was only right then that I realized that Aella always ran when Reign was close. But usually, she’d stick it out as long as it was just us talking.
Another reason to distance yourself from Reign, Chevy. Don’t be a dumbass.