โYou forgot to ask about their allergies,โ I snapped. โHow
am I supposed to treat a patient properly if I donโt have all the relevant information? This is the ER, Lucy. We canโt affordย anyย kind of fuckups.โ
Lucy shrank back from my harsh tone.
I usually had a great working relationship with the nurses, but I was too irritated by the sting of antiseptic in the air, the clicks of the keyboard at the nursesโ station, the squeak of shoes against the linoleum floors…basically everything.
I ignored the heat of Claraโs glare from several feet away. It wasnโt my fault if people were incompetent.
โIโm sorry,โ Lucy said, her face pale. โIโll make sure to remember next time.โ
โGood.โ I turned on my heel and left, not bothering to say goodbye.
โDonโt stress about it,โ I heard Clara say behind me. โIt was your first mistake since you started working here. Youโve been doing a great job.โ
She caught up with me a minute later, her irritation as sharp as the one running through my veins. โDoctor, can I speak with you?ย Alone.โ
โIโm busy.โ
โYou can make time.โ Clara yanked me into the nearest side hallway. Doctors and nurses rushed past us, too caught up in their own work to pay us much attention. โWhat the hell is wrong with you?โ
Her eyes bore into mine, equal parts concerned and annoyed.
โNothing is wrong with me. Iโm doing my job. Or I would be, ifย someoneย wasnโt holding me up.โ I leveled her with a pointed stare.
โDoes yourย jobย include alienating every person in the ER? If so, youโre the Employee of the Month,โ Clara said coolly. โI donโt know whatโs wrong, but youโve been acting like a boor for the past week. So hereโs my advice, both as a nurseย andย your friend. Cut that shit out, or youโll ruin everything youโve worked for the past three years. No one likes an asshole doctor.โ She jabbed her finger at my chest. โNext patient. Room four. We donโt have time for your moodiness right now, so I suggest you set whatever the fuck is bothering you aside and stop making it harder on everyone else around you. You want to do your job? Thenย do your job.โ
She stalked off and disappeared around the corner.
I stood there for several stunned seconds before I released a sharp exhale.
Clara was right. Iโd been acting like a grade-A ass. What happened last week had messed me up, and Iโd been taking it out on everyone around me.
My jaw flexed when I remembered my breakup with Jules, but I didnโt have time to dwell on that right now.
I had a job to do, and Iโd already wasted valuable time.
I checked the patientโs information in the hospitalโs online system before entering the room. She was female, aged twenty-four, namedโฆ
My skin chilled right as the words sharpened onscreen. Jules Ambrose.
Youโve gotta be shitting me.
It had to be another Jules Ambrose. The universe wouldnโt have that fucked up of a sense of humor.
But when I pushed open the door to room four with a shaking hand, there she was, looking like sheโd stepped right out of my most beautiful nightmare.
She stared back at me, her eyes wide with shock. A nasty cut slashed across the corner of her forehead and hit me like a punch in the gut.
Jules. Hurt.
Time slowed into one endless, painful beat. It was so quiet I could count each individual thud of my pulse.
One. Two. Three.
Youโd think a week would be long enough to blunt the serrated edges of my pain, but youโd be wrong. They raked against my insides, making me bleed all over again, but they were nothing compared to the worry raging in my gut.
How theย hellย did Jules get that cut? What if it was infected? What if sheโ
Jules shifted, and the soft squeak of leather finally dragged me out of my trance.
In this room, we werenโt exes.
She was a patient; I was her doctor. This wasnโt the time to wallow in our personal history or freak out over one small cutโฆno matter how much the sight of her blood made my heart twist.
โIโm Dr. Chen.โ I spoke in a clipped, professional tone, thankful none of my inner turmoil bled through.
I would treat Jules like I would any other patientโone I didnโt know.
The more distance I placed between us, the better.
โHi, Dr. Chen. Iโm Jules.โ The tiniest of tentative smiles played on her mouth and stole the breath right out of my fucking lungs.
Focus.
Thank God my attending physician wasnโt here. As a third-year resident, I usually started the patient encounter
before telling my attending, whoโll see the patient on his own after I gave him the pertinent information.
If my attendingย wereย here, he wouldย notย have approved of how distracted I was. He could always tell when my head wasnโt in the game.
Clara had already checked Julesโs ABCโsโairway, breathing, and circulationโso I jumped straight into the questions, hoping theyโd ground me.
โWhat happened?โ I stared at my clipboard like it was the most fascinating thing Iโd ever seen. The less I looked at her, the less likely I was to cave like a cheap umbrella during a thunderstorm. I was still pissed at her. One injury didnโt change that.
Sheโs fine. Itโs just a cut.
โI fell down the stairs,โ she said quietly.
My hand stilled for a fraction of a second before I continued my notes. My heart thumped so loud it almost drowned out my next words. โHow many stairs were there?โ
โMaybe a dozen? Iโm not sure.โ
Fuck.ย Sweat coated my skin at the mental image of Jules crumpled at the bottom of a flight of stairs. I almost reached for her the way I wouldโve had we still been dating, but I forced my personal feelings aside and examined her extremities for injuries.
I couldnโt find any physical wounds except for the cut on her forehead and a couple of bruises, but that didnโt mean she was in the clear.
The sweat intensified as the worst-case scenarios for all possible internal injuries flashed through my mind.
Stop. Sheโs your patient. Thatโs it.
โDid you hit your head?โ It was an obvious question, given the cut, but I had to ask.
Jules nodded.
โDid you pass out?โ โYes.โ
I swallowed the lump in my throat and ran through the rest of my questions.
Are you taking any blood thinners?ย No.
Is there any chance youโre pregnant?ย No.
โAre you hurting anywhere in particular right now?โ
My question hung between us, thick with unspoken meaning.
Despite everything that happened between us, the thought of Jules hurt made it so fucking hard to breathe.
โMy head, shoulder, and lower back.โ
โWhat about your neck?โ I felt along her C-spine and breathed a silent sigh of relief when she didnโt flinch. โDoes it hurt?โ
Jules shook her head. โNo. Itโs just the places I mentioned. Physically, anyway,โ she added softly.
The air thinned while the ache in my chest intensified. She was so close I could hear her breathing.
Iโd forgotten how much I loved that soundโthe sound of her just existing, reminding me that no matter how fucked up the world got, there was at least one good thing in it.
At least, there used to be.
I set my jaw and finished the physical examination as quickly as possible. โRight. Iโll order a CT scan, just in case.โ My crisp words bounced through the fluorescent-lit room, erasing any hint of softness. โHow did you fall down the stairs?โ
A long silence passed before she answered. โSomeone pushed me.โ
I stared at her, sure Iโd heard wrong. โSomeone pushed you.โ
Jules nodded, her lips tight. โI was walking down the stairs after my bar exam. I was distracted, so I wasnโt paying much attention to my surroundings. The personโฆ surprised me, and they pushed me when I tried to get away. I hit my head and passed out. When I woke up, I was in the back of a taxi with a woman, someone I recognized from
the testing site. She said sheโd just entered the stairwell when she heard me fall, but she didnโt see anyone else. She dropped me off at the hospital and, well, here I am.โ
She relayed what happened in a matter-of-fact manner, but the slight shake in her voice told me the incident freaked her out more than she let on.
Slow, poisonous rage oozed into my bloodstream.
I wasnโt a stranger to anger, but Iโd never felt like this before.
Like I wanted to hunt down the person responsible and rip them apart with my bare fucking hands.
โWho?โ My calm voice belied the violence brewing in my stomach. โWho did this to you?โ
She said the person surprised her. Judging from her tone, it was someone she knew.
I guessed the answer before she told me.
โMax.โ Apprehension crept into Julesโs eyes, like she was afraid of how Iโd react to the name, and for good fucking reason.
Max.ย The guy who had a sex tape of her. Who blackmailed her into stealing from me. Who put his fucking hands on her and destroyed the only beautiful thing in my lifeโฆus.
My rage deepened, tinting my world a bloody crimson. โI see.โ I betrayed none of the emotion roaring through
my chest. โIโm going to make some arrangements for your CT scan. Iโll be right back.โ
I left the room and pulled out my phone. It took me less than two seconds to shoot Alex a text.
Me: I need you to ๏ฌnd someone for me.
