Haley had slowly become the center of myeverything. She didn’t just live in my thoughts. She lived in the cracks andcrevices in between, where my moral compass seemed to end, and there was nothing but an aching sense of need for her and the peace she made me feel.
And withthatthought, another feeling surged through me, unlike anything I had known before. I think I’d felt it for a while, but I hadn’t dared name it before, refusing to allow myself to acknowledge what it was.
But my heart wasn’t giving me a choice anymore.
It waslove.
I was in love with her.
And that fuckingterrifiedme.
Chapter 30
There must have beena full moon coming.
We had a fairly easy Wednesday at work. That was until four o’clock hit and chaos ensued. The waiting room seemed to fill up in the blink of an eye, and we received one ambulance after another.
We pushed through as usual. While still precepting with Blake, my increased experience meant that when things got busy, I could split off to cover the less extreme cases. This way, we could be more efficient during a rush.
Blake was currently finishing up stitching a laceration when an ambulance came through the bay, wheeling in a mildly belligerent patient. Marie and I met them, leading them to room thirteen as they started giving a quick report.
“This is Eric Kaine. Fifty-two. Police called for a med transport for intoxication. All I could get was a BP on him before he started fighting with me—it was one-forty-eight over ninety.”
I nodded, stepping back with Marie as the man grumbledobscenities under his breath and slid himself off the ambulance stretcher and onto the hospital one.
“Mr. Kaine, is it okay if we get some vitals on you and ask some questions?” Marie asked, adjusting the head of the bed so he could sit up a little more.
He flew up on the stretcher and ripped his shirt over his head, throwing it on the ground. “Just do what you gotta do!”
I could smell the alcohol on his breath, could see his red and watery eyes, his flushed and clammy face. “Can you tell me how much you had to drink, Mr. Kaine?” I asked as Marie placed the blood pressure cuff on his arm.
“Just call me Eric, for Christ’s sake!”
“Okay, Eric. How much did you have to drink?”
“None of your fucking business,bitch!”
I nodded. “Alright.”
It wasn’t either Marie’s or my first time dealing with a patient like this, so I didn’t take offense. Plus, when they were as agitated as he seemed to be, it was both easier and safer not to argue.
When the blood pressure cuff squeezed his arm, that set him off. He flew up again, ripping it off and throwing it at Marie. “What thefuckdo you bitches think you’re–”
“That’senough,” Blake’s firm voice spoke from behind me as he stepped into the room. “You don’t need to speak to them like that.”
The man looked up at him from the stretcher, scoffing as he flopped back against it. “I’ll speak to them and anyone else however I damn well please!”
“Mr.”—Blake looked at the screen of the tablet in my hand—“Kaine–”
“Eric,” I corrected him, letting him know the patient wanted to be called by his first name.
“Eric,” Blake echoed, “you need to relax.”
He flew up again. “Don’t fucking tell me to relax,buddy!”
His arm flew up, moving to smack the tablet from my hands, but Blake quickly moved me out of the way just before he made contact. He gently pressed a gloved hand to the man’s chest, forcing him back.
“Calm. Down.” There was an air of authority in his voice. “I understand that you’re frustrated, but yelling at and fighting with everyone here isn’t going to do anything other than makeusfrustrated along with you.”
