“I’m really trying not to nag you here, man.”
He cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder before his attention returns to the game. “Then maybe you should show instead of telling and stop nagging.”
“Can’t help it, I’m a doctor. We’re professional nags.”
“Coming and going at all hours of the night. Always at me to eat my vegetables and get regular bloodwork done,” Kai grouses playfully. “One of these days I’m going to get sick of it and kick you out of my house.”
“No, you won’t,” I reply easily, because it’s just the truth. “You’d miss me too much.”
I’ve been living with Kai since my return to Heat Mountain. It’s better for both of us this way. Kai isn’t rambling around this empty house by himself, and I don’t have to pay the exorbitant rent that comes along with getting a place in a tourist town. My parents sold their place and moved to Florida when they retired.Buying a house of my own isn’t an option when I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m going to stay here.
Kai unpauses the game as I settle onto the couch across from him with a plate of pizza. “You do seem like the stick up your ass is poking at you harder than normal this evening. How was your day, dear?”
I wince, recalling exactly what it was that had me ready to pick a fight from the moment I walked in the door. “We’ve got a new visiting resident at the clinic. Apparently, she’s being dropped in my lap.”
“She?” Kai leans forward, eyebrows raising. “Tell me more.”
The image of Dr. Holly Chang’s wide-eyed look when I’d snapped at her is already burned behind my retinas. “I talked to her for about five minutes total.”
Kai nods. “But long enough to blow a bunch of sand in your panties, apparently.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
He waggles his eyebrows. “Then what was it like?”
I take a bite of pizza, trying to decide how much to tell Kai about my interaction with Holly. Part of me wants to keep it simple, professional. Another part of me remembers the unexpected jolt when I first saw her standing in front of me, somehow both completely out of place and exactly where she belongs.
“She’s...competent on paper,” I finally say. “Top of her class, some interesting experience.”
“But?” Kai prompts, pausing his game again.
I shrug. “But I don’t need some fresh-faced resident getting underfoot. I’ve got enough to deal with.”
“Uh-huh.” Kai’s expression turns knowing. “And she’s hideous, I assume? Some kind of troll with three heads?”
“Asian. Petite. Dark hair.” I keep my voice clinical, as if describing a patient. “Professionally presentable.”
“Translation: smoking hot and you’re terrified.”
“I am not?—“
The words die in my throat as a shadow materializes beside me. My pizza plate clatters to the floor as I nearly jump out of my skin.
Grayson stands there, silent as a ghost, lower face concealed behind that damn skull-painted bandana. His gray eyes watch me impassively above the mask, not a hint of apology for appearing like some horror movie villain.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I clutch my chest, heart hammering. “Make some noise when you move, would you?”
Kai bursts into laughter, nearly falling off the couch. “Your face! Oh my god, your face!” He wheezes between peals of laughter. “Never gets old!”
I glare at both of them. “How long have you been standing there?”
Grayson shrugs, a minimal movement of one shoulder that I’d miss if I wasn’t staring right at him. “Long enough.” His voice is rough from disuse, like gravel underfoot.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was back in town?” I demand, turning to Kai.
Kai wipes tears from his eyes, still chuckling. “You didn’t ask.”
“That’s not—“ I stop myself, taking a deep breath. Getting worked up only encourages them. “Normal people announce themselves when entering a room. They don’t lurk in corners like serial killers.”
