“Me neither,” he said. He was doing the same, but then looked up at her, letting out a chuckle. “I hated it when people would wade their way in and help. I didn’t want it, would push them away, be a big dick.”
“Look, I’m sorry about earlier today. I really am,” she muttered. “My brain and my mouth don’t always connect.”
“Me too. All this—” He gestured around but was cut off when the door opened and a doctor poked his head in.
It was her ex, Darren. Of all the shittiest shit luck. She frowned as his face went from amiable doctor to pressed-together lips and tension. She knew he was not pleased to see her because his forehead was wrinkled in the way it did when he was frustrated by something. He stepped into the room and closed the door.
“Well, Liz, who’d you beat up now?”
“Really?” she snapped, and folded her arms on her chest. “Could you not?”
Jake was looking back and forth between them, obviously surprised at their reactions to one another.
“Darren, this is my . . . Jake West. Jake, this is Dr. Darren Hollister.”
“Ah. The long-lost West brother we’ve all heard so much about,” Darren said as he stuck out his hand, and Jake sighed, stood, and shook it. They nodded at one another the way men do when gauging if there was to be a territorial dispute or not. Darren was bristling, his shoulders up, his stance wary. Jake hadn’t changed his demeanor except his eyes had taken on that piercing quality both his brothers had when they were thinking too hard.
“Dr. Hollister,” Jake replied after a moment, his analysis of Darren done. He stood back, hands sliding into his jeans pockets, his body visibly relaxing when he added, “Can I take my prizefighter home?”
They both chuckled, breaking the tension as Darren motioned to Liz to sit back on the table. He took out his pocket light and turned to her. “I’ll just take a peek and then you should be fine to go.”
The idea of letting him touch her brought her shoulders up and she stiffened, leaning away from him. Darren sighed, Jake muffled a laugh, and she gave them both dirty looks.
“Just let me look, for god’s sake,” Darren muttered, and turned on the light.
“Be quick. I want to go home,” she snapped back.
“So, what does the other guy look like?” Darren joked again as he tilted her chin up and shone the light up her nose, peering through the magnifier. “You’re lucky, there’s a cartilage crack, but it isn’t bad. A good bash in the face that’ll mend on its own. X-rays on your orbital socket were clean.”
He shone lights at both her eyes, tilting her head left and right.
“Follow my finger,” he said, and she rotated her eyes to keep track of it as he moved from left to right, up and down. He tilted her chin up again and checked her jaw with light circles, frowning as he did, his entire body inches from her.
She held her breath, barely listening to him as he murmured “okay” and “fine” under his breath. How many times in the past had he stepped close to her and tilted her chin up right before he’d kiss her? She closed her eyes, wishing for the memory to go away, the hurt throbbing just under the surface. All those times he’d been so sweet, the perfect boyfriend, but behind her back . . .
She jerked her chin out of his fingers the minute he finished, and glared at him, shoving her anger up like a shield. His forehead wrinkles deepened and he stepped back, not meeting her eye. Obviously it had affected him, too, which irked her even more, because it had been over a year now since he’d . . . since they’d split.
“I read that you had an accident at work, any specifics I can add? Were you kicked?” he asked as he looked at his clipboard again.
“Something about a horse’s nose bopping her full in the face,” Jake supplied when Liz didn’t answer, not trusting her voice. “She fainted, but she’s clearheaded, so I assume no concussion?”
“No, no concussion.” Darren sighed, tapping her chart on his leg impatiently.
“If there’s nothing else?” she spat back, and stood up again, anxious to get the hell out of the room.
Darren pressed his lips together into a thin line, and she waited for the profound Darren-ism that would always make her feel like the stupidest person in the world, the hayseed in a room of educated dicks. Not worthy of anyone with a brain in their head.Not worthy of him.
“She’s free to go. I’d like to say she should rest for a day, but I know she won’t. She never does,” he replied, turning to Jake.
“Oh my god. Seriously. Standing right here, asshole. You can talk to me, not him. He isn’t my keeper,” Liz snapped as she gathered up her sweater, and Jake gave her a sharp look.
“Liz,” Darren intoned, and gestured at her tiredly. “You never listen, so I’m hoping the new guy here will. He seems to give a crap about you, so maybe you won’t push him away like you do everyone else?”
With that, he stepped out of the room, and Liz closed her eyes.Shit. There it was.
“So, how long did you two date?” Jake asked quietly. “That looked strained.”
“We were engaged,” she practically snarled, and pushed past him out the door.
