The nurse’s gaze jumped back to my face, and her smile faded. “Oh, right. Oliver Masters?”
I raised my arms out at my sides. “In the flesh.”
“Are you going to give me trouble?”
“No, ma’am. Had more important things to take care of,” I explained. She raised a brow, and my eyes flitted to the badge hanging from her neck.Saunders. She uncrossed her legs, her skirt rising in the process, and sweat split at my hairline. “Let’s get on with it. I haven’t got all day.”
Nurse Saunders stood and walked to her medicine cart. Only a few cups sat over the top tier. “I’m sorry to hear about Rhonda. The lady you had yesterday was a fill-in, but I’ll be the permanent nurse.” She bent over, and I dropped my head back to face the ceiling. Saunders turned and took a step toward me. “You can call me Poppy.”
I dropped my chin, and our eyes met. “Thanks, Saunders.”
“Need water?”
“Nope.” I tipped the cup back and forced them down, squeezed the cup in my fist and threw it in the trash before leaving.
“See you tomorrow,” she called out before I slipped past the door and headed straight for the loo. I wasted no time to get this poison out of me before it entered my system.
mia.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, eyeing Ethan suspiciously from the corner of the room. My knees pressed harder against me inside Ollie’s white tee. The shirt still smelled like him. The smell of the ocean. The smell of freedom.
“Masters can be pretty convincing. Now let’s go,” Ethan mumbled and waved me out. I pushed up to my feet and took a step off the mattress.Lynch was letting me go?Just like that?I narrowed my eyes in Ethan’s direction, wondering what the catch was, and Ethan’s shoulders sank. “What is it?”
“Under what conditions?” I asked.
He raised a brow. “No conditions.”
“Nothing?” I let out a disbelieving laugh. “What’s changed?”
“Like I said … ” Ethan took a step forward and held out his hand, “Your bloke is convincing. Now let’s go.”
I relaxed my arms at my sides and followed him out. “I need to shower,” I stated in passing.
Ethan walked me back to my room to collect my things to shower before dinner started. We hadn’t talked about what happened between us, or what didn’t get to happen. Ethan was hurt; I saw it in his eyes. The rejection transmitted from him, a flashing yellow light.
The community bathroom was empty. Ethan stayed back against the door as I undressed, stepped under the water, and took my time.
The warm water felt incredible as I hadn’t showered in days.
“You want to talk about what happened?” Ethan asked, startling me. His voice came from right outside the curtain. “I don’t want things to be weird between us.”
“Things aren’t weird. You’re the one making them weird,” I pointed out.
“I see it now. I didn’t before, but I get it.”
I turned the water off and grabbed my towel. “Get what?”
“This thing between you and Masters. Hell, I haven’t even seen the two of you together, but I don’t have to. Every word Masters speaks, every look in his eyes, every time he takes a bloody breath … ”—Ethan exhaled— “It’s all you, Mia. All I hear, see, and feel is you. You’re mixed in him, and if you dropped dead, I wouldn’t be surprised if Master’s heart gave up along with yours. It’s fucking weird, Jett, and hard to explain.” He paused, and I’d been standing wrapped in the towel, dripping wet and stunned by his words. “Fuck, I sound like—
“He got to you,” I finally said.
“Huh?”
I opened the curtain, and Ethan dropped his head to the side to face me as he rolled his shoulder against the tile beside my stall. “Ollie has that effect on people. He makes you believe in the impossible.”
“I barely talked to him.”
“That’s the thing with Ollie … you don’t even have to speak to him. You just have to know him.”
