Fuck the exorbitant costs of taking up a bed. I’d fight with his health insurance every fucking shift if that was what it took to keep him where he needed to be.
Off the goddamn streets.
“Sorry,” was all he managed to finally say.
“You’re sorry,” I repeated.
His throat bobbed under my hold. “Yeah. Look... it was just supposed to be a stakeout. But it kind of turned into a flee and chase situation?”
I slowly closed my eyes while I reeled back my anger.
I was confident that if anyone were to slap a blood pressure cuff around my arm, it would explode from the sheer amount of stress this man was giving me.
Someone formally from the city should know first hand that no situation was what it seemed at first glance; especially, if it meant coming face to face with a criminal. His partner, as I was beginning to suspect, talking him into coming on a call with him in the directmiddleof his recovery period, spoke more on how little he, and perhaps the rest of Terran’s precinct, cared about his health.
Perhaps I’d misjudged them all. The rotation door of visitors was nothing more than a circus, paraded to show the hospital staff and whoever else in the high-ups department that were watching, that the 199 community was far more close-knit than they actually were.
People who cared to see someone recover and get better wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk that.
“You’re mad,” he mumbled.
Peeling my eyes open again, I said, “I’m disappointed in your coworkers.”
His brows knitted together. “My co... my partner had nothing to do with this.”
“Did he, or did he not, ask you to come out on the call with him.”
I already knew the answer. Nothing was more obvious than the fact lying out in front of me, highlighted in bold red marker. No other explanation made sense, not in this context.
What other reason would he have for being impulsive enough to go out on a call if he wasn’t invited onto it in the first place?
Terran was smart. Resourceful. Too emotionally invested in things for his own good to turn down something like his partner asking for a favor.
He hesitated, gaze darting away for a long enough seconds that confirmed my theory in an instant. “Well... look, it was my choice.”
I moved my hand up to cup his jaw, squeezing it in a punishing hold while I shoved his head back against the brick wall behind him. Holding him there, I leaned close to his ear.
“Perhaps that choice needs to be taken away from you. Seeing as how you can’t control yourself.”
“Fuck,” he mumbled, squirming just enough to grab onto my scrubs and haul me closer. “That a job you’re going to give yourself?”
“I should.” I traced my thumb in a small circle on his cheek.
How dare he scare me like this?
Emotional investment was for doormats.
“Seeing as how I’m apparently the only one that gives a fuck about you healing correctly.”
“Hey. My sister cares, too.”
“I doubt she’d be willing to handcuff you to a bed, Terran.”
He groaned, loud enough to echo against the archway of the ambulance bay. “Stop it. You’re teasing me.”
“I’m not teasing anything. I’m quite serious. I should take you back to my house right now and tie you up before you do anything else stupid.”
He darted his tongue out to wet his lips, almost tempting me into leaning forward and catching it between my teeth. “What happened to Wednesday?”
