I stepped in front of her, blocking her away from the rest of the waiting room. “I just want to know--.”
“No, you’re done asking questions. I’m the one with questions you get to answer now, got it? And you can start with who they are and how you know them. The honest answer, this time.”
I shook my head. “I can’t tell you how I know them.”
“And that is why I would’ve rather you stayed dead.”
“Look,” I said as I kept her from walking away, “it’s incredibly important that you tell me about your interactions with them exactly.”
“Why? Because I might be in trouble?”
I stood there, hoping and praying that she’d spit it out. But all she did was cackle.
“Wow, Dean. Fuck you, honestly.”
I tried to reach for her arm. “Lexi, this is serious.”
She pulled away from me again. “And I’m serious, Dean. Read my lips: corner me again at my place of work and I will have you blacklisted from this entire hospital. You got it? You never could give me a straight answer then, and I won’t allow you to drag me back down that road. Not after the progress I’ve made in my life. Not after I had to pick up the broken pieces of my soul that you crushed. You don’t get to do this to me. You don’t get to stroll in, demand information, and then poof away in the wind like you were never here. Fuck you and your bullshit. I was done with you the second I declared you dead.”
And as she turned to walk away, I said the only thing I knew to say to keep her around. “Can you at least tell me why the fuck you’re in that ridiculous security uniform instead of your scrubs? I thought you were on your way to becoming a doctor.”
She froze, and the look she gave me iced my soul over. “You said you were meeting someone here, right?”
“Lexi, don’t do that.”
She scoffed. “Don’t do what? Withhold information the way you always do? Fucking hypocrite. I’m glad you left.”
I tried not to show how much her words stung. “Yes, I’m here to see someone, though they aren’t a patient. They work here.”
She peered over her shoulder, and I felt her judging me. She studied me for a long time before her eyes narrowed, and that’s when she rushed me. She charged me so quickly that I backed myself against the wall, waiting for her to swing at my jaw or some shit.
Then, she chewed on the inside of her cheek while pinning me with a glare. “If you’re here to steal drugs and go sell them on the street, then you can—.”
I cut her off. “I’m not. That’s not even remotely what this is about.”
She raked her eyes up and down my body before she scoffed. “Just leave before I decide to put a bullet in you. I’m tired of looking at you.”
And after watching her walk away and turn the corner, I pulled out my phone to text this Will guy.
Me: Having issues in the E.R. Meet me outside.
Except I had no idea if I could leave the hospital now that I knew Lexi worked there. As God as my witness, I never thought I’d encounter her again after everything that happened. Yes, I fucked up. Yes, I broke her heart. And yes, it was to protect her and keep her alive. Every single effort I’d ever put into our relationship was either love or protection, because that was exactly what she deserved. But, if my absence was what she really longed for, then I loved her enough to give it to her.
Why the hell did she stop pursuing her medical degree?
And as that question ran through my mind, I focused on the task at hand and made my way outside.
Four
Lexi
I sat at the nurse’s desk and busied myself as he walked by. I felt his hardened gaze boring a hole into my skull, but I forced myself not to look up. Holy shit, Dean was alive. In the hospital where I had just started working. The second my peripheral vision clocked him leaving the E.R. I leaned back in my chair and drew in a shaking breath. My hands trembled uncontrollably. Anxiety gripped my heart. It raced out of control, causing me to pant for air as I stood and stretched my arms over my head.
My anxiety was one of the many reasons why I stepped away from my medical career. No one liked a doctor with shaky hands standing over them in an O.R.
And yet, I had missed the adrenaline rush that the E.R. always gave me.
“Fucking hell,” I whispered.
