“Follow this with your eyes, please.” He watched the man’s eyes follow the penlight, counting it as a good sign.
“Are you in any pain, Mister Romano-Moor?”
“No, and call me Othello or Moor.”
“Very well,” Des said. “Are you having any trouble breathing?”
Mister Moor shook his head, and Des nodded. Pocketing his penlight, he put his attraction aside and started checking his patient over. He continued to ask questions about how the man was feeling and could not believe Othello wasn’t experiencing any discomfort after having had major chest surgery. Just to besure, he checked the patient’s pain meds to make sure he wasn’t being overdosed.
“Is there a problem?”
At the question, Des looked up from the patient report.
“Um...no, it’s just a routine check-up. But I must say, most patients in your situation would be experiencing some discomfort right about now.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Mister Moor asked.
“No, it’s a good thing. If you continue like this, you’ll recover quickly. Do you have questions for me?”
“When can I get out of here?”
“You just woke up, and already you’re ready to leave,” said a familiar voice, and one Des noticed brought a smile to Mister Moor’s face.
Iago Romano entered the room and walked over to his brother, hugging him carefully as they passed a secret message between them, and Des could tell they were really close. He had met Iago the night before when he came to check on his patient and saw the man sitting at his friend’s bedside having a one-sided conversation. He’d spent a couple of minutes talking to Iago, and it was revealed that both men had been friends since they were kids and were adopted by the older gentleman Des had met a couple of nights ago. They also worked for their father’s construction company.
Des wanted to know more about the family and hoped Iago Romano could explain how Moor got shot. However, the other man would not provide any information that could help him, soDes took it as his cue not to ask more questions. It was pretty cool to know they had a deep connection.
Iago was just as good-looking as his friend, with an olive complexion, thick, short, wavy black hair, and dark green eyes. He was tall, and from what Des could glean in his suit, he was muscular but not like Moor, who seemed to be built like a tank, with a rich, bronze skin tone that was smooth to the touch. Des’s gaze roamed over Othello’s features, from his thick ink-black coiled hair that was long on the top and tapered on the sides to his well-defined eyebrows and prominent nose that went with his perfectly sculpted face.
On the other hand, looking at Moor and Iago really brought home how lonely he was most of his life. He’d spent all his high school years alone and didn’t even find his real friends until he went to college. Des was an only child, with his parents always working when they weren’t busy plotting out his life. He spent most of his time with the nanny, with strict instructions from his parents to monitor his daily activities. However, she taught him a lot, being a mother to him more than his own. Maybe that was why she was fired when his parents found out she’d allowed him to hang out at the local arcade after school.
“Doctor Ellington, did you hear my question?” Iago asked.
“Huh?” Des realized he had been staring off into space and hoped they hadn’t noticed where he was looking. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening to your conversation. I was busy reviewing his chart.”
“How is Othello, really?”
“As far as I can tell, he’s doing fine, but I’ll know after a few more tests. I want to make sure he doesn’t have any swelling orinfections. His fever has gone down, but our goal is not to have it return.”
“How long will I have to stay here?” Othello asked.
“It depends. It could be three or four weeks.”
“Or less, right?” his patient interjected.
You are so eager to leave, and you just woke up. Does he think he’s a superhero?
Des smiled, not showing his thoughts. “Let’s see how your recovery goes before I answer that question. In the meantime, I’ll order the additional tests, and we’ll go from there.” Putting the patient’s chart down, Des left the men to their conversation to give the nurse his instructions. He then left to check on his other patients before meeting up with the other residents and doctors for a night of fun after the past couple of days he’d had.
Othello’s eyesfollowed the doctor walking out of the room, wondering why it felt like he’d seen the man before. Shaking his head, he turned back to Iago, who was looking at him.
“Fill me in on what’s been going on,” he told his friend.
“Other than finding out what happened a couple of nights ago, nothing much.”
“How did you guys handle the cops?”
“We had our guys fudge the records. The only report they had was a shooting at the abandoned warehouse, but they think it was a couple of local gangs. It was a miracle that none of yourblood was found at the scene, but we still had our people take care of the cleanup. As of now, we’re in the clear.”
