“Will it be you?” I asked, secretly hoping that it would be.
She sighed. “It could be, depending on the day.” She dropped her arms, reaching out to cup Hound’s arm. “Listen, you need totake care of yourself first as well. You can’t take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself. She’s in good hands, buddy.”
He nodded before turning back to the brothers who were slowly sitting down and shutting up.
She attempted to turn away to get back, but I grabbed her elbow. My eyes slid down to her badge, the one with her name and all the medical cards attached.Amelia F.
She froze at my touch, I felt the electricity when her eyes shot back at me. “Thank you for everything. The man was losing his mind.” I said, turning my hard grip on her elbow to a softer one. I pulled a little, just to get her closer, and I could smell something like cinnamon, like she had chewed on cinnamon gum.
“Keep him under control and we’ll be right as rain,” she sassed.
She shook out of my hold and turned around and for once, I got a really good look at her, because when she walked away, I wanted to go after her like a crazed fool. Those curves and the slight sway of her hips, and I was a drooling man.
“Not a problem, peaches.” I laughed, knowing that she couldn’t hear me.
It wasn’t long before Melody came home and I knew what her recovery was going to be like strength conditioning and mobility. Though an idea popped in my head and resulted in me wanting to piss her off to an extent that Hound Dog would have to replace me.
Something deep down told me that I wanted to see Amelia again, but she would never come to me.
Call me a little twisted but one way or another I was going to have her around.
It worked out. Melody made a new friend, and Amelia proved to be a good person around the club. By then, days went by and I would just watch from a far, engage in the banter. I saw rightinto her heart, a woman that has all the passion and all the love for those around her. Someone that took care of others but waited to take care of herself.
She had too much goodness in her soul. She should have avoided me like the plague. Every day she came back was another reason for me not to let her go.
But seeing the look in her eyes, it was only a matter of time before she found her way to me.
She worried Melody and I, looking exhausted from working long shifts and then making her way to those sessions. Maybe what worried me was that she had an energy drink in her hand but sleep still hung over her like a shadow.
She was giving her all, but who was looking after her? She didn’t have a ring on, but as much as I wanted to be around her, I didn’t know much.
“Careful, Shooter, someone might think you’re being nice to me.”
I could be a lot of things to her.
I had half a mind to tell one of the prospects, Blaze, to find out what he could. As tempting as it was, part of me wanted to be the decent guy and wait for her to let me in and tell me herself. The other guy in me, the darkest part, exclaimed fuck it and just find out.
Better to know, than to ask for permission.
The screen door squeaked open. I turned my head to see her hustle out of the door. It wasn’t even a full session, I mean I knew they were getting closer to completing Melody’s sessions, but something was off.
“Something chasing you?” I asked, waiting for the witty banter to my question.
“Have a good afternoon,” she retorted back, wrestling the keys in her hand, avoiding any eye contact with me. Yet, I yearned for those caramel eyes to stare back into my soul.
My hands dropped to the side; something spooked her. “Amelia, you okay?”
She huffed out, “Yes. Have a good afternoon, Shooter.” She forcefully opened her driver’s side, throwing her bag to the side.
The woman needed serious sleep. I walked toward her door, leaning on the edge of the rolled down window opening. “Something the matter?”
She let out a deep breath. “I just need sleep before my next shift tonight.”
That wasn’t it.
“Didn’t you work over forty hours this week?” I raised an eyebrow. My guess was that it was more than forty hours, possibly higher.
“Do you know how short staffed hospitals are? Someone called out tonight and I offered to take it. So, I just need to sleep, that’s all.”That was still the partial truth, but I’d take it.
