His lip trembled again, and he nodded. “I didn’t...I didn’t want to?—”
“I know,” I said, leaving out the part where I wished he hadn’t. That he had left me to bleed out on that floor. Maybe he would have mourned me for a while, and Cade would have been furious, but it would have been...better.
Or would it?
God, I didn’t know.
I didn’t realize I had closed my eyes before I opened them, smiling to ease some of the tension and worry in Isaac’s face. “You did what needed to be done to keep me alive, alright? Don’t you ever be sorry about that.”
“I could have seriously hurt you,” he said with a watery chuckle. “How screwed up would that have been? Trying to stop you from...from killing yourself, only to end up killing you in the process.”
“I believe that’s what they call irony,” I said, rubbing my thumb over his fingers in what I hoped was a soothing gesture.
“They said you’d be groggy, but you’re not as bad as they made it sound,” he said with a sigh. “Maybe they didn’t give you that big a dose.”
“Or my brain is so screwed up that drugs don’t work as they should,” I said with a smile.
“I’m taking away your joke privileges until you learn that they’re for coping healthily, not hiding how much pain you’re in,” he told me with a frown. “And don’t for a second think I’m joking either.”
There was a soft knock at the door, and though I was confused, I wasn’t surprised to see Dr. Ramirez standing there. He didn’t have his suit jacket on, and his tie was askew, but he was smiling gently and looked alert. “I don’t mean to interrupt.”
“But you were called up here,” Isaac said with a sigh. “And you need to do your job.”
“That’s the long and short of it, yes,” Ramirez said softly. “But I can always come back.”
“No,” I said quickly. If there was one person I needed to talk to, it was him. I didn’twantto, but I knew I needed to. “Isaac, Cade?”
Isaac sighed, trying to hide his sour expression but doing a bad job as he stood up. “We’ll be outside...out of earshot, but I’m not leaving. Reggie can fuss all he wants, but I’ll sic Luka on him.”
“You think Luka would stick up for me?” I wondered.
“I don’t know, but I know he’d stick up for me,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze, him and Cade leaving the room and closing the door behind them.
And then from outside in the hallway, I heard a muffled, “What do you mean sic Luka on me?”
Dr. Ramirez smiled. “I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the way Reggie handles things can be...a little funny.”
“It’s funnier that he thinks Isaac wouldn’t sic Luka on him, and even funnier that he thinks Luka wouldn’t give him holy hell given the chance,” I snorted, gesturing to the chairs. “Take a seat, I mean, unless you want to stand. You look like you dressed in a hurry.”
“It was meant to be my day off,” he said with a smile, taking the seat Isaac had been in before I’d woken up, and pulling it closer to the bed. “And don’t apologize. Being here for my patients is what I knowingly signed up for...eagerly at that. You may have to apologize to my wife, though, she spent the better part of the afternoon preparing my favorite chili.”
I grimaced, remembering I needed to speak as little as possible but knowing it was important to talk. I would just have to do it quietly and slowly. “Sorry.”
“She knew who she was marrying,” he said with a wink. “But it wouldn’t hurt to suck up to her when I get home, what do you think?”
“She a chocolate woman?”
“Dark, despises white.”
“Get her the good dark chocolate and a bottle of wine, then make sure you get up with the kids in the morning so she can sleep in,” I said, smirking. “And forgive me for being rude?—”
“Go ahead,” he said, looking curious.
“If she lets you get in her pants? Make her cum...three times minimum,” I said, watching him blink in surprise.
He tilted his head back and laughed. “As far as making up to your spouse advice, you’re quite good at it.”
I fidgeted. “It’s the sort of thing that always made Gina forgive me when I was stupid, and I was stupid a lot. Some things don’t change.”
