Page 33 of Thunder

A man I learned is Anchor steps forward with a petite woman under his arm, and he asks, “What about his recovery?”

“As soon as he wakes up, the goal is to get him up and moving immediately. We don’t want his body to seize up. We’ll start off slowly because of the pain he will be in,” I explain, “He won’t be allowed to drive for at least the minimum of four weeks, including riding his bike. Then he will have to slowly get back to operating any vehicle.”

“What room has he been taken to? I want to see my son,” Kathleen demands as she steps forward, trying to intimidate me, and I give the woman a tight smile.

She’s going to kick off, I just know it, but Doc's orders.

“He’s currently still on this surgical unit where he will stay until he wakes up,” I lie, “As soon as he is awake, a nurse will come and get you.”

I turn and walk out before they can say anything else, but Kathleen's, “That is not acceptable! Someone get Doc right now!” just hits my ears, and I wince as I walk towards another set of double brown doors.

“Dr. Aimes, wait!” I hear, and I swallow my sigh of defeat as I turn and lock eyes with Brittany’s tearful ones.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, and she gives me a tight smile.

“I’m going to be completely out of line right now,” she admits, “My brother has felt lost these past few years, hasn’t been himself and I now understand that the pain is what caused most of his emotions. He’s also mentioned missing something, and I will admit, I’m seeing a little bit of my brother coming back because of you.”

I cut in and mention, “We’ve only just met…”

She shrugs and says, “Sometimes meeting the right person is all it takes,” before she continues, “I know you feel something towards my brother, it’s why you didn’t want to operate on him. I know he sees something with you. Don’t make him stay here, don’t be selfish and take my brother away from me, my children’s uncle away from them.”

I’m sorry what?

My mouth parts in shock as she looks behind her at the surgical waiting room door before she looks back at me and says, “You have your nephew, and even I can see you won’t leave him, so don’t be selfish and make my brother leave his family, to leave me for you.”

With that said, she turns and walks back into the waiting room, and I lock my jaw as I head towards the room Bradley has been taken to, ready to check on my patient.

I don’t know how to feel about what was just said, so right now, instead, I’m going to ignore that it even happened because honestly, my head is scrambled.

She doesn’t even know me, yet she believes I’d force someone to leave their family behind?

Judgmental much?

Walking into room one thirty-four a few minutes later, my eyes go to Bradley, seeing he’s still asleep before they go to his monitor to see everything is normal. I grab his chart before rounding the bed, and I begin my checks, not looking at his face again, trying to be professional.

He’s just another patient, I repeat, he’s just another patient.

Whatever you say, the devil cackles, and I grit my teeth as I grab my stethoscope, but just before I can listen to his heart, I hear, “Treasure,” and I lock eyes with Bradley’s deep hazel ones, and I know I am so goddamn screwed with how much they suck me in.

***

I try to ignore the pull to go back to the second floor, where Bradley is with his family, and I head for the exit, my feet dragging, tiredness filling me ten hours later.

I’ve spent the last three quarters of my shift flittering in and out of his room, unable to stay despite every fiber of my being wanting to. With Brittany watching my every move and her words swimming, I knew I had to leave. I didn’t want to, but I had to.

She made it perfectly clear earlier, she doesn’t want her brother to stay here, and she knows I have Sammie.

She told me not to be selfish while she was, and I’m mad her, but I shouldn’t be right? Her brother doesn’t know me, we’ve had one real conversation, so why am I angry at her words? Why am I hurt?

You know why, the voice in the back of my head whispers and I swallow hard as I put my head down and walk towards my car with my heart in my throat.

I don’t know how to control my feelings. I don’t even understand them, so her words, for some reason, hurt me, I can’t comprehend right now. I just, I’m confused because these kinds of feelings don’t exist out of the story books. I never felt like this with Kavan, the undeniable feeling to run back inside that hospital to be close to the person I seem to want but to also want to run far from. The feeling like I can’t breathe the longer I’m away from him, I never believed in them, yet here they are. I’m scared, because Bradley has the ability to destroy me, something Kavan never did.

Squeezing my eyes tight, I pick up my speed before I say screw it and head back inside, but I freeze when I hear, “Who is that biker to you?!” snapped forcefully and I look up and lock eyes with a very pissed-off Kavan who is standing by my car.

Mention his name, and he shall show…

“Don’t you know it’s creepy hiding out in a dark parking lot?” I mock as I unlock my car, then open the driver’s door, trying to act unbothered when I am very much bothered.