Page 59 of Thunder

“Was that Kavan?” Marshall demands just as a bang sounds downs the line and my breathing picks up.

She’s hurt, I can fucking feel it.

“Treasure,” I say softly despite the fear I feel, and she chokes, “I-I need you,” just as the phone beeps and goes silent and pure fucking fear hits me as I lock eyes with my father to see fear showing back at me.

Fuck.

Chapter 21

Scottie

“Thank you so much for your help with my mother,” Mr. Finley says, and I give the man a professional smile.

“It was no problem,” I say for the fifth time while Mrs. Finley grins, like she didn’t just waste hospital time by claiming she was having a heart attack when really, she was hoping to fix her son up with a doctor.

“You know, son, you could thank the lovely Dr. Aimes by taking her out for drinks after work.” She slyly says, and her son smirks as he looks me over and I hold my roll eye, which isn’t easy.

See, this is where I have a problem. Instead of telling his mama that this is inappropriate and to let him figure his own dating life out, the ass has done nothing but eye me up since he walked into the room to find his mother praising him.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Finley, but I don’t think my partner would be very happy with me having drinks with another man,” I say professionally, and her son retorts, “You’re not married, are you? So, what is the harm?”

“Joshy, she’s probably very committed,” his mother sighs with disappointment, and I give her a smile and confirm, “I am very committed,” before holding up my left hand and showing the tattoo, and I mention, “Bradley is a Rebels MC Brother, and he’s claimed me, so we’re basically married.”

Joshy’s throat bobs as his brown eyes eye the tattoo, and his mother huffs, “All the pretty ones are always taken by a biker,” then she looks at her son and says, “Maybe you should join the local club.”

The man's eyes widen, and I swallow my chuckle as I say, “I’ll have a nurse bring you your discharge papers,” before I hightail it out of the room and head to the empty nurse’s desk.

Some men just aren’t for the MC and Joshy is definitely not.

“I hear you’re going to leave us,” I hear from my right, and I lock eyes with Dr. Thomas before scrunching my nose.

“Bradley needs to get home,” I murmur, “and he mentioned yesterday about leaving, and I want to go, I do, I guess, I just…”

I sigh as my words trail off and Dr. Thomas finishes, “It’s hard to leave behind the life you’ve worked so hard for.”

I give him a sad smile and reply, “It is hard, but I also know if I want a future with Bradley, which I do, then moving is my only option. He has his responsibilities within his club, a club I know he hurt himself to keep together. I am fully aware that he is most likely packing my stuff as we speak, I guess I’m just a little scared.”

“How have you not killed him if you know he’s rearranging your whole life without your input?” Dr. Thomas asks, completely bewildered, and I grin and admit, “I may have ordered a brand-new outdoor kitchen to be delivered to his home on his card as punishment for not at least sitting down with me and explaining the next steps of our life together.”

Honestly, I think that is the only thing that has me wanting to hit him, is the fact he hasn’t communicated his plans with me. I get that I’ve been, I guess preoccupied since yesterday, but one conversation would have been nice. Now, the man has a twenty-thousand-dollar charge on his card this morning while I was on my break and he only has himself to blame. Oh, and I may have bought Felix a brand-new cat tree just to add salt to the wound.

Dr. Thomas laughs, and I shrug before I quickly sign off Mrs. Finley ready for when Tilly returns. I place it in her discharge tray before I look at Dr. Thomas and ask, “You want a coffee?”

The man smiles as he wraps his arm around my shoulders, then guides me towards the double brown doors that lead to the cafeteria without hesitation.

“You know it isn’t going to be the same without you here,” he mumbles, and I lean into him slightly.

“I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I?” I ask, “Uprooting my life, taking Sammie away from my parents, his parents, his friends?”

“You are,” he reassures, “Sammie will make new friends and is extremely excited about leaving. He’s in on the plan and is adamant to help Thunder finish packing after school. Your parents know this is best for everyone around, especially you and Sammie. Your sister and Kavan, well, they were never parents to him Scottie and you know it. They never gave him stability and every time you tried to force them to be parents to him, he’d end up on his own,” he pauses for a moment in the quiet hallway as he looks my way, “As much as I don’t want to lose my favorite resident, you need to go sweetheart, you need to be happy, and I know Thunder will never keep your life dull.”

I snort despite my eyes tearing because he is right about Bradley never letting life dull. I hug the man knowing this will be our last shift together, that I’m going to miss him something fierce.

He became my surrogate father, and even now, while my head is a mess, he knows how to pull me from the brink of shutting down.

After everything that happened last night, my head is scrambled and I can’t catch up with reality. I don’t know why but a part of me knew today was going to be my last shift and a massive part of me knew Dr. Thomas would help make sense of my messed-up head and I know everything will be alright, with Sammie, Bradley and with my job when we move. Doc made it perfectly clear over the past few months that he wants me in his ER, so I knew there was a job waiting for me. I just need to try and get my head around the fact that I’m leaving a life I worked so hard for.

I guess I’m just scared.