Page 30 of Asystole

“Thankfully. I’m dead on my feet,” he answers.

Looking at him more closely, I see the bags under his eyes are bigger than normal, and he’s blinking rapidly like people do when they’re fighting as hard as they can to keep their eyes open.

“Did you drive here?” I ask, unable to hide the concern in my voice.

“No, I rode with my roommate, Jackson. Big mistake though. His car smells worse than his room, and I got something sticky on my hand on the ride over, but I was too disgusted to turn on the light, so I just wiped it on a shirt I found in his floorboard… although that probably wasn’t super sanitary either. I should really go wash my hands because if I get sick, I won’t be able to spend Christmas with Marcy and I promised⁠—”

“Hey, Chase?” I say, interrupting his ramble of exhaustion.

“Hmm?” he hums as I throw money down on the bar.

“Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Nah, man. You don’t have to do that. It’s out of the way.”

“Trust me. I’d rather stall by taking you home than lie in bed alone, staring at my ceiling for the next three hours while sleep evades me.”

“Damn,” Chase groans. “I wish I could give you some of my fatigue. You’d fall asleep before your head hit the fucking pillow.”

“Do you ever get a day off?” I ask, unsure how a residency schedule works.

A tired laugh bubbles from Chase’s lips.

“Technically, yes. We’re required to have one day off a week, but most of us spend it studying, doing patient chart reviews, preparing presentations, or attending some dinner or lunch hosted by a drug rep that we’re expected to show up for.”

My eyes widen.

“That’s a lot.”

“Nothing I didn’t expect,” Chase says, holding his hand up to yawn into his fist.

“Come on. Let’s get you home.”

When we reach his table, Chase grabs his jacket and starts his goodbyes.

“Jackson, I’ll see you at home. I’m gonna catch a ride with Logan.”

A woman’s head whips toward Chase.

“Who? I could’ve given you a ride home if you didn’t want to suffer Jackson’s odormobile.”

“It’s not that bad,” says the man I’m assuming is Jackson.

Chase quickly replies, “Just a friend I ran into. See you guys tomorrow.” With a quick nod, telling me he’s ready to go, I turn toward the door. I almost freeze when his hand lands on my lower back, until I feel him pushing me forward slightly.

He just wants to get the hell out of here, but the warmth of his hand seeping through my shirt, and his giant body crowding my space from behind, is starting to give me the feeling I came here to find.

Which isn’t good at all.

Chapter 12

Chase

Logan’s truck is just as clean as his condo. Meticulous even.

“God, it smells good in here,” I tell him, fastening my seatbelt. “Like good campfire and leather. Manly. Kinda sexy.”

Logan cuts his eyes at me and smirks.