Page 84 of Love JD

“I am so glad I chose permanent bachelorhood,” he muttered behind me.

I ordered a rideshare as I walked carefully through the airport, then stopped by a store to get another sports drink and chugged it resolutely as we made our way to the pick-up lane. I’d only brought my purse with me, so I didn’t have to worry about luggage. Kael followed at my heels, scrolling through social media with a bored expression, but darting glances around the airport like he was keeping an eye out for something. Probably force of habit for a bodyguard… bounty hunter? Wait, what was Kael?

Whatever he was, he followed me to my rideshare, opening the door of the pearlescent, white sedan and leaned a forearm against the frame as I slid in. He gave me a skeptical blink. “You going to be okay?”

“I’m deducting a thousand dollars from your pay every time you ask me that,” I stared back.

Kael rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell Tristan you’re on your way.”

But I didn’t go to Tristan’s apartment. A whole fight was waiting for me there, and I didn’t have the energy. My stomach sloshed uneasily, too full of sports drinks and pretzels, but I gritted my teeth and told the driver to take me to UW Medical Center. As we drove steadily through darkened streets lit only by occasional streetlamps, I stared at the passing shadows with my head against the cold glass. Seattle wasn’t anything like Denver—the drive felt remote and lonely, especially at nearly one in the morning. Stoplights and muted store lights punctuated the open darkness, and it wasn’t until we crossed a bridge over blackened waters that the city lights twinkled into view.

The closer we got, the more a weight settled at the base of my throat. Emotions went to war inside of me as fear and hurt clashed against worry and anguish. Kael had said Zev was alright, and I wanted to believe it, but none of this felt real.

Finally, we crawled through stoplights under towering skyscrapers, and the driver brought me to the ER entrance of UW Medical Center. I thanked him—profusely grateful the middle-aged man hadn’t been chatty—and after tipping him on the app, I walked hesitantly through the double sliding doors that swished open to a quiet ER.

A few people populated the ER waiting room, and the bright lights and humming atmosphere jarred my senses. The drive over had been sleepy and dark, but this place was awake and alive like time didn’t even exist. The front desk looked friendly and inviting without glass panels or anything dividing it from the comfy waiting room chairs, and I approached it hesitantly. I fiddled with the strap of my worn, brown purse, wondering if this was really rather idiotic. Visiting hours were over, but… if I could just know he was okay somehow.

The admitting nurse looked up, her soft features inviting. Alarm flashed across her expression. “What are we admitting you for today, honey?”

I shook my head. “I’m looking for my f-friend.” I stumbled over the word. It felt woefully inadequate.

“Oh.” She gave me an up-down that clearly said she thought I was out of my mind. “I’m afraid if you’re not family, we can’t allow you back to be with emergency room patients,” she replied apologetically. “If he’s admitted somewhere, I can give you visiting hours.”

Of course they’re not just going to let some rando go back there and hang out, I thought with a mental forehead smack. “Oh, right. Of course. Um, could you—can you at least tell me if he’s here?”

“Give me the patient’s name and I’ll see if your name is on the information release form,” she smiled.

My face fell. I knew I wouldn’t be on there—Azura probably hadn’t thought to add me. “Zev Brady?” I asked.

“One minute,” she smiled.

As she clicked away on her computer, I looked around with scratchy eyes that felt like little shards of glass had fallen in them. I’d gotten pink insulation in my eyes once, and this felt a lot like that—it burned and made me want to scrub them raw. The double doors that went back into the ER hummed open, and a nurse’s voice filtered out, raised and angry. “You have to sign the AMA form before leaving, sir!”

I leaned away from the counter, my gaze hooking on the scene as a petite nurse with a black bob waved a clipboard in a patient’s face. The patient snatched the form with one good hand, his other bound to his side in a sling. “I don’t have to. Jesus. You just don’t want to do the paperwork.”

I sucked in a gasp. “Zev?”

Zev looked up from the clipboard, his indigo eyes finding me across the waiting room. He had an angry-looking road rash along the left side of his face, and his ear still had dried blood along the tip that led to drip marks staining his neck and collar. His left arm hung limp in a dark blue sling, and he held himself stiffly to the left. He was wearing his bloodied dress shirt and slacks, and despite his injuries, latched sharp eyes onto me.

“Isla.” He didn’t even say my name like a question. He said it like a sigh of relief.

I stifled a sob, pulling my lips together tightly and trying in vain to squelch the flood of tears that lined my bottom lashes. “You’re okay.”

“Oh my God, Isla.” Zev took swift strides across the waiting room to me, not limping or hesitating, and my heart sang with relief for that. He placed the clipboard on the desk with a perfunctory clack and pulled me to him with his right arm. “Baby… you look—you need to sit down.”

I bubbled out a sob, raising my hands to smooth over his chest, up his neck, and around the raw scrapes along his face. “I thought you’d died.”

“Come here,” he replied gruffly, tightening his arm around me and pressing my face to his chest. He rubbed the top of my head soothingly with his rough beard. “I’m fine. I’m alright, I promise. God, I’m so sorry. You must have been terrified. My phone broke in the accident, and I just assumed Tristan would tell you everything.”

“He did,” I whispered. “I’m just… stupid.”

“You’re not stupid.” He exhaled a huff of amusement. “It’s alright, love. I’ve been here waiting for someone to get me a phone so I could call you. Then I found out Tristan had tried to hide the fact that you were dragging yourself across the country to get here.” Zev smoothed his fingers along the side of my face, tilting it up to look at him. He thumbed away the tears that had joined the dry ones already tracking over my cheeks. “Babe. You’re really going to give me a heart attack. What were you thinking?”

I licked my lips, tasting salt from my tears. “I don’t know. I just… it was my fault you were even out there.”

“You know better than that. Random acts of fate aren’t anyone’s fault. I thought you were a scientist,” he taunted with a half-smile.

“I am,” I smiled tremulously.

---