Page 22 of Bad Blood

“I can’t take you anywhere. I don’t know who that is, but this is your only warning—stay away from my doctor.”

“There’s no way she’s your doctor. And it would help if you gave me more credit than that. Besides, I’m not interested.”

He chuckles and pats my shoulder. “You’re full of shit.”

I’ll behave. For now. This was just another much-needed distraction from the nightmare of Liam’s diagnosis. What in the hell is taking so long? When is he going to get called back for his appointment? And why—

“Blakely,” an older woman interrupts my thoughts. Her green scrubs and wild curls fall around her face as she stands next to the half-circle counter with a chart in her hands. She reminds me of the cranky ladies from the diner this morning. “Blakely.”

I nudge Liam. A polite smile stretches across his face as he stands and stretches. “Here.”

She meets him halfway between the counter and where I’m still seated. I stand and follow Liam, keeping a couple of paces behind them.

“How are you doing today?”

“Good as can be expected.”

She offers a brief smile and opens the door to room four-thirteen, ushering him inside.

I stop outside the door, lean closer to her, and whisper, “I called a couple of times. Left a message.”

She raises her brows and gives me a knowing smile. “Mr. Blakely.” Her words don’t come out as a question.

“I wanted to talk to Dr. Fields before my brother’s appointment.”

She folds her arms over her chest. “I know.”

“I just need a second.” I glance at the bedazzled nametag on her breast pocket. “Lauren. It’s only a couple of questions.”

“I understand. Dr. Fields will be in shortly. I have some paperwork you two can start on in the meantime.” She sweeps her arm into the room, and I enter, dropping into the seat next to the exam table Liam’s occupying.

Lauren takes some papers from a file and divides them. She offers one stack to Liam and the other to me.

“These are documents sent over by Dr. Gibbons. Please go over the information, make sure it’s correct, and sign at the bottom of each sheet. We’ll get them scanned into our system.” She takes a pen from her breast pocket and hands it to Liam.

I continue to stare at the forms she handed me. I don’t want to do this.

“Do you have any questions?” Lauren asks. The room shifts until my guts are twisting, and my heart crawls into my throat.

I stand and start pacing, rubbing the tightness in my chest as the door swings open. A woman walks into the room, and I’m incapable of keeping a thought in my brain. My mouth falls to the floor, and I shake my head. The words spill out of my mouth before I can stop them. “You’re the doctor?”

There’s a part of me that hopes to all the gods this woman is not Dr. Fields.

Because if it is, I’m screwed.

The messy brown hair.

The scrubs.

It’s the woman from the waiting room.

And I’m one hundred percent positive she is not Dr. Fields.

Perhaps another nurse, but definitely not a doctor. And that ass. There’s no way she’s old enough. I give her an apologetic smile.

This woman and Lauren give each other a look before she turns her attention to me.

“Mr. Blakely?”

---