Page 11 of Revived

“I get that, but babe, your boy is a grown man now. He’s going to be a world-famous rock star like his father one day soon, as will your other boys. You’re not going to be able to tag along on every tour they go on.”

“Bet,” Harley piped in. “I will be there, so you know mom will find a way,” she offered. There was no missing the fact that the sassy little thing was stirring the pot.

“See, I can be there. You can get on as security with the MC or Redemption Inc., Harley will take pictures, and I’ll cook for the boys or something.”

“Have it all figured out, do you?” Hex asked her as everyone just took in Kendra’s little meltdown. “And what are you going to do when the boys are nailing groupies in the hallway? Stand there and hand out condoms?”

Shit, I had to look away and turn my laughter into a cough. The boys didn’t miss it, as they were trying to hide their laughter from their mom too.

“Gross,” Kendra hissed again. “My boys are above that.”

“Gotta say, ‘No’ on that one, Mom,” Ford called out to her.

“Ford!” She whisper-yelled. “We’ll talk about that later,” she told him as she landed a narrow-eyed ‘you’re in trouble’ stare at him. Then, Kendra turned her attention back to Chevy, who groaned.

“Mom, I want to stay. Dad really did get one of the best doctors. Besides, when I’m all healed, we still have to finish the track we were working on together. I can’t exactly do that from down there.”

“Chevy, please,” Kendra begged him. “Think this through. You got hurt.”

“And I can’t get hurt in Johns Creek, Georgia? Atlanta? Anywhere that I might end up touring later on?” My boy took a hold of his mother’s hand. “I love you. I love all of you and I’ll be back to visit often. Even if you go to live in the mountains and become a biker babe,” he told her as he mock gagged on the last word. It worked though because she grinned at him and then smacked the hand that held hers. Luckily it wasn’t the one that was bruised all to hell. “I promise, I’ll be fine before you know it.”

“You look after my boy,” Kendra said, aiming her demand at me.

“Our boy,” I corrected. “I’d give anything to be in his place instead, believe that.”

“I do.” She turned back to Chevy then. “No more heroics for a while, okay? My heart can’t take it.”

“Mine either,” I hummed under my breath, but Chevy heard. His eyes drifted to me and he offered a small nod before his lids grew heavy and sleep started to take him under again. It was only then that I noticed his hand was on the button they offered him for pain relief.

4 - Fanatics

Chevy Kendrick, the patient I had helped care for in the ICU turned out to be the son of a famous rock God. A famous rock God who I had an entire conversation with while not recognizing him. Some days, I wondered if my divorce left me with half the brain matter that I started life with.

“Mel!” Brian Clout called out as he double-timed it in order to keep up with my pace. Good. At least the rat bastard knew I wasn’t slowing down for him. Our Chief of Staff tended to get handsy with some of the nurses, and then he would blow off the claims of sexual harassment and use his own God complex to do it. He would tell Human Resources that the woman must have wanted him to do those things, and that they were living a fantasy because he wouldn’t give someone of their stature the time of day. How do I know this? He had tried it on with my best friend. Unfortunately for him, she didn’t take his shit and kneed him in the balls, in front of some visiting dignitaries who were able to corroborate her claims.

As a result, Amanda no longer worked at the same hospital. She ended up being transferred to St. Mary’s instead. Fortunately for me, it meant that I never had to deal with Clout getting fresh with me. He knew the crazy apple didn’t fall far from our friend tree. “What can I do for you, Dr. Clout?”

“You worked with the musician’s kid in the ICU, correct?”

“Yes, though I didn’t know that was who they were at the time.”

“Well, we have to move the boy to another wing due to privacy concerns, and I’m sending you to go be one of his private nurses. You’ve been vetted and we know you weren’t one of the staff who leaked anything about them.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because it’s common knowledge that you didn’t even know who the man was,” he snorted, as if he would have recognized him on the spot. He must have forgotten that Mr. North wasn’t allowed in to see his son right away because he couldn’t verify that he was the father and Dr. Clout had been one of the people who asked for proof because he had no clue who Gabe North was.

It was incredible to think that the lead singer of world-famous Valhalla Rising was the man who I’d so casually tried to reassure about his son. Little had I known, their relationship was still new, and if the press was to be believed, Gabe hadn’t even known he was a father all this time because his manager, mother, and a few others lied to keep the secret, even as his son’s mom tried to do the right thing and tell him. How horrible that must have been for him to find out, establish a relationship finally, and come so close to having it taken away again. I couldn’t imagine.

“Who else will be working the wing with me?”

“It will be just you and Sophia Blankenship. You’ll do 12 hours on, 12 off, three day stretches, and then we’ll have another team come in and cover the next three. If he’s still here, then you and Sophia will come back on.”

Three on, three off sounded a whole lot better than my current rotation. Instead of arguing, as I’d been prepared to do, I asked the only question necessary. “Do I need special credentials for working over there?”

Dr. Clout held a folder out to me. “Everything you need is in there. Come about 45 minutes early for your shift tomorrow as there will be non-disclosure forms for you to sign before you can begin work.” When I just continued to stand there and wait for more instructions, Dr. Clout rolled his eyes and walked away. “You get the evening shift since I found Sophia first.” I cringed and shivered inwardly. I didn’t want to know what Sophia had done for Dr. Clout in order to secure the day’s half of the shift. To be honest, I thought it best that nights would be mine. It was quiet and I’d run less risk of the famous, rock star dad being around.

~*~

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