Page 21 of A Sudden Response

“Good.”

“You are.”

His answer was an amused snort. “Good luck with that, sweetheart.”

“Keep it up and I’ll be adding an appetizer and a dessert to my list of demands,” Joe whispered back. Eric was quiet for a moment and she assumed that he was probably wondering when this guy was going to get around to actually talking to the patient only to take her by surprise when he whispered, “Are you planning on putting out?” as his warm breath teased the back of her neck, sending goosebumps racing along her skin.

It was a little unnerving that she almost shouted,God yes! Her reaction to him was seriously starting to scare her. This was Eric, her best friend, the man that she grew up with, and most likely the man that would steal her green Jell-O in fifty years at whatever nursing home was stupid enough to accept them both.

She needed a real vacation, some rest, and she definitely needed to start dating again. That was the only explanation that she could come up with for her reaction to him. It had been way too long since she’d had sex. Was it May or June of last year when she’d ended things with that cop from Northville? A year and a half without sex was obviously screwing with her head.

Okay, so in all fairness, she’d been aware of Eric since before that. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t be? He was devastatingly handsome in that bad-boy way that Joe really liked. He was also smart, funny and so easy to be around. If he wasn’t her best friend, she would-

There was no use finishing that train of thought. The fact was, he was her best friend and nothing more. Not that she wanted things to change. She didn’t. She loved that they were comfortable with each other and could tell each other anything. He was the guy that she bitched to, not about.

“Only if you let me get ice cream with my dessert,” Joe countered back softly, forcing her mind to jump back into the rhythm of their relationship and stay there.

Eric released a disappointed sigh. “Damn, if only you weren’t a little gold digger.”

“If only,” Joe mumbled distractedly as she watched Donny finally grow a pair and approach the patient. Of course, his willingness to get it over with might have something to do with Tyler standing next to him looking pissed.

“Adam, you need to wake up and take your pills,” Donny said nervously.

“No,” Adam said firmly as he rolled over to glare at Donny.

One look at the man who instilled fear in everyone in the house left her a little confused. He was small, a lot smaller than her. Granted, she knew that size didn’t always mean anything, but seriously, this guy made every patient in the house nervous?

Did he have a history with weapons? Fire? Mutilation? It really would have been nice if they’d given them a heads-up, but then again, the patient wasn’t technically their patient yet, which meant that they had no legal rights to his medical records. Apparently, they were just here to scare the hell out of him into taking his pills and hope that he didn’t flip out in the process.

This plan sucked.

“Adam-”

“I SAID GO AWAY!” Adam bellowed as he jumped to his feet on his bed and swung at Donny, who thankfully managed to stumble back in time.

“Oh, my god!” Donny cried as he ran from the room, leaving the three of them to deal with Adam.

Great. Just great.

“Relax, Adam. We’re just here to help you,” Tyler said in a soothing tone.

Adam looked like he was about to say something when his eyes landed on them. He gestured wildly to them as he shifted anxiously on his bed. “I’m not going with you!”

Without a word, they both stepped forward and broke off to flank Tyler. Joe moved to Tyler’s right, keeping her hands looseby her sides and visible and without looking she knew that Eric was doing the same.

They’d learned long ago that approaching a combative patient with your palms up was a really bad fucking idea. Most people probably thought the gesture was placating, but in reality, it usually put people on the defensive pretty quickly. In a stressful situation like this one, it could be taken as an aggressive stance and the last thing that any of them wanted right now was to make this guy feel like he needed to defend himself.

“Adam?” Joe said, keeping her tone friendly. “My name’s Joe. Do you know why we were called tonight?”

Adam’s eyes darted cautiously over the two men. “You’re here to take me back to the hospital. I’m not going! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

She shook her head. “No, we weren’t called to transport you.”

“You’re lying!”

“I promise you that we were not called to transport you tonight. We were actually called because the staff here isn’t sure if you’ve been taking your pills.”

His eyes shifted to her quickly before shifting back to Tyler and Eric. “They’re lying. I’ve been taking my pills.”

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