Page 7 of The Chance

Her weekjust kept getting worse—and this was not shaping up to be her month either. Aubrey finished dealing with the police and the reports for the assault and just hoped she could make it home soon.

It wasn’t the first time there had been violence in the ED. It probably wouldn’t be the last. But everyone was going to be okay—Genny was going to be sore for a while, but it could have been a whole lot worse. Aubrey knew that on the deepest level.

Aubrey’s shoulder blade hurt, where that drunk idiot had connected tonight. But she knew it could have been a whole lot worse. For her, and especially for Genny. That guy could have done serious damage to Genny. She shuddered as she remembered.

Caine had called in the police—standard procedure when a patient whocouldcontrol themselves turned violent—and Aubrey had had to give a report. There were now assault charges filed against the patient—for him kicking Genny and Aubrey the way he had.

It was just the way it was.

He hadn’t been that drunk. Not so drunk he wasn’t in control of his actions. She’d dealt with his type far too many times before.

Tonight, she was going to go home, hug her sister, order a pizza—Ayla was a real disaster in the kitchen, and Aubrey wanted comfort food—and then soak in the huge tub off the master bedroom.

Tonight, she just wanted to go home to her sister. And forget the memories for a little while. She’d text Genny, and then she’d forget everything for the night.

And, well, she suspected that very shortly Genny was going to get very lucky. Chad Fields had had a look in his gorgeous eyes when he’d practically carried Aubrey’s best friend away. It made her smile—Genny was freaking out over that man completely. Aubrey didn’t think he was as much a player as Genny thought.

Genny had known Chad her entire life, and she had a lot of shared history that she was freaking out over. And looking for excuses not to try because she was afraid. Well, Aubrey could understand that—the only man she had ever let herself love had died when she’d been twenty-one. She would never forget that pain, the hole he’d left in her very soul.

Aubrey just wanted her best friend to be happy. Chad saw Genny for the amazing woman she was. Wasn’t that what mattered?

It did make her miss Carlos tonight, though. He had been a nurse, a good ten years older than Aubrey, and one of the kindest men she had ever known. He had always supported her. Encouraged her. She probably wouldn’t have made it through that year without him. He had helped her fight to get Ayla, too. He’d even paid the legal fees for the custody battle. Aubrey had loved him, and felt safe with him. When he had died, it had almost destroyed her.

Carlos had shown her one thing that she had never forgotten. The one thing she always tried to remember. There were good men out there. She just had to look around to find them.

Caine was there, across the parking lot. With his brother-in-law Dathan and with Nikkie Jean. No sign of the kids today. As she watched, Caine leaned down and lifted Nikkie Jean right off her feet. Nikkie Jean wasn’t any bigger than Genny, and Caine was a massively built, muscled man. They were so cute together. Caine kissed his wife, then set her back on her feet.

If she had a man like Caine wanting to be with her, would she be with him? Or would she be afraid? Afraid would probably win out.

Even if there was a man she wanted to be with here in Value, to begin with.

Hazel eyes popped into her head as she approached the row where her car was parked. A wicked smile, very much like Genny’s.

No.

She wasn’t going to think about that man that way. It just wasn’t going to happen.

Even though she had caught him watching her, speculation in those eyes. Aubrey had felt his gaze every time he had been in the vicinity. He hadn’t been obviously watching her, but she knew he had been aware of her.

Or maybe she had just been hyper-aware of him? A distinct possibility, and she was going to have to take some time and figure out why. Just… not tonight. Tonight, Aubrey wasn’t going to think about anything except relaxing.

Then Aubrey was almost to her car.

Someone called her name. She turned. Her stomach tightened, and her breath caught immediately. There he was. The very man she did not want to think about. Of course, that was the way the world worked, after all.

“Wait a minute,” he called.

Aubrey stayed right where she was. And waited.

Then he was next to her. “Hey, you shouldn’t walk out here alone.”

In a town of eight hundred? She just looked at him. It wasn’t like they were in Houston.

“I wasn’t alone. Not really.” She nodded toward where Caine’s wife was getting into her Jeep. “Caine and Dathan are right there.”

“Far away. You should have security walk you out. Anything can happen out here.”

Well, yes, it could. But she had walked herself out to her car late at night in far more dangerous places than Value, Texas, population eight hundred.

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