Page 152 of Callahan

I know that smell. How do I know that smell?

But opening my eyes was a struggle. I kept willing my lids up, to no avail.

And fuck, I was thirsty.

Finally, my crusty eyes pried themselves open, and my vision came into focus.

And there she was. The woman I’d secretly been crushing on for over a year—Lainey’s sister, Jade.

Was I dreaming?

I looked around and realized I was in a hospital room. Then I looked down and sawIwas the patient.

Oh hell no.

She noticed me moving around and smiled.

“Hi. Welcome back.”

Where had I been?

I tried to ask just that, but my mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

Jade immediately stepped closer and offered me an ice chip on a spoon.

My pride wanted me to refuse being spoon fed like I was a damn baby, but my dry mouth and throat overruled it. So, I sucked the ice into my mouth. The moisture made me immediately feel better.

Then another thought occurred to me:Am I naked under this gown?

I tried to casually move my hand to my junk, something that was easier said than done with all the tubes connected to me.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Naked.

Which meant my butt was on full display for all of Haven Springs to see every time I got out of bed.

“Why am I here?”

“You were shot in the thigh while rescuing my sister, and it nicked your femoral artery. You’re waking up from surgery. You’ve got a waiting room full of people anxious to see you.”

Ugh. I remembered getting shot, but not much else after that. I could only imagine what I said and did while I was under anesthesia.

One thing was certain; I didn’t want her to see me like this: helpless and weak.

“You can’t be my nurse,” I blurted out.

She cocked her head and furrowed her brows.

“That’s not something you really get a choice on.”

“No,” I insisted. “You have to recuse yourself. It’s a conflict of interest. I was shot rescuing your sister.”

“Nurses don’t ‘recuse’ themselves. This isn’t a court of law, Brian. Those rules don’t apply in the medical field. And if they did, how would providing you with medical care after you saved my sister be a conflict of interest?”

I didn’t know, still…

“I don’t care.”

She put her hand on her hip.

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