Page 79 of Dubious Match
“Hollis, please share, and explain the last part of what he said,” Adrain grunts. “Is Minneapolis’ most eligible bachelorette off the market?”
“Adrain, that was one article in a magazine,” I complain.
I say this at the exact same time that Brice simply says, “Yes.”
“Interesting,” Adrain says as I dig into the bag.
“Lemon squares!” I gasp.
“Go easy on them,” Brice advises. “I don’t want you to overdose on sugar and get a stomach ache because there’s nothing else in there.”
“Hmm. He’s cute, Hollis,” Adrain says. “Good choice.”
Handing him a lemon square, I smirk. “Choice and scent match, Doctor.”
“You’re gossiping," Brice says, amused.
“When I’m not being completely professional, I occasionally gossip with Hollis,” Adrain admits, taking a bite of his treat.
His groan as he bites into it makes me grin. Pulling out my food, I happily begin to eat it. Sugar makes everything better.
“Have you been crying?” Brice asks, eyes narrowing.
“I’m currently very angry with life,” I mumble. “This helps though.”
“I’m glad,” he murmurs. “We can be angry together, Baby Girl.”
“Me three,” Adrain says. “Are we sure we can’t kill her?”
“Shh,” I say, listening to the Finnegan brothers chuckle as they close the door. “Yes, I’m sure we can’t. I think it would upset the other mafia packs. Plus, she had motorcycle thugs beat me up. I think this goes way deeper than we think.”
“You have boot mark bruises on your stomach,” Adrain says. “It’s in her chart, I didn’t look.”
The last part is directed to Brice, who chuckles under his breath.
“We haven’t met yet,” he says, putting his hand out over me. “Brice Ledger.”
Adrain dusts his hand on his scrubs before shaking Brice’s offered hand.
“Dr. Adrain Royal,” he says. I personally love his name, because it makes everyone think he’s completely pretentious when he’s not. “Hollis is amazing. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Noted,” Brice says, dropping Adrain’s hand. “There’s a lot of that going around.”
“I have a feeling some of it may have been done at gunpoint,” Adrain says unapologetically, popping the last bite of lemon square in his mouth.
He straddles the line between upstanding citizen and mafia son, he doesn’t care about what side you’re on as long as you’re not a scumbag.
“You’d be right,” Brice sighs. “Can she leave tonight?”
“Yes,” Adrain says. “I was stalling until she and I could talk about where she’d be staying. I also wanted to know about what happened. I didn’t mean to make her cry.”
“It was going to happen at some point,” I grumble. “The light is wrong here, and I hate how hospitals smell.”
“I know, I know,” Adrain breathes. “I have more questions. Please drink some water with your sugar and answer them.”
Grabbing the water bottle, he holds it in front of me so I can obediently take a sip. The water is cool and feels really good. At least my throat isn’t the worst for wear after everything. I can deal with broken ribs because they’ll heal on their own.
A cast would legitimately kill me since it would limit my mobility. Glancing at Brice, I hide a smile. I doubt they’ll let me walk much if they can carry me around everywhere.
