Page 66 of Troublemaker
But before we could get into it, my name was called.
I glanced around the ER waiting room. There was a man with blood all over his face and neck, a woman holding a red, screaming baby.
“How are we already up? There’s no way she thought my wrist was more serious than what’s going on with all these other people, and they’ve been here a lot longer than we have,” I protested.
“I may have bribed her,” he said, nudging me to stand.
I rose. “Coach Samson, youbribedsomeone? Who are you?”
He took my hand. “Someone who realized how close he came to losing what mattered most,” he said, leaving me speechless for the first time in my life as he tugged me out of the room and down the hallway to where a medical technician waited to lead us into a room.
We didn’t wait long when another nurse appeared to take my vitals. Blake was quiet, a serious, protective, looming presence as she checked my heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure before taking some notes and leaving us alone. Blake remained quiet when the doctor showed up minutes later.
“Lucy?” the doctor was an attractive man, or I would’ve thought so if Blake wasn’t in the room.
“That’s me,” I said, brightly and a little drunkenly. Blake looked the doctor over, and his lips flattened and he moved further inside.
“I see,” the doctor said kindly. He glanced at Blake wearily. “And you must be her father.”
Damn it. I expected Blake to turn red or retreat emotionally from the reminder of our age difference and legal relationship, but he seemed to shrug it right off, standing at his full height like a reminder to the doctor of who the bigger man was.
“I’m her partner,” he corrected, and I fought not to gasp. Or faint.
Partner?
“Since when?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“Since the hotel,” Blake said gruffly.
“Well, Lucy’s partner, I’ll need to examine Lucy without you in the room.”
No, what he needed to do was ask me if Blake had been the one to fuck up my wrist without him in the room, but I didn’t feel the need to point out the obvious.
“I’m not leaving,” Blake said resolutely.
I looked at him. “Blake, it’s okay. Let me talk to the doctor real quick, and you can come right back in.”
It was like trying to pacify a bull. Blake shook his head, but I raised my chin, staring him down. Finally, he relented.
“Two minutes,” he told the doctor. “Don’t make her uncomfortable.”
The doctor looked affronted. “I’m not planning on it,” he said, and with one last look at me, Blake left the room.
The moment he was gone, the doctor relaxed.
“He’s a little old for you, isn’t he?” he said.
I felt like a cat with my hackles up. I didn’t need to hear that, and neither did Blake. Not when we were finally,finallygetting somewhere.
“Please don’t say that when he comes back in,” I told the doctor earnestly. “He already feels bad enough about the power dynamic. I don’t need him questioning our relationship.”
The doctor laughed, surprised. “Alright. Well, I have to ask you some questions anyway.”
“No, he didn’t hurt me. I was pissed at him about…something, so I went to a bar, got too drunk, and these two creepy weirdos attacked me. Blake found me and rescued me before things could go too far. They’re who fucked up my wrist.”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “Do you need to file a police report? I can get them to?—”
“No.” Who knew what they would do to Blake for going to town on those men’s faces. There was protection and there was full on vengeful rage, and I had a feeling the police wouldn’t take kindly to the latter.
