Page 11 of Sexy Summer Flings (Bear Mountain Rescue 2)

Chapter 6

“Son of a bitch.”

Hunter jerked his hand back, holding his throbbing fingers he’d just slammed in the car door. He hated that he’d been so distracted today, thanks to Penny’s parting suggestion. It was all he’d been able to think about, but he could never make it happen. She was too young, too irresponsible. She couldn’t even take care of her truck; she definitely wasn’t ready to settle down.

Enrique Suarez, one of the intake nurses, pushed into the room. “We’ve got incoming, Dr. Gracin. Three ambulances en route. The victim’s car rolled down the hill four times before it was stopped by a tree.”

“Coming.” Hunter dropped his hand, flexing his fingers as he followed Enrique down into the pit.

The doors opened and Hunter gritted his teeth as Trent, in full fireman gear, came in, pulling a gurney.

“Twenty-two-year-old male with a tree limb embedded in his thigh.”

Hunter jerked his gaze to the man’s leg and sure enough, a bloody branch stuck out of the exposed flesh.

He put his personal feelings aside and jumped into action. “Does it go all the way through?”

“Yeah, damn thing went through the car, and into his leg. Can’t tell if it hit his femoral artery though,” Trent said.

“What’s his name?”

“Jeff.”

Hunter nodded, and leaned over the man, whose wide, fearful eyes met Hunter’s.

“Jeff, I’m Dr. Gracin. We’ve got you.”

Hunter started barking orders, and Trent disappeared in the chaos as they prepped Jeff for surgery. Luckily, the branch had missed the femoral artery by an inch, and Hunter was able to repair his leg without any surgical complications. The poor guy was going to be stuck in bed for a while, but otherwise, he’d recover.

As Hunter walked out of the surgery suite, he heard a crash. He opened the door to the on-call room and found Jax standing with his hands on the wall, breathing hard. Since Jax was usually so quiet and easygoing, people often forgot that he’d once been a soldier. That he was powerful and dangerous.

Apparently, the wall had learned it, too. There was an indent in the plaster, where he must have punched it.

“Hey, man, you okay?”

Jax turned around slowly, leaning his head back against the wall. The front of his blue scrubs were red with blood, and the dark skin of his knuckle was split and oozing. Jax’s dark-brown eyes were squinted, as if he was in pain or trying not to cry.

“My patient died on the table. He was only twenty-one.”

Hunter came closer and squeezed Jax’s shoulder. He didn’t say it was okay or assure him that he’d done all he could, because that was the last thing he’d want to hear if the situation was reversed.

“I’m okay. Just never gets easier, right?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Jax stood back up and Hunter released his shoulder.

“I’m going to try to get some sleep,” Jax said.

“Want me to look at that hand?”

Jax flopped down on one of the beds and covered his eyes with his forearm. “Nah, it’s fine.”

Hunter left him alone and headed down to the waiting area to find Enrique. He hoped Jeff’s family had made it there, too. His patient was going to need support when he woke up.

Hunter tensed when he bumped into Trent.

“What’s up, Doc? How’s the patient?”

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