Page 13 of Cured

“No,” I replied quietly.

“Ember, I’m not sure what your lifestyle is, but you should be careful. I know in the past you mentioned that you have had several partners. Do you still?”

He ran two fingers down the bridge of my nose, and I winced. “Dr. Miles, can I ask you something?”

He let go of my face and stepped back. “Of course, Ember, anything.”

I stared at my knees for a few moments and wiped my sweaty palms over my thighs. “I sleep with a lot of men. I didn’t realize how many I’d slept with until yesterday.”

“How many is a lot?” he asked.

I clenched my eyes shut. “Like, a different guy every week.”

Dr. Miles sank down on his stool. “That’s a lot of men, Ember. Any idea why you feel the need to sleep with different men all the time? It’s dangerous, especially these days.”

“Yeah, I know. You know, when I hook up with a guy, it takes my mind off life. I guess that’s why I do it, but then yesterday I started thinking about it, and realized just how many guys there had been. It’s kind of freaking me out a little bit.”

“Then why don’t you stop?” He waited for me to respond, but I didn’t have an answer for him. “Ember, is life so bad that you need someone else to help you take your mind off it?”

“No, it’s not so bad, not now, but I still don’t want to think about the past.” Dr. Miles was the only person in New York City who knew my medical past—well I’m sure some of his nurses knew as well, but he was the only one with whom I had spoken.

“Ember, someday, you are going to have to come to terms with what happened. If you don’t, you are never going to be able to move forward. You are a beautiful woman who deserves a wonderful life and family, but you need to let the past go.”

I rubbed my wrist. “How do I do that?”

“Well, for starters, stop trying to lose yourself in sex. It might help relax you and make you forget about things for a little while, but you know as well as I do that it doesn’t last long.”

“Yeah.” I murmured.

“If you want to speak with a therapist, I can put you in touch with one,” Dr. Miles recommended as he stood back up.

I shook my head, my hair smacking my cheeks as it whipped back and forth with the fast movement. There was no way in hell I was going to see a head doctor.

“Well, if you change your mind, let me know. For now, let’s make sure you don’t have any issues with this nose and those toes, and then I’ll give you a script for the blood tests. Did you take your urine test already?” I nodded. “Alright then, let’s get the rest of this done and get you out of here.”

Before the doctor left, he turned from the door. “Ember, you deserve so much in life. Stop torturing yourself with the past. Let it go and find someone to start a new life with.”

I blinked back the tears that filled my eyes and nodded at him. He was right. I needed to make a change, but I sure as hell wasn’t ready to settle down any time soon.

It was time that I changed my ways. I was almost twenty-six, and I was going nowhere with my life. Only I could switch my course forward.

I was dwelling on that as I left the medical complex an hour later instead of watching where I was going when I slammed into a hard chest. Luckily, I was looking at the ground and hit the man with my forehead and not my nose.

His hands came out to steady me, and I looked up quickly to find the eyes of my recent fantasies staring down at me. Holy shit, they were gorgeous up close.

“You alright? I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he said. His voice sounded huskier than I remembered it being at Shot Therapy the other night, but then again, he had practically shouted over the noise level that night.

“I’m fine, but I should be apologizing, I was staring at the ground and not looking where I was going.”

“What happened to your face?” He was examining my eye as he spoke, and I felt his fingers tighten on my arm. “Did that guy from the other night do this to you?”

I shrugged out of his hold. “No, he didn’t. I did it to myself.”

He gave me a skeptical look, “Yeah, and how did you do that? Walk into a door?”

“No,” I glanced around the crowded sidewalk—not because I cared who was around us, but because being close to this man was making me nervous. “I hit myself in the face, no big deal.”

He took my face in his hands and lifted it up. “Were you just at the doctor’s?”

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