Page 128 of Forbidden Romeo

She shuffles around in her seat but hesitates when she tries to stand up. I swoop in instantly, cradling her against my chest before lying her down on the gurney.

Aisha is looking at me with narrowed eyes. “You can’t come in without a shirt. Here.” She passes me her jacket, and I throw it over my shoulders. It doesn’t close over my chest, but at least I’m slightly less exposed.

“I’m sorry, Aimee,” Aisha says, turning to her colleague. “You’re going under the blanket. Lous filed a missing persons report on you, and I’m not filling out that paperwork.”

With Aimee’s face concealed, the three of us make our way back through the hospital. Heads down and walking with an urgency that might help deter questions, we finally make it to a quiet examination room.

I close the door behind us as Aisha immediately gets to work, attaching Aimee to a drip and reapplying the tourniquet.

“How long since she was hit?” she says.

“Maybe half an hour?”

Aisha grimaces and slowly removes my bloody shirt from the wound.

Aimee looks down at it, too. “Looks like a graze.”

“There’s no exit wound,” Aisha replies, shaking her head. “And there’s shrapnel.”

“I would have felt it if the bullet was still in there,” Aimee counters, albeit wearily.

I look between them both. “What does that mean?”

“It means she should be in surgery,” Aisha says matter-of-factly.

“It’sfine,” Aimee replies more forcefully. “I just need it sewn up.”

Aisha throws her hands up in exasperation. “How are you going to do that by yourself?”

“What thehellis going on in here?”

The three of us freeze as we turn to see the door is now wide open. In it is one of the most terrifying women I’ve ever seen.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Aimee

Dr. Lous stares at us down like we’re petulant children.

“Well? Who’s going to tell me?”

Aisha opens her mouth and closes it again. Jack looks torn between jumping to our defense and making a run for it.

Dr. Lous slams the door behind her. “Dr. Maguire, where the hell have you been?”

“It’s a long story,” I say, trying not to sound like I’m in too much pain. The bleeding has stopped, but with the adrenaline out of my system, it stings like a bitch.

“Your sister phones me every day, your landlord is missing rent, and your brother showed up last week demanding your paperwork.”

“What?” I say in alarm.

Jack seems to make up his mind and blocks my line of sight to my superior. “Doctor, I appreciate your concern, but we’re dealing with a time-sensitive matter here.”

Dr. Lous looks him up and down, “Who are you supposed to be? Dr. McDreamy?”

“Dr. Lous,” Aisha cuts in. “She’s been shot. Can you come look at this wound and tell me if the bullet is still in there?”

Despite the sour expression on her face, Lous walks toward my arm and examines it carefully. “It’s just a graze, but it’s messy. Aisha, hook her up with some local anesthetic and send a prescription for antibiotics down to the pharmacy.”

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