Page 143 of Every Time My Heart Breaks

Then his gaze met mine, and he nodded, conceding victory to me before he turned and hurried off again.

From there, I walked Chloe toward the others, where we sat and waited.

Within the hour, everyone had arrived, and all we’d learned about Nia by that point was that my dad had been called down from the cardiovascular wing to consult on her case.

“At least that means she’s still alive,” Chloe said from my side, where I had her tucked in as close as another human could get.

“Definitely,” I said. Alive was by far better than the alternative.

Chloe squeezed my fingers hard, and I kind of relished the pain that her unrelenting grip caused. It meant she was here, next to me and unharmed. I covered our clasped hands with my free one and soaked up the warmth and vitality of her skin under mine.

When I leaned in to kiss her temple, I noticed my brother appearing from down the hall.

I blinked as he made eye contact with me and tipped his head, requesting that I step aside to talk to him privately. I nodded and pressed my cheek to Chloe’s hair before murmuring, “I’ll be right back.”

She lifted her face in surprise but then seemed to notice that JB needed to talk to me, so she nodded. I ran my hand over her arm one last time, loath to move away from her, then stood and strode toward my brother, only to realize that Teagan had sidled up beside me, silently going with me to see her husband as well.

When we reached him—far enough away from the others that they couldn’t hear us—JB reached for Teagan’s hand and pulled her in to kiss her brow before turning to me.

“Nia?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said, “Dad’s with her, but I have to go into surgery.” The way his eyes glittered with worry made my brow furrow.

“Okay...” I answered slowly, wondering why he was acting so weird about it.

Until he widened his eyes and added, “On him.”

With a squint, I shook my head, not comprehending at first. But then Teagan gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes full of horror, and it finally hit me.

I whirled to my brother. “No.”

JB’s eyes filled with pleading and regret. “Luke—”

“You are not working on that motherfucker,” I hissed.

He shook his head, disagreeing. “I’m the only ER surgeon who’s available.”

“I don’t fucking care!” I nearly shouted, only to lower my tone and glance over my shoulder to make sure none of the others had heard me. “Surely there is someone else. They called Dad down from the heart wing. Why can’t they call someone else?”

Chloe was watching us with a confused frown, but it was obvious she had no idea what we were discussing.

I whirled back to JB. “He wanted to kill Chloe today. That was his intent; you know that, right? The woman I love. Hell, he mighthavekilled Nia. How can you—Jesus.”

“I took an oath,” he tried to explain, his gaze begging me to understand, to tell him it was okay.

But I shook my head. “If you save that man’s life, I will never forgive you.”

As JB’s eyes filled with crushing defeat, Teagan slapped my arm and growled, “No. You don’t get to say that to him.”

I blinked at her in shock. “Excuse me?”

“Take it back,” she demanded. “This is JB we’re talking about. JB! He wouldn’t be him if he didn’t do everything in his power to try to preserve as much life as he can, whether that person deserves it or not. Andwewouldn’t love him as much as we do if he wasn’t exactly the way he is. Now take it back.”

“God, fine,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “I’ll take back the hating-you part. I know you’re going to do what you gotta do.Whatever. But I’m not going to pretend to be happy about it.”

JB nodded but still looked unsettled.

Teagan stepped in to give her husband a kiss. “You gotta go,” she reminded him. “I love you.”

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