Chapter 24
Tank – A Week Later
“Okay, Mrs. Janny, you’ll need to stay off your feet for at least a few days before slowly putting weight back on your foot.
It can take up to six weeks for your foot to heal, so just try and take it easy,” I say to the thirty-year-old woman who keeps eyeing me up while her partner glares my way like I’m the problem to his wife eyeing me up.
She came in screeching, claiming she broke her foot an hour ago, while her husband looked pissed off and ready to leave her ass.
She fell off a small step, well apparently claimed she was pushed by some guy who was standing too close to her, though the hickey on her neck that her husband keeps looking at is telling a different story.
It’s the typical, the husband comes home early, who works too much, and the wife found a toyboy, a little like Lyndsey.
Only this woman nearly got caught and twisted her ankle when shoving the other guy out, and now, every flirty look she gives any man that walks in here is the enemy to this man which is just pathetic, I mean, geez, have some fucking dignity.
“Are you sure it isn’t broken, Dr…” the woman says with a husk as her voice trails off, and I roll back on my stool before standing and throwing my gloves in the trash can.
“Levine,” I reply, “and yes, I’m sure, your X-ray came back clean. The swelling should go down in a few days. Ice it and elevate it.”
I look at her to see her nodding as she side-eyes her husband before she clears her throat and asks, “So uh, how does uh, Mrs. Levine like you working in a hospital, Doctor?”
I try not to fucking laugh. The woman wants his attention, that is for sure.
Her husband growls, “Tilly!” but I just shake my head and admit, “There isn’t a Mrs. Levine, not yet anyway,” and after side-eyeing her husband yet again, she sits up straighter all bright and cheery while her husband's face goes bright red at her reaction.
Oh yeah, she’s after his attention alright.
I smirk and let the guy off the hook and mention, “My girl is very stubborn, so I just have to convince her to marry me before we have another baby.”
Tilly clears her throat and says, “Another baby, you a daddy, Dr. Levine?”
I smile softly at the thought of Aisling, and her husband physically relaxes as I explain, “I am, to a perfect five-year-old little girl who looks just like me, but has her mama’s attitude, and I think another one would be perfect or two maybe.”
And I mean every fucking word because despite everything, Jasmine is my forever.
I nod to her foot and remind her, “Stay off your foot and have your man cater to your every need,” before I give her husband a brow raise as I move my eyes to his wife and he sighs in understanding but nods.
He’s got to make some changes. Either stay home for a while or continue working and find her in bed with several other men.
Shaking my head at the look she gives her husband, one of wonder and maybe hope, I walk out of the room, only to pause, seeing Doc walking my way.
“Hey brother,” he says, and I furrow my brows as I walk over to the nurse's desk and say, “I thought you weren’t working today?”
“I’m not,” he says as he clears his throat and looks around the busy ER, most likely hoping no one will recognize him.
“Then why are you here?” I ask as I place Mrs. Janny’s notes on the desk, Nell instantly sitting up straighter, noticing me on the other end, and I try not to roll my eyes as I state, “Room one can go home.”
She nods, her eyes eating me up as she grabs the chart, but I ignore her and look at Doc to see him glaring at Nell.
“Asher,” I say, and he gives Nell one more hard glare before looking at me, and I raise a brow, “Why are you here if you’re not on shift? Shouldn’t you be making sure Brit doesn’t steal anymore animals from work?”
He winces, most likely remembering, Socks, the cat she brought home from work on the day he surprised her with a wedding, Socks, bearing in mind, that hates Angel, the first cat that she stole and tried hiding from her step-father Shadow right before she met Doc, and don’t get me fucking started on the dog.
“She promised she wouldn’t for a little while,” he says, just not with much conviction, and I chuckle, and he sighs, “Fucking woman will be the death of me,” and I don’t refute his words.
I mean, right now, he should be happy Brit is pregnant with a boy, something she announced at their surprise wedding because add Bailey into the mix, who is exactly like her mama, Doc is fucked, though I can’t say a lot because look at my girls.
They have me wrapped around their little fucking fingers.
Every night this week, we’ve sat outside under the stars on a blanket and just enjoyed being in each other’s presence, like we used to.
She told me all about becoming a paralegal, but hated it, or more like hated the owner of the law firm she worked at, and admitted she couldn’t imagine herself being a lawyer now, spending all that time away from Ais.
She also admitted she was going to get another two jobs just so Aisling could have a better place to live if she had returned to Huntingdon alone – as if I’d let her.
We spoke about everything and anything, except her not trusting me, that one, well, it’s a dark cloud hanging over us, one we need to blow away, I just don’t know how without me kicking off and her running again because I can’t get the feeling that she used it as an excuse to be free outta my head.
How do I explain the fucking hurt she caused by taking herself away from me when she knew I needed her like I needed air to breathe?
How can I get over that feeling of her leaving for selfish reasons?
“The brothers are here,” he finally admits bringing me back to him, and I look at him sharply as he says, “all in the waiting room on fifth.”
“Please don’t fucking tell me Thunder did something so stupid he killed himself?!” I demand, my heart racing at the thought of the idiot being dead.
Doc snorts, “He’s good, don’t worry, though he did need stitches in his leg, which I did without any pain meds, so hopefully he’ll stop being a dick to try and get you to see to him.”
I physically relax, making him chuckle, before he nods to the elevators, and I sigh, knowing I can’t exactly tell him I’m working because the fucker probably knows I was about to clock off.
“So how many brothers are we talking about here?” I ask as I press the button for the elevator, feeling Nell's eyes on me the whole time making me really fucking uncomfortable, especially when I’ve never given her any indication I was interested.
The woman is crazy.
“Nell, get back to work before you lose your job for sexual harassment!” Doc states loudly, and I look in time to see her jump and quickly walk away, making me chuckle, but I soon stop when he answers my question, stating, “The whole brotherhood,” and my eyes widen in shock.
What the fuck?
***
We get to the fifth floor a few minutes later and walk out of the elevator but I pause, seeing that Doc was right. The whole brotherhood is inside the largest waiting room we have in the hospital, and I, fuck, I don’t even know what to think, if I’m being honest.
“Come on,” Doc sighs, and I follow, still in shock, before all eyes come to us through the glass, and my dad opens the door.
“Hey, son,” he says cheerily, and I raise a brow at the man.
He’s just had his wife of thirty years killed and cremated, and he’s cheery…
“Don’t give me that look. The woman was a ball and chain, and you know it.
She wanted what she wanted and fuck anyone else who got in her way, including my five-year-old granddaughter.
She is where she belongs,” Dad says, and I nod because let's face it, he’s right but damn, maybe he didn’t love her as much as I thought he did. Again, not that I can blame him.
“Alright, dipshits, what are you all doing in my hospital scaring the patients?” I call to everyone, and Thunder instantly says, “Hey, the patients love me!”
“Only because you’re a fucking regular lately,” I drawl, and he gives me the middle finger before stating, “I wouldn’t be if you’d just put your cut back on where it belongs and come to the club more now that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead.”
“Did you really just quote the ‘Wizard of Oz’?” Shadow asks his son, perplexed, and I just blink because the fucker really did.
“Yeah, so? Lily is in that phase,” he says unashamedly, and I shake my head.
“You’re becoming an annoying pest, Thunder,” Doc says, and Thunder retorts, “And I will stop once Tank gets his cut back on.”
“I’m with my son on this one,” Shadow says as he looks at me, “Put your fucking cut back on before the idiot here ends up chopping his fucking leg off or something stupid, besides, we miss you.”
“I was –”
Trigger cuts me off, “We’ve already been through this brother, as soon as we needed you, you were there, and I would bet my fucking patch that if that egg donor and her leeches–”
Thunder cuts in, “May they burn in hell…”
Trigger continues like he didn’t speak, “Hadn’t been at the club all the time, which I’m guessing was to get to you, then you would have been around more. We would have known about Jasmine and we would have ensured your girl never left.”
“You are our brother,” Phantom adds,
“It isn’t the same without you,” Ace continues as Dirty says, “You look uncomfortable at work without your cut, you know it centers you just like we center you.”
“The old ladies miss you,” Stone follows on and one by one, each brother says something, each begging me to come back to the club, and Doc finishes with, “I miss my best friend...” and I sigh as I drop my chin to my chest.
They’re never going to fucking stop, are they?
Fuck, I wish Jas was here to help me unscramble all my thoughts right now like she normally can.