Chapter 2
2
Guthrie Hiller was the most beautiful of the five Hiller brothers. And that was saying a lot. Tall, strong, handsome, wealthy, and rugged—the Hiller brothers had a reputation in this town of eight hundred.
The women of the county wanted them. Badly.
Him, especially. He was a successful physician, after all. Single, wealthy doctor.
A prime catch.
A prime ass. Aubrey was one thousand percent sure of that.
But that was only to her. Genesis had told her Aubrey resembled his ex-girlfriend who had sliced him to pieces. By the time Aubrey had learned that, habits were already in place between them.
She wasn’t all that interested in changing those habits, either.
She hadn’t deliberately looked like his ex-girlfriend, after all. If he was such a jerk he couldn’t understand that, well… that was his problem.
“I’ll have you a script for amoxicillin in the morning,” Chad Fields said. “You’ll need to take them for the full ten days. You know the drill, and what to watch for. Now… who is going with me to kick Dr. Justin Michaels’s ass?”
She almost thought he meant it. And there was anger in Chad’s beautiful blue eyes. He had his younger sister’s eyes. That sister was right there, ready to go to battle next to him. For Aubrey. Chantal had a bit of a temper when she thought she was protecting someone she cared about.
Aubrey adored Chantal for that.
She just nodded, watching Guthrie Hiller. He bothered her more than Chad Fields ever had. She fought the urge to squirm on the barstool where she sat.
Aubrey had always hated being the center of attention at all. “Thank you, Dr. Hiller.”
He shot her an irritated look. “You’re sitting at my family’s kitchen island; I think you can call me Guthrie.”
Aubrey looked around to see who was listening to what they were saying.
No one. Everyone else had moved away.
Dr. Fields had carried a protesting Genny to the couch, and he now sat wrapping her ankle.
Genny was beyond flustered.
Aubrey watched the two for a moment. There was something in the way the man was touching Genny… the way Dr. Fields was letting his hands almost linger…
Like he couldn’t stop touching her. Genny’s cheeks were flushed, but there was a look in her eyes, too.
A warm hand wrapped around Aubrey’s wrist, pulling her attention back to the man in front of her. He had stood.
Ayla had walked away, following her friends to the living room. They were helping Ayla down the two steps into the sunken living room safely. The two were so protective over Ayla. Greer Hiller and Hala Hanan had taken Ayla under their wing about six months ago, after Greer and Ayla had had a class at FCU together. Aubrey would always be grateful for that. She and her sister hadn’t really stayed in one place long enough as children to make friends. At least not long-term. When they did, they’d get ripped away by social services.
But life was different now. They were going to build a life in Value. Together, a family. And friends. Connections. That was all Aubrey wanted. That was why she’d chosen this small town, had chosen BCGH to apply to after she’d finished med school two years early. She’d had multiple offers, but this one… had stood out as where she’d wanted to be, and the campus at FCU had had what Ayla needed, too. It had been the perfect fit for the two of them, and they’d both fallen in love with it.
But Mandy Kirby didn’t want Aubrey at the hospital, and the woman had devised an evil campaign to get rid of her. To destroy everything Aubrey had built for herself and the little sister she had basically raised on her own. Aubrey was sure of it.
Dr. Justin Michaels was a close friend of Mandy’s. And the things he had been saying Aubrey had said… he’d been drunk; he hadn’t been making much sense. But Mandy’s name had been mentioned. Multiple times. She just didn’t know if anyone else had noticed that.
She was going to have to stop Mandy somehow. Aubrey just didn’t know how to make that happen. Aubrey wasn’t going to let Ayla’s life be disrupted again. Her sister had been through enough over the last twelve years. More than anyone ever should.
Especially someone as good-hearted as Ayla.
“Thank you, Guthrie.” He leaned right into her space. She could smell him; the warm, spicy male scent of him surrounded her. “Say it. I know you can.”
“Thank you, Dr. Hiller. I’ll repay the favor someday.” Better believe she would. Aubrey had learned a long time ago—don’t owe anyone anything. Life was just safer that way.
The only person on the planet besides Ayla she had ever trusted enough as an adult to owe anything to at all was his sister. And Genny’s first loyalty would always be to one of her five brothers or her two sisters. Aubrey wasn’t going to forget that.
Genny was the best friend she’d ever had. She wasn’t going to do anything to lose that.
Fighting with Guthrie Hiller just because he didn’t like the way she looked wasn’t going to happen. He was her best friend’s brother. He didn’t like her. She didn’t like him. They would find a way to deal with that just fine.
Aubrey deliberately turned away.