14. Grayson
14
GRAYSON
T he free clinic was a madhouse. It was never quiet, but the last few months, with the weather being colder and flu season in full swing, had put a burden on us that was verging on desperate.
It was my personal motto that we never turned anyone away, but there were so many people lining up each week now that I wasn’t sure we could continue to keep up.
Cringing at the line out the door, I ran my gaze along the line of waiting patients until it snagged on a familiar face. I strode along the line, smile widening as I approached her but silently watching her for a reason she’d be at the clinic so soon after being discharged. “Kara!”
She jerked and then grinned when she recognized me. “Dr. Grayson. Hello.”
My gaze flickered to Hawk standing beside her. “Hawk.”
He nodded back. “Doc.”
“You gonna hit me again today?” I asked him cautiously. “I just like to be prepared with my makeup kit if I’m going to be sporting a new black eye.”
Hawk sighed. “Listen, I’m sorry about that. I—”
I held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t. I get it. You’re protective. I don’t blame you. After everything Kara’s been through, I would be the same. No hard feelings.” I held a hand out to him.
He stared at it and then at me. “I punched you square in the face. And now you want to shake my hand?”
I shrugged. “Like I said. I understand, and I’m not a grudge holder. I’m a shrink. I’ve seen what that sort of behavior does to a person’s brain, and I’m not down for doing it to my own. Maybe buy me a beer sometime if you see me at a bar and we’ll call it even.”
Hawk took my hand and shook it. “You’re a bigger man than most.”
I chuckled. “If only I could find a woman to say the same.”
Kara groaned. “And here I was, thinking you were a respectable doctor.”
I screwed my face up at her. “Did the glove balloons not give me away earlier?”
She rolled her eyes, but even Hawk’s mouth had a slight upward tilt that made me happy. I didn’t want to be the regular sort of doctor, who people didn’t feel comfortable with. My whole job was getting people to feel as though I was their friend, so they would tell me everything that was bottled up in their heads.
All I’d ever wanted out of this job was to help people feel happy. Maybe the way I did that was classified as unprofessional by my colleagues. But I didn’t want to be a crusty old shrink, who was counting down the clock each session. I had my fair share of those patients who just wanted to rant at me, or in the case of some of my married couples, at each other. I had to pay the bills, like everyone else. But that wasn’t where my heart lay. I was a better doctor for removing the formality barrier and sharing my own stories with patients so they knew I could relate to their experiences. Even if my colleagues didn’t agree.
“What are you two doing here anyway?” I asked them. “I checked your chart before you were discharged and agreed you were all good to go. Did something happen?”
Kara unzipped her purse and pulled out a flyer we’d had posted on the clinic bulletin boards for months, if not years. It was our plea for volunteers, the one we never took down because nobody ever offered up their time and we were always short-staffed. “We’d like to volunteer.”
I blinked. “Seriously? Both of you?”
Hawk narrowed his eyes, suspicion etching into his face. “Unless you have a problem with a biker working here?”
I frowned. “Why would I have a problem with that?”
“Lotta people do. Most people are kinda wary about us.”
I studied him carefully, knowing all too well the kind of damage feeling shunned by your community could do to a person. “How does that make you feel?”
Hawk laughed. “You gonna shrink me or you gonna sign us up and give us a job to do?”
I chuckled at the realization, clicking the end of my pen so the nib dropped down into place. “Definitely the latter. And sorry, it’s a force of habit. Come on, get out of the line. I’ll take you out back and get you the paperwork you need.” I paused. “There’s a police check you need to pass, though…”
Hawk’s expression fell, pure disappointment slumping his posture and tainting his tone. “Well, that counts me out then.”
In that second, I realized I’d judged Hawk too quickly, and my assumptions had been completely wrong. I’d assumed Kara had dragged him in to help her sign up, not that he actually wanted to be here. But the expression on his face said otherwise.
“You kill people for fun?” I asked him.
His eyes widened, and he looked around over his shoulder, but I’d moved us into the doorway of an examination room we didn’t have a doctor for. It wasn’t private, but there was no one in earshot either. “No.”
I nodded. “Okay then. I’m not going to ask if you’ve ever killed anyone in general because knowing your position within your club, I’m just going to assume you have, and that you had a good reason.”
Hawk stuttered. “Okay…”
“You ever rape anyone? Molest a kid?”
The pure disgust on Hawk’s face told me his answer before he even said the words. “What? Of course not!”
I moved into the room and searched around on the desk, eventually coming up with the goods. “You just passed the police check. Here. Fill this out, and I’ll sign off on it. It’s for your ID badges.”
I turned to Kara, handing her a form. “I’m going to assume you don’t kill people for fun?”
“I don’t know if I’m supposed to laugh or be horrified by that question.”
I held the paper so she couldn’t take it and winked at her. “I’m a pretty good judge of character. I back myself and the years of experience I have. I’m fairly certain you aren’t going to deliberately unplug someone’s life support.”
Kara’s mouth dropped open.
“This can’t be legal.” Hawk’s face was full of confusion. “You could lose your license for this, couldn’t you?”
I laughed at their shock. “Look, fact is, we would take Ted Bundy’s help right now, we’re that understaffed. The main thing here is knowing you aren’t going to steal drugs, and your access passes won’t give you entry to any of the medical supply cabinets, so the police check is bullshit anyway. This isn’t Providence. It’s Saint View. Around here, we just do whatever we need to do to get by. I’ve got a very long line of people out there who need help, and I’m not about to turn away able-bodied help.”
I shut up as Dr. Tahpley walked into the room, pausing at the three of us standing by the desk. “Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you were using the room, Gray.”
“Not a problem. This is Kara and Hawk. They’re new volunteers, so you’ll see them around.”
Hawk nodded, and Kara smiled at the older doctor.
“Lovely to meet you. We’re excited to help out.”
Completely ignoring them, he tossed a pair of gloves into a bin and cracked his neck. “Lunchtime, I think.”
Pompous old prick. He did this to the nurses too. Just ignored them because anyone on a lower pay grade was of little interest.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s barely eleven. You didn’t start ’til nine thirty.”
Tahpley’s eyes held a challenge. “Like I said, lunchtime. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
He walked away. All I could do was stare at him.
“What a fucking cunt he is,” Hawk muttered.
Kara elbowed him. “Language…but also, I agree.”
Hawk sniggered then turned to me. “Her agreeing is about as close to swearing as she’s going to get.”
I pushed pens at both of them, fighting off irritation at Tahpley shirking his duties yet again. “I’m fine with swearing or not swearing. Trust me, I’ve heard a whole lot worse. But you see why I’m willing to skip things like police checks when someone comes in and actually wants to help? It’s rare. So sign your papers and let’s go.” I dug deep to find some good humor because we all knew those people out there needed more than scowls and a prescription shoved at them. I grinned at Hawk and Kara, trying to psych myself—and them—up. “We’ve got lives to save.”
It was my way of equaling the balance. While we were in here saving people, my little group of psychopaths would be out there on the streets, ending the lives of others.