CHAPTER 2
RILA
— I saw the two of them leaving one of the break rooms, and her hair made it very clear that they were horizontal, but not to rest — Pippa, one of her favorite nurses in the ER, wiggled her black eyebrows suggestively at Rila and the nursing technician at her side.
There at MedHarbor Hospital, if there was one thing they had more than sick people, it was gossip. There was always someone watching or listening to what you were doing and saying. And rumors ran wild.
Last year, she and Jessie started to bet on them, each one of them choosing between yay or nay, so a few days later a five-dollar bill goes to the winner. Most of the time, Rila bets on yay just because it was so much more fun to think that the nonsense that got to their ears was true.
— I wish I was horizontal and not resting — the doctor said, getting a laugh from the other two — Actually, I could even be vertical, I don't care, as long as I was getting lucky.
— Tell me about it — the nurse pursed her lips into a pout — We need new faces in this hospital. Single and pretty faces.
— Oh, no, I don't shit where I eat — Rila shook her head in denial.
— Smart — the technician whose name she couldn't remember pointed his index finger in her direction — But this hospital is big enough for this, just don't fuck with someone in your department. You should try with a blue one.
Those who were part of the surgical team wore navy blue scrubs while the rest of the hospital wore deep red ones. Because of that, some people used the blue and red labels. And he was right about the size of the hospital, it was a monstrosity of a building.
Her area, the emergency room, was on the ground floor along with the cafeteria, lab, and waiting rooms. She spent most of her time there, except when she decided to visit Jessie on the second floor, which was also where pediatrics was located.
In general, her patients stayed in emergency beds, and when they went to a room — which was mostly on the fourth floor — it was because some specialty took the case, and she was no longer needed.
On rare occasions, she needed to accompany a patient to radiology, which was located in the basement along with the morgue.
And then there was the third floor, the domain of the blue ones, that is, the surgical wing and the ICU.
— Hm, I'll think about it — Rila shrugged, not completely dismissing the idea.
It's been just her and her vibrator for a while, and God knew how much she missed having a hard, warm body pressing her against the bed. Or the wall. Or the table. She wasn't very demanding.
— Okay, our five minutes of break are over, let's go — Pippa sighed and slapped the man's arm lightly before talking again — I've got to go check on bed six's medication, and you have to take a blood sample from the lady on bed two. Move.
They said their goodbyes with quick waves and walked away to go back to work. For Rila it was always easy to talk to people, so she had made friends with practically all the ER and knew most of the hospital's team.
That was one of the few advantages of having been dragged to social events since she was little, she wasn't uncomfortable with strangers or crowded places. At least there, she didn't have to wear itchy dresses.
Now that she was alone, Rila realized how the emergency room was uncomfortably calm.
The room was organized with a counter with four computers next to the automatic door that led to the ambulance parking lot, twelve beds separated by retractable curtains that ended at the curve of the room where another automatic door led to the elevator corridor and the rest of the hospital.
Finally, opposite to the stretchers, there were four trauma rooms for cases that needed more invasive interventions.
And all of her patients were already properly cared for. So, taking advantage of the momentary calm in there, she took the tablet and started scrolling through the registration system, checking if there were any bureaucratic issues.
She was halfway through the list when she saw it.
— Shit — the curse escaped her lips at the same second, her breathing hitched, and her heart missed a beat.
No, she must have been seeing things. Or maybe she developed dyslexia in the last few minutes and her brain was playing with the words.
Her finger trembled slightly when she clicked on the screen, the chart opening in the next second and her heart beating so hard against her sternum that she would have worried about it leaving her body if she hadn't known that it was medically impossible.
Staring at the tablet, she realized that it wasn't her brain playing tricks. That was real.
At the top of the screen was the name that Rila refused to let slip through her mind for almost six years.
Right there, among the medical records of strangers, was the chart of one of the people who knew her better than her own parents.
The person who taught her how to ice skate, who made Christmas her favorite holiday, and who showed her what it was like to be in love.
But, he was also the reason now she hated everything related to skating, worked shifts during Christmas to avoid thinking about that date, and had a heart with a scar bigger than she liked to admit.
And he was there, in some room under the care of the neurology team at her hospital.
Kieran Ward was there.
— Shitshitshit — murmured the curse and swallowed dry.
Why was he there? At the hospital, of course. She knew he probably was in Boston for some game since this year's season started last week.
Everything she knew about the sport lately was against her will, after all, she took hockey out of her life the same day he left it. But the patients talked, so Rila knew a thing or two about NHL games.
The last time she had gone searching for information was when she googled his name about four years ago and learned that he was still playing for the Montreal Canadiens.
So, yeah, he was probably playing in Boston, but he shouldn't be at the hospital.
Hesitantly, she tried to look at his chart, but an access denied warning appeared at the same second. It was blocked, her user couldn't access the information. She didn't even know which room he was in.
Anyway, why did she want to know? It wasn't like they were friends or anything. That train had left the station almost six years ago, and it was his fault.
He was the one that ruined everything. He ruined them. He ruined her.
So why did she care if he could be injured? This wasn't her business anymore. Anything related to Kieran Ward was no longer her business since that last trip to Canada.
Her brain was aware of that, but apparently the rest of her body wasn't because her feet started to move, and she stopped in front of the elevators before she could acknowledge what was happening. Rila had no idea where he was, but she knew someone who could help with that.
It took her a few minutes, but thanks to the nurses’ help, she managed to find her informant on the underground waiting to enter the MRI room where her patient was positioned.
Blake Feldman arrived at the hospital a few months ago for her last but one year of residency.
Now, she was about to become a neurosurgeon, and this alone was incredible since that was one of the most demanding specialties in the medical field.
But the fact that the woman was only thirty years old only made it more amazing.
They worked together a few times in the ER and ended up getting close enough for her to tell Rila that she graduated from high school at fifteen and medical school at twenty-three. A true genius.
And now this incredibly smart woman was going to help her with information that she wasn't sure she wanted to have.
— Hi, Rila — Blake's blue eyes sparkled with kindness when the brunette approached — Is everything ok? You need a consult or something?
— Hi. Actually, yes, I do need your help with something — she swallowed dry.
Her fingers felt like ice cubes, and she couldn't blame the cold autumn temperature because the hospital was entirely air-conditioned. Her jitters were the guilt for that. And she was not the kind of person that got jittery.
— Ok, how can I help? — Blake slid her hands into the pockets of her white coat, looking at Rila patiently.
The woman wasn't just smart, she was beautiful too. Blake had the appearance of a runaway model with long, wavy blonde hair, an angel's face, and around 5’9’’ in height.
And with all of that, she could easily be incredibly arrogant and unbearable — like 99% of the neurosurgeons — but Blake didn't have a bad bone in her body. She was one of the sweetest and kindest people Rila had ever met.
— I need to take a look at one patient's chart, but I don't have access to it, and since he is under neuro's care, I thought that maybe you could help me with that — shrugged, trying not to look too interested in the situation.
In reality, she was almost exploding on the inside. Her chest was a mess of emotions, and she hated that. He made her become a mess.
— Are we talking about the famous player? — she raised one of her perfectly designed brows — I didn't know you were a hockey fan.
— I'm not — her lips tightened, bothered by the way the other woman guessed too quickly who she was referring to — Why did you assume this was about him?
— Because you're not the first one to ask for access to him — she sighed and crossed her arms — Everyone wants to talk to the guy, get some autographs and pictures. This is exactly why his chart is blocked for the rest of the hospital, he needs privacy.
— Why? Is he hurt? How bad is it? — she practically vomited the words, her heartbeats accelerating with the idea of Kieran in a bad shape.
— I can't share anything about it, sorry.
— Please, I really need to know why he’s here — and now she was begging.
Great. This was just perfect. He had just showed up in her life, indirectly, and she was already acting like an idiot. Urgh.
— If you're not a fan, then why do you care? — she narrowed her eyes in Rila's direction.