Chapter 25
AIDEN
A cold nose jolted me awake. My eyes snapped open as a wave of doggy breath hit my face. A sandpapery tongue followed.
“Ugh.” I sat up and ran my hand over my slobbery cheek.
“Waffles,” Knight scolded from the doorway. “We were supposed to surprise him with breakfast in bed, not bad manners.”
Waffles gave a sharp yip and jumped up into the bed.
He was obviously well-spoiled by Larry. I’d stayed at the hospital for a few hours last night, until he was conscious, so I could tell him his pup was safe and sound.
Larry had damn near cried over the dog. He was a little too accepting of his own near-death experience. But he wanted better for Waffles.
I stretched. “What time is it? Has my alarm gone off?”
“I turned it off. Figured you could use a little extra sleep.”
“Will!” I snatched my phone from the bedside table and checked the time. Nearly eight. “I’m due at the hospital.”
He carried a mug, wafting the delicious aroma of hazelnut coffee under my nose. “Here, drink this and relax, Angel. You had no problem being late when I needed a ride to the parole office. You said you set your own hours, remember?”
I took a sip of coffee. “That was different.”
“Why?”
“It just was.”
He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Uh-huh. Because you were helping me. How about you let me return the favor? You worked late last night.”
I took another gulp of coffee and sighed. “I guess I could skip my lunch break later.”
“Or…” He smoothed my hair back and cupped my face. “You could just give yourself a breather. You deserve it, don’t you think?”
“Maybe,” I grumbled. “But hey, you were out late too. Where were you when I got back?”
He grimaced. “Hold that thought. I’ve got breakfast in the oven.”
He retreated from the room. I turned my attention to rubbing Waffles’ ears. I wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or touched that Knight had let me sleep in. He was technically right. I could set my own hours. I put in a lot of time, so it wouldn’t hurt to decompress a little before going in.
I wasn’t used to someone trying to take care of me that way, though.
“Here we go,” Knight said, returning. “I made cinnamon rolls. Not the healthiest, but—”
“Gimme!” I made grabby hands, my mouth watering.
He laughed and delivered the plate into my eager hands. I picked up a warm, gooey roll and bit into it with a delighted moan.
Waffles stood and tried to stick his nose in the plate. I held it out of reach until Knight joined me in the bed and pulled Waffles into his lap.
“Good?” he asked, a smile in his voice.
“Really good.” I licked the icing from my lips. “So, where did you go last night?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I had a visitor after you left.”
I glanced over. “One of the guys?”
“Uh, no.” Something in his expression made me tense.
“The bikers came back? You said they wouldn’t—”
“Just one,” he said quickly. “It wasn’t the same. They didn’t jump me.”
“Okay…”
“They gave me a way out.”
“Really?” Why wasn’t he smiling? “Isn’t that good news?”
“It’s better news,” he said. “Better than getting jumped again. But…I’ll have to fight for them.”
“What do you mean? If they’re not jumping you—”
“In an illegal fighting ring.”
I gaped. “You can’t be serious.”
He nodded. “I know it’s not ideal.”
“Will, you’re on parole. What if it gets busted?”
“That’s unlikely. They move locations pretty frequently. I did it for years without us ever getting raided.”
My stomach gave a sick twist, and I set the plate aside. “What if you get hurt?”
He hesitated.
“Well?” I pushed.
“I can’t make any promises,” he said quietly. “That might happen.”
I sucked in a breath, heart lurching. “You can’t do it. You can’t risk it. There’s got to be another way.”
He leaned over and kissed me gently. “Baby, I know it’s scary. But I stand a better chance against one guy in the ring than the whole biker club. It’s a way out, free and clear. I’ve got to take it.”
My eyes burned, and my chest grew tight. “There’s no other way?”
“Not unless you have 50k lying around. That’s what the Serpents plan to make by betting on me in the fight.”
“Shit.” I breathed out. “Are you really that good?”
He laughed. “Let’s hope so. It’s not like boxing.
It’s about digging deep and doing whatever it takes to win.
I used to do it for bragging rights. To prove myself to the other guys.
Prove I was manly enough. Toxic shit. I’ve got something more powerful this time. I’ll be fighting to get my life back.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You could leave. Just go where they can never find you and start over.” Knight was shaking his head, but this was madness. “It’s got to be better than risking your life!”
“I can’t start over again. I’ve got people I care about.” His gaze met mine.
But he couldn’t be staying for me. I wasn’t here permanently, anyway.
I opened my mouth to say that, but then I thought of the way he’d gone to Hayworth for Tex. The way he’d dropped everything to go pick up Joyride when he got in trouble with the sheriff. The way all the guys came by for beers, how Knight was the glue that held them together.
“Please don’t ask me to run, Angel,” he rasped. “I don’t have it in me. There’s no guarantees they wouldn’t track me down, even if I did. If I go now, I’m costing them 50k. They won’t just let that go.”
That 50k wasn’t theirs. It was Knight’s body on the line. His health and safety. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. But I knew he wouldn’t change his mind. It wasn’t who he was.
I couldn’t protect him the way Flynn had protected me. I couldn’t fix it for him. I started to shake. What if it wasn’t just bruises this time? What if it was head trauma or internal injuries? A broken rib could puncture his lung. He could drown in his blood. What if—
“Hey, hey.” Knight’s arms came around me and he held me tight. “I’m good at this, Angel. I promise. I can fight. I’ve done it before. Many times. This is the best option to get my life back, okay?”
I sank into his warmth, let the strength of his body reassure me. “You’ll be careful.”
“Of course. As careful as I can be.”
I nodded, taking a breath. My thoughts were spinning worst-case scenarios, presenting medical emergencies that could steal this man who’d come to mean so much to me. I wasn’t a fighter, not like him. I wasn’t big and tough.
But I was a doctor.
I pulled back. “I should be there.”
“No, Aid—”
“Yes. If you’re going to fight and possibly get hurt, then I want to be there to give you medical treatment.”
“If things go wrong, it could be dangerous. You don’t belong in a place like that.”
“Neither do you,” I said fiercely. “You don’t have a choice.”
He looked conflicted. His brain knew I was right, but his heart didn’t agree. I knew too well what that was like. I’d heard many times over that what happened to Flynn wasn’t my fault. But my heart never believed, either.
“What happens if you lose the fight?” I challenged.
He sighed. “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t ask that.”
“They’ll take it out on you,” I guessed. “Another beating?”
Knight hesitated, then nodded. “That’s the deal.”
“Then I need to be there. You might need a doctor.”
He hesitated, eyes searching mine. “Are you sure you can handle seeing all that violence? Even the thought of it has you shaking.”
My stomach turned, but I drew a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. I’d learned to compartmentalize in my ER rotations. I couldn’t lose my shit when patients needed me. And if I could do it for them, I could do it for Knight. He needed me too, whether he admitted it or not.
“I’ll deal with it,” I said. “I can’t let you go without me. Not being there, not knowing what was happening to you, that would be worse. I wish I could talk you out of this or come up with another solution or kill all these guys myself—”
He gave a startled chuckle.
“But I can’t. All I can do is make sure you survive it.”
He stared at me for a beat, face conflicted. “I hate this.”
“Me too,” I said. “But I won’t let you do this alone. You look out for everyone else. It’s time to let us look out for you.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “I don’t want you around those scumbags. Don’t want you to see me the way I used to be.”
“I don’t want you around them, either. But I promise I won’t see you that way.” I kissed him. “Because you’re not that man anymore.”
He held my gaze. “I’m not. It helps to know I’ve got something worth fighting for.”
“What’s that?” I asked, almost afraid to hear him say it.
He drew me into a long, tender kiss, saying with his lips the words I wasn’t ready to hear. But I understood him all the same.
Knight was fighting for a life with me. And maybe it was time I figured out how to do the same.
I went by Larry’s room on my lunch break a few hours later. He was looking much better, propped into a seated position in bed with a lunch tray in front of him.
“Ah, just in time for the lime Jell-O,” he said when he saw me. “Want it?”
“You could use the sugar,” I said. “Eat up.”
“Bah, they’ve been checking my glucose levels every five minutes. I’ll be fine.”
I walked to the side of his bed and pulled up the photos on my phone. I showed him the screen. “Proof that Waffles is okay.”
His eyes lit up. “Well, he looks downright happy snuggled up with that man.”
“Will,” I said. “My roommate.”
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” There was a gleam in his eye. “I thought you younger folks were more progressive.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I guess they’re going to send you home today if you’re feeling well enough to hassle me.”
He chuckled. “I feel a lot better, Doc. I can’t thank you enough for taking care of me and Waffles.”
“It’s my pleasure. Pretty sure Will would keep Waffles forever, if you let him.”
“He better not,” Larry said. “I need that little pest to keep me on my toes.”
I smiled. “I bet. You know, Waffles knew something was wrong. He barked at the door when I got there. Led me straight you.”
His eyes grew shiny. “Aw, poor guy. I didn’t mean to worry him.”
“You worried us all.” I squeezed his arm. “You’ve got to take better care, Larry. If the trip is ever a problem, call the clinic. Let us figure out a way to help you.”
“No, I couldn’t do that,” Larry said. “You’ve got other patients.”
Behind me, Dr. Meadows entered the room.
“Dr. Donovan is right, Larry. We’ve got other patients, and maybe we can’t go right when you call, but we can find a volunteer to help you out or get you signed up for better transportation.
You can’t let yourself get to this state again.
Next time, we might be too late to help you. ”
“Okay.” Larry blinked hard, face full of regret. “I’ll call next time.”
Dr. Meadows smiled. “Good. Now, we’ll let you finish your lunch. Rest up, okay?”
“I will.”
I followed Dr. Meadows out of the hospital room. “I hope I didn’t overstep,” I said. “Offering that kind of patient care.”
He looked considering. “It’s above and beyond our resources to do it for every patient. But getting him to call in allows us to connect him with other volunteers and agencies that can help. You’re not wrong to want to avoid this kind of situation.”
I nodded, chewing my bottom lip. “It’s hard for rural patients. It seems like we should do more outreach.”
He nodded. “I agree. There’s always more we can do.
I’m actually presenting the hospital board with a proposal for a traveling doctor program.
It would be more along the lines of the old-fashioned house calls docs used to make.
It would help us reach rural residents without transportation or in too poor of health to make the trek into the city. ”
“Really? That would be amazing.”
“There are limits to what we can do, of course. How far we can travel and how many patients we could accommodate. But if it was successful, it could grow.”
“Would it be a volunteer gig like the clinic? If so, sign me up.”
“I’m actually proposing it as a paid position. If we combined it with traveling to support other rural hospitals and clinics as well as house calls, I think we could get the financial backing for it.”
“Oh. That’s even better.”
He nodded. “I don’t suppose you’d have interest…considering your surgical aspirations?”
I paused. “You mean— But I haven’t had a residency yet.”
“Naturally, you’d need a primary care residency first. You could do that with the hospital. If the traveling doc position gets off the ground, you could go along as a resident until you were qualified to work alone.”
“I…” Speech deserted me. This wasn’t anything I’d seen coming. “It wasn’t my plan.”
He chuckled. “No, well, you know what they say about best-laid plans.”
“What do they say?”
“Beats me, but sometimes change comes along for a reason, Aiden. I think you’ve got a real passion for this.
You’re exactly the man I’d want in this position.
But if you’re set on the OR, I know you’ll do a lot of good there too.
You’re a great doctor, and any department would be lucky to have you. ”
“Let me think about it,” I said.
“Take your time,” he said. “You’ve got to finish your research year, and I’ve got to convince the hospital board to give my idea a shot. It’ll take time.”
I nodded. “Okay. Thank you for thinking of me. That means a lot.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “Just let me know when you decide.”
It felt wrong to abandon all the plans I’d set. I’d spent the entirety of medical school with the goal of becoming a surgeon. Not just any surgeon, either. I wanted to be one of the best. I wanted to prove I was deserving of everything it had cost Flynn to protect me that night.
To somehow make it worth it.
But Larry’s life was worth it, wasn’t it? The lives of other people like Larry, who fell through the cracks, were worth it. Maybe it wasn’t as glamorous or prestigious. It certainly wouldn’t pay as well. But I didn’t care about money or material things. I never had.
If I took a residency with Dr. Meadows, I could stay in Riverton. I could do some real good.
And maybe I could also build a future with Knight. With my family.
Have a home.
If that wasn’t worthwhile, I didn’t know what was.