Chapter 7 #2
Taylor leaned back in the booth. “Okay, summer plans. Go.”
Liv lifted a hand. “Working at the Blaze offices, convincing everyone I’m indispensable, getting into PR, and making my brothers regret sharing DNA with me.”
“Strong,” Wren said.
“Leo’s already here, so he’s my first victim,” Liv continued. “Theo’s still in Nashville, but my mom keeps saying she wants the whole family in Dallas.”
“What about you?” Liv asked me.
“Elective with the team. Trying not to mess up. Trying to prove I’m not just there because of my dad and working on a research project so it will look good on my residency applications.”
Wren tilted her head. “For what it’s worth, people notice when someone works hard. You’ve been solid.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile.
Billie patted my arm. “That’s because Catherine is a nerd with cheekbones.”
“Thank you?” I snorted.
“You’re welcome.” Billie Rose nodded.
“At least I know Leo wasn’t one of the rookies hitting on you,” Liv said of her brother.
“He’s a good guy,” I confirmed.
“Theo is trying to get a trade to the team. Let’s just say he’s the opposite of Leo,” Liv explained.
We all laughed. I had known the triplets since I was younger, so none of this was news to me. Theo was always trouble, and Leo was always kind and quiet.
Taylor looked at Billie. “And you?”
Billie sighed dramatically. “Gynecology and obstetrics at the hospital. Babies, hormones, pelvic pain, men who faint, and women who deserve better healthcare.”
Wren lifted her drink. “Respect.”
“Thank you.” Billie took a sip, then winced like something painful had just crossed her mind. “Speaking of women deserving better, Catherine, you’ll love this.”
“I’m scared.” I felt my body stiffen.
“You know the nurse Julian cheated with?” she asked.
“Unfortunately,” I said.
“She cheated on him,” she cheered.
The table went silent for half a second.
Then Taylor said, “I’m sorry, that’s hilarious.”
Liv pressed a hand to her mouth. “No.”
“Yes,” Billie said, eyes wide. “With another resident.”
Wren sat back. “Hospital drama is unmatched.”
I blinked. “Karma.”
“And apparently he’s devastated,” Billie went on. “Serves him right.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. I tried to stop it. The girls started laughing too, and suddenly the whole thing felt lighter than it ever had. Julian, who had once made me feel stupid and small and humiliated, was now just a punchline at a table full of women drinking expensive cocktails.
Taylor leaned forward. “So are we officially in the ‘Catherine needs to get laid’ portion of healing?”
I choked on my drink.
Liv grinned. “Apparently we are.”
“I hate all of you,” I said, frowning even if I really did need to get laid.
“No, you don’t,” Billie said. “And yes, you do need to get laid.”
“I’m busy. I have no time.” That was a lie. I could make time if Hunter was willing.
“That’s not a medical contraindication,” Billie noted.
Wren laughed into her drink.
Taylor tilted her head. “Anyone interesting?”
“No.” I answered fast, maybe too fast, because Billie made a sound.
I turned to her slowly. “Do not.”
Her eyes widened with fake innocence. “Do not what?”
“You know what,” I warned.
“I know many things.” She leaned toward the table. “For example, Catherine had the fattest crush on Hunter Russell when she was a teenager.”
“Billie Rose.”
Liv gasped.
Taylor’s mouth fell open.
Wren looked delighted. “Oh, this night just got good.”
“It was nothing,” I said quickly.
“It was not nothing,” Billie said. “She told me about it first year after two margaritas.”
“You swore to take that to your grave.” I pointed a finger at her. We were all feeling our drinks, that was for sure.
“I said I would consider it,” she said.
Taylor held up both hands. “Secret safe.”
Liv nodded fast. “Vault.”
Wren drew an X over her chest. “Locked.”
Billie sipped her drink. “Also, I just met him and Max in the lobby.”
At Max’s name, Liv’s cheeks went pink. Not a little pink. Noticeably pink.
I narrowed my eyes. “Liv?”
“What?” She tried for innocent, but I knew that look.
Taylor leaned in. “Why are you blushing, Liv?”
“I’m not,” she said.
Wren smiled. “You are.”
Liv grabbed her drink. “It’s warm in here.”
“It’s aggressively air-conditioned,” Billie noted.
I stared at her. “Liv Karlsson.”
She groaned. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing has never made someone blush like that,” Taylor said.
Liv looked down at her glass. “Max is just… Max.”
“That explains nothing,” I said since Max was more like a brother to me than a cousin.
“It explains everything,” Wren replied.
Billie grinned. “He is very pretty.”
Liv’s eyes lifted. “Right?”
The whole table erupted. Liv covered her face. “I hate you guys.”
“No, you don’t,” I said, bumping her shoulder. “Welcome to the bad decisions table.”
“I’m making no decisions,” she said like a promise.
“Yet,” Taylor said.
We ordered another round after that because the first drink had made us honest and the second was apparently going to make us reckless. By the time round three came, Billie Rose had taken over the conversation with a story about hooking up with a male nurse from another unit.
“He had the most beautiful arms,” she said, stirring her drink with the tiny gold cocktail pick.
Wren laughed. “That’s what got you?”
“I’ve got you, baby, he said, slipping his fingers beneath the waistband of my scrubs and into my panties. Damn, you’re soaked.
“Billie,” I said, laughing.
“What? We’re all adults.” She held her hands apart under the table, then widened them a little. “And when I say girth, I mean girth. Like my first thought was, sir, where do you expect that to go?”
Taylor nearly spit out her drink. Liv dropped her forehead into her hand. Wren was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. I covered my mouth, trying and failing to keep it together. Billie took a calm sip of her cocktail like she hadn’t just destroyed the table.
“Anyway. Five stars. Would recommend the cardiology floor.”
“I cannot believe you said that in public.” I shook my head. This wasn’t new. Billie Rose was a handful.
“You need to loosen up,” she urged, giving me a nudge.
“I’m loose,” I assured her.
“You’re wound tighter than a blood pressure cuff,” Billie said before bursting into laughter.
Taylor pointed at Billie. “That was good.”
“Thank you.” She bowed her head.
The night got messier after that in the best way. We talked about summer, the team, med school, bad dates, good kisses, and how impossible it was to find a man who was hot, emotionally available, and not secretly still texting his ex. I said nothing, which, of course, made everyone look at me.
“What?” I asked.
Billie smiled over her glass. “You’re thinking about him.”
“I am not.”
“Liar.”
Taylor leaned closer. “Okay, real question. Is Hunter into you?”
“No.”
Liv gave me a look. “That came out too fast. As someone who knows your family dynamic, you’re asking for trouble. Hunter is your dad’s player. He’s also a good decade older than you.”
“Nine years,” I corrected.
“Hunter is friends with your parents, and isn’t his daughter friends with Mila?” Liv asked.
My stomach twisted. “It’s a very inconvenient attraction.”
“There’s also a conflict of interest. You’re working with the team now,” Wren reminded me. Then she looked at me apologetically. “Sorry. I just want you to consider the consequences if management found out.”
I looked at Taylor. She was the GM’s daughter.
“Girl, you get as much dick as you want. I don’t talk to my dad about girlie stuff.”
“So you have a secret fling and call it quits before anyone finds out,” Billie Rose said.
“That could work. What your dad doesn’t know can’t hurt him, and aren’t Mila and Isla away at camp right now?” Liv asked.
“Oh, the peer pressure is on,” Taylor joked.
“You guys are being ridiculous. Hunter won’t have a fling with me. He’s too controlled and by the book,” I admitted.
“And so are you,” Billie Rose reminded me.
“You aren’t wrong, but I haven’t felt anything down below since I caught Julian, and then when I saw Hunter at my parents’ Fourth of July party, something happened.
I got turned on just by looking at him, and I couldn’t take it, so I ran off to the pool house bathroom and took a shower just so I could get myself off to thoughts of him. ”
“How do I not know about this?” Billie Rose asked, sounding offended. I hadn’t meant to share the story, but I guess the alcohol was making me feel bold.
“Because Hunter kind of walked in on me mid…you know. . .because he needed to use the bathroom,” I winced.
“Holy shit,” Liv practically screamed. “Were you mortified?”
I shook my head and watched everyone’s eyes widen.
“I was turned on. I kept my fingers between my thighs like I was frozen. Hunter didn’t move either.
He didn’t apologize. We just stood staring at each other.
I was worked up and breathing hard. Then he realized what was happening, and he started apologizing and backing up. ”
“That is so hot,” Wren said, picking up a napkin and fanning herself.
“Seriously,” Billie Rose agreed. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Neither did I,” I confessed. “Something about Hunter has me very worked up.”
“Clearly,” Taylor said. “Wow, that is super hot, but my dad would disown me if I dated a hockey player. It’s his one rule.”
“My dad always felt bad about how hard it was for my mom since he couldn’t be around as much as he wanted to.
My parents were young when they had me, so my dad has always pushed the idea that I should find someone stable who would be around and give me the attention and life I deserve,” I explained.
Daddy and I were close. Crushing on his good friend was so inconvenient. And Mom would be freaked out too.
“Okay, things are getting heavy. You sleeping with Hunter sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. You know Hunter’s grandma is a sex guru. We can get advice from her about your vagina,” Liv explained.
Wren was mid-sip and spat her drink across the table. “I’m sorry, but did I hear you right?”