Page 62 of Bad Medicine

He was here.

But in the next instant, that small flare of emotion was extinguished like a cigarette under a boot heel, and the yoke of disappointment once again settled itself on my shoulders.

Because he wasn’t here for me.

“Amber,” he said icily, sliding the sunglasses in the neck of his shirt as he walked right up to my patient, Miss. Davidson, and glared at her, his blue eyes full of hate. She spun to face him, her eyes wide and panicked, and I froze, not wanting him to see me just yet. Standing behind the curtain of the first room, I shamelessly eavesdropped on them like I was still in middle school. “I had hoped you’d left town. Now I’m gonna have to drag you outta Nevada by your cheap extensions.”

“What do you want, Rock?” she said, and from my vantage point, I could see her gaze darting around the ER like a frightened bird.

“You know exactly what I want,” he snarled at her, and she took an involuntary step back. “You, the fuck outta my city.”

“Funny, I thought it was Enzo’s city,” she sassed, and just like that, it all clicked into place.

Enzo. Amber.

This was the woman who Enzo had previously... dated. The one who had hit Francesca with a champagne bottle the first night I found myself mixed up in the crazy world of the Las Vegas Underground.

“You know that whatever Enzo has is also mine.”

“Oh, I do remember just how well you and Enzo share,” she purred evilly, and I curled my lip. Gross.

“Cut the shit, Amber. You know I never touched your bony ass. Now, tell me what the hell you’re doing mixing with that Belikov prick.” Rocco eyed Amber’s face, his frown deepening. “Doesn’t appear to have been one of your wiser choices.”

That’s enough of that.

Stepping out from behind the curtain, I strode up to the desk, my anger rising.

“Why are you harassing my patient?”

“Stay outta this, Mia,” he said, not even looking at me. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“You are in my hospital, talking to my patient, so I’d say it definitely does concern me.” Crossing my arms, I waited for him to look at me before I continued. “Now, until Miss. Davidson is discharged, she is under my care, and as such, I don’t want you or anyone else giving her a hard time.”

Rocco and I stared at each other, me with my face impassive, him with his jaw ticking, neither of us willing to give.

Finally, it was Amber who broke the silence.

“It’s fine,” she sighed, scrawling her signature on the paperwork, completing her discharge. “I was just leaving. My ride is here anyway,” she said quietly, her eyes on the floor.

Rocco and I both turned at the same time, watching as the door to the ER opened again and a man with pale blond hair and ice-blue eyes entered the hospital.

In that moment, time froze.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move or even think.

All I could do was stare as the man I’d had nightmares about for the last six years walked up to Amber, a stormy look on his face as he took her in, completely ignoring Rocco and me as he stormed up to her.

“What the fuck is taking so long, Amber?” he spat, his voice pitched low, and I couldn’t help the shiver as his voice triggered my memories.

Greg, standing in a kitchen, casually questioning a man who was begging for his life.

Greg, taking that life as though he had a right to it.

Greg. Greg. Greg.

Every fear, every awful scenario I had ever conjured in the darkest corners of my mind began and ended with that man.

And for the first time in six years, he was standing right in front of me.