Page 2 of Driven By Desire
A messy mix of guilt and temper stewed within Max as she sat, seething, in the backseat.
The man was a boor. An arrogant, obnoxious, narrow minded boor.
Oh, all right, so what had happened was basically her fault but he didn’t have to make such a big issue out of it.
If he would just give her a chance to apologize they would all feel better but he was more interested in behaving like she was the devil incarnate.
Peter Pan! He’d called her Peter Pan! He was insufferable and if she was Peter Pan, he was definitely the beast from ‘Beauty and the Beast?” No that didn’t fit.
The man was annoyingly good looking even under all the blood flowing down his face…
..Hell, it would come to her. She was never good at thinking of witty repartee when she was angry.
She was still mentally sifting through her repertoire of fairy tales when they pulled into the Apollo hospital a couple of streets away.
Pulling out the hair tie she had dangling around her wrist, she bundled her hair into a messy ponytail and followed the two men into the emergency room.
One look at Aditya’s brother and the duty doctor swung into action and got him to settle down on one of the beds so he could examine him.
Curtains were pulled quickly hiding both Aditya and him from view.
She was just wondering where she could sit and stay out of everyone’s hair when the curtain swished open again and Adi and a nurse walked towards her.
“Max, I’m going to go fill out the required paperwork.” Gesturing to the nurse, he added, “She’ll help you get your check-up started.”
“Sure.” Nodding, Max smiled at nurse.
“If you’ll follow me, madam?” Leading her to the bed adjacent to the one in which they had the ‘beast,’ the nurse had barely settled her in before a duty doctor walked up.
“Hi.” A warm smile that reached his eyes, average height and curly hair. All in all, the young doctor was a package that made the white coat look pretty good. “Would you like to tell me what’s wrong?”
Responding instinctively to his engaging smile, Max smiled, “I had a bit of a fall and they thought it was best I get checked out. I feel fine though.”
“How did you fall?”
Flushing slightly, Max tried to think of an answer that wouldn’t make her look like a freak. “I sort of lost my balance.”
“While walking?”
“No, actually-“
“Bloody, buggering hell!” The angry growl had the doctor almost dropping the file he had in his hand. “She fell out of a fucking tree.” 6 foot 2 inches of bruised and bloody male shoved the curtain aside and rose from the bed next to them like an avenging God. “And landed on me.”
Max couldn’t quite control the shiver of awareness that ran through her at the sight of him towering over them.
His formal white shirt had been unbuttoned for his examination and hung loose revealing a very impressive chest. The smattering of hair that covered it didn’t do much to hide its ripped magnificence.
Swallowing to wet her suddenly dry throat, Max’s gaze took in the strong, chiseled planes of his face marred only by the scowl directed at her.
The scowl and the deep, angry gash on his forehead.
Everything about this man was angry. Even his injury seemed to glower at her accusingly.
“Sir, I think you should lie down.” The doctor’s quiet voice had her blinking out of her stupefied trance and looking down at her feet.
“Fine.” Brusquely shrugging off the doctor’s helping hand and climbing back into his bed, Krish stared stonily up at the ceiling. “Just don’t let her fob you off with stories about tripping and falling. And you might want to check her head.”
“Did she hit her head when she fell?” Turning back to Max to begin his investigation, the doctor missed his muttered, “Hopefully. A good hard whack on the head might knock some sense into her.”
Guilt at his battered appearance fading under the ire that rose with his words, Max tried to concentrate on the questions the doctor was now asking her. When he finally told her what she already knew, she nodded quickly and stood. “So if I’m okay, can I leave now?”
“There is just one thing that’s bothering me.”
Surprised because she felt absolutely fine, Max asked, “What?”
“How do I call and ask you for a date if you leave without giving me your number?”
A derisive snort from the next bed had her flashing a brighter than normal smile as she rattled off her number. “I’ll look forward to your call.”
Making a quick note of her number, the doctor gave her a tiny wave and walked off towards the nurse’s station.
“So you’re both aerodynamically and morally challenged?”
Smile disappearing, she spun back towards the bed. “You are such an asshole. What is your problem?”
“My problem? Right now, you are my biggest problem.”
“What more do you want from me? I’ve said I’m sorry and –“
“When?”
“What do you mean when?”
“When did you say you were sorry?”
Casting her mind frantically over the evening, Max felt her face reddening as she realized he was right.
“I’m-“ The curtain almost hit her nose as it swished shut, “sorry.” She finished.
Silence.
“You are an arrogant, overbearing, hateful man and I am done trying to explain myself or apologize to you. Goodnight, Mr. Mehra.”
She didn’t wait for an answer nor did she get one. As she strode out of casualty, she decided she didn’t give a damn about trying to apologize anymore. It wasn’t like she was going to have to see that horrible man again.