Page 2

Two

May everything I say confuse you until you learn to mind your own business.

— Chevy to Cutter

CHEVY

I was still laughing the next day at the way her shoe came off and she took off after it.

Aella Cowan, better known as Whirlwind in my head.

A smile was on my face when I pulled up to the hospital and shut my bike off.

I usually tried to park far away to get some steps in before my shift.

I’d be spending the next twelve hours on my ass next to a patient, and I seriously questioned my life choices sometimes.

I hated being so sedentary.

In fact, when I’d first decided that anesthesia was my path, I’d done so when I was in the military and working in battle zones that was non-stop, constant action.

Now, when I was working for a living as a civilian, I sort of hated how boring it was.

Parking my motorcycle across the street from Whirlwind’s red Ford Mustang, I studied it for long moments.

The front bumper looked like a good pothole would take it at any second.

The tires were so damn bald that a good rain would probably make her car go into a tailspin.

Oh, and her windows were tinted, but only fifty percent. The tint was peeling off in multiple places, and looked like she’d just be better off peeling it completely.

The hood was more gray than red due to the paint peeling off, and the left front headlight looked like she’d been backed into recently.

Shaking my head, I tucked my helmet under my arm and started walking toward the hospital.

It was hot as hell out today, and it was only six-fifteen in the morning.

I was sure by the time that I got out for lunch, it’d be so hot that a little more of the paint would be peeling from Whirlwind’s hood.

Whirlwind.

God, she was something.

I watched her constantly, and she had no clue.

She was always lost in her own little world, working her perfect ass off as she existed there.

If she only opened her eyes and looked my way more than once, she’d see me.

I was so lost in thought that when my phone rang, I jumped.

“Fuck,” I said as I reached into my pocket and pulled the offending device free.

I narrowed my eyes at the screen, then answered it reluctantly.

“Hey, Reign.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to her, but I just didn’t think that I could handle giving her gentle today.

I liked Reign.

She was a nice girl, but she wasn’t “my” girl.

From the time that I was in high school on, she’d always been Copper’s girl.

Even when he’d gone to prison, she was Copper’s girl.

Copper and Reign were a regular staple in our life from the moment that Copper turned thirteen. She wasn’t actually Copper’s girlfriend, but she was his best friend. And even though Copper couldn’t see how in love with him that Reign was, the rest of us could.

That was why I’d have never broken Copper’s trust and gone there with his girl.

“Hey, Chevy.” Reign sniffled, making me feel bad for not wanting to pick up the call. “Are you at work?”

“About to walk in, why?” I asked, hoping that she wasn’t about to ask for a favor.

“Um,” she sniffled again. “I got in a car wreck.”

I closed my eyes and nearly sighed. “Are you okay?”

Her breath hitched and she said, “No.”

I found her next to the vending machines in the waiting room.

She was covered in blood, and she looked haunted.

“Reign,” I said quietly.

Her head jerked up, then she was running toward me.

I caught her in my arms and folded them around her, despite the blood on her shirt. “Are you okay?”

Working in a hospital, I was more than used to blood.

At least this blood was dried.

She swallowed so hard I could hear it and said, “I am. Yes. But I think I killed two people.”

My heart stopped.

I closed my eyes. “What happened?”

“I was driving…”

“You know you’re not supposed to be driving,” I ground out.

For two years now, her license had been suspended.

“I know.” She sounded broken. “But I’m so tired of being a burden.”

I gritted my teeth to keep the anger at bay, but that was futile.

“You…” I closed my mouth.

She didn’t need me berating her.

I clenched my jaw and counted to ten in my head.

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“A couple of hours ago,” she whispered. “They took me into the ER to get my blood alcohol level because they didn’t believe that I wasn’t drunk. When they realized that, they let me go. But they said that I needed to stay close in case they had any more questions.”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Come on. You can come up to the surgical floor with me and wait.”

“Thanks,” she breathed. “Are you super busy today?”

Yes, yes, I was.

And I’d only gotten about four hours of sleep thanks to an emergency call in the middle of the night that required me to come up here and work a couple of surgeries when Tennenbaum, the anesthesiologist that worked in tandem with me and one other, got sick and had to go home.

“I have a couple of surgeries that I have to cover today,” I grumbled as I headed for the elevator when I would’ve usually taken the stairs. “You can hang out in the break room until you know if you can go home or not.”

She nodded and fell into step beside me. “Are you sure you don’t want to meet me up there? You can take the stairs.”

I got onto the elevator with her instead of answering.

When we got onto the floor, I showed her to the physician break room where the showers were, then grabbed her some clean scrubs. Then I went in search of the charge nurse that could give me a breakdown of the surgeries that I would be performing today.

“Hey, Val.” I nodded at one of the female doctors that wasn’t usually up here. “What are you doing up here?”

“Checking on a patient I sent up earlier.” She looked haunted. “A woman with a suspended driver’s license hit the couple head-on. The female was pregnant.”

I closed my eyes as I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the solar plexus.

“Fuck,” I said. “That was my friend.”

“The pregnant woman?” she asked.

“No, the one with the suspended driver’s license.” I sighed.

She winced. “If it helps, I think the woman may pull through. The man, though…he was very critical because most of the impact came from the driver’s side.”

That didn’t help.

“Do you know who’s charging up here right now?” I asked.

“It’s Dru,” came the raspy, soft voice from behind me.

I didn’t have to turn around to know who that was.

My dick let me know without the visual.

Aella.

My little version of chaos.

I turned anyway, though, because I was always desperate for a look when it came to her.

She may avoid me like the plague, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t allowed to look.

I smiled. “Hey, how’s your car treating you today?”

“Still grumpy,” she admitted, her cheeks heating as she looked anywhere but at me.

“I…” I was interrupted by Reign calling my name, and Aella took the distraction to run away.

Reign was no stranger to this floor.

She visited often since she had so many doctor appointments, and it was only right then that I realized that Aella always ran when Reign was close. But usually, she’d stick it out as long as it was just us talking.

Another reason to distance yourself from Reign, Chevy. Don’t be a dumbass.

If Copper found out that I was spending so much time with Reign and not telling him, he wouldn’t understand.

Why?

Because Reign had avoided him like the plague since he’d gotten out of prison.

Fuck.

She really needed to talk to him.

“Hey, Chevy.” I heard my name called.

I looked up to find Dru waving me down.

I held a finger up to Reign to let her know to wait, then headed for Dru.

“Your first surgery was canceled. The guy has an infection, and they decided to wait to see if they can get it under control,” she explained.

“Fuck.” I sighed. “That sounds amazing.”

It sounded amazing because it meant I could grab a couple of hours of sleep before my next surgery at eleven.

“Cool, I’ll be sleeping,” I said abruptly.

Dru, used to my shortness, didn’t say a word as she went back to whatever she was doing on the computer.

I headed for Reign and said, “You can hang out in the breakroom while I catch a couple of hours of sleep.”

“Okay.” She smiled and started following me.

I tried not to get annoyed, but inevitably gave in when she followed me into the room where physicians usually slept when they were trying to catch a few Zs between patients.

“You can sit in that recliner there,” I pointed to it across the room.

“What is this place?” she asked.

I was short when I said, “Exactly like it looks, Reign.”

Reign sighed. “Go to sleep, grumpy.”

I did.

I woke up completely disoriented when a huge, hard body landed next to me.

Laughter followed, and I knew without opening my eyes that it was my brother and sister.

Which brother remained to be seen.

The light turned on, and then there was a feminine cry from beside me that had my brows furrowing.

That’s when I realized what had happened.

Reign had crawled into the bed beside me.

I frowned, wondering why she’d done that, and then realized my mistake.

Because it was Copper that was next to me half on top of Reign, looking like I’d just punched him straight in the belly.

His eyes turned to me, and I saw the betrayal there.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Copper, wait,” I said as he got up and left the room.

Five minutes later, my sister was gone too after giving us both a dressing down.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

Then I stood up, slipped my shoes on, and said, “You need to fix this, Reign, or I will.”

Reign winced. “I’m sorry, Chevy.”

“I don’t care anymore, Reign,” I said stiffly. “This will not break apart the family that I just got back.”

I left the room after that and headed for the nurses’ station, anger riding my coattails.