Page 26 of Reckless
“I’m Trey. I was a medic with McNalley here in the Marines. He wanted me to take a look at you. That all right?”
“Oh, yes, of course.” Color comes back to her cheeks, and I breathe a little sigh of relief. I don’t want to distract Trey as he works, so I keep my distance.
“I’m not going to ask what happened. I assume that, if you’re in trouble, Hollywood here is going to take care of it. You just let me know if you’re injured anywhere else.”
“Just the one place, I think.” Then she pauses. “Hollywood?” she asks Trey. “What does that mean?”
“He hasn’t told you?”
“No, I haven’t, and I’d prefer if you didn’t either,” I interrupt.
But Trey doesn’t listen. “It’s his call sign. When we were both working for Cole Security, we got call signs. Mine was Doc, and his was Hollywood.”
At this, Phoebe smiles. I almost don’t care that Trey’s running his mouth. Almost.
“Ask him about his name,” I suggest because as much as Trey knows it irritates me, the conversation is making her smile.
Her eyebrows press together. “It isn’t because you’re a medic?”
Trey chuckles and then smirks at Griffin. “No,” Trey admits as he uses butterfly bandages to bring the edges of her wound together. “My daughter used to call me when we were on missions. She was around three at the time, and her favorite thing in the world wasDoc McStuffins, you know, the kid's show. The guys learned about it and started calling me Doc McStuffins. Doc for short.”
“That is too cute,” Phoebe says. She winces a little as he puts on the last bandage. “Well, I appreciate you coming out here on such short notice. I’m sorry if it was an inconvenience.”
“It’s never an inconvenience to talk to a beautiful woman.”
Laughing, she pulls him in for a hug. “I mean it, thank you.”
“For you, anytime. Keep this fucknugget in line, will you? He isn’t supposed to be getting his pretty face shot at anymore.”
“I’ll do my best. I wish we met under better circumstances.”
“Take care of yourself.”
“I will.” She gets to her feet, and I watch for unsteadiness, but she doesn’t wobble as she turns to me. “May I use your restroom to clean up?”
I nod to the hallway. “Second door on the right.”
When she’s gone, Trey gives a low whistle. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ll say. We’ll have to catch up over a beer sometime.”
“You got it. I’m going to need one. Thanks again, man. I appreciate it.”
“You owe me one!” he says as he lets himself out.
For the first time since I heard the gunshot go off, I let my tense muscles relax. Tonight has been close. Too close. Needing something to do to keep from obsessing, I text out an order for pizza. She’s going to need to eat something to counteract the shock anyway.
The bathroom door opens and closes, and I turn to find her walking toward me. She lifts her head and sees me watching her. Her smile is wobbly and exhausted. “I’m about to text an Uber, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have to get home and get some sleep. We both have a long day at work tomorrow.” She comes to a stop and looks up at me expectantly. “You okay?”
“No, the fuck, I’m not okay. I saw you nearly get shot.” The words come out more harshly than I intend.
She frowns. “I know. I was there. But I’m okay, I promise. Trey even said so. It wasn’t your fault.”