Fighting Lust: A Deadly Sins Novel by Jennifer Miller

pressure bandage in no time. Jax is right.”
    “Thank you,” Jax says sarcastically but we ignore him.
    “Fine,” I mumble. Yanking my clothes off in anger and frustration, I turn to Cole, “I’m going to shower the best I can, then we can go.”
    Cole nods and follows me. I start to protest, but know he has to at least sit outside and make sure he doesn’t hear me fall or something in case I’m concussed. While this is annoying as hell, complaining is useless. Protocol is what it is.
    The whole time I shower, blood pours from my head. Head wounds bleed terribly – it’s ridiculous. It’s easy to feel like you’ve lost buckets of blood. I keep a towel pressed against it as best I can, but even I can tell I’ll need stitches – it’s just not letting up. Feeling bad for giving Jax such a hard time, I pat him on the back when I walk back out after dressing, prepared to go. He nods, “Good fight, man. Text me and let me know what the doctor says, alright?”
    “Yeah, alright.” Cole and I tell everyone good night and after a quick battle with Dylan and Levi, convincing them they don’t need to come with us, we head out. When we get to the emergency room, I’m happy to see it appears to be a slow night. There are few people in the waiting room and I didn’t see any ambulances parked at the entrance. We register quickly and take a seat.
    We don’t wait long before we’re called back. Cole comes with me even though I don’t need him to, but what the hell, it’s just stitches and he can keep me company. We discuss the fight as we’re shown to a triage room, and Cole talks excitedly about his own fight that’s quickly approaching. He’s been training hard and if he wins, it could mean a big pay out and more fights in his future.
    “Alright, Mr. King, my name is Tessa and I’ll be your nurse this evening. Can you please tell me what happened?”
    I look at her immediately when she walks inside the room. While it isn’t down like before, the red catches my attention. My entire body instinctively seemed to know it was her the second she walked in. I’m grinning like a stupid imbecile while I watch her wash her hands. She doesn’t even look at me while she’s talking. Clearly, she read my chart and is used to her practiced lines. Laughing softly to myself more audibly than I realize as she dries her hands, she finally looks up at me, confusion lining her brow. Grinning wider at finally having those beautiful baby blues on my face once more, I finally speak. “Well I’ll be damned. Wasn’t sure I’d see you again. Tessa you said, was it?”
    Her professional façade slips from her face and for a moment I see momentary perplexity in her gorgeous eyes, which appears to morph into understanding and then panic. She takes a step back in reaction, and I bark out a laugh when she actually utters, “Oh, fuck.”

 

     
    It’s been another long night at the hospital. I’m not sure why, but it’s dragging – a combination of not having many patients, any really interesting or complicated cases and just plain being ready to go home. I wonder if the increase of urgent care facilities across the area are taking away our business. I know I should be happy about that in a way – less people being critically injured or suffering serious illnesses that need our help, but for some reason, considering that does not provide any satisfaction. As exhausting as it can be, I like the busyness and even the controlled chaos. And while I’d typically use this time to get some paperwork done, or catch up on employee files and other managerial related work, I’m too antsy tonight. I don’t have the concentration or desire to do that type of work. Desperate to encourage the time to go by faster, I’m taking any patient that comes in. The residents are itching to treat patients themselves and the staff nurses are restless as well, but I’m putting them to work on general department responsibilities - restocking