Shifting Gears by Jenny Hayut Page B

beauty. So different from all the other chicks that roll at
The Rox, and they know it. Those guys last night saw their chance
with you, and they jumped on it.”
    “Stop it, Clay. You don’t need to tell
me that. I’m a big girl, in more ways than one, and I know the
score.”
    Clay starts laughing. “Sweetheart,
that’s precisely what makes you different and what guys dig. Your
curves, baby. Drives them wild because you don’t flaunt it. It’s
almost like you don’t know what you got…although, I’m starting to
realize maybe you really don’t.”
    “Whatever.” I don’t believe a word
that’s coming out of his mouth, because I see. I know. “So, are we
good now? No more beating yourself up?”
    “Yeah, I’m good.” Then his voice
deepens and he whispers. “So now, focus. I need details. The kiss.
What was it like to kiss that badass commando full of
steel?”
    “Yeah, not going there.”
    “Aww, come on, Niki-cakes, don’t be
like that. I’m trying to live vicariously through you!”
    “Ha! Since when has my life been more
exciting than the illustrious Clay Winters’?”
    “Since that badass hot fucker walked
back into town, love, that’s when!”
    “Clay! Not going there. There’s a lot
you don’t know and right now, over the phone, is not the best time
to get into it. I have to get back to work. I traded with one of
the other doctors to take the hospital shift tonight, to get out of
dinner with him. So do you want to get a coffee or something to eat
after I get off?”
    “Yeah, sure, but why are cancelling on
him? I don’t understand.”
    I can’t delay telling him about
Holt—how he left, what it did to me—much longer. I let out a sigh.
“You will.”
    After wolfing down my dinner in the
car, I head back to the hospital. I purposely shut my phone off
because I don’t want to be reminded nor do I want to be overcome by
weakness if I start reading texts or hear my phone ring. All
thoughts of my bail out and of Holt are washed from my head, at
least temporarily, as the night is extremely busy.
    By the end of my shift, I’ve treated
more than ten patients, including Miffy, an older boxer that was
hit by a car. He’s been coming to Hobbs for years, and I’ve become
very attached to him. Well, really, I’m attached to all my
patients. I mean, I’d only met Kilo once, and I was instantly in
love with him. Such is my heart. Thankfully, Miffy’s injuries are
only minor and, after a night in the hospital for observation and
some healing time, he’ll be back to his normal self.
    I run through all the charts with
Wesley, who’s taking the next shift and check on Miffy one last
time before heading out. I call Clay and tell him to meet me at the
diner then try to get rid of some of the collection of animal hair
covering my scrubs. After I run a brush through my hair, pinning it
up again, I throw on some lip-gloss so I can at least feel a little
cleaned up before going out into non-four-legged-friend
land.
    If I’d known I was going to make
plans, I would’ve grabbed a change of clothes. It’s just Clay
though, no big deal. He’s seen me in worse than blue scrubs with
cute little puppy dogs all over them. I pull out my phone, figuring
I’m now safe from temptation since it’s well past eleven. Surely,
Holt got the hint and any texts or phone calls stopped hours
ago.
    Yeah, I couldn’t have been more
wrong...
    I have seven missed calls and about a
dozen texts, not all of them from Holt. Some from Cass. I ignore
Holt’s and call Cass.
    She answers on the first ring and
screams into the phone. “Niki! Why haven’t you called me
back?”
    “We’ve been busy. And I turned my
phone off. I didn’t want to get caught up in reading texts or
seeing him call.”
    “He came over looking for you, and
after about thirty minutes of waiting, he started calling you. I
heard some of the voicemails he was leaving you before he left
here. He was mad, Niki. I mean mad . Have you listened to any
of