Touch And Go - Aiden Bates Page 0,13
concerned, I couldn’t maintain my flip attitude. It faded, and I nodded.
“I mean, I don’t need them, really. But thanks, Dr.—uh…what’s your real name?”
“My real name?” He cocked an eyebrow, but grinned. “Derek. Uh, Dr. Carlisle.”
“Carlisle. Huh.” It wasn’t the porny doctor name that I’d expected, but it suited him. Handsome, well put together…and particularly gallant. But I couldn’t lie around staring at him all day, I had to find out what happened, and there was only one person who could tell me. Ben.
Shit. If I’d fallen or been tossed off the bridge, maybe Ben had too. “Did I get brought in to the ER with anyone else?”
He tilted his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Right.” I blew out a sigh.
I shook my head and held up the hand with the IV stuck in the back of it. “Can you take this out?”
He grimaced and shook his head.
I scoffed, annoyed. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t. You’re not my patient.” He cleared his throat and sat back, his gaze at a spot over my head. “Another doctor in the ward is taking care of your case, you’ll have to talk to her about getting released.”
I squinted, trying to make sense of the very recent twists and turns my life had taken and why, if Derek wasn’t my doctor, he was at my bedside. “Then what are you doing here?”
With his eyes down, a twinge danced at the edge of his lips. “I was your ER doctor.”
“Oh.” It wasn’t a shock I’d come through the emergency room, but the idea of Dr. Derek Carlisle bringing me back from the brink of death was kind of a head spin. I admired him while he wasn’t looking at me. Handsome, stubbled jaw, shapely nose, insanely plump kissable lips… “So, you saved my life?”
He laughed and shook his head. “It was touch and go, but like I said, you’re a lucky—”
“Adult.”
He nodded and smiled. “I was going to say ‘son of a gun.’”
“Ha! How old are you? Eighty?” Honestly. No one said son of a gun anymore.
He scoffed and ran a hand through his short brown hair, maybe a little self-consciously. “Thirties, so not quite ready for the old folks’ home.”
Thirties. And perfect. Hanging around in my room when he probably had other things to do. And he was a hero. “Well, thanks. For, you know. Bringing me back from the brink of death.”
“Don’t mention it.” Our eyes met, something moved between us. He licked his lips, and shy-smiled before a gnawing in my gut reminded me I needed to skedaddle and figure out what the hell was going on.
“I really need to get out of here so…”
“Right. Yeah, of course.” His smile dropped, and his bright eyes clouded over. “I’ll get your doctor. For the record, I don’t recommend leaving. You have a serious concussion, and you need rest. She’ll likely say the same.”
I nodded and pretended like the movement didn’t make the room spin.
There was nothing left for either of us to say, and he rushed out of the room faster than I expected. I’d stung him. Hurt him somehow, but I didn’t call him back. I had enough problems without worrying about Dr. Dish’s feelings.
It was sticky-hot outside, even at sunset. A little after seven that evening, I sat hunched over on a bench by the hospital doors and breathed in the swampy air to the count of four…out to the count of six…in for four…out for six. Tingles of residual panic pricked at my lips and fingers, but my pulse wasn’t racing any more. Lucky, since the doctor on duty had been worried about my heart after the shock I’d been given in the ER by none other than Dr. Derek Carlisle.
My mind was completely absorbed with thoughts of Dr. Dish performing emergency resuscitation on my nearly dead body. It was weird how he kept showing up. Serendipity maybe. Or maybe he worked at the hospital where I kept ending up.
It took all day to get discharged, thanks to the resistance of the ward doctor, the battery of tests they put me through, and a six-hour nap I accidentally took in the middle of the day. They made it damned clear I was discharging myself against medical advice, citing concussions and risks of brain damage, but I’d been adamant I was good to go and readily signed the stack of papers they handed me.
Right up to the moment I stepped outside, I was determined to find Ben and face him. He wasn’t answering