Ash (Dragon Riders MC #3) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,56
Just to make sure nothing has gotten any worse. Are you okay with that?”
“What kind of doctor are you again?”
He smiled kindly. “A trauma-slash-E.R. doctor. I finished up my residency a few weeks ago. They just hired me on at the local hospital full-time, so I’ll be sticking around for a bit.”
“Does that mean we’re going to be having more family dinners?”
He chuckled. “I certainly hope so. I’ve missed Ash and the times we’ve had.”
“I hate to say it, but he’s never mentioned you. Or an orphanage, for that matter.”
He went to sit on the couch. “That doesn’t shock me. The orphanage wasn’t kind to us. I mean, the ladies running it did the best they could, but things weren’t perfect. I was bullied a great deal. Ash always took up for me. But that meant that from a young age, he understood that violence didn’t have to solve much if he could make people afraid of him.”
I sat down next to him. “Will you tell me about the orphanage? About Ash?”
“I’m not sure if he’d want to tell you himself first or not.”
“I mean, he had to have known you’d at least mention it in order to get into his place to see me. Right?”
He wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm. “You have a point there.”
“So, will you tell me?”
He smiled. “How about I tell you my favorite story of Ash and I growing up, then you ask him the rest.”
I winced at the pressure of the cuff. “I’m fine with that, too.”
“Does that hurt?”
“A bit.”
“How much?”
I shrugged. “On a scale of one to ten? Maybe a three? Just a bit more tender than I’m used to.”
“Did you have any trauma to this arm?”
I shook my head. “No. My head, yes. My face, yes. My back, ye—wait.”
“What?”
I sighed. “This was the arm my ex wrapped around my back to pin me to the ground.”
He blinked. “Sounds like a charmer.”
I giggled bitterly. “Yeah. Well, Ash was there, and that made a lot of things worth it.”
“Ash has that effect on people. Here, I’ll cuff your other arm. That’ll make this a bit easier.”
I watched him switch arms. “So, about that story.”
He smiled again. “Yes. My favorite childhood story of Ash. That’s probably when we figured out we were in the same homeroom class for seventh grade.”
“So, you guys went to the same school and everything.”
He nodded. “Yep. For the bulk of our childhood years. But we’d never had the same classes before, except homeroom in seventh grade. And boy, did we make that teacher’s life a living nightmare. I’m talking spitballs to the ceiling, sliding the girls in our class teasing little notes just for a laugh.”
“Hey, I used to be one of those girls. That’s not funny.”
“Yeah, well. We weren’t the best of kids. Ash got into a lot of physical fights, but I got into a lot of verbal altercations. When we were younger, we had a lot of anger we were working through since both of us were abandoned by our parents.”
I blinked back tears. “I’m so sorry, Scottie.”
“Bah, it’s water under the bridge now. But as a kid? To figure out your parents just left you at a place like an orphanage? It stung, and it stung hard. Thankfully, Ash and I had each other, and we both understood what the other was going through. That helped in ways I didn’t realize until I was much, much older. Open your mouth for me.”
I opened my mouth so he could check me out before he removed the cuff.
“Your blood pressure’s a bit high, but I’m thinking it’s more from me being sprung on you than anything having to do with the accident. I’m going to feel around your scalp and make sure there aren’t any nasty knots or anything. All right?”
I nodded. “What else did you guys get up to in seventh grade?”
As I sat there and listened to stories of Ash and Scottie getting into trouble only to talk their way out of it, he looked me over. He checked me from head to toe before giving me a clean bill of health and demanding that I take the pain medication I “forgot” this morning. Ugh. I hated taking things that made me so tired, especially without Ash around. I didn’t feel safe yet without him near. But Scottie was hellbent on not leaving until I took the medicine. So, I did.
“Scottie?”
He started packing up his things. “Yes?”
“Do you think there’s a reason why