I stood, rubbing my hands on my cut-off jean shorts before I stretched, trying to clear my mind of the lamenting thoughts of being single. Still.
But single was good. Before I’d run with Jackie and Brooke, I’d had my own guy trouble, with Nick, my ex. Nick hadn’t always been horrible, but towards the end, he’d moved from being a bit of drunk to stealing medications from my old job to sell. And he’d gone from lying to me to slapping me around. I shook my head. Yeah, fuck that. Single was fine.
And then, there were a couple of single guys on Blackthorn. Two of them, to be specific. Two gorgeous, dangerous, rough-but-so-freaking-enticing looking guys who certainly pulled my attention. And I was pretty sure I was crushing hard on both of them. But that was complicated.
…Really complicated.
I shook my head again as I grabbed my bag and glanced at Simon, who lived full time at the clinic.
“Think you can lock up tonight?”
Simon blinked.
“See if you can get through last quarter’s receivables too. I left QuickBooks open for you.”
Simon yawned and looked away and I rolled my eyes as I rubbed his ears and turned off the lights. I stepped into the brightly lit main medical area of the clinic—a back room with a few operating tables, some empty kennels for any patients that needed to stay over, and over-head operating lights. And I was already wondering what I should watch on Netflix or if Lucy had eaten the leftovers in the fridge from last night yet, when suddenly, there was a slamming sound at the back door.
I froze, my heart jumping into my chest.
The pounding came again—the sound of a fist slamming against the door and sending my pulse racing. I backed away, reaching for my phone, when a voice a called out.
“Doc! Doc, open the door!”
I froze again. I knew that voice.
Landon Jacobs.
Landon and his best friend Caleb Rawlins were also pretty new to Blackthorn, arriving just before I crashed the party here. They were old friends of Ryker’s or something. They’d been helping out in the garage when I first arrived, but like me, they’d opened their own business here—a tattoo parlor.
Oh, and the previously mentioned hot single guys in Blackthorn I’d been crushing on, where it was complicated?
…That would be Landon and Caleb. Temping, dangerous-looking and hot. But so very, very off-limits. For one, I knew trouble when I saw it, and those two had “favorite mistake” written all over them. The other problem though?
Well, like I said… there was two of them.
…and I was pretty smitten with both.
“Doc!”
I swallowed, trembling at the ferocity in his voice coming through the door. I didn’t really know either of them. I mean, I knew them in passing and through Stone. We’d interacted and I dare say flirted a little before, but that was it. Which begged the obvious question: what was Landon Jacobs doing banging on the back door of my veterinary clinic at eleven o’clock at night?
“Kennedy!”
“I’m coming!”
I snapped out of it, jolting and running for the door. I unlocked the deadbolt and swung the door wide, and my jaw dropped.
Oh my god.
“He’s hurt pretty bad.”
Landon gruffed the words out, pushing past my gawking silence as he carried a half-unconscious looking Caleb into the operating room. Blood soaked through his shirt, and he groaned incoherently.
I blinked, shaking the fog from my head.
“There,” I croaked, jabbing at one of the larger operating tables. “Put him down there.”
Caleb grunted as Landon scooped him up onto the stainless-steel table, and as I moved towards him, my heart skipped again as my eyes landed on the hole in his shirt.
“Is…” I swallowed. “Is that a fucking bullet hole?”
I glanced up to see Landon looking at me grimly, his dark eyes burning fiercely and the ink of his tattoos rippling along his neck by the collar of his t-shirt.
“You want to know the answer?”
“I want to call an ambulance.”
He shook his head grimly. “No can do.”
I stared at Landon. “Look at him! Call a fucking ambulance, Landon, he’s bleeding out!”
“Which is why we’re here.”
His voice was grim, his eyes holding mine ferociously as I swallowed thickly.
“What the hell is going on. Why are you here and not a fucking hospital? And how the hell did he get—”
“Doc.”
Landon’s voice was edged in steel, his jaw clenching as his gaze bore into my eyes.
“I’m not a doctor, Landon!”
He growled. “Okay, fine, cat-doc, I need you to patch him up. Ambulances mean cops, and…” he shook his head, and his look hardened before I finally saw the fear somewhere in those eyes too.
“Please, Kennedy.”
We held each other’s gaze for another minute, the only sounds my own heart racing in my ears and Caleb, groaning quietly on the table.
I swore, somehow pulling my eyes away from Landon’s fierce, gorgeous gaze.