Selfless Hero

“Ahh,” I said, leaning back in my seat and feeling vaguely disappointed. Regardless of what was going on between me and Max, Dr. Nehru remained my favorite doctor to work with. I had learned so much from her. On the other hand, I knew she deserved to be properly compensated for her skills, so if the rumor was true, good for her.

“I never got a chance to work with her, but I heard she was a really good doctor. A lot of the staff seem bummed out about the possibility of her leaving.”

I nodded. “Yes. She was the best. I’ll be forever grateful for the time I got to work with her. She really taught me a lot about caring for patients, and being an advocate for the people we treat. Doctors like her are few and far between.”

Another one of the nurses sighed. “Looks like all the good doctors eventually move on. Nehru. Lewis. Coleman will probably be next.”

I almost dropped my teacup at the sound of Max’s name. My eyes widened. “Pardon? What was that about Lewis?”

“I heard he’s leaving too. Didn’t he find another hospital that’s offering him higher pay?”

“No, that’s not what I heard,” the nurse who’d been watching TV chimed in. “I heard from Lester that Dr. Lewis was getting tired of his military affiliation. You know, spending all those years as a soldier, and then becoming a military doctor. I heard he moving out of state and thinking about opening a private practice somewhere, leaving the military lifestyle behind all together. Can’t say I blame him. It’s tiring.”

There was more to the conversation, but I could no longer hear. My ears were practically ringing with shock. The tea had suddenly turned sour in my stomach. I set the cup down.

Max, leaving without telling me? He couldn’t. He wouldn’t…

The previous day, it felt like things had officially changed between us—like we had both decided to finally give in to the undeniable connection between us.

Or maybe he was just stringing me along, a voice in my head said. He got what he wanted, and now he’s free to go.

The thoughts created a bitter taste in my mouth, and I felt like my blood was literally starting to boil. It was a moment before I realized the other nurses were still talking to me.

“Kylie, are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I said, though my voice came out harsh. I stood, recognizing the tale-tell stinging in my eyes indicating that angry tears were not far. “Excuse me.”

I bolted from the on-call room and headed straight for the women’s bathroom, were I locked myself in and stood before the mirror. My eyes swam with tears and my face looked a shade too pale.

I felt nothing but pity for the woman staring back at me. She just couldn’t stop getting hurt. She had ignored the signs that things had been moving too fast, and now she was going to pay the price.

In the little bit of time I’d known Max, strangely enough, it felt like he had already hurt me more than ever Troy had.

Annoyed, I stormed out of the bathroom. A slow day no longer seemed desirable. I needed to keep busy to keep myself from thinking about how badly I wanted to ring Max’s neck.

CHAPTER 18

Max

The last foster family I stayed with, the Valors, had been fairly decent. In fact, after the several rounds of hell I’d been through with the previous families, the Valors had practically been like The Brady Bunch. By the time I made it to their household though, I was already in my late teens, on the brink of adulthood. While the Valors had treated me kindly enough, I had always harbored resentment toward them and it took me the longest time to figure out why. Logically, I knew I should have been grateful to have finally ended up with a family who didn’t treat me like a second-class citizen. Yet, it wasn’t until I reached legal age that I realized my issue with the Valor family; I had simply resented them for not coming into my life sooner. I lamented about how my life could have been different had they been the first household I ended up with. I often wondered how much pain and suffering I could have potentially bypassed.

As I got older, I eventually learned to let go of the resentment and accepted that the Valor household was the only place I could somewhat call home. Whenever I got a break from the military, I wound up on the Valors’ doorstep. Yet, the military quickly began to change me. It got to the point that when I returned to visit the Valors, it felt like coming home to a place I truly didn’t belong to anymore despite my sense of loyalty to the only people who had actually treated me like family. I had simply chan

ged too much to fit into their world.

That was precisely how I felt when I returned to the night-shift. Entering the hospital during night hours felt like home, but it also felt like I didn’t entirely belong there anymore. The day shift had changed me—or more accurately, Kylie Hackett had changed me.

“Dr. Lewis, are you all right? You seem a little distracted tonight.”

“I’m fine,” I said to the nurse before me. Fiona was her name. She was nice, skilled, pretty—but no match for Kylie.

Stop it, I said to myself.

“Dr. Lewis!” I turned around, seeing another nurse running toward me, out of breath. “You’re needed to fill in for Dr. Hansel. We have a GSW. We have him stabilized, but you need to do the final assessment before surgery.”

I hurried off after him. He led me to a young man with a gunshot wound to the side that had broken a rib. When I got there, the other nurses and technicians stood around as if their job was done.

“He’s all set, Dr. Lewis,” one of them informed.