He turned away. His inner beast didn’t like backing down from the challenge, but he had more important things to handle. Fighting God wasn’t one of them.
When he finally turned back, Day nodded his head and whispered, “I thought so.”
Cayson
As soon as Cayson woke up, feeling groggy and unsettled, he saw Dr. Rajih standing there, looking up at the television, which was airing a special report about a local homicide. Cayson turned away from the typically inflammatory local news. It took him a minute to look around, his head pounding hard enough for him to grit his teeth. Did I fall? Cayson thought back to what had landed him on this bed in the surgeon’s lounge.
“Cayson!” Dr. Masey came in, with a flourish of long blonde hair, with White Diamonds perfume lingering on her white coat. She was on the transplant board with him, so he’d gotten to know her pretty well. “Oh, my lord. I just got in and I heard what happened.”
“Great,” Cayson groaned, leaning up on one elbow.
“Hey, hold on, Doc. Your scary nurse friend said that you were not to move if you woke up, and to come get her as soon as you did,” Dr. Rajih said, hurrying towards the door.
Cayson had no clue what time it was, but looking out the window, he could see it was fairly late. The sun had gone down, and the daylight was slowly creeping behind it. Dr. Masey laughed, sitting on the foot of the cot he was resting on. “He must be talking about Jenny.”
“Sure, Dr. Rajih. Thank you for keeping watch. But I’m fine.” Cayson’s voice was full of exhaustion that he couldn’t hide. He waved the doctor away, hoping he could be gone by the time he made it all the way back from the ER with a very busy Jenny.
“So what happened?” Dr. Masey asked, poking gently at the bruise on his cheek. “You got a little bump there. Did that happen when you passed out?”
“I guess.”
“Did you want to run a few tests? I’ll work them up myself,” she asked, smiling sweetly while her expert fingers traced the bones of Cayson’s cheek.
“I’m good, really. I was already on the floor when I passed out. It was blood pressure. I assure you. I remember now. I was upset about something and hyperventilated. I’m fine Gina, I swear.”
“Only if you’re sure. You’re the specialist.” She winked, still cupping his sore cheek.
Cayson held her eye contact for too long, feeling uncomfortable with her extra flirty bedside manner. Dr. Gina Masey was a beautiful woman. Young, and a brilliant urologist, but Cayson couldn’t return her advances and she was fast to pick up on it when he gently removed her hand from his face. Maybe she was just testing the waters, but Cayson wasn’t bi, he was gay.
He gave her an apologetic smile while he sat upright and began to gather himself. “I really need to get home.” He stood up and swayed a little on his feet. She jumped up and grabbed ahold of his elbow. He barely resisted tugging it out of her grasp. When he checked his cell phone, he saw he had no messages from Quick and it was almost six. Cayson felt like he was going to pass out again. Surely, Quick could’ve sent a text or something by now, if he wanted to. This about confirmed it, Quick was done with him. He probably already had a medical records release request from Duke and Vaughan in his mailbox. He’d not only lost patients, but guys who he’d considered friends, and Rome… Please don’t give up on me. Cayson felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes. He couldn’t lose out on love now. He was almost certain he’d never find it again.
“I’m gonna use the bathroom, Gina. Then I need to make a phone call, if you don’t mind.”
She waved him off like he was being silly. “Of course. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Thank you.” He avoided looking at her as she left, not wanting her to see his morbid expression.
He went in the bathroom to relieve his bladder, and after finishing, spent an extra few seconds splashing cold water on his face to try to wake up, but all it did was aggravate his headache more. Cayson couldn’t help but think about Brian, too. Was he alright? Had he gotten all his tests done? Was he discharged or admitted? He knew it wasn’t a good idea to go looking himself, because running into Ford was the last thing he wanted to do. They were probably all down there now, if Brian was still here. Cayson’s eyes stretched wide. He had to get out of the hospital before any of them found him.
Cayson peeked out the bathroom before he left; wanting to be sure he wasn’t seen. He looked at the two computer terminals in the lounge and thought about pulling up Brian’s record to see what had happened, but he changed his mind. No longer any of his business. He threw on his big coat and grabbed his personal items off the cot where he’d spent the last few hours. He walked as fast as he could, which wasn’t fast at all, trying to escape unseen, but it was obvious word of his fall had spread fast. About thirty people offered to drive him home, but Cayson refused everyone. The walk was a short one, it was still at least somewhat light outside, and the fresh air would help clear his head, maybe even stop the pounding.