He was relatively new here, but we had already become acquainted. He was raised by a gifted family, although he wasn't gifted himself. His mother had been a healer much like Noah, so he did the next best thing, in his opinion, and went to medical school.
“Dr. Wyatt,” I said in the same stern tone that he was using with me.
“Light training, such as a gentle jog,” he reminded me with a chuckle. He really couldn’t stay mad at me for long; he said I reminded him of his daughter too much. Unfortunately, he was recently divorced, and his wife retained primary custody of his twelve-year-old daughter.
It’s amazing the things you learned if you only listened.
“I tried,” I said impishly. “Honestly, you know how some people have it out for me.”
“Can I see?” Dr. Wyatt said gently to Lincoln.
Lincoln dropped his hands, and Dr. Wyatt gingerly removed Lincoln’s shirt and unwrapped my bandage. He got a bottle out of the cabinet and some swabs and carefully wiped the blood away.
“Well it doesn’t look too bad,” he finally said. “It looks like a little of it was reopened. I’m going to clean it out, put some antibiotic ointment on there, then a new bandage, and you should be all set. No more sparring, Blake. No more lifting weights. None. Zilch. Zero. Come back in a week, and I’ll look at it then, but until then, refrain from those activities.”
One of the girls from the Illinois group offered to heal me, but I knew she wasn’t proficient in healing yet. Her specialty lied in sprains, so she wasn’t the greatest with open wounds and had been known to leave irregular scars. If I was adding to my scars, I wanted them to be more natural.
“Yes, sir,” I stated as I leaned back. I was drained, but my brain wanted to process everything. Was Lincoln Hudgens really standing in my hospital room? Was there a possibility I could get over my animosity towards him to try and restore our gifts? Could I separate my head from my heart, from my body?
“Do you still have your pain pills?” he asked as he pulled out the cuff to take my blood pressure. Usually a nurse did it, but I imagined Dr. Wyatt had requested to do it since he knew about my mysterious ailments.
“I do, but I stopped taking them,” I admitted grimacing when he spread the antibiotic ointment on my arm.
“You should be taking them as needed,” he frowned as he grabbed a gauze bandage.
I sighed, and I looked at Lincoln warily. He might as well know what he was getting into the sooner, the better. “Doc we talked about this, addiction runs in my family, and a little bit of pain never hurt anyone.”
It was his turn to sigh at me. “I support your belief and admire your convictions but don’t be stubborn when you need it.”
“I will,” I said placatingly.
He gave me another exasperated head shake.
“Now,” he peered at my chart on his tablet. “I see that your birth control will be running out shortly. Have you decided what you’ll be using next? Did you want to continue with the pills or did you want to try the shot?”
I groaned aloud. The guys knew I took birth control. They saw me take it daily, but it wasn’t something I discussed with them, and it definitely wasn’t something I wanted to converse about in front of Lincoln.
“Doc really?” I muttered as I stared down at my feet, feeling my face warm. “Could we have deliberated about this…later?”
Troy began to chuckle. “It is an important topic to discuss. What are the differences between all her options? Are their pamphlets we can read?”
“The shot!” I blurted out quickly. “I would like to try the shot, please.” With my illnesses and general inconvenience, I had already decided to come in next week to talk to him about switching up my birth control.
I glared at all three men as they exchanged amused glances. I knew it was my punishment for not following doctor’s orders. It was a little bit unorthodox, but our whole situation in the mountains wasn’t conventional by any means.
“Seriously, doesn’t this get old after a while?” I protested to Lincoln as we walked back to the apartment.
When we got back out, Will and the gang had been absent from the waiting room. I assumed Will had shooed them all away. He understood the importance of opening the line of communications for us without an audience.
Dr. Wyatt had cleaned me up, gave me my shot, and one of his power shakes that he swore by and sent me on my way. I was still tired because I had a physically demanding day, but I wasn’t lightheaded or woozy any longer.
“I wear disguises when I’m out in public,” Lincoln explained dryly as we neared the hall for our apartments.
It seemed like his presence in our facility spread like wildfire. There had been an inordinate amount of people in the halls as we walked to the elevators and then down to our floor. Everyone pretended to be doing different tasks, but it is evident that they just wanted to catch a glimpse of Lincoln. I guess I should be thankful no one had approached him yet or asked him for an autograph.
My relief was short lived as I saw Adams and a few of her friends leaning against the opposite wall of our apartment. “Blake! How are you feeling?” she cried worriedly as she ran towards us.
I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I wasn’t in the mood for her fake theatrics and apparent overtures. I wanted to tell her to eff off and gloat about the fact I beat her once again, but I didn’t have the emotional energy for it right now.