Dr. Knight: A Billionaire Holiday Romance

“Ah. But you see, you don’t know I’m bad for you. You just think it because that’s what other people are saying. And I don’t believe you.”

“Why are you making this so hard? You were the one who threw me away in the first place. You told me to forget you.”

“And I tried to forget you, but I can’t. I tried to stay away. But if I’m a bad habit, you’re a drug. I’ve found out what you can give me, and now I can’t get enough.”

“Well, you have to quit me,” Ellis says. “Because you’re not getting more of me. And I’m not getting more of you. I’m quitting you, Rainier.”

I tap my fingers on my hip. “Right.”

I feel the bitter taste of defeat in my mouth, a taste I’m not used to and I certainly didn’t expect to get from Ellis. I came down here to check on her, to comfort her, and here she is, cutting me off like a tumor, closing me up just like the cold case on the table between us.

I don’t think a woman’s ever done this to me before. Even so, I can’t bring myself to resent her. If anything, I just want to have her even more.

She really is like my drug, a unique, elusive drug I must have at all costs.

“Ellis…”

Suddenly, the room shakes as a loud boom thunders a short distance away.

Fear grips Ellis’s features. “What was that?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

Then my phone beeps. So does Ellis’s. I look at the screen and see an emergency alert.

“Shit.”

Chapter 7 ~ Duty Calls

Ellis

“Listen, everyone,” Dr. Gordon addresses all the doctors and nurses who are now gathered in the emergency room. “There has been an explosion at the department store right down the block.”

Gasps erupt throughout the room. I draw a deep breath as I force myself to stay calm.

“Now, the cause has not been determined yet,” Dr. Gordon says. “But that’s not our job. Our job is to make sure every patient they bring through those doors – and there will be a lot because it’s nearly Christmas – gets the care they need and deserve. We aren’t gods, but we are doctors, and sometimes we get a chance to be heroes. So let’s be heroes.”

It’s an excellent speech, one worthy of a movie maybe, but no one applauds. As soon as the doors open, all the doctors scramble into action. I do the same.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been caught up in mayhem. On the second day of my internship, a bus collided with three cars and sixteen people were injured, five of them critically. I was less experienced then, less confident. Half the time, I didn’t know what I was doing.

I’m better now.

But the situation is also worse than last time. People keep coming through the doors of the ER – young, old, men, women, bruised, cut, burned, with broken bones. I go from one bed to another, scampering in every direction to do the things the doctors bark at me to do, whether it’s running tests, fetching bandages or calling for another doctor. Thank goodness I was able to get some rest yesterday.

The good thing about emergencies is that they make you forget petty things, like the quarrels you have, the people you don’t like, the fact that you haven’t had lunch. Emotions evaporate. This is fight and flight.

Right now, no one thinks I’m a whore. All the doctors and residents are talking to me – well, shouting at me – and working with me. They listen to what I have to say. The nurses follow my commands.

I’m a doctor again.

“Smithson!” I suddenly hear Rainier call for me from across the room.

I run to him. “Yes?”

“I need to operate on this girl immediately.” He glances at the girl on the gurney, who looks about fifteen and has a large piece of metal sticking out of the side of her head. “Scrub in and help me.”

I point a finger at my chest. “Me?”

Is he out of his mind? I’m just an intern.

“The residents are all busy and none of the other interns are here,” he says. “I know it’s probably too soon to have you back in the OR, but I need you. Are you coming or not?”

I hesitate only a moment, remembering the last time I was in an OR, but I nod.

Dr. Gordon’s right. We all have a chance to be heroes today. Heroes or wimps. I’m not going to be one of the latter.

I’m a doctor. I’m going to save a life.

“I’m coming.”

“Good.” Rainier starts pushing the gurney. “Let’s go.”

~

Everyone knows that the brain is the most important organ in the human body. It’s the command center, responsible for us doing every single thing that we do, for every thought and word. If your brain ceases all activity, the heart can go on pumping and the lungs can go on breathing with the help of machines but you’ll still be practically dead. Most organs can be transplanted now. Not the brain. You just get one. If it’s gone, it’s gone. You’re gone.