Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Sexy as hell and captivating.
She probably would hate that I thought that.
“If you’re asking if they know about that night,” I said. “They don’t. They know you’re here to escape someone. But that’s all they know.”
She looked like she still didn’t believe me.
“I promise,” I said.
She snorted. “I don’t think your word holds much power anymore, Ramsey.”
She hadn’t ever called me by that name.
And it hurt that she’d used it now.
“You can’t use that name ever again,” I said. “It’s not just us that needs to stay hidden.”
Curiosity lit in her eyes.
I could tell that she wanted to ask questions.
But like I didn’t share her information with the others—at least not fully—I wouldn’t share theirs with her.
If they wanted to share it with her directly, that was their prerogative.
But I’d had my life violated enough to know that I wouldn’t want others doing it to me, so I didn’t do it to them.
“Whatever.” She looked away. “I have to take Neo for a walk.” She moved past me. “See you around.”
I was dismissed.
I found that I didn’t like being dismissed.
At least not by her.
But since I was a good person, I chose to give her the space she was obviously asking for.
As I left out, though, I tried not to examine how the situation made me feel.
It was of my own making, after all.
Every time I saw her over the next three months it was more of the same.
Acknowledgment. Politeness. But under it all was a burning anger directed at me.
I deserved it.
After I’d left her that night, I’d given it a lot of thought.
And I realized that I would’ve been pretty fuckin’ pissed, too, had I learned that she’d died, then found out that she wasn’t dead after all, but hiding.
We had a bond.
One that was forged in fire.
I should’ve shared it with her sooner.
Or as soon as I could.
I’d gotten her here as fast as I could, away from the Irish Mob’s clutches.
But I hadn’t spared the time she deserved.
So, yes, it was understandable that she would actively avoid me. Or outright glare.
I deserved everything she was giving me and then some.
Seven
Due to personal reasons, I’m evil now.
—Sage to Gentry
Sage
I saw him everywhere now.
And I guessed the whole “ex-husband” thing worked out, because no one asked questions as to why I was hostile when I saw the ‘sexy deputy.’
That was what they called him in the emergency room department.
All the nurses made it a point to go on and on and on about him.
That department was my least favorite, mostly because I saw him every single day.
Being a sheriff’s deputy meant that I saw him more than I ever expected to, and since the ER was where the hospital I had the contract with was short-staffed, I was there more often than not.
The worst of it all was, someone, somewhere, found out about Gentry’s little ‘lie’ and now everyone in the hospital knew that he was my ex-husband.
It pissed me the hell off.
They always looked at me like I was dumb.
Especially when he came in and flirted with the nurses in front of me, they’d always look between us, as if wondering if I would react or not.
He was always cordial.
Always said hi, how are you? Small talk.
But it was annoying as hell, because the ER nursing staff were a bunch of bitches.
Every last one of them.
It was hard to work for them because of how awful they were.
There was no wonder that the hospital had a nurse shortage. If they treated all the workers that didn’t fit into their little clique like they treated me, then again, there was no wonder!
Today was an especially hard day.
There were hard patients—that somehow always got passed off to the travel nurses. Today, I’d had to deal with a man who saw people that weren’t there and was violent. I’d had to deal with several stomach flu cases. I’d had to deal with a woman that was a frequent flyer—someone that came in all the time. I’d had to deal with every patient they didn’t want that came through the door.
By the time that Gentry showed up to take our violent patient to the county lock-up, I was looking up the amount of time that I had left on my contract.
I officially had three weeks left of a four-month contract.
I could do it.
But I knew one thing for sure, I would not be working in the ER when I was through.
I had decided to stay.
Gentry was right about one thing.
I was safer here.
There were Dixie Wardens everywhere.
“Ohhh, he’s back.”
I didn’t bother to look up from the charting that I was doing.
I knew who ‘he’ was.
I also knew that he was on his way, so it was only logical to assume I knew who it was.
“He’s so sexy in that uniform,” one of the other nurses said. I hadn’t bothered to learn any of their names. “How could you give that up, Sage?”