Page 38 of The Exception

“Definitely.”

Her full lips twisted into a pucker as she pondered his observation. “Hmm… if we’re a good team, we’re the 2015 Cavaliers and I’m LeBron carrying you on my back.”

The smile was bursting across his face before he could even think about stopping it.

This woman.

“You enjoy roasting me, don’t you?”

Sonya lifted one shoulder and grinned over at him. “It is a highlight of my day.”

It was the highlight of his day too, but he wasn’t going to admit that just yet. Hewasgoing to get some more, though. “Well, if we’re using basketball analogies, I’d have to say we’re more like—”

His joke died on his tongue when he looked up to see her face stricken. The smile she’d been wearing had turned into an open-mouth gape and the corners of her eyes pooled with tears.

The sight of it cut off his air.

“What’s wrong?” He followed her gaze to see two nurses restraining a patient who was refusing to go into his room. They were struggling with him while a man in a white coat tried to calm him with words Trav couldn’t hear.

The patient looked up from behind the taller nurse’s shoulder, and when their eyes met, Trav knew exactly what made Sonya’s face look like that, because the same emotion washed over him. It was Frank.

He’d only been out a week and he was already back.

* * *

It’s only been a week.

That was the only thought in Sonya’s head as she watched the scene playing out in front of her devolve into something she never wanted to see with a patient, especiallythispatient. Frank had a knack for being verbally combative but he’d never given anyone on the floor cause to physically restrain him. She knew something must’ve gone terribly wrong over the last week to affect him like this.

It broke her heart.

She gasped as one of the nurses lost his hold on Frank’s arm and paid for it with an elbow to his side. If this went on any longer, they would sedate him and Frank didn’t handle sedation well.

Her training and her feet propelled her forward to help get the situation under control, but something held her back.

She looked down to see Trav’s fingers wrapped around her wrist. Frustrated, she tried to pull away but his grip only tightened.

She growled. “Let me go!”

Unbothered, Trav shook his head. “No.”

She parted her lips to continue her protest but when her gaze traced up his arm to his face, whatever argument she had, died on her tongue. His attention was focused on Frank and the nurses, but even in profile she could see that his face had hardened into a granite mask leaving no trace of the Trav she’d been joking with moments earlier. This was the take no shit version of Trav that Sonya had only glimpsed once before, but she had to imagine was always right there beneath the surface.

Trav’s eyes met hers and the intensity she found there stole her breath.

“I’ve got him,” he promised. “Stay back.”

Sonya’s body relaxed and she nodded, because everything about this version of Trav assured that hewouldhandle it. She wasn’t the type of woman who expected men to step in to save the day, but it felt different coming from Trav.

And confusing.

And something she’d need to do a deeper dive on later.

Trav released her, moving to help the nurses like a man on a mission. Sonya worried when Frank struggled against Trav’s hold too, but Trav’s arms were like iron as he practically carried Frank to his room.

Only then did Sonya start breathing again and the despair she’d felt about Frank’s condition was replaced by a fury she’d never experienced at work. Her eyes narrowed and she searched the area for the person responsible for the mess they’d all witnessed.

Dr. Lewis was warned that Frank’s progress wasn’t where it needed to be and hadn’t listened. Sonya would never know if that was because she was “just a nurse” or for some other reason but either way, he was going to listen to her now.

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