Page 9 of Careless Whisper

No matter how often I told myself that I didn’t love him any longer, that I’d moved on, the truth was that I hadn’t. I had stayed in stasis and merely changed how I looked at life and love.

Betrayal like the one Elias had perpetuated against me had left me cold. I hadn’t had a relationship since. Sure, a few one-night stands here and there. Sex was sex. But I wasneverthe kind who just wanted to fuck.I wanted it all—I wanted what my parents had, my grandparents, my brother.

And I’d had that with Elias—for nearly a year.

I blinked, the memory slipping back into the quiet gray of the present.

There were no muffins now. No Elias leaning against the doorway, half-grinning. Only the hard bed, the hum of the old HVAC unit, and the dull ache behind my ribs where something used to be.

I stood and stretched, rolling out my neck.

Enough nostalgia, Reggie.

I had another eight hours ahead of me, and if the universe were feeling particularly cruel, I’d run into Elias again.

Maybe this time, I wouldn’t flinch.

The overhead speaker crackled just as I got to the nurse’s station.

“Rapid Response, Room 3B. Repeat—Rapid Response, Room 3B.”

I weaved through the hallway as my sneakers squeaked against the waxed floor.

Room 3B was one of ours—cardiac step-down. I processed my memory files.A post-valve replacement, stable this morning.He shouldn’t be crashing.

When I pushed through the door, the patient looked like he was drowning in the open air—clammy skin, labored breathing, his chest rising in uneven gulps.

“Tanya?” I queried the nurse who was there.

“Sudden drop in pressure,” my colleague said, breathless and pale. “Chest pain. Then this.”

I didn’t need to hear more.

Neck veins distended. Muffled heart sounds. Systolic pressure plummeting with every second.

Oh no. No, no, no.

“Tamponade,” I murmured, then louder, sharper: “We’ve gottamponade. Crash cart now. And page Cardiology. Dr. Graham. Tell him Sanchez suspects tamponade and the patient’s decompensating.”

Tanya froze for a second. “Dr. Graham? Are you sure he said that?—”

“Now.”

I knew what he’d said to everyone on the team afterintroductions:Don’t page me unless it’s critical. If you don’t know what you’re doing, figure it out before I get there.

Tanya did as I asked.

I snapped on gloves and leaned over the patient.

I could hear the blood pooling around the heart in my head, even before the ultrasound.

I’d seen it before. I could feel it,

“Give one of epi,” I told the resident. “Open the fluids wide. We need to keep him alive long enough to tap the pericardial sac.”

The door opened behind me. I didn’t have to turn to know who it was.

“Report,” Elias ordered.

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