Page 57 of Worth the Rush
Once we’ve landed, I stay in the helicopter while Griff and Ty make the hike down to our patient. Sometimes too many sets of helping hands in a situation like this is not helpful.
“Patient has a broken tibia. I’ve splinted it, and he’s now on the stretcher. He has a confirmed shoulder dislocation. We’ll be back to you in two shakes of a lamb's tail,” Griff says over the comms.
“Otherwise known as two minutes,” Ty adds.
“Copy that. I’ll let the hospital know we’re ten minutes out,” I say into my headset.
I’m anxious to get back to town, and then back up the mountain, back home, back to Ivy.
We land on the hospital roof, then unload the patient, Steve, who was out for a hike and slipped on some ice before falling into the canyon. By the sound of it, it could have been a lot worse, especially if someone hadn’t been out on the same trail today to help us locate him.
“Alright, I’m out,” I tell Ty and Griff as I walk down the hall of the hospital to the elevators.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry? We were gonna go to AJ’s for a drink,” Ty asks me.
“I’ve got something important to take care of,” I tell him.
“Ooooo…you got a date, Alder?” Griff calls.
“Something like that,” I yell as the elevator doors shut. Date. Locking Ivy down for good. Keeping her forever. Yeah, something like that. I shake my head.
I pull my phone out and see I have a missed call. It’s from Sullivan. Sighing, I hit his number and wait for him to pick up.
“Hello,” he answers.
“Sullivan. I thought all our business was finished after the transaction this morning,” I say.
“Business is all wrapped up. I was calling to let you know that Noah James was arrested on your property earlier.”
“He was where?” I ask, worrying for Ivy and struggling to stay in control. “Was he alone?”
“No. I was there as well as my daughter,” he explains.
“Ivy was there? Is she okay?” I let the fear into my voice now.
“She’s fine. When I left, she was still in her office. A bit confused by our partnership, but physically she’s fine,” he tells me. She knows. She knows, and it wasn’t me who told her. Is all I can think. No. Fuck. “I offered her the job, so she should be out of your hair soon,” he comments. “If that’s all. I have other business to attend to.” He doesn’t wait for my reply before hanging up. Shit, shit, shit. I see I have three texts, two are from the family group chat, and one is from Ivy.
Stormcloud
I’ll be at the office late tonight.
That’s all it says. I shoot off a reply.
Alder
I’m on my way. I’ll be there soon.
Please don’t leave. Please just give me a chance.
I’m cold. A bone-chilling cold. It’s such an odd contrast to the way I felt this morning. The burn that was searing into my veins earlier is now icy shock. Biting and brutal. I feel like the slightest stumble will cause me to shatter. I’ve been through worse, I tell myself. It does nothing to lessen the pain, but it does serve to remind me that the pain will lessen. Eventually. Hopefully.
I’m not sure what I’ll do now. I had foolishly started to believe that Silverthorne could be my home. Home. I wince. Oh my god. I said I wanted to be on his family’s Christmas tree. He let me say that. He let me pour my heart out when he’s been lying to me. Alder made me fall for him, and now I’m going to have to dig my way out of this ravine by myself.
Better start now. I start packing my desk up. I don’t have a lot of personal items here, so it takes less than half an hour. With nothing else to do, I just sit here. I don’t want to go to my cabin. Alone. I don’t need the reminder. Pulling out my phone, I make a call.
“Hello, thanks for calling The Holloway Hotel. How can I help you?” A sweet, young voice that I’ve grown attached to answers.
“Hi, um, do you have any rooms available?” I ask, and my throat burns.
