Page 27 of Chaos Destiny
This man helpedwith heavy lifting.
He helped with bandages, wound care, and IV catheter placement, and it wasn’t two hours before he stepped in to complete tasks without my prompting.
And I watched him.
I couldn’t help it.
The most interesting part was watching him when it came to Ari. Regardless of what their relationship was,or wasn’t,this was the mother of his child. What had caused them to separate probably fell by the wayside the minute shit hit the fan. I had a joke of an ex-boyfriend, yet I’d found myself wanting to call him when things went south.
Whenever Gage passed by the door to Ari’s room, he paused and peered inside. A couple of times, I caught him standing over her bed, and while it was clear that he loved this woman, I’d expected to see more intimacy. Instead, there was something protective about the way he interacted with her, but it wasn’t protective from the standpoint of a lover. It was something that straddled the line betweenfriendandfamily.
It was also possible that I was seeing what I wanted to see. The mysterious green-eyed man had cleaned up, and he cleaned up quite nicely.
“You keep watching me, Doc.”
I blinked.
Gage was standing in the narrow doorway to the main area of our makeshift infirmary. The area housed eight beds for those I’d determined were safe to be among the public while being treated or recuperating. Ari’s state was too delicate to be around others, and I didn’t have to worry about Thandie. The rest of the clinic “staff” fought and stumbled over one another to keep an eye on her, all of them enamored by the presence of an infant.
We had children at our camp, the youngest of which was six. Children could make sense in a world like this. Babies, on the other hand, were more of an anomaly.
“You’re a good worker,” I said. “I’ve been watching you because I’m impressed.”
He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, his pale blue shirt snug against his biceps and chest. His jeans sat exactly where they needed to on his hips, stretching the entire length of his long legs down to his boots. Gage and Phil were around the same height, but jeans wore Phil, whereas Gage dominated denim and dark stitching.
“Still impressed, I see.”
I turned away and double-checked the lock on the cabinet where I kept a collection of composition notebooks. HIPAA no longer existed, but I continued to safeguard my patients’ medical histories. The goal was to rebuild a semblance of society, even if that meant clinging to the slippery edge of a sinking ship.
“What’s your story, Doc?” Gage asked.
I shrugged. “Do I have to have one?”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“That’s fair, but right now’s work time.”
“I beg to differ. Right now’s lunchtime, and I haven’t seen you eat anything all morning.”
“Oh?” I faced him again. “So, who’s watching wh?—”
I didn’t hear him move.
Yet, he was right there, standing over me, wearing rubbing alcohol as if it were a five-hundred-dollar bottle of cologne. Who in the world was this man that he could make rubbing alcohol smell good?
“So, Doc…” He searched my face. “What’s for lunch?”
“I have work to do,” I said, the words rushing out as if I’d forgotten and remembered how to breathe all at the same time. “Plus, I don’t eat in the cafeteria. I see people all day. I prefer to eat alone.”
“You can eat alone with me.”
“Gage, are you…”
The remaining words faltered; I needed a moment to reinforce that it didn’t matter what his answer to my question would be. I wasn’t this person, and one man wouldn’t change that.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Am I what, love?”
“Flirting,” I finished.
