Wrecked (Clayton Falls #3)(6)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

I waited until my parents disappeared through the doorway. “I really f**ked up this time, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.” Ben pulled a chair over, gesturing for Molly to take the one Mom had been using.

“I’m sorry.”

Ben leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “For scaring the hell out of us? Mom probably lost ten years off her life.”

“For this and the other stuff.”

“Am I pissed you tried to wreck my relationship with Molly? Yeah, but it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“That was ages ago, Jake. We were kids.” Molly touched my arm gently. I wasn’t used to her talking to me nicely.

“You really don’t care?” I’d spent the last six years worried that Ben would find out. What kind of guy tries to screw his brother over like that? It had to have been my low point. It didn’t help that Daniela suggested it right after we’d hooked up. We were both using each other. I was the closest thing she could get to Ben, and she gave me sex without asking for anything more.

Ben straightened. His expression told me he wished he was anywhere but there. He wasn’t the only one. “I already told you I was annoyed, but it’s over. Let’s stop talking about it.”

Molly looked like she wanted to say something but closed her mouth.

“Just say it.”

She studied her lap. “Did you really have a thing for me?”

I smiled, waiting for her to look at me. “Yes, as misguided as it was.”

She laughed. “I had a crush on you once too.”

“You did?” Ben and I said at the same time.

“For over a year, actually. I thought I’d lost my mind. I was supposed to hate you.”

“What changed your mind?” I asked.

“I fell for Ben in eighth grade.”

“Your crush was in middle school? That doesn’t count.”

“What did you expect? Ben and I started dating when I was fifteen.” She rolled her eyes. Usually it annoyed me when she did that, but I liked it this time.

“It’s good to have the real Molly back.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know how to deal with you when you’re nice.” I smirked. Smirking always pissed her off.

“Like you should talk? Are you ever nice?”

“Just like old times.” Ben put an arm around Molly’s shoulders.

That conversation went better than I expected. Somehow I knew I wouldn’t be able to fix the DUI problem as easily.

Chapter Four

Emily

“You came back.” Jake grinned when I came in that night. He was sitting up in bed, and he looked ten times better than the night before. He set aside a magazine. He moved it too quickly for me to see which one it was.

“I told you I would.” I picked up his arm and put the blood pressure cuff on.

“Yeah, but I was kind of afraid you’d switch patients at the last minute.”

“Nope. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me tonight.” I pressed start on the monitor.

“I don’t think ‘stuck with’ is the right choice of words. More like, I’m the luckiest patient on the floor.”

“I’m also seeing another patient next door…but he’s unconscious.” I removed the cuff, and took his hand so I could get a pulse ox on his finger.

“So I’m okay as long as you don’t get any ideas when he wakes up.”

“He’s eighty-six.”

Jake smiled this breathtaking grin. “I think I got this one then.”

I laughed. “I need to take your temperature.”

“Please do.”

I put the thermometer under his tongue, and he watched me intently the whole time. Had he been an old man, I would have called it gross. Coming from an attractive twenty-three year old, it didn’t bother me.

The thermometer beeped, and I removed it from his mouth.

“How did it go with your family?” I probably shouldn’t have asked, but he’d seemed so nervous about it.

“Better than expected in some ways, and worse in others.” He struggled to sit up more.

I helped him with his pillows and his hand brushed against mine. The brief contact was comforting, and I wanted more of it. “Isn’t that how most things usually go?”

“That’s very true. Can I ask you something now?”

“Sure, but I might not answer.” Talking about him was one thing, but I didn’t particularly want to talk about myself.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m your nurse. Or have you forgotten?”

“I just mean why would a girl like you be working nights like this? Wouldn’t you rather be out?”

“We don’t all have that option,” I said bitterly.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it. I guess this is just my backwards way of asking if there’s a guy waiting for you at home.”

“Shouldn’t you have asked that question before trying to get my number?”

He grinned again. “I figured that might have been your hesitation.”

I could have lied and told him I had a boyfriend, but what was the point? “No. There’s no guy waiting at home.”

“It’s not like me to risk getting rejected twice, but it’s worth it this time. Can I get your number?”

“That would be pretty unprofessional of me.”

“I won’t call until I’m out of here. I won’t be your patient anymore.”

I bit back a smile. “You know, you can be pretty persuasive.”

“So I haven’t completely lost my touch?”

“No.” I made my decision and scrawled my number on a scrap of paper. I went over to where his personal belongings sat, and grabbed his brown, leather wallet.

“What? Are you taking payment for the number? Because I think that might be considered unprofessional.”

“Nothing that extreme.” I folded up the paper and slipped it into his wallet. “If you still want to call after everything, it’s in there.”

His face lit up. “I’m sure that was a pity number, but I don’t care. I’m going to heal better now that I know I’ll see you again.”

“I thought you healed quickly anyway.”

“Yeah, but you can never heal fast enough.”

I laughed. “Take care of yourself, Jake.”

I resisted the urge to look back when I left the room. I wasn’t sure I could handle another one of those grins.