Sweet Nothing(36)

It was a relief that Avery hadn’t insisted that I go into detail about each stripe tattooed on my ribs. If she had, I’d be even more of a f*cking mess. Women usually just assumed the tattoos didn’t have any meaning, so I’d never had to explain what it meant—not that I would tell them the truth anyway.

I was caught off guard that Avery not only asked, but cared enough to listen.

“Earth to Josh.” Quinn waved his hand in front of my face and I slapped it away. He chuckled. “That girl has you sprung.”

I shook my head as I rounded the back of the ambulance, stopping mid-step when I saw Doc Rose. He was checking his phone as he walked across the parking lot toward the ambulance bay doors, but when he recognized me, he dropped his phone into his pocket, staring right at me with a smug smile.

I nodded back to him, whispering a string of expletives under my breath.

“You really don’t like that guy, do you? He still trying to put the moves on Avery?” Quinn asked, closing the back of the ambulance.

I wiped my hands on my pants, fantasizing about using the shears hanging from one of the loops in my cargos. Doc Rose was a cocky f*cker now, but that fake smile would disappear if he was stabbed in the face. I shook the violent thought away. “Whoa.”

“What?”

“Feeling stabby. Is this what it’s like to be jealous?”

“Want to kill him?”

“Yeah.”

“Yep. You’re jealous. Is he bothering her?”

“She doesn’t see it that way, not that she’d tell me if he were.”

“Can’t blame her there. Get your hand off your shears.”

I pointed my whole hand in the doctor’s general direction. “How does a guy like him, who has everything, just throw it all away? He’s married, with kids. He has the whole American dream waiting for him at home.”

“* is a powerful thing, man. Look how it has you twisted.”

“Don’t talk about Avery like that,” I warned.

Quinn held up his hands. “Who said it’s the American dream to have kids? I don’t want no little Quinns runnin’ around here.”

“No one does, brother,” I agreed.

Quinn shot me a look, and then something in the parking lot caught his eye. “Speak of the Devil.”

Avery was making her way across the lot, smiling brightly, a paper bag in her hand. My stomach growled as the red symbol on the side came into view, but my attention quickly returned to the skintight jeans she wore with a simple white tank top. I’ve never known another woman to look so f*cking good with no effort.

“She’s off today?” Quinn asked.

I kept my gaze on Avery. “Yeah.”

“Did you know she would be here? Is that why you spent so much time cleaning out the back?”

“Maybe.” I wiped the ridiculous grin off my face, crossing my arms and leaning against the fender of the ambulance, trying not to look too eager.

“I thought you could use some lunch,” Avery said, stopping a few feet from me. She held out the bag from JayWok.

I walked toward her, looping my arms around her waist, lifting her feet from the ground and planting a kiss on her lips. She let hers part, granting me deeper access. I groaned, reluctant to pull away. Needing her had become worse, not better, and I wondered if it was normal to feel so desperate for her, a deep-seated worry that we didn’t have much time left.

“Only if you join me,” I replied.

Her smile widened, and she gave a quick nod to Quinn before returning her attention to me. “Of course. Let me go say hi to Deb, and then we can find some shade. It’s too nice to eat inside, and we’ve only got a few weeks of summer left. Might as well enjoy it.”

“Tell Deb I’d like to eat out too,” Quinn interrupted. I recoiled watching him wink and then run his tongue over his lower lip. “She’ll know what it means.”

Avery made a gagging sound as she walked away.

I smacked him on the chest. “What the f*ck is wrong with you?”

Quinn rubbed his chest, not looking the least bit apologetic. “What the f*ck is wrong with you? You’ve lost your sense of humor. That girl has you wrapped around her little finger, man.”

I watched Avery disappear behind the emergency room’s sliding glass doors. I couldn’t argue with Quinn. Avery scared the hell out of me, but I couldn’t stay away from her, even if a part of me knew it wouldn’t end well.

Before Avery, I’d made mistakes I was too ashamed to ever admit. I knew when I did, she wouldn’t look at me the same way. Running my hand absentmindedly over my side, I pictured the large gray door that stood between my future and me only a few short years ago.

“Brooke!” I yelled, running into the lobby of the clinic.

Seeing Daniel pacing in front of a door, I knew exactly where she was.

Daniel took one look at me and shoved his shoulder against my chest, using all his strength to keep me back from the doorway. He was my closest friend, but if he didn’t get out of my way, I was going to slam my fist into his jaw.

“You have to calm down, Josh,” Daniel said. “You can’t let her see you like this. She needs you to be strong for her.”

I gripped his shirt at the collar. “What happened? I told her I would be back tomorrow. Why? I left for one f*cking day!” I stared at the door, knowing I was already too late. My body shook, and I pushed against Daniel.