Never Been Ready (Ready #2)(4)

I rounded the corner and found Logan reviewing a file at the nurse’s station. He looked tired and worn. We'd tried to talk him into taking time off, but he'd refused. He'd said he would go f**king nuts if he was left with nothing to do. We had managed to get him to reduce his hours and work part-time during his treatments, but on nights like this, when the job got rough, I could see it wearing on him.

"Hey, how are you doing?" I asked.

He looked up at me and at that moment, I knew what losing a patient meant to him. He was destroyed.

"Oh God, Logan...I'm sorry," I said, pulling him into a tight hug.

I'd lost patients before. I knew the pain and guilt, worrying that I could have done more. I remembered the few I'd lost like it was yesterday. I remembered their names, the parents who grieved the lost lives and the years that had passed by without them.

"I don't know why this one is affecting me so much more. It's not like this is the first time I've lost someone on the table."

"You're a father now Logan." I said, pulling back from our embrace.

"Every mother you save is Clare. Every child you bandage up is Maddie. It's harder now to separate yourself from your patients because you feel so much more."

"You're right. I can't stop thinking about that child. He's parentless now. There's no father on record. We can't find a next of kin. He said they were on their way to visit a close family friend so we are trying to make contact. Social services is on their way."

"Hey, it's okay. You did everything you could. Go home. Be with your wife and daughter and let them help you get through this. I've got this. I'll take care of him until Social Services come, all right?"

He nodded before pulling me into another hug.

We said our good-byes, and I made my way towards the room that held the child. His name was Connor. He sustained only mild injuries from the accident, since he'd been in the back of the car.

Right before I was about to push open the door open, I paused, feeling panic rise in my chest.

What was I doing?

I should find someone else to go in there —a mother maybe, someone who would know what to say or do. I didn't have any experience with children beyond my goddaughter, Maddie. What the hell did I know about caring for a hopeless child? Isn't that something I should have learned from my own parents? All I learned from my mother and father was how to abandon and hurt.

Looking around the empty hallway, I realized there was no one else. It was only me. I had to do something. I entered the room, and my heart fell. He was sitting in the center of the bed with knees pulled to the center of his chest and his head lowered. He was clutching something in his left hand, but I couldn't make out what it was. A paper, or a photo maybe? Tears trickled down his legs, and I heard him heave in a breath as he sobbed.

As I clicked the door shut, his eyes jerked up and found me. They were hazel and looked like paint splatters. Blue, green, and brown were mixed together to create one of the most beautiful sets of eyes I'd ever seen. They were so unique, yet familiar. I felt the overwhelming need to pull him into my arms and tell him everything would be okay even though I had no proof otherwise.

"Who are you?" he questioned.

"I'm Leah."

"Are you here to take me away?" he asked cautiously.

"No, I'm not taking you anywhere. I'm a nurse."

"They already put bandages on me."

"I know," I said.

"So, why are you here?" he asked softly. He quickly wiped away the tears from his eyes in a halfhearted effort to cover up the fact that he'd been crying.

"I'm here so you don't have to be alone. You can talk to me if you want, or you can ignore me, but I'm going to sit here with you until it's time to leave because I think you need a friend right now."

"You're not my friend," he retorted.

"No, but I'd like to be."

Chapter Two

~Declan~

The flight attendant had just announced our final descent into Richmond. In twenty minutes, I would be stepping foot in Virginia for the first time in six months. After months of delays, we were finally ready to start filming the Civil War movie I was both the star and executive producer. If given the choice, I would hand the acting role to someone else. Let them deal with the constant attention and the never-ending chatter. But that was a condition the studio had put into my contract. If I wanted my name added to the list of producers in the credits, I had to take the lead role. It was an honorary title mostly, but it would hopefully get me to where I wanted to go.

Acting was never my intention. I had come to Hollywood to direct, but I'd had a hard time getting my foot in the door. So, I'd auditioned for a small role, and got it. One thing had led to another and before I knew it, acting had become my full-time career.

When a little known film I'd done struck it big with several Oscar nominations last year, my name had been plastered over every gossip magazine and Internet site known to man. I had been dubbed the newest up-and-coming Hollywood hunk.

I f**king hated it.

I couldn't leave my apartment for weeks without some dick with a camera following me around asking me about anything from the weather to who I'd f**ked last night. I had been offered every role imaginable. I'd turned them all down. I didn't want to be the next action hero or the newest heart-throb. I just wanted to be left alone to retire from acting so I could get behind the camera.