And it was why I was here listening in on this conversation, having only just escaped death by the skin of my teeth, staring at two of the hottest doctors in the history of mankind.
“Wait,” Sadie suddenly said loudly, all of our eyes moving to her. “This guy made you…” she broke off and started laughing.
Not aware of what had been revealed by Ramona only five minutes ago to the rest of the bar, Chris and Parker frowned and looked at each other to see if the other one knew who she was talking about.
Sinking slightly on her barstool, Ramona huffed, “No, it wasn’t him.”
Chris’s confusion grew. “Wasn’t me who did what?”
By this point, Sadie was bent over with her head hanging down, the only sign of what she was doing shown by her shaking shoulders. Beau had moved to the other end of the bar, but she was listening in as much as she could, her teeth imbedded in her lower lip as she tried not to laugh.
That meant it was just me watching the car crash that was about to happen.
Looking at me for help, Parker asked, “What’s going on?”
Spinning back to face the bar, I noticed there were two inches of liquid—well, rum—still in the bottom of my glass, so I made a point of drinking it slowly, cursing inside my head.
“Ariana,” he growled, sending a delicious shiver through my body. God, I loved it when he growled. “What’s going on?”
Thankfully, one of the regulars who was well into his fifth drink of the night answered for me. “See,” he snickered, raising his glass to get their attention, “your chickadee there was dumped tonight. Something happened in the bedroom that shouldn’t have, and we’re all wondering if it was you who was part of it.”
Well, that was impressive for someone who was almost drunk. How diplomatic could you get?
Taking a step closer to me, Parker shook his head. “I’ve never touched her.”
Chris frowned as we looked at him. “It wasn’t me.”
Almost like it was choreographed, all of us turned back to Ramona, who was chewing on her fingernail now.
“Well, that’s a shame,” Sadie wheezed, her head finally coming up as she leaned on the bar with one arm and wiped her face with the other hand.
Looking around all of us, Chris asked, “Why do I feel like I’m missing out on something?”
Not missing a beat, Sadie replied, “Could have been worse, mate. You could be the butt of the joke right now.”
And that’s when I lost it. Completely, totally and utterly lost it as I burst out laughing so hard I had to grab onto the bar with both hands to stop myself from falling off the stool. I heard phones beeping through the pounding in my head and both men swearing as they said goodbye. I didn’t even stop as Parker kissed me on the top of my head, using my current state to get closer to me than I’d have let him normally.
When it finally passed, I took deep, gulping breaths and used a napkin to wipe under my eyes.
With a small grin on her face, Sadie shouted to Beau, “Girls night in. Lock ‘em up, and let’s hit it.”TwoParkerI didn’t usually need a lot of sleep. I could thank years of being on call and emergencies happening and my personal issues for that, but this morning, I felt it more than usual. Thanks to three cars hitting each other last night, I’d been at the hospital until three o’clock. It was now eight o’clock in the morning, and I was coming in from my run, with my legs feeling like I had concrete wrapped around them.
I’d just put my key into the door when my phone started ringing, making my stomach sink at the thought of having to go back into the hospital.
Pulling it out of the band on my arm, I frowned when I saw Tate’s name on the screen and answered as I pushed the door open. “Hey, what’s up?”
I’d grown up with the Townsends and Montgomerys in Piersville, so I’d known them for most of my life. Apart from my little brother Dale, they’d been the most reliable thing in it, regardless of their craziness. In fact, I could confirm that if it hadn’t been for them, I probably wouldn’t have ended up the way I had.
But that took me down a road of memories and thoughts I didn’t want to go down ever again.
“You seen my sister? Levi took her car from Lily’s bar last night, and I just went to check on her, but she’s not home.”
Doing an about-turn, I stalked back toward my door, throwing it open and heading for my car.
“She was at the bar last night, that’s the last time I saw her. Fuck, Tate,” I hissed, jogging down to where my vehicle was parked. “Why didn’t he take her with him?”