A Midnight Clear by Kaje Harper

Author:Kaje Harper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Two years later

I pulled into my parking space and took a long, slow breath. It’d been the shift from hell. Losing a patient always sucked. Losing two of them? I rubbed my hands over my face. I needed a shower and a beer and some high fat and carbs. I should’ve stopped for those fries, but all I’d wanted was to get home.

A strange car sat in my second slot, almost earning a ding when I opened my door without paying attention. Hell, I never used the space anyway. Consider the spot my contribution to some neighbor’s getting lucky. More power to them.

I shuffled into the lobby, turned to my mailbox, and barely stopped in time to avoid running into a lurking— Royce! For an instant, I reached out to hug him, but a rush of memories caught up with me. I lowered my hands at my sides, fingers curling into fists.

“Hi, Adric,” he said, with a lopsided smile. “Long time no see, huh?”

“What are you doing here?” I flinched at the open hostility in my tone. I should be calmer than that. I’d given up on Royce and moved on, months ago. A year ago. I cleared my throat. “I mean, are you on leave, or…?”

He lifted one shoulder. “I’m out.”

“Out? As pan?”

“As discharged.” He shifted his weight. “Can we do this somewhere more comfortable? This lobby is fucking freezing. Guess they never did get the vent fixed.”

“No.” I turned and hesitated, not opening the inner door.

I could tell when Royce saw the scar, because he sucked in a breath. “Adric!” He reached toward my face but I dodged his touch. “What happened?”

“A car crash, a driver high on God-knows-what, a knife.” It’d come way too close to me being the one needing urgent transport to the ER, but ended up with just a gash from below my eye to the corner of my jaw. “A shitty day.” Like this one.

“Can we talk?”

“No.” The flat word came out before I could call it back. But I knew I was making the right choice. “Not tonight.” My soul felt flayed open after that shift. The young guy who fell through the ice to start our day was bad enough. But the last run, that kid— sixteen, maybe seventeen, probably his first winter driving, too much speed, too little respect for snowy roads. He’d slid through the red light right in front of the semi. We ended up transporting the semi driver, even though his symptoms suggested a panic attack, not a heart attack. Poor man was distraught…

I realized Royce had said something and I hadn’t even heard him. “What?”

“Look, I know what I did—”

I held up my hand. “Stop. Not tonight.” If I let Royce up to the apartment, I’d either fall sobbing on his shoulder or call him out so viciously there’d be no coming back. I could feel my control wobbling. “Another time, a different day.” I dug out my keys.

“Adric. Please listen.”

My throat tightened up. How long had I waited for him to be the one asking? I couldn’t handle it tonight.

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