Hex and Candy by Ashlyn Kane

Author:Ashlyn Kane [Kane, Ashlyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64080-739-6
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

LEO left the house Sunday afternoon with two lemon fizzies in his scrubs pocket, just in case. Even if they only had a mild effect, he didn’t want to be under the influence of anything he didn’t understand.

But if a—a werewolf showed up in the ER or something, well. Leo wanted to be prepared.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Niamh had asked as he slipped into his shoes.

If he were honest, Leo did. But—“I have my cell phone if I need advice,” he said. “And won’t you be bored while I’m at work?”

“Bored!” Niamh crowed. “Hardly. Do you know how many people leave shiny wrappers on the ground outside hospitals?”

She was a magpie, after all.

But Leo left without her, telling himself he needed to do this alone to prove he could.

And he did.

Between taking patients’ vitals, administering medications, checking IV lines, and all the recordkeeping that came with it, Leo didn’t have time for flights of fancy about who might be lurking or which of his patients might belong to a world Leo had only just discovered.

“How’s the nausea today?” he asked Mrs. Chifor, who had septicemia from a ruptured appendix. “Having any more luck keeping things down?”

“As long as I don’t eat anything to begin with.” She stared at him with flat, sunken eyes. “This is the most effective diet I’ve ever been on.”

Leo didn’t mistake that for a good thing. He nodded and started writing in her chart. “Well, the antibiotics you’re on for the infection can cause nausea, and the sepsis doesn’t help. I’ll make a note for your doctor to consider a different antibiotic, or maybe lower your dosage if he thinks you’re responding well enough. Meanwhile I can up your antiemetic. You want me to have them send up some applesauce? It’s easy on the stomach.” Too bad he didn’t have any of Cole’s mint candies to give her. A little magic wouldn’t go amiss.

Mrs. Chifor gave an anemic shrug. “Why not.”

If they didn’t get her nausea under control soon, they’d have to put her on IV fluids. “How’s the pain otherwise?”

“When I’m not throwing up? Four, maybe?”

“Better than yesterday, then. That’s good.” He finished his notations. “You need anything else?”

She didn’t, so Leo left her to it and moved on to his next patient.

“Good weekend?” Jimmy asked him as they crossed paths at the fourth-floor nurses’ station.

“Yeah, actually,” Leo said, hoping he didn’t sound as surprised as he felt. “A little unusual, but otherwise good. You?”

Jimmy lifted a shoulder. “I picked up an extra couple shifts. Car needs new tires. Winter is coming, blah blah blah.” No wonder he looked tired.

“I’ll make sure the coffeepot stays on.”

“You’re the best,” Jimmy said around a yawn.

Leo grabbed five minutes for a coffee and a vending-machine chocolate bar—admittedly his preferred vice over candy—before getting back to work.

Afternoon faded into twilight, which dimmed into evening. Jimmy seemed to have traded tasks with someone and pulled desk duty, because he sat yawning at the nurses’ station, a giant travel mug next to him.

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