Waters of Lethe, Book 2

9. Sharp

Enzo and I went our separate ways. He went left to the room where Marie was getting her notes finished, Alex and I went to the right, to the exam rooms.

I went from room to room, sighing. "Are there any adult sized exam tables in here?" I questioned, talking to myself. Alex followed along behind me, staying quiet. Even his footsteps had become quiet. I didn't even hear him breathe.

We reached the last of the exam rooms, two of which had adult tables.

I looked into both of the rooms. One was plain; white walls, informative posters about how to avoid diabetes, chairs. The other was painted a light shade of blue. Like the nursery, little yellow stars were painted on the ceiling. Stuffed animals and toys sat in the corner of the room. A few posters were one the wall here and there, telling kids that they should eat their vegetables. It was strange for an adult table to be in here, but I went with it.

"This room," I told him.

"You're the doctor," he told me, walking over to the table. He hopped up onto the table and stared at me. "Do I need to take my pants off?"

I shook my head, turning to a counter to get supplies. "No. Not unless I have to give you a shot in the ass. And trust me, if that happens I'll make sure it's with the biggest, longest, most nerve-damaging needle I can find."

I heard the smile that came across his face, wishing I could punch it off him. I rolled my eyes, then turned back to face him. I motioned for him to lay back, and he did.

"What exactly happened? Let me see."

He talked while he pulled his shirt up to his chest. "Got grazed with a combat knife. No big deal." His stomach was hard and lean. I was thankful that I wasn't in the mood to swoon over him. He was gorgeous, but I had a few other things on my mind.

Someone had duct taped a piece of torn shirt to the wound to stop the bleeding. I had to admit, the piece of tattered shirt was getting the job done.

I walked back to the counter, to the sink, and poured saline onto a large piece of gauze to clean with. I thought about pouring rubbing alcohol on the gauze too, but decided against it. Although I didn't really know who I was, I knew that I wasn't that evil.

I pulled the duct tape from his stomach. He didn't flinch. I didn't expect him to.

"Whoever put this hillbilly bandage on you deserves an award," I told him sarcastically.

"You'd know about hillbilly bandages, wouldn't you?" he said. I knew, like Enzo, he was referring to my accent.

Why didn't I douse a gauze pad with alcohol?

"I guess I would," I told him flatly. I pulled the shirt away from his stomach and looked at the gash. It was an inch deep and about two inches long. Bright red blood began draining out again.

"This may need stitches," I mumbled.

"You can't do it?"

"Well, if you insist-"

"No. No, that's okay."

I patched him up, putting an abdominal dressing over the wound and taping it down firmly.

"Don't let the abdominal pad come off. Alright?" I handed him a bottle of the saline, a box of gauze, and a box of abdominal dressings. "Clean the wound every time you wake up and go to sleep. Every time you get sweaty. Just whenever you feel like it might be dirty. The last thing we want is an infection."

He nodded, taking the supplies from me. "Thank you."

I half sighed, half talked. "No problem."

I turned to walk out the door and run back to Enzo, but Alex stopped me.

"What's your name, again?" he asked as he slid off the table.

"El."

He nodded. "Nice to meet you, El. Thank you for fixing me up."

"Don't mention it."

I walked out before he could say anything else.

I was thankful when I found Enzo. He sat in a room with computers, one of which Marie was typing her notes on. Enzo watched her, uninterested. When he saw me in the doorway, he jumped up a little faster than he meant to.

Marie laughed. "Leaving so soon? I think one of the babies may need its diaper changed."

"No blooming way," he said lightheartedly. "Babies. I can't. No thank you."

Alex walked past us through the hallway, heading for the door. "Bye, Marie. Tell me the next time you have a pretty doctor in here. I'll make sure to get injured again."

After he walked out the door, I looked at Marie and rolled my eyes, earning a laugh from her.

"Don't let him get to you. He's actually rather quiet. Only jokes around with strong women," she told me.

"He's going to have an awfully difficult time joking around with this one," Enzo told Marie.

"Ha ha," I joked, then turned to Enzo. "Want to see what else we can get into?"