Page 10 of Wild Heart
A wave of dizziness made my stomach clench when I saw the nurse beside Ivan’s bed. A metal tray piled with plastic tubes and fresh gauze rested in front of her.
Fingers curled into my palms, I took two swift steps in her direction and punted the tray across the room. Tubes pinged off the floor and the walls, gauze swaying in the air like confetti.
The nurse shouted, and I choked on my next inhale, focusing on the buzz that spread through my body. My heartbeat crawled up my throat, and I pressed my fingers to my temples, increasing the pressure until I felt something.
“Marcos…”
“You swore,” I said. “You swore nothing would happen while I was in the shower.”
The nurse glowered at me beneath heavy eyelashes. “I should call security.”
They’ve done that. Twice.
I screamed both times, and they fled like I’d set their pants on fire. I didn’t blame them. They were low-budget security guards with plastic badges. Nowhere in their job description did it say they were equipped to handle a neurotic 20-something.
Which was fine.
I didn’t know how to handle myself either.
“I do not need your permission to do my job.”
The nurse’s badge said her name was Laura. Rationality said I should calm the hell down and apologize to her, but rationality and anxiety weren’t exactly great at working together, and the only thing that made me feel less like throwing up was kicking her tray farther across the room.
Laura jabbed a finger at my chest. “You are a liability to the patient and his recovery.”
“Youcan put that finger away before I use that needle on the ground to stab a hole straight through it.”
My head swiveled on my neck, and I found Ivan sitting up in bed. His lips were curled up in disgust, eyes hard and unblinking.
The change in temperature was swift, the chill increasing the longer he stared at her. Both his eyebrows lifted, and he rubbed his beard between his fingers as if he were bored.
I took a step closer to him.
“Mr. Koslov.” Laura’s voice sounded different now. Strangled. “I’m just trying to do my job.”
“Tough shit. I’ve just decided I don’t fucking like the way you do it.”
He was so… aloof.
It reminded me of a lion and the way they sat patient, waiting for the optimal time to attack.
If he was a lion, then I was a goat. The kind that fainted every time someone snapped their fingers too loud.
“Marcos.”
Oh.
He was good at that, stealing my attention with just a single word.
“You promised,” I said.
“I'm a man of my word, Solnyshko. I wouldn't have let her do anything until you were back in this room.”
I imagined Laura was gone now, complaining about me to a co-worker or crying in a bathroom somewhere. I just didn’t care enough to turn around and check.
Instead, I took another step closer to Ivan and wound the ends of my sleeves into my fists. “I hate hospitals.”
“You’re allowed to leave. Anytime you want.”
