Cheating Time (40 page)

Yelling louder than necessary and with
enough force for her words to carry to anyone near, Kali took over
after a bat of her lashes so everyone would think she was a lot
more innocent than I suspected she was. "I-I…" She gulped like an
Academy Award-winning actress. "Have only spent time with Dr.
Angleton. She knows that, but when others ask if I've spent time
with other men, she—my roommate—won't corroborate the truth, and it
makes it look like I'm lying."

"She wants me to say something I don't know
to be true. I have a life of my own, and I work too many nights to
be her alibi," Jenny complained.

"Nobody's asking you to speak to something
you don't know. I'm simply asking that you speak about what you do
know," Kali said, looking toward Jenny as if she'd like to jump on
her again.

Jenny might have been almost a foot shorter
than Kali, but she wasn't prepared to back down. She did, however,
lower her voice so she could be as discrete as possible. "I won't
say it because it isn't true. You've had more than Dr. Angleton in
our tent, and I won't pretend you haven't no matter how much you
bully me. You messed up with him. Not me."

"You're jealous," Kali defended. "You're
lying because you're jealous. What you need to know is even if he's
not with me, he'd never take a second glance at anyone as pixie
small as you."

Jenny tried to jerk from Sean's grip. She
had every intention of letting Kali know what she thought of being
called small.

Sean jerked her back. "All right, little
one, you need to go to your tent, pack your things, and find a new
place to bunk. It sounds like there's a rotating door to this one's
bed. That can't be comfortable for you."

Kali looked affronted by Sean's comment.
Sean ignored her indignation. "You… if you're ashamed of what you
do, why do you do it? I've never understood that mentality. If you
want to sleep with more than one guy, embrace it. Stop pretending
as if you're the innocent virgin… because there's not a guy here
that buys that act. Give her time to pack her things, go back to
your tent, and stay there and out of trouble. If you cause any
more, I'm going to throw you out in this forest by yourself so fast
your head is going to spin. You got me?"

Putting on her victim face, Kali pulled away
from Sean and glanced toward the infirmary like she wanted to go
crying to Thorne. Instinctively, I wanted to protect him from her
lies.

"Thorne's about to be busy. He doesn't have
time for your drama," I added before she could head his way.

Sean glanced over at me and raised his
brows. After Kali stormed off, he said, "It seems to me you have
more than one love interest."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I
don't. I just can't stand the thought of Thorne spending time with
the likes of her. He's too good for her."

"Yeah… no interest at all," Sean said right
before he began coughing again.

Cough… cough…
cough…

"Where's the infirmary?"
—cough—
"I need to get this over, let Jayden get
back to his duties, and get the hell out of"
—cough—
"here," Sean insisted.

I agreed and headed straight for the
infirmary. I opened the tent's flap and stepped inside. After
basking in the bright sunny day, it took a few minutes for my eyes
to adjust and make out what I was seeing inside the dark clinical
tent.

Thorne—oblivious to the fight that had been
brewing just a few feet from his door and on his behalf—was leaning
over a Surrogate and stitching up a cut. The clinician deep inside
of me, the one who knew she'd one day be a doctor, kept walking
until I was standing on the other side of the bed and studying
Thorne's every move.

Thorne was so engrossed in what he was
doing, it took a few minutes before he realized he had an audience.
Sean was standing next to me, watching just as intently.

When Thorne did glance up and see me, he did
a double take and completely stopped what he was doing.

"What the hell happened to you? Are you
covered in your own blood?"

He scooted his stool back and was about to
dash toward me, but I waved him down.

"It's not mine. It's not even human blood. A
boar tried to attack me. Jayden killed it. The blood is from the
animal," I lied with an ease that should have frightened me.

"I-I've been worried. I saw that your vital
signs spiked earlier. I-I didn't know if"—he cleared his throat—"if
you were okay."

I wanted to offer a snarky remark about him
sleeping around with Kali, but it was clear he'd really been
worried. He didn't need any shit from me.

"I'm sorry, Thorne. I didn't mean to worry
you. Really," I said, looking at the procedure with a new set of
eyes, ones that were trying to figure out how much longer Thorne
had before he'd be finished.

As if reading my mind, he said, "I'll be
finished in about ten minutes. We can talk more then."

Cough… cough…
cough…

Thorne's eyes darted toward his new patient.
His newest concern was acute. He'd seen Jayden hours ago, and since
that time, he'd developed a wet, wheezy cough and he sounded as
near death as he probably was.

Thorne never said a word, but he sped up the
sewing of the Surrogate's wound. He had him up and out quicker than
I would have thought possible but long enough for Sean to erupt
into no less than half a dozen coughing fits.

As soon as the nameless, faceless Surrogate
was out the door, Thorne rounded on Jayden.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You
weren't coughing at all last night? Now you sound like you have one
foot in the grave. Carles, change the sheet on that stretcher and
get him on it. I need to call my attending. Whatever he has is
serious given the speed with which it's accelerating." Thorne
walked over to his desk and slipped on a pair of MicroGlasses.

Right before he tapped the side of them,
notifying his attending he had an emergency, I grabbed his hand and
said, "Thorne… there's something I need to tell you before you get
in contact with anyone. Is there someplace you and I can talk that
is completely private? Keep in mind that the information I'm about
to share with you could put Rorie in danger if it got out."

That caught Thorne's attention. He snatched
off the lenses, logged off, and shut down his computer and phone.
He glanced around the room and finally said, "I'm assuming you can
tell me whatever you need to tell me in front of Jayden."

I nodded because he was right. I could tell
my secrets in front of Jayden, only this wasn't Jayden. I grabbed
Thorne's hand and led him over to the corner of the tent where the
linen was kept. I hoped the sheet and towels and my whispering
would buffer my secrets from Sean and the outside world.

"Please swear to me that you'll hear me out
before you do anything," I begged.

Thorne studied me long and hard before
saying, "As long as Rorie isn't in immediate danger, I'll hear you
out. Until I know what you have to tell me, I can't make any
promises about what I'll do."

I nodded. "I understand, and I'll understand
no matter what. I wouldn't do anything that would put my family in
any more danger than they're already in so there won't be any
judgment on my part," I promised.

My whispered words got lower. "That's not
Jayden over there," I said, nodding my head in Sean's direction.
"We believe Jayden was one of three, triplets. This is Sean."

Anxious, Thorne glanced around as if he
thought I was working for Barone and testing his reaction to
potential treasonous activities.

"Remember… you agreed to hear me out."

Thorne nodded, but he was running his hands
through his hair and shaking his head in disbelief.

"We were in the woods and got attacked."

Thorne tipped his forehead toward my bloody
clothes. I nodded.

"Jayden fought and killed three Outcasts.
There was a fourth one… only it was a Down syndrome
Surrogate.
" I waited to see if the significance
registered with Thorne. When it did, I continued. "He'd been with
the Outcasts and had been deathly afraid of us. With them dead, he
didn't know what to do.

"We've spent so much time with and have
grown so fond of Rorie that we couldn't leave him in the forest to
fend for himself. After he really saw Jayden, he insisted we follow
him. He took us to a cave. There, we found four panthers and
Jayden's doppelgänger, a man we believe might be his brother.
Simon, the Anomaly who led us to Sean, is with Jayden now."

"All of this happened this morning,
Carles?"

My head bobbed. "Yes. Neither Jayden nor I
have ever met either of them before. We had no idea either of them
existed. I swear. Now that we know Sean is about to die and he's
the only person who can or will look after Simon, their brother, we
have to help him."

Thorne softened. "I was able to help
you
, Carles, but I'm not a miracle
worker. He'll need tests in order for me to find out what's wrong
with him. Then I'll have to consult my attendings."

Thorne ran his fingers down the side of my
face and tucked my hair behind my ears.

I tried hard to ignore how sweet he was
being to me and finished telling him what I thought I knew to be
true. "That's the thing, Thorne. I believe I already know what's
wrong with him."

Cocking his brow, an impressed Thorne waited
for me to elaborate.

"The cave where they were staying had bats
in it before they moved in. Ten days after they began living in the
cave, he began coughing. I believe he has…"

"Histoplasmosis," we both said at the same
time.

"Exactly," I said. "I was wondering if you'd
treat him. If you do… I'll get him back to the forest, he and
Jayden can switch places, and he and Simon can be on their merry
way. No one will be the wiser."

At least, I hope and pray
everything goes that smooth.

As if our friendship were unconditional and
we'd known each other years rather than days, Thorne jumped into
action after grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind him.

"I'm going to need some help since I can't
call on anyone from the medical team. You're going to have to act
as my assistant," Thorne informed me.

"You tell me what to do, and I'll do it. I
promise," I said, standing next to Sean's stretcher.

Exhausted from the coughing and too sick to
do much more than rest, Sean had dozed off. Proving to me what an
amazingly competent doctor Thorne was, he darted around the
infirmary, grabbing traditional medication, microparticles,
syringes, needles, alcohol swabs, and anything else he thought he
might need. He was prepared to treat Sean as aggressively as he
possibly could without drawing the attention of his faculty
physicians or the onsite medical staff.

After Thorne had gathered everything he
needed, he stood ready to begin Sean's treatment.

I leaned over and whispered, "Sean."

His eyes popped open, and he looked around.
Based on his initial confusion, it took him a second to remember
where he was and what we were supposed to do for him. When
everything came together, he winked and said, "I know why Jayden
and this one here"—he pointed toward Thorne—"are willing to give
their left nut for your attention. From this day forward, I'll
think of you anytime anyone talks about angels. That is what you
are. An angel," Sean said dreamily.

I had to wonder just how delusional the
illness had made him.

"
Jiminy
…
does every man you meet fall under your spell?" Thorne asked,
shaking his head, putting his stethoscope in his ears, and
listening to Sean's chest. I could tell by looking at him, Sean was
as sick as I suspected.

"I have no idea what your name is, and I
don't want to. While you're here, I'm going to call you Jayden. Get
used to it. I need you to take off your shirt, Jayden. I'll have to
have access to your MicroPharm so I can refill its particles. After
I'm finished doing that, you're going to get several shots; Carles
is going to give them to you. They'll help with the wheezing, the
coughing, and the infection. I'm also going to give you twelve
refills. Each should last you a month. You'll need to refill your
MicroPharm once a month so the medication can continue fighting the
infection. It's serious enough that you'll have to have treatment
for six to twelve months."

Coughing uncontrollably, Sean's head bobbed,
signaling his understanding despite his coughing fit.

Sean looked too much like Jayden for my
comfort. When he took off his shirt, I stared toward his chest like
it was the most fascinating thing I'd ever seen. It was close.

"You like what you see, angel?" Sean asked,
giving me a lopsided grin that was inconsistent with a man this
near death.

My cheeks burned, and I looked away.

"Don't let him intimidate you. You're going
to be a doctor one day. You have to be comfortable looking at your
patient's body. That's what he is to you right now. Nothing more,"
Thorne mentored with the patience I'd come to expect from Mom when
I worked in her lab.

Following his instructions, I directed my
attention back to Sean's chest, where Thorne was injecting the
particles into the MicroPharm port. I had to anticipate Thorne's
needs. I couldn't do that if I didn't watch the procedure.

Afterward, Thorne said, "Turn on your side.
You're going to get numerous injections that will augment the
particles."

As soon as Sean turned, Thorne issued one
last order, one that made me want to turn away yet again. "Lower
your trousers. You'll be getting your shots right in the ass."

With an arrogance that must be genetic since
it was the same I've dealt with my entire life from Jayden, Sean
said, "Listen, angel. If you wanted to see me in all my glory, you
only need ask. I'm there for that anytime. Any place."