Authors: Kathleen Grieve
Dating Impossible (5 page)
There hadn’t been anything normal about last night, he
conceded. Cruz had never intended to bring JJ back to his home in the first
place, much less sleep with her. With a heavy sigh, he set the tray on the
nightstand and sat on the bed. The scent of sex and JJ’s wildly exotic perfume
clung to the sheets. Fresh lust stirred deep in his gut. Had his earlier spark
of anger been misplaced? Maybe JJ felt a bit embarrassed. Cruz could admit that
he had an, um…certain reputation in the ER. JJ wouldn’t want to be considered just
another “lay”. She’d let her stupid pride get in the way for sure. Determined
to clear up any misconstrued notions she might have about what really happened
here last night, he’d ask her out on a real date. Cruz stood and headed for the
shower. There was a bounce in his step, and he began to whistle “Sexy Back” by
Justin Timberlake.
Chapter Five
“Dr. Jones,” Angie called from the nurses’ station as JJ
entered Phoenix General’s buzzing emergency room. “You’re needed in exam room five.”
She held out a clip board with the patient information to JJ without looking up
and answered the phone. “Phoenix General ER, this is Angie…”
Showered and refreshed, JJ took the clipboard and walked
toward her first patient of the morning. After a shake with complex B vitamins,
eggs, avocado, and her secret ingredient, JJ’s hangover was nonexistent. She
also spent a bit of time in her meditation garden to get rid of the negative
energy from her bruised self-esteem. For the most part, she was calm, cool and
collected until she remembered Cruz was on shift with her today.
Dread filled her, shifting the contents of her stomach round
and round. JJ expelled a calming breath and concentrated on the patient chart
in front of her. Forty-two-year-old female in with vague complaints of
headache, stomach cramps, and low grade fever for the past several days. She
lived for this shit
.
Time to rock
and roll
.
She knocked lightly and eased behind the closed curtain. “Mrs.
Hayden?”
“Yes,” the woman on the gurney answered.
“I’m Dr. Jones, one of the ER doctors. Can you tell me what
brought you to the hospital today?” JJ began the interview process and listened
attentively as the patient outlined the current details of her illness, then
performed a full head to toe assessment.
JJ placed the soft ear buds of her stethoscope into her ears
and listened as her patient inhaled and exhaled softly. She moved the bell over
the apex of her heart and heard the soft
lub
dub
of normal heart tones. Palpating
her abdomen, she gently pushed down on all four quadrants, noting the slight
facial grimace of her patient. “Does that hurt, Mrs. Hayden?”
“A little bit,” she replied.
JJ found her inner calm and concentrated on the slightly
rigid abdomen before her, letting her hands hover just above the stomach area. Eyes
closed, she sent out a silent prayer and asked for help from Usui, Hayashi, and
Takata, the Masters of Reiki. Inhaling, she drew Reiki energy in through the
crown of her head down to the soles of her feet. As JJ exhaled, the Reiki flew
from her arms and through Mrs. Hayden. The energy force swirled around JJ’s
heart and fused with her own internal channels, washing away negative energy
and replenishing depleted positive energy stores. Soon, JJ felt the familiar
buzzing sensation rush behind her lids, and heat saturated her fingers. In some
cases, JJ could flow Reiki energy from one hand to the other and use this
technique to help release headaches, muscle and joint pains. Sometimes, the
heat infusing through her hands became uncomfortably hot.
As she moved her open palms over where the woman’s gallbladder,
a wave of nausea assaulted her. Opening her eyes, she snatched her hands back and
stuffed them into the pockets of her white lab coat. JJ inhaled a couple of
steadying breaths.
“Well,” JJ began, “here’s the plan. I would like to have
some blood work drawn, start an IV and give you some fluids, give you something
for the nausea and pain, and perform a CAT scan of your abdomen. You’re very
dehydrated from all that vomiting. Is that okay with you?”
Mrs. Hayden nodded her head. Weariness etched hard lines in
the planes of her face. With her eyes closed, long dark lashes fanned her
cheeks.
JJ picked up the patient’s chart and started to scribble the
orders, along with note for a surgical consult. The woman had a necrotic
gallbladder that needed surgical intervention as quickly as possible. JJ just
had to have the CT to prove it. “Do you have any family here, Mrs. Hayden?”
“My husband is out of town. Sally insisted I come to the ER.
I feel so stupid. I told her as she drove me over here that it was probably
just the flu.”
JJ smiled and gave the woman’s limp hand a squeeze. This was
no flu. Most people have no true understanding of Reiki, so she kept that
particular talent to herself. But Reiki used in conjunction with modern
medicine sure helped tipped the scales of saving lives in JJ’s favor. Especially
in a busy ER.
“Well, it is flu season, but better safe than sorry. It was
a good idea to get your symptoms checked out, especially since you’ve been
feeling worse instead of getting better. I will send the nurse in and we will
get started,” JJ said.
“Angie,” JJ said as she came back the desk, “I need a large
bore IV started in exam room five. Give her a liter of normal saline bolus now.
A gram of Rocephin, Zofran for the nausea and vomiting, and two milligrams of
morphine for her pain. Have lab come draw stat blood cultures, a CBC, CMP, and have
radiology do a stat CAT scan of the abdomen and pelvis with contrast. Who’s on
call for general surgery today?”
Angie glanced up from a chart she had in her hand. Her blue
eyes held a hint of a chill. “Cruz has been looking for you,” she said, voice
full of unspoken accusation.
Let the
school yard games begin.
This was exactly the kind of exchange JJ hoped to avoid. Next
there would be innuendos, sly remarks, and blame. She should’ve never slept
with Cruz. Heat flamed her face and her stomach coiled in knots. Despite the
drama the nurse before her was trying to cause, it was difficult to ignore the
tiny thrill of exhilaration that tingled along her spine at Angie’s words.
Deep breath
in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale
.
JJ’s inner calm found its way to the surface once more and
she squared her shoulders and looked the other girl in the eye, shrugging as if
she didn’t have a care in the world. “I’m sure he’ll find me.” Her voice held
just the right amount of boredom. “The patient in exam room five needs to be taken
care of stat. Page the on-call surgeon for me.” She placed Mrs. Hayden’s chart
in the slot for Alice, the ER’s secretary, to enter the orders into the
computer and glanced up at the large overhead computer screen that covered one
wall in the nurses’ station. “Who’s next for me to see?”
“Combative drunk in exam room two,” Angie said with a smug
smile.
“
Awesome
,” JJ replied
with forced cheeriness. Had Cruz really slept with
her?
JJ
would not allow Angie’s snide
attitude and cold demeanor to bother her, but something in JJ’s gut told her
there was some history in the #DrAvery dating saga that, as a new member of the
ER’s team, she was not privy to. A never-ending tale that had so many twists
and turns to the story JJ would by no means ever know all.
A twinge of jealousy stabbed her heart. With heavy feet, she
turned and headed to exam room two. After a lifetime of living in the
background of Cruz’s love life, she should be used to disappointment. But now
that she’d tasted what he had to offer, she coveted what she couldn’t have all
the more. She could still feel the scrape of his teeth across her nipples as he
slipped two fingers into her. His thumb had circled her clit, driving her mad
as his fingers picked up the pace…
JJ’s step faltered and she nearly moaned aloud.
Jesus!
Her panties were damp. She had
never wanted any man more than Cruz Avery in her entire life. No one affected
her like this.
Get a grip,
dummy. You had no business between the sheets with the playboy of the ER in the
first place. Remember what happened last time you had a sexual relationship
with a coworker.
That thought sobered JJ better than skinny dipping off the
frozen shores of
So what the hell was she supposed to do now? Ignore him?
As if.
What a fucking nightmare.
Which is exactly what JJ walked into when she entered exam
room two. The cause of her self-loathing and obsession since puberty stood at
the top of the gurney while Ambra tried to keep a facemask delivering oxygen on
the patient’s face. One security guard held down the patient’s legs, and the
other held an arm straight out so that Jake, one of the other ER nurses, could
try to place an intravenous catheter. JJ glanced at the clip board in her hand.
Ralph Hankle. A sixty-seven-year-old frequent flier whose admissions through
PGH’s ER were like a revolving door. Every few weeks or so the cops picked him
up for intoxication. He struggled against the leather restraints on his wrists
and ankles, occasionally bucking his torso off the gurney. According to his
records, old Ralph was always a jovial, overly amorous drunk who groped and tried
to kiss the female staff. So why the extreme reaction?
“Got it!” Jake cried triumphantly as he successfully
inserted an IV into Ralphs forearm.
“Give him two milligrams of Ativan IV, Jake,” Cruz said. “I’ll
help hold him ‘til you get back.” Jake swiftly left the room and Cruz moved
beside the gurney in the space Jake vacated, placing his hands on Ralph’s
shoulders.
“You fucktard,” Ralph screamed, struggling harder against
the restraints, his speech slurred.
JJ was pretty sure he had been trying to say “fucking
retard” as she had a fair command of cusswords, her favorite part of the
English language. But hearing this old guy say “fucktard” after the morning
she’d had tickled her funny bone and she started laughing, drawing the
attention of everyone in the room.
“A little help would be nice,” Cruz said as Ralph bucked
once more.
“Looks like you’re handling things,” JJ said dryly, but she
walked toward the head of the gurney at Cruz’s former position. “I thought old
Ralph here was a happy drunk?”
“Usually is,” Ambra answered. Ralph shook his head roughly
side to side, dislodging the oxygen mask he wore once again. “This definitely
isn’t the Ralph we all know.”
Setting the chart aside, JJ put on a pair of gloves. Ralph’s
skin was slick with sweat and his coloring ruddy. His jugular veins bulged from
his skin on both sides of his neck. She frowned. This wasn’t a normal
intoxication. She lifted his eyelids, both at the same time. His pupils were
dilated. His rapid pulse thready and weak. A quick glance confirmed a sinus
tachycardia.
“Have you sent a tox screen yet?” JJ asked.
“We haven’t been able to do jack-shit,” Cruz replied. “He’s
been fighting us the entire time.”
“And you’re not going to get anywhere like this,” JJ said. “Ambra,
set up to intubate and get a ventilator down here. Tell Jake to forget the
Ativan. I want Succinylcholine and Etomidate.”
“Why are you tubing him?” Cruz ground out. “He just needs a
little bit of sedation to take the edge off and he’ll be fine.”
Ambra halted her exit and glanced sharply from one doctor to
the other. Uncertainty flashed in her eyes. “JJ?”
“Go ahead, Ambra,” JJ said turning to Cruz. “Is this your
patient or mine? Because I clearly saw Dr. Jones’s name assigned to this exam
room. He won’t need to be tubed for long,” she said softly. “Just long enough
to ensure safety. Safety for him and for us. Surely you realize that the more
he struggles and fights, the less stable his vital signs. And his airway could
become compromised.”
Cruz’s jaw tightened. “Technically, he is your patient, but
I still think you should try the Ativan first and see what kind of response you
get.”
JJ let out and exasperated sigh. “Cruz,” she said with
impatience, “you know as well as I do that a one-time dose as small as two milligrams
of Ativan isn’t gonna do a damn thing for someone who has an extensive drinking
history as this guy does. He’s already diaphoretic with a systolic BP in the
190s. His heart rate is tachyin’ away in the 140s. He needs to be properly
sedated and that means intubation. Then we can treat him.”
While she and Cruz argued, Ambra and Jake set up everything
to place the patient on mechanical ventilation, surreptitiously sharing knowing
glances.
“Is this about last night?” Cruz blurted.
There was a clatter as Ambra dropped the laryngoscope on the
bedside table. All eyes turned to stare at JJ as she struggled to continue to
hold Ralph in place. If it wasn’t for the shouts from their unruly patient, the
silence in the small exam room would’ve bordered on the extreme.
Christ
almighty! The blabbermouth!
Now everyone would know they’d had sex last
night.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
She
mentally banged her skull against an imaginary brick wall. Why had she violated
the one rule—no, the
only rule
important rule—that could have life changing consequences? Hadn’t she learned
anything from