Rebel Heart (14 page)

“What’s going on?” Kade questioned.

Nash laughed and lit a smoke. Landon glanced back at him and raised his eyebrows before entering the clubhouse.

“We have to talk bro,” Nash said, ignoring Kade’s question.

“Mel told us about your overdose. You’re fucking around with narcotics?”

“You know how the club feels about that shit Kade.”

Kade shrugged, feeling immediately defensive. What business was it of the clubs what he chose to do to numb his pain?

“I don’t really see what the club has to do with it. I ain’t Richie man. None of what I do in my free time keeps me from fulfilling my duties to the club.”

Nash shook his head.

“See that’s where you’re wrong brother.”

“We had a job to do today. A big one. And where were you? Kicked up in the hospital getting your stomach pumped.”

Damn.

As much as it pained Kade to admit, Nash had a point.

“And what about club dinners?” Nash continued.

“You have missed three in the past month. Bro, you’re VP. You have got to do better. Otherwise, the club is going to be having a discussion...one about your future.”

Kade nodded.

“Alright.”

“You’re right. I’ll do better. You have my word.”

Nash smiled and slapped Kade on the shoulder, pulling him into a hug.

“Good. We’re glad you’re alright brother.”

He took a final hit of his smoke and flicked the butt.

“Hey,” Nash spoke up, changing the subject.

He nodded at the road.

“We just saw Mel pummeling down the road. Where was she taking off to in such a hurry?”

Kade shifted on his feet and followed Nash inside the bar.

“We uh...we’re kind of over.”

Nash popped the seal off a beer and took a seat beside Landon and the prospects at the bar.

“No shit!”

“For good this time?”

Kade nodded.

“Yeah...it’s pretty final.”

Landon laughed and handed Kade a beer. He gave Nash a nudge.

“You owe me twenty bucks man.”

Nash chuckled. Kade furrowed his brows and glared at the men.

“Fuckers.”

Landon and Nash laughed.

“Aw come on man,” Landon said.

“We all knew there was no way you were getting hitched. Nash was just being nice giving you the benefit of the doubt.”

Kade rolled his eyes and watched as Nash peeled a twenty from his wallet and slapped it into Landon’s palm. He sipped his beer in silence, but was shaken from his mental funk by a large hand landing on his shoulder. He turned to his right and noticed Nash staring right at him.

“You know we’re just fuckin’ around with you brother.”

“There isn’t a soul here that wouldn’t support you getting hitched, if and when you ever want to. But truth be told, you and Mel...”

Kade nodded and cut him off.

“Stella is back in Falls Creek. Did y’all know that?”

Nash frowned and looked over at Landon, who shook his head.

“What the hell?”

“When did you see her?”

Kade sipped his beer.

“She’s a doctor. I talked to her at the hospital. That’s not all though. She told me something pretty fucking crazy. I’m still having a hard time processing it.”

“What?” Landon laughed, cracking his knuckles.

“Does she have a kid or something?”

Kade was quiet for a long time.

“Holy shit,” Nash breathed.

“That’s it, isn’t it?”

Kade nodded, taking another long drink of his beer.

“Yep,” he replied drily.

“Five years old. Her names Elizabeth. Mel says she looks just like me.”

“Wow,” Nash and Landon both said at once.

“So Mel knows?” Nash questioned.

Kade started to shake his head before nodding.

“Yeah, I mean, I guess so. She’s a bright girl.”

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do, you know. Stella said she doesn’t want her seeing me. She was pretty pissed.”

“And I don’t blame her, I mean. Here she is...”

Kade waved a hand in the air.

“This successful doctor and I’m just...the same fucker I was when she left. Worse, even.”

“Hey now,” Nash interrupted.

“Give yourself more credit man. You watched a brother die. And not just any brother. Maddox. You two were practically extensions of each other. You held him when he took his last breath. That ain’t something a man can just snap back from.”

Kade nodded and remained quiet. He understood the truth in Nash’s words but even so, it had been six years. It was time for him to move on and let bygones be bygones. Too bad that seemed easier said than done.

“Yeah I know...” Kade trailed off, finishing his beer.

“I just wish I could get over her.”

Chapter Eleven

A
t the end of her shift, Stella scrubbed out and made her way over to her station to complete her charts for the night. She eyed Kade’s and sighed.

His sudden admittance into the hospital had taken her off guard. Upon returning to Falls Creek three weeks prior, she had fully expected to bump into him eventually. She was prepared for it. She just...didn’t expect it to happen like this.

Stella had returned to town on a whim. She was tired of the hustle and bustle of the city life and wanted to get back in touch with her roots. She also wanted her daughter to have a sense of family, something that had never been hard to come by in such a small town.

After throwing herself into job-hunting, Stella landed the perfect position as a nighttime ER supervisor. It paid more than she was making in New York and the hours were reasonable, giving her plenty of time to spend with Beth.

Stella told herself that Kade’s presence in Falls Creek was an afterthought. Not her sole reason for coming back. But the truth was, after meeting up with Mel a few days prior and learning that she and Kade we’re
engaged
, Stella had been hurt.

No. That was an understatement. She was pissed beyond all belief.

Not that she had any right to be. She had left. She had made her decision. What happened in her wake was none of her business.

Stella scrubbed her hands clean with a bar of surgical soap and reflected on her thoughts, trying not to focus too much on her heated discussion with Kade.

It had hurt seeing him again. Not that she hadn’t expected it...but still. There was something about the notion of how little he had changed in the past five years that grated on Stella.

For one brief moment in time, she had thought he might have grown out of it. But he hadn’t. He was still reckless. He was still lost.

The only difference was that he was Mel’s problem now.

Stella sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. She eyed Kade’s chart along with the charts of a few other of her other patients, squinting as she tried to make sense of her own hastily written handwriting.

“Stel, you’re still here?” Anna, a dayshift nurse Stella had become quite friendly with, said in passing.

Stella turned around on her heels and forced a smile onto her face.

“Not for long. I’m just finishing up a few things.”

Anna nodded and started to say something but stopped when an attractive man who Stella vaguely recognized as one of the Surgeons from the Cancer Ward, approached. He flashed the girls a smile and winked at Stella.

Anna blushed and appeared visibly nervous in his presence but Stella remained unfazed.

“Anna,” the man, who’s nametag read Dr. Leland, spoke up with a nod.

“I have a patient down the hall who needs to be transported to my Ward for an emergency biopsy. Would you mind?”

Dr. Leland held out a clipboard and Anna took it, glancing down at it as she scurried away. Stella reached for her jacket and pulled it on, hesitating in the man’s presence.

She looked at him sideways.

He was studying her.

“Yes?” Stella spoke up.

“Can I help you?”

Dr. Leland laughed and held out his hand.

“I don’t believe we’ve formally met. I’m Dr. Patrick Leland. Head Surgeon in the Cancer Ward here. And you’re...”

He paused, glancing down at Stella’s nametag, which was half hidden by her jacket.

“Help me out here?”

Stella snickered and took his hand, briefly shaking it.

“Just call me Stella.”

“Stella,” Patrick said aloud, trying it on for size.

“Beautiful name.”

Stella rolled her eyes and stifled a laugh. She was used to doing this dance with men and regardless of how handsome Patrick might have been she wasn’t in the mood for flirtation. Instead, she turned her attention back to her charts, hoping he would eventually get the point and go away.

But men were anything but good cue takers.

“So,” Patrick continued, crossing his arms and leaning against Stella’s station.

“What do you do here, Stella?”

Stella sighed.

“I’m just an ER Supervisor. But I went to school for Neonatal Medicine.”

Patrick whistled, clearly impressed.

“And here I was thinking you were a nurse!”

“Hey!” Stella exclaimed, glancing back at him.

“Don’t be a sexist jerk.”

Patrick laughed and held up his hands, signaling that he meant no offense.

“No, really though,” he added.

“I’m impressed.”

Stella looked at him sideways.

He was in his 40’s but was quite handsome for his age. His hair was salt and pepper colored and offset by strong facial features. His eyes were a deep brown, which looked amazing against his olive skin. And his build was strong and healthy.

No. He wasn’t Kade. But he was attractive. There was really no denying that.

“What?” Patrick spoke up with a frown.

“Do I have something on my face?”

Stella blushed and looked away. She slid her charts back into a drawer and reached for her purse, pulling it over her shoulder.

“No...no you’re fine.”

“I actually should get going.”

Anna walked by, pushing a stretcher towards a set of elevators at the end of the hall. On it was the patient she had been asked to transport. Patrick thanked her and pushed away from Stella’s station, winking at her as he walked off.

Stella exhaled a deep breath and followed Anna and the patient into the elevator. She pushed the button for the lobby after Anna had made her selection for floor 3, the Cancer Ward, and the Elevator came to life.

“So,” Anna said, speaking quietly so as to not disturb the patient, who was sleeping.

“You got to know Dr. Leland?”

“God...he’s so dreamy...I’ve had the biggest crush on him ever since he started working here last spring.”

“Maybe if you’re lucky he’ll take you out.”

Stella chuckled and shook her head. There was a sort of schoolgirl innocence in Anna’s tone. She was a few years younger than Stella and had just finished her stint at nursing school.

“I’m not interested.”

Anna scoffed.

“Why not? You know he’s like one of the wealthiest men in Falls Creek! And he’s so cute!”

Stella hesitated.

“No...I mean...”

“Yeah, he’s great. I’m just not really dating right now. I just got back. I kind of just want to focus on work and Beth.”

It was the truth.

Stella couldn’t imagine jumping back into the dating scene after everything that had happened. And in Falls Creek of all places?

No way.

It was too weird to even imagine.

Patrick was nice but that didn’t mean Stella was interested him. Or even that he was interested in her. Sure, they had flirted. But no phone numbers were exchanged. No plans had been made. Hell, he didn’t even know her last name!

They were two co-workers making harmless conversation. That was it.

No more, no less.

Anna sighed.

“I wish he would talk to me like that...”

Stella shifted on her feet, unsure of what to say. Anna was a classically beautiful girl, but there was something about her appearance that made her appear perpetually fifteen. Dr. Leland was seasoned and professional. It wasn’t exactly a romance written in the stars for them.

Even so, Stella had never relished in disappointing people.

“Hey,” she said, giving Anna a nudge in the side right as the elevator dinged, signaling floor 3.

“Just be yourself. Try initiating the conversation. He’ll see how amazing you are. Trust me.”

Anna smiled gratefully and pushed her patient out of the elevator.