Will & Patrick Meet the Mob (5 page)

Jenny gasps. “Whoa. What? A gun to your head? Oh my God, what happened?”

“My father.” Will bites the words out like bullets.

Jenny’s eyes go wide. “Tony’s in town?” She turns to Patrick. “And he pulled a gun on you?”

“Yeah. Hilarious, right?”

She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “He’s still pulling that joke on people?”

“You know about it?” Will asks. “This is, what? A thing he does?”

“Well, yeah. He’s famous for it in certain circles.”

“What circles?”

“Friends of your mother, mainly. Boyfriends. I remember when I babysat the kids, back before poor Roger died, he came home one night complaining about Tony’s fun with guns.” Jenny bites her lip. “And there have always been…rumors.”

“Why isn’t this on
The Hurting Times
?” Patrick feels betrayed. He’s been operating on the assumption that so long as he knows the dirt, he’ll be prepared to deal with Healing and its insanity. HottieMcBrainSurgeon is going to wage a wank-storm from hell in the forums over this omission.

“I’m surprised it’s not,” Jenny says. “But when it comes to Tony, and Healing in general, there’s always an embarrassment of riches when it comes to gossip.”

Will scratches at his ear, a discomfited expression on his face. “My dad’s pretty warped. Someone should warn Jason he’s in town. And that he’s famous for pulling this ‘joke’ on Mom’s boyfriends.” He rubs a hand over his hair and closes his eyes. “Annnnnd that someone should probably be me.” Will pulls out his phone and types a text. “You know what? This isn’t on me. I’m telling Mom to let Jason know Dad’s in town. She owes him that, at least.” He presses send. “My parents are a mess.”

Understatement.

“I’ve never understood it,” Jenny says. “Your grandmothers are both so wonderful. How did your mom and dad turn out so screwed up?”

“And yet so hot,” Patrick murmurs.

Jenny laughs and Will rolls his eyes. 

“My grandfather maybe? I don’t know.”

“Genes play a large role in determining behavior,” Patrick starts, but Jenny isn’t going to be dissuaded from pursuing the gun thing.

“Were you scared? Are you okay?”

“It was no big. Just a heads up that I could die at any second and I should enjoy life. That’s all.”

“Did you call the cops?”

Will’s phone dings and he glances down at it, grunts in annoyance, and types with his thumbs for a moment before shoving it back in his pocket. “We were both scared. And I did call the cops, but apparently they’d been forewarned by my father about his little joke.”

“Oooh, yes.” Jenny nods. “Tony and Sheriff Goombs go back a long way.”

Will shudders. “I don’t want to know about it.”

“You already do,” Patrick says.

“But seriously, are you okay?” Jenny asks, nudging Patrick with her feet. “I know you hate admitting you’re not a cold, gives-no-fucks troll, but you must have been terrified.”

“I’m fine.”

Will leans out of the rocker and touches his shoulder. “You passed his test. You took it in stride—more stride than I did.” His phone dings again. He ignores it. “You were amazing.”

Patrick rolls his eyes. “You only say that because you like me.”

“I do like you. A lot.”

Jenny says, “Surely he’ll leave you alone now. I mean, why would he want to keep harassing you? It’s not like you’re sleeping with Kimberly.”

“No, just his son.” Patrick remembers Tony’s expression when he was denied access to the ambulance the night before. He’s going to end up having a one-on-one conversation with the man whether Will likes it or not. He only hopes it happens on his terms and not Tony’s.

“Don’t worry. He won’t bother you anymore. I’ll take care of it,” Will says.

“I’m sure your mother reassured the dearly departed Roger with those very words.”

Jenny’s brow furrows. “If you’re really scared, you could always leave town for a while.”

Patrick scoffs. “I’m not a coward. I’m not going to run away.”

“It’s not running—”

Will’s phone rings and he glances at it, mouth going flat and angry. “It’s my mom. Sorry. I need to take this.” He steps around the corner into the front hallway.

Jenny squeezes Patrick’s hand again. “Tony was probably just trying to put the fear of God in you to make sure you’ll treat Will right.”

“Or scare me off.”

“Tony may be unpredictable in a lot of ways but he really does want Will to be happy. And Will
is
happy with you. Everyone can see that. The way you look at each other? It’s undeniable. Once Tony sees the way you are together, he’ll leave you both alone.”

Patrick pulls his hand away. “I won’t hold my breath.”

Will clears his throat from the side of the room. “I’m popular all of a sudden. Owen just texted—he needs me to come in. I should go.” Will’s dark eyes are full of worry. “Why don’t you stay here with Jenny today? I’ll pick you up on my way home.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Jenny’s smile lights the room and she claps her hands. “You can hang out here and shield me from my mom! We’ll order pizza and watch rom-coms! It’ll be like a slumber party but in the day!”

“Nope. Can’t. I’ve got some things I need to handle.”

“Oh?” Will cocks his head. “What’s that?”

“Doctor stuff.”

Will looks skeptical, but says nothing.

Patrick stands and carefully places Jenny’s feet back on the sofa. “You okay alone until your mother gets back with Dylan?”

“Or we can wait—” Will starts.

“No, it’s fine,” Jenny says, shooing them off. Disappointment that Patrick’s not staying is written on her face, but she doesn’t say anything else about it. “They’ll be here any second and I know the rules. Don’t pick up anything heavier than the remote.”

In the elevator, Will sidles up close. “Doctor stuff, huh?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Yeah, but you’re not allowed to
do
doctor stuff, remember?”

“Hard to forget.”

Will huffs. “So, what are you really up to?”

“Terrorizing old people. Eating babies. Satanic rituals.”

“Your usual down-time activities then?”

“Yep.”

Will turns Patrick around and takes hold of his shoulders, looking into his eyes. “You’re not going to talk with Missy Hammond are you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

Will studies him closely, ducking his head to keep eye contact when Patrick tries to break it.

“What? I said I’m not an idiot! I want to practice again. I like my little neuro unit you’ve made for me and I want to get back to it. The sooner, the better. The hospital’s attorney said if I talk with Missy Hammond I could mess things up for myself—”

“No, he said you’d
definitely
mess things up for yourself.”

“And I don’t want to do that.”

Will chucks Patrick’s chin up, searching his eyes. “All right. I believe you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Will drops a kiss on his lips, and Patrick can’t help but smile into it, wrapping his arms around Will’s neck and getting some tongue action in before the elevator dings open on the first floor.

Once he and Will part ways, Patrick swings by the Cackleberry food truck parked beside the front entrance to the hospital for a heavenly fried egg breakfast sandwich and then lingers outside in the cold to eat it. Despite the wiry rush in his blood left over from last night’s adrenaline high, he refuses to give any outward indication that he’s rattled. If Tony or his spies are watching, let them think he’s untouched by their “joke.” He’s got pride, after all.

Once he’s inside Healing Regional, he sneaks through the corridors, keeping an eye out for Don and his network of nurse spies, or patients that might bombard him with questions about why everything is being rescheduled or why they’ve been passed on to another surgeon. He pauses at a tricky corner, darting his head around the side to check for the all clear, when Will’s voice whispers in his ear, “Is this a military operation?”

Patrick jumps a foot and a strangled, deep-throated yelp escapes.

“I’m sorry.” Will reaches out to steady him. His coat stretches over his broad shoulders and his cheeks are rosy with cold. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“The hell you didn’t!” Patrick’s heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest. “What are you doing?”

“Before I got to Good Works, Owen texted he didn’t need me after all. So I followed you here instead.” Will rubs soothingly up and down Patrick’s arms and his expression is all wide-eyed contrition.

“Why?”

“Because you’re being weird.”

“No, you’re being controlling.”

Will takes a deep breath, looks over his shoulder, and then whispers, “Is this about my father?”

“Not everything is about Tony Molinaro. Or you for that matter.” Patrick’s pulse slows under Will’s careful touches, but he’s irritated with Will for nearly making him piss his pants again. He likes these jeans. They’re soft and lined with flannel. They’re his new favorite.

“C’mon, Patrick. Why won’t you tell me?”

Will’s shoves out his bottom lip, so Patrick grabs the back of his neck and drags him down for a long, wet, hard, and satisfying kiss. It calms his wildly beating heart.

After, Will lifts his fingers to his lips, his eyes gone dark and a little stunned. “Um? What was that for?”

“It wasn’t for being a dog with a bone about everything, that’s for sure.” Patrick turns back around and pokes his head around the corner again. The brunette nurse who cries whenever Patrick berates her for being an idiot walks by but doesn’t notice him, thank God. Grabbing Will’s hand, he darts across the hall into the physician’s changing room.

Once they’re at his locker, Patrick works the combination and Will crowds up behind him, breathing in his ear. “You really have no concept of personal space, do you?” Patrick asks.

Will backs away half an inch, but Patrick can still feel his heat along his back. 

“I’m allowed to have things of my own, you know. Not everything has to be absorbed into the wonder that is Will Patterson.”

“The wonder of me?” Will says, nudging closer again, his hips brushing Patrick’s ass. “You think I’m a wonder?”

“Stop fishing.”

“I like fishing.”

“Whatever. Get off my back. You’re making my ear all ew.” Patrick makes a show of sticking his pinky in his ear canal and wriggling it around.

Will leans against the opposite locker. “Seriously. Why are you sneaking around?”

“I don’t want to be seen here. Obviously.”

“If this is about Shane Hammond, you know you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

He had to marry a stubborn man, didn’t he? “I’m not ashamed of what’s happening with Shane Hammond. I did the best I could for him, which was better than anyone this side of Pluto could have done.”

Will snorts. “There’s my super-sexy narcissist. But seriously, what’s up with the secrecy? You’re making me nervous.”

Patrick scowls and stuffs his few personal effects into the bag at the bottom of the locker. He removes his coat and stuffs it in the bag too. “Give me yours.”

Will hands his coat over, eyebrow raised. He clearly knows he’s busted Patrick at
something
; he just hasn’t figured out what.

“Stop looking at me.” Patrick stuffs Will’s coat in the bag and zips it up.

“No. With my dad in town, and so many loose ends dangling, your sneaky behavior isn’t very comforting.”

Patrick studies Will’s brown eyes, their soft, concerned warmth filling him with that tender emotion that he hates and loves, and loves to hate. “All right. You win.”

Will’s eyebrows shoot up. “I do?”

“Don’t act like you’re surprised.”

Will grins.

Patrick squeezes the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Follow me. And try not to draw attention to yourself.”

Addison Rowe’s room is exactly two doors down and one flight up from where they’re standing now. Patrick has Will check for patients or nurses at the two corners along the way.

Once Will gives him the all clear, Patrick walks into Addison’s hospital room with Will on his heels. He should tell Will to get out, because this is his patient and this is privileged, but, then again, she’s not his patient right now. Which is why he’s not supposed to be in here.

“Hey, kiddo,” Patrick says, motioning for Will to shut the door. “How do you feel today?”

Addison Rowe’s wide, sunny smile is Patrick’s favorite thing about her, and the fact that she never fails to break into it as soon as he walks into her room fills him with warmth and a fuzzy near-happiness.

“I’m great, Dr. McCloud.” She pushes her long, brown curly hair behind her ear and grins at him. Her black eyes twinkle when she smiles. “I’m so relieved to see you.”

“No trouble breathing?”