Chapter 1

1

HALEY

S hit. Shit. Shit.

I know I've made a mistake when I'm sitting at work, with a miniature trash can in my lap and my stomach churning…thirty minutes after I clock out. And that mistake's name is Alex.

"Haley," Emily says from the doorway to the break room, concern lacing her voice. "Why the hell are you still here? You need to go to the doctor!"

"I'm fine," I groan, face halfway in the trash can. "I'm going home in like, five minutes."

My coworker comes in and slides into one of the hard plastic chairs across the table from me, frowning. "Do you need a ride home? I can take a break and–"

"No, no," I cut her off, forcing myself to my feet. My head spins, but I clench my teeth and ignore it. "I'm going right now. Don't worry about it."

I gather my things from my locker, slinging my bag over my shoulder and snatching a water bottle from the communal refrigerator. Emily continues to watch me with a disapproving look on her face. We've worked together for almost a year now at the Novels-A-Plenty bookstore, an enormous two-story establishment downtown. During that time, Emily and I have become friends, but I have a hard time letting people into my personal life.

Alex was the exception, but now, after the way things have worked out between us, I should have kept him at a distance, too.

"You've been getting sick for hours, Haley. I don't think this is something you can just go home and sleep off," she points out as I slip my jacket on. "Just let me get you an Uber and you can go to Urgent Care. It doesn't close for a few more hours."

I shake my head. "If I get worse I'll go, but right now I'm just desperate for bed."

She gives me an eye roll but doesn't press me any further, just telling me to call her any time if I need her. I feel a little glow of warmth at the thought that she cares so much, but it's quickly driven away by another wave of nausea. Rushing out of the bookstore, I sigh as I get an inkling of relief as the cool evening air hits my face. I don't even mind the misty, barely-there rain on my fevered skin. Anything is better than just burning up.

I'm only four blocks from home, but the walk feels like it lasts a lifetime. I have to dip into an alleyway to dry heave, but I've long since thrown up everything in my stomach, so it's a pointless exercise. I hate knowing that I should have been home in bed already, except for the fact that I stayed late hoping to throw a certain someone off my schedule.

That someone being Alex Harvey. My well-meaning but incredibly overbearing ex-boyfriend. We were together for around two months, but each date we went on, I was more and more sure he wasn't the one for me.

For Alex, though, it seemed to be the opposite. Since I told him that I didn't think we were working out, his interest has increased tenfold. When the flowers he kept sending to my job and apartment weren't getting a reaction, he switched tactics to showing up at my place and waiting outside until I returned from my shifts. Alex has been getting pushier and pushier, wanting a second chance with me, but I just can't make myself be interested in him anymore.

Now, I'm doing everything I can to avoid seeing him, even staying late at work to try and throw him off.

I can only hope I waited long enough that he's given up and left, but as soon as I turn the corner and see my apartment building, my hopes are dashed. There, sitting on the stoop, is Alex, staring at his phone and waiting contentedly.

Something about knowing that I'm going to have to deal with him makes my stomach clench even harder and my head pound. The stress and the sickness combine, and the world spins around me. Alex or not, I need to get inside and into bed. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to last.

Blackness is pushing in at the edges of my vision when Alex spots me, hopping up from the stoop with a bright smile on his face. "Haley! You're back!"

I try to push past him, saying, "Not right now, Alex. I'm sick."

He manages to get a better look at my face and his smile quickly fades. "Whoa, Hales, you look really bad. Are you okay?"

"Sick," I mutter, feeling the acid in my stomach working its way up my throat and my vision going darker by the second. "Need sleep. Please get out of my way."

Alex moves aside slightly, but I can't even get up the stairs to the front door of the apartment building, slumping against the railing with a groan. I feel Alex grabbing my shoulders to steady me, and I don't have the strength to shrug him off.

"Haley," Alex's voice sounds like it's coming from down a long hallway. "Forget any dating stuff. You need a doctor."

"No," I groan. "Too expensive…"

"Don't worry about that. I know someone who will see you for cheap," he insists, already pulling up the Uber app on his phone and making the reservation. "For right now, just sit down. We don't need you passing out on the concrete."

Alex helps me to sit, and I lean my head against the metal railing, eyes closed. I barely hear him say, "And maybe once you're better this will prove that I'm the right man for you."

I really should have taken Emily up on her offer. Now Alex is going to think I owe him for playing savior, even if I am a tiny bit thankful that someone is making me go to the hospital. I never would have chosen to go on my own. If Alex can get me seen for cheap, it might be worth dealing with him being creepy for a few more weeks because I've never felt more sick in my entire life.

I just hope that Uber hurries.

The lights of the emergency room lobby are almost painfully bright, making my headache so much worse. I try to pull my hood down over my face with a pathetic moan, cringing away from Alex when he tries to stroke my back in comfort.

"You can go, Alex," I tell him. "Really. I'm here now, so just go home."

"You're going to need me here if you want to get the low price from the doctor." He sounds so smug, but the possibility of having little to no cost for being seen is way too tempting. Novels-A-Plenty doesn't exactly pay a ton, and emergency room visits are almost obscenely expensive. So, miserable and wishing desperately I could be by myself, I sink lower into the waiting room chair and resign myself to waiting here with Alex until it's my turn to be seen.

It doesn't take as long as I expect, especially when Alex goes up to the check-in counter to speak with the nurse checking people in. I stand when they call my name, stumbling again when I do, prompting the nurses to bring out a wheelchair for me. It's embarrassing, being a relatively healthy 20-year-old being wheeled back into the exam rooms like I'm critically injured, but I'm done protesting. The closer I get to passing out, the more sure I am that I really do need some medical attention.

Both the nurse pushing my wheelchair and Alex try to help me into the hospital bed, but I cling to the female nurse hard enough that I think she gets the picture and tells Alex to step back. He pouts but does as he's told. They take my vitals, give me an ice pack for my forehead and a barf bag in case I get sick again, and let me know that the doctor will be in shortly.

Time moves sort of funny as I wait for the doctor. Alex tries to talk, but I can't do much more than moan and groan in response, not wanting to talk to him anyway. Finally, I hear a single knock at the door, and it opens, the curtain being pushed brusquely aside.

I crack my eyes open just enough to see my new visitor. As soon as I get a blurry idea of him, my eyes snap fully open, and I try weakly to raise myself up onto my elbows from where I'm curled in the fetal position.

He's… wow. He's one of the biggest men I've ever laid eyes on and in all the best ways. Tall, at least 6'3", with broad shoulders that taper to a trim waist, thighs that are stretching the limit of his scrub pants, and a jawline that could cut glass. The doctor has the most feminine parts of me waking up even through all the sickness. His hair is immaculately cut and mostly silver at the temples, salt and pepper at the top, same as the short beard he's sporting.

There's an annoyed frown on his sensual mouth as he frowns down at the chart in his hands, his chocolate brown eyes narrowing beneath heavy black eyebrows. Looking at him, it's like I've split into two different people—the woman who is horribly ill and the one that is practically buzzing with interest in the doctor. I'm drawn to him so much that I actually manage to sit up, even if my stomach immediately makes me regret it.

When he lifts his gaze, I suck in a breath, thinking that he's going to meet my gaze and see how much he's affecting me. But to my surprise, he looks straight at Alex instead, the annoyed look on his face getting even more intense.

"Do you think my job is a joke, Alexander?" he growls, his deep voice skittering across my skin even if he isn't talking to me. "That you can just walk into this hospital and demand my time?"

I'm shocked to my core when Alex answers.

"Dad," he pleads. "It's not for me, it's for her. " My ex motions toward me, and I feel like a deer caught in the headlights. "She's really sick, do you think she's going to be okay?"

Finally, Doctor Dad turns to see me in full, and his eyes go wide, gripping his chart so hard that I hear the plastic cracking under his large hands. In that instant, something forms between us—something without a name and fully unfamiliar to me. It's so powerful that it takes my breath, but the shock of it is too much for my exhausted, sick body. With a whimper, my elbows fail me and I fall back to the hospital bed, right before I feel the gentle touch cradling the back of my head before it can hit the thin mattress.

"Easy," the doctor murmurs to me. "You're going to be okay. I've got you."