Chapter 17

"There's an EMS on the way. Engine nine just called it in." Damien swipes his badge and we walk outside the double doors.

When the ambulance pulls up, the first paramedic to hop out of the truck is Landyn Evans. He happens to be Liam's brother and someone I see often as our jobs overlap quite a bit.

We're the closest hospital for his station and the biggest in the area, so many patients prefer to come here for treatment.

"Pediatric?" I ask when he looks up at me.

"Yeah, twelve-year-old girl." Landyn nods at me and then helps his partner get her out.

"Got it," I say.

I pull my hair into a scrunchie to make sure it's completely out of my face as they bring her out of the ambulance. She's awake, but looks exhausted. Still in a soccer uniform, shin guards and cleats included. Nothing looks broken from my vantage point and I don't see any blood, so I wait for the paramedics to give Damien a run down.

"Tiffany Smith, twelve years old. Fainted on the soccer field, but was alert by the time we got there." Landyn pulls his hat over his head as he speaks.

"Thanks, Lan," I say, walking up beside her and helping guide her into a room.

Damien goes through a bunch of questions with the paramedics and two other nurses get her vitals once we have her in the room.

"Hi, I'm Summer," I say, offering a soft smile to the girl's mom as she's standing there.

"Eileen, thank you." She briefly makes eye contact and nods her head before she looks back to her daughter. I can see the concern on her face.

"Hi, Tiffany. I'm Summer." I shift my attention to the girl next to me. Her soccer uniform is covered in grass stains, which tells me she's probably a tough competitor.

Her eyes look like they're sunken in and her lips appear dry and cracked, both clear signs of dehydration. She musters up a smile for me and then lets her head fall against the pillow.

"I feel much better now," she states, eyes darting to her mom in the corner.

"I'm glad, but we want to get some fluids in you and monitor things for a little while, okay?"

Her mom steps closer to the bed, nodding and answering for her. "Yes, anything."

Another nurse is already setting up an IV for some fluids, so I finish my notes and leave the room to go find Damien.

When I spot him, he's still talking with Landyn and one of the other paramedics.

"Hey, Summer," Landyn says when I approach the three of them.

"My favorite Evans brother," I jest.

"I know you don't mean that, but I appreciate the ego boost." His brown eyes look nearly black and the thickness of his eyebrows is almost distracting. He and Liam don't look too much alike, but when they open their mouths you know they're related. They both have that charm and charisma that's hard to ignore.

"All right, we'll see you guys later, thanks so much." Damien nods at us both.

"I'll see you at the Andersons' tomorrow, right?" Landyn asks before we go our separate ways.

I almost forgot that Ford and Abby are having a barbeque this weekend, my mind has been so clouded with work and then trying not to think about the fact that me and Chase kissed.

"Yeah, I'll see you there!" I answer, smiling in his direction as he walks toward the doors and back to the rescue.

Once I finish making my rounds for the last time this afternoon, I stop back in the room where Tiffany is. I've been peeking in for the last hour or so, each time she's been doing well, and taking the fluids easily. This time, her head is perched on a couple of pillows as she's resting, but she has the IV out and it looks like she's about to be discharged.

"Feeling better?" I ask, peeking my head in.

"Yeah, I feel fine."

Her mom stands from the chair to thank me for my help just as the doctor comes in with the discharge papers.

"And thank you, Dr. McCall," Eileen says, causing me to turn around and be face to face with Drew for the first time since we broke up.

"Take it easy, all right? Drink water. Rest." He points to Tiffany playfully and hands the papers to Eileen.

Drew and I both exit the room at the same time and I quickly try to head down the hall, but he calls my name loud enough to where it would look rude if I ignored him.

"Yes, Dr. McCall?"

"Okay, enough with the pleasantries. No patients are around, you can call me Drew," he says, his eyes giving me a once over.

"What do you need, Drew?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing?"

See how I'm doing? Laughable.

"I'm great, thank you." My feet begin to move to take me far away from this conversation, but he stops me again.

"Listen, I feel like we ended things on a bad note, and I'd like to try and fix it. I don't want you to hate me." The arrogance in his words is enough to make me want to vomit all over his pretty white coat.

"Hating you would require caring."

"Wow," he scoffs with a head shake.

I sigh, knowing that I do have to work with him often and I'd rather not have things be awkward. "I just mean… I don't hate you. I don't have any feelings about any of it. I'm really over it and I'm okay. Believe me," I say, trying to find a peaceful way to end this conversation.

If Chase can go on not hating Kristen for the awful things she's done, then surely I can find it in me to not hate Drew. I can simply move on from it and feel indifferent.

He gives a curt nod, and this time I'm able to walk away without him calling me back.

With the guys having a bye week, I haven't seen Chase since I shocked him by showing up at CeCe's gymnastics practice. His eyebrows shot up in surprise when he saw it was me who walked through the door. I probably should have given him a heads up text, especially considering we both avoided the giant elephant in the room like the plague with my surprise visit.

Ford and Abby's pool is full of kids when I walk out back, noticing a few other guys from the team and their families are here as well. I spot Chase right away, standing next to the grill with Liam and Ford, holding a glass I'm certain has whiskey in it as they talk while watching the game that's playing.

"San Francisco by ten," I say as I walk up to them, smirking in Chase's direction.

"I'll take that bet." Liam points his finger at me and smiles.

"Dipshit, you can't bet on the game." Chase turns to face Liam with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Chase seems to have finally cleaned up the scruff he had going on for the last few weeks as he's now simply left with his five o'clock shadow. I've got to say, the unruly beard he was sporting was kind of a turn on, but now I can see the piercing shape of his jaw and his Adam's apple stands out like he did this just to entice me. Every part of his back is covered in muscle as he stands there shirtless next to Ford who seems to be adding a new tattoo every time I see him.

"I saw your brother yesterday at work," I say, nudging Liam's arm.

He looks down, focusing his hazel eyes on me and puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close. On instinct, my eyes swoop up and I notice a flare in Chase's nostrils. His body becomes rigid as he stands there now, when he looked relaxed just moments ago.

"Yeah? He should be here soon." Liam keeps his arm around me, hanging his forearm off my shoulder. Liam's contact isn't new, he's always been affectionate, but in a respectful way, never anything more. It's causing my curiosity to tailspin when Chase seems affected by it.

It's mid-November, but that doesn't apply in Florida when speaking in terms of weather. It's still warm enough to have a pool day and it's rare that any of my friends miss an opportunity to get together.

Abby has the entire kitchen island covered in different appetizers and finger foods. I can't fill my plate fast enough when I finally make it back inside to eat something. Chase grabs a plate next to me and starts adding a few pieces of chicken, cubes of cheese and some fruit.

"Here," I say, adding a few extra strawberries to the plate. "Don't make it harder on yourself, she'll finish those in five seconds and ask for more. Just give her more now."

"Good thinking," he replies, taking the strawberries from my hand and placing them on the plate. Instead of reaching for the napkin that's literally right in front of him, he does something that makes my chest pound and my thighs scream as I squeeze them together. His tongue skims his index finger and thumb, causing my lower lip to drop slightly as I watch the movement. He did that shit on purpose.

I've spent most of this afternoon watching the football games and eating a bunch of food that I definitely don't need, but can't say no to. Bacon wrapped jalapenos are a staple football food, it'd simply be rude to not eat them.

"Hey." Chase's voice pulls me from the trays I've been staring at for the last two minutes, debating if I really need more buffalo chicken dip or should opt for some celery sticks instead.

"Hi." I smile at him as he comes up beside me.

"Can we talk?"

I feel the lump in my throat build at those three words and just nod my head and follow him down the hall. I wipe my greasy fingers on the swimsuit cover up I'm wearing, even though it's useless with this kind of sheer material.

He opens the door to the spare bedroom down the hall and I walk in first with him just behind me. Before he begins talking, he pulls the baseball hat from his head and turns it backward after running his hand in his hair. My breathing picks up when he takes a step in my direction, but I don't move. My feet somehow feel like bricks and I can't pick them up.

"Okay." He begins on a heavy exhale. "You've been avoiding it. I've been avoiding it. And we just can't anymore. Especially because you're helping with CeCe so much, I can't have anything become weird between us." He stops talking and looks at me with those golden brown eyes. "I'm sorry I kissed you."

I'd like to be surprised by his apology, but I'm not. I knew the moment it was happening that Chase would feel guilty about it. He'd never want to lead me on, I know that wholeheartedly.

"Chase, stop. Don't apologize. It didn't mean anything to you, I knew that and I was okay with it. We both got caught up in the moment. And I think we can admit it was just nice having company for the night and we've always got along well, we're friends… I know it meant nothing. It's okay."

I've spent my entire teenage years and adult life lusting after Chase. I won't be stupid enough to think that one random kiss meant anything to him.

When he doesn't say anything more, I walk around him to exit the bedroom but his arm shoots out, blocking me.

"Don't say that. It didn't mean nothing , Summer."

Summer . He never calls me by my first name.

"But… I can't let it happen again."

"What does that mean?" I ask, confused by the conflict in his voice.

He lowers his arm, his body edging closer to mine.

The dynamic we've always had made my feelings for him somehow seem manageable. I like him, he doesn't like me, we go back and forth with our jabs sometimes and voila. Easy for me. Things were never reciprocated and in some way that made it easier for me to be so confident and playful with him.

"What do you mean, ‘ it didn't mean nothing '?" My tone becoming more demanding.

He looks tormented when his eyes meet mine, confused even. Like words are on the tip of his tongue and he's debating whether or not he can say them.

But when he doesn't say anything I move around him and this time he doesn't block me. Though, his voice stops me before I can leave the room.

"It means… I haven't stopped thinking about that goddamn kiss in a week, Kincaid. And I shouldn't be thinking about it. I shouldn't be thinking about you . But all that clouds my mind lately is how badly I want to fucking do it again."

Shock runs through my body.

I'm sorry, what ?