Thicker than Blood - Book One Read Online Free Page A

quickly, hoping it was Matt...
but it was the hospital.
     
    “ Hello?”
     
    “ Hey Kenna, it's Sam,” the house supervisor said. “You've been
floated down to the ER tonight.”
     
    Dammit. “Ha, and I thought you were calling me off.”
     
    He chuckled. “Well, almost.
If the ER wasn't in a bind, you'd be sleeping in.”
     
    “ Well, alright. See ya soon.”
     
    “ Thanks Kenna.”
     
    Fuck. The ER. Now that place was a box of chocolates; you never
knew what sort of nuts you'd get. Some nights were quiet and other
nights, like a full moon, people were going completely ape-shit. I
prayed that tonight wasn't a full moon.
     
    I took my time getting
ready for the night ahead since I didn't have to shower. I did a
bit of reading online and packed myself a nice, hearty lunch.
Honestly, I didn’t know if I'd have time to eat it – I'd probably
be running on coffee alone.
     
    My car found a parking place
that was relatively convenient to my escape in the morning. As I
made my way up to the double ER doors, I felt someone watching me.
Glancing behind, I saw Dr. Amante in the parking lot. He was
standing between a Bentley Continental GT and a giant Mercedes,
talking to Dr. Tims, another cardiologist in the Welch Group. Dr.
Amante's eyes were fixed on me as he chatted with the other doc. I
had to turn my head when I saw Dr. Tims look my way. Great, they
were talking about me. Why? Fucking
fantastic. Now my mind would chew on that
all night.
     
    I entered the building and
swiped my badge. Lord, please don't make
this be a long night... please?
     
    When I entered the ER, it
didn't look too bad. There were three people seated in the waiting
room. T his is what I was called down here
for? If the ER doctor tonight was anyone
besides Dr. Campbell, I'd be spending a lot of time on app games...
unless we got busy.
     
    “Hey Kenna! You're down
here tonight?” a happy woman's voice called.
     
    I turned. It was Andrea
Parker. We graduated from the same nursing class.
     
    “Andrea!” I hugged her
lightly. She looked exactly the same as she did in school; short,
straight, brown hair and had the waifish, big, fake-breasted body
most men were into these days. I hated her in school because of it.
I was jealous of the attention she received. Now, I could'nt care
less. I was happy with me... thanks to Matt. Damn, Matt. Why wouldn't he call me back?
     
    Andrea stood back, taking a
look over my body. “You look like you've lost some weight. Good for
you, girl!”
     
    My eyes narrowed slightly,
but then I grinned, placing a hand on my hip like a pin-up girl.
“Nope, just as curvy as always.” She could
jump up my ass . Her statement would have
bothered me a while back, but not now. I knew I had as much to
offer as her... and even more. Matt thought so... and so did Dr.
Amante, apparently.
     
    She shrugged. “Well, you
look good. Days told me it had been slow. I imagine that it will
carry over. Looks that way, anyway,” Andrea told me as she texted
someone.
     
    “Yeah, Sam told me that if
it wasn't for the call-in down here, I'd be off.”
     
    The pretty little woman
glanced up from her phone. “Bummer.” Her focus went back to the
phone. “Oh well, glad to see you, though!”
     
    I found an empty locker to
store my purse and got a cup of coffee. Leaning up against a
support, I watched Dr. Smith, the ER doc for the night, talk to a
patient about their wounded arm. It made me think back to when I
started nursing school, my thoughts were set on treating each
patient with care – much like I'd treat any member of my family if
they were in the hospital. Most students started school with those
thoughts. (A rare few became nurses because it was a good career
choice only.) However, during the course of school and externing at
hospitals, most of us inevitably were desensitized to the whole
thing. You have enough rude patients treating you like an
indentured servant, family members demanding more be done despite
doing all