Hawke: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance (With bonus book Sons of Flame MC) by Ashley Rhodes Read Free Book Online

I’ve got a plan for him. If he’s here long enough to see it through.”
    “Uh huh,” She grunted. But she wasn’t going to dig. It wasn’t like her to go where she wasn’t wanted. At least, when it came to friends. Patients didn’t get that luxury. “Well, glad someone’s getting through to him. Must be something special about you.”
    “I don’t think so,” I said honestly. “I think I just leaned on him long enough and he broke.”
    “Naomi Ellis,” Yvonne intoned, “asshole wrangler.”
    We both pursed our lips a bit.
    “That didn’t quite have the ring I thought it would,” she muttered.
    We shared a giggle, but when it petered out Yvonne was momentarily serious again. “Last night, seems Mr. Hawke was asking his nurses about you. Nothing really serious. Just casual stuff about whether you were from around here, how long you’d been working as a PT, things like that.”
    Had he, now?
    I was more amused than Yvonne was. “Just between you and me—and I mean that—maybe make sure you’re not… you know, giving off any signals. Could be trouble. Not just Jack Hawke—though I guarantee you that man is trouble incarnate—but, you know, the faculty. If they think something might be going on…”
    Now, I was offended, even if she was just looking out for me. “Excuse me? Yvonne—you know me. I would never… that’s just… is anyone talking about this?”
    She was quick to allay my sudden panic. “No, no, no, hon,” she said. She hopped up from her chair and crossed the room quickly to sit in the chair near me. She leaned in a bit. “No one’s saying anything, or making any accusations or rumors. This is just from me to you—I’ve seen it start that way. Not the… well not between a patient and a nurse or something, but I mean the talk. You might want to let Jack know what’s off limits.”
    I wanted to tell her that I’d tried to. And that I’d apparently failed, and that Jack made me think things that I knew I shouldn’t be thinking about a patient—or for that matter Jack himself just on the basis of who he was.
    But now it was out there, or at least now that it might get out there, I couldn’t. “I’ll put a stop to it,” I sighed. “That man, I swear to God is the most irritating patient I’ve ever had.”
    Yvonne didn’t comment on that. She did give me a hanging look for just a couple of seconds before she stood. “Well, I have to get back to it. The never ending crusade. I hear some idiot trust fund baby came in drunk, with something lodged in his rectum and is in surgery. Guess who has post-surgery care?” She groaned, and ran her fingers through her short hair. “Did kids that age ever have sense, or is it just a millennial thing?”
    “I can’t recall anymore,” I said. My college days hadn’t involved that kind of stupidity. They had involved other kinds, though.
    Yvonne waved to me, and stepped backward through the break room door. It swung shut when she’d gone, slowing at the last possible second to close slowly to the tune of an airy hiss.
     
    ***
     
    Jack was quiet when I met with him for the third time. He looked grim. I took him through the first few exercises, the same as the day before, and tested range of motion, and marked down his progress, which was impressive. Not because of me, I thought. Jack was just one of those resilient guys who was used to being injured. His body knew how to heal, was used to it.
    It was me that broke the stony silence. “Jack,” I said, “I was told that you were asking some of the nurses about me.”
    His first word that morning was, “Yep.”
    Surely he knew it was inappropriate? He didn’t give me this indication. “You can’t do that, Jack.”
    He looked up at me. “Why’s that? Don’t want ’em to know somethin’s up?”
    “I don’t want them to think something’s up,” I corrected him. My hand was still on his bare arm. I took it away casually and reached for the clipboard with it. I didn’t