Chapter 19

Parks

I woke Sunday morning to someone knocking on the door. It had been a long and arduous two weeks. Ansley treated me like any other second set of hands in her OR and left all of us feeling a bit uncomfortable. I played that shit off as no big deal. What choice did I fucking have?

"None," I mumbled as I dragged myself out of bed and walked to the door. I pulled on a pair of jeans and rubbed my eyes, wondering who the hell would be stopping by so early on the weekend. I didn't know many people in Boston, and the ones I did weren't really the visiting type.

Aiden Crawford stood on the other side of my door, surprising me a little.

"Hey. Wow. What the fuck are you doing here?" I extended my hand as worry raced through me. Was something wrong with Ansley? Why was Aiden up from New York?

He shook my hand and pulled me into a quick hug. "I came up to have a late lunch with my sisters yesterday. I crashed at a hotel near the medical center thanks to a meeting at Harvard this morning. I figured I'd look you up and come by." He moved back and gave me the once over. "You doing alright?"

"Couldn't be better." I backed up. There was no way in hell I was letting on how I really felt. For one, I wasn't sure. I was ready to head back home, but I had a few more things to check off my to-do list before I packed up. Aiden would be checking the list if I knew him at all. Better to wrap things up professionally and get back to my life.

"Really?" He chuckled and walked in. "I brought you some notes for your Clay Kade surgery tomorrow."

"Did you shoot these to Ans?" I took the file and pulled it open as I walked to the kitchen to start some coffee.

"Since when did you start calling my sister, Ans?" He stopped at the opening to the kitchen, and I turned and shrugged.

"Since we've been working together nonstop for three weeks."

"She still giving you hell?"

"Oh yeah. Well, that's not true. She was, but she's crawled back into her shell." I turned around and worked on the coffee. "I wish there were something I could do to help her, but there's not. I'm tired of trying to think through it."

His hands clamped down on my shoulders from behind. "She's not your concern, Parks. I didn't send you down here to fix Ansley. I sent you down to train the hospital on a few things, to show them some new tricks and to assist Ans with her residents. You've done that. It's almost time to come home."

"Good." I snorted and pulled out of his grasp. "I'm ready. These people here are way the fuck different than New Yorkers."

He smiled as I turned to face him. "Most people would agree that them being different is a good thing."

"By different, I mean serious and boring as hell." I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair. I wanted to tell him that I had feelings for his sister, but it was irrelevant. Whatever happened between me and Ansley was all but buried somewhere in our silence. "So why the involvement in the surgery tomorrow? Nolan call you?"

"Nope. I just know what it's like to deal with these high priority surgeries. There's a lot of added pressure. I wanted to make sure both you and my sister were good to go." He slipped his hands into his slacks pockets and studied me. "I'm not happy with Nolan putting you in charge."

"Instead of Ansley?" I'd learned a long time ago not to take anything Aiden said personally. He was a great guy, and always seemed to be watching out for everyone around him.

"No. I don't like the thought of either of you doing it, but that's the big brother coming out in me." He shrugged. "It should be Ansley leading it because it's her hospital and she's more comfortable there than you are. He's covering her ass because he's still hoping to win her back."

"Fat chance of that shit. He fucked up royally."

"I agree." He sat down at one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "I wish I could get her back to New York with us."

"Don't ask for my help with that, Aiden. She can barely stand me."

"That's cause she's attracted to you."

"Whatever." I walked back into the kitchen and got a cup of coffee. "Even if she is, she's not going to do anything about it."

"Because of me?" He called after me.

"Because she's scared to breathe too deeply, brother." I walked in and offered him a cup. He took it, and I sat down across from him. "She's a beautiful, brilliant, strong woman, but she's going to be lonely until someone knocks that chip off her shoulder."

His expression tightened, and I was worried that I'd gone a little too far. "Are you offering to do that?"

"Nope. She's your family, not mine. I'm ready to wrap this shit up and get back home. I haven't slept with a slutty, hot nurse in three weeks. I'm surprised my balls haven't rotted off."

He rolled his eyes. "You never fail to shake up a conversation, do you?"

I laughed. "What? I'm being serious."

"And why haven't you played the whore here in Boston's halls as you have in ours?" The smile on his face let me know that he didn't look down on me for my lifestyle. Something told me that perhaps it was the same one he lived. Years and years ago.

I shrugged. "I don't know, but enough about me. Let's look over this file, though I feel like it's a waste of your time. It's a pretty routine surgery."

"But a less than routine or average person that you're performing it on. That's where the concern comes in."

"A body is a body, Aiden. You taught me that."

He pursed his lips and nodded, pulling out the file and walking me through everything I already knew. I was glad it was him and not Ansley doing it. The conversation could have easily been misconstrued to leave me feeling the need to defend my intelligence and experience, but it didn't.

He cared. I just wish his sister did.