Chapter 3

 

A week later Rufus was still in a sulk with me. Like I was the one who had crawled home drunk at three in the morning. Like I was the one who had woken him up demanding sex and throwing a hissy fit when he said he was too tired. He would get over it. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in a mood and, knowing Rufus, it wouldn’t be the last, although he was excelling himself by keeping it up for a whole seven days. I put part of it down to the letter he received, threatening to cut his Job Seekers’ allowance because he hadn’t gone to his interview. The other part was more to do with his stubborn belief I fancied the pants off the new barman at Keane’s.

Trouble was, for all my denials, the guy had been on my mind far more than he should have been. When I closed my eyes, I tried to make it Rufus’ face that I saw, but more often than not, my boyfriend’s delicate, pale features morphed into a big, brown-eyed, solid wall of muscle. It didn’t mean anything. Chances were I wouldn’t see him again anyway. He wouldn’t keep his job for long if he kept giving away drinks and abandoning his post to chase after the customers he’d been hitting on. My guess would be, by the next time we went to Keane’s, he’d have been fired.

It was my first shift on a week of nights, and I only half-listened to the ward sister in charge of handover. The rest of my brain was still on Rufus, wondering if we would ever get back to normal or if, this time, it really was the beginning of the end. Could I save our relationship? Did I want to? I loved Rufus, but being with him was hard work, and I never got back as much as I gave. I wondered what Rufus would say if I suggested we go to couples therapy like Stefan and Alex had done to fix their relationship. Quickly, I dismissed it as a bad idea. Rufus would never do anything that his arch nemesis had done first.

“Nurse Montgomery, are you listening?”

“Yes,” I lied. “Absolutely.”

“Good. Off you go then.”

“I…er…”

“Mr. White in bed seven,” the ward sister said with a roll of her eyes. “Motorbike accident. Surgery on his wrist this morning. Is this ringing and bells yet, Nurse Montgomery? He needs his observations doing.”

“Right, sorry.”

Guilt ridden, I grabbed a trolley and made my way to bed seven. When I was at work, the patients came first and that was all there was too it. For the next few hours, I had to put my troubled relationship out of mind, and I definitely had to stop day-dreaming about musclebound strangers with big brown eyes. Much like the one who lay in the bed before me – or should I say exactly like the guy who lay in the bed — his face pale and his eyes closed.

“Mr White, I take it,” I said, my heart pounding wildly at the sight of him.

He opened his eyes and gave me a tired smile as recognition dawned. “Yeah, but as it’s you, call me Mason.”

“I’m going to take your temperature and blood pressure,” I said stiffly. “I can get you some pain killers if you feel you need them, Mr White.”

“Mason,” he corrected.

I ignored him, running through my checks with undue haste in order to get away from him as soon as possible. Officially, he was in one of my beds, but I would ask one of the others to swap so I didn’t have to go near him again that night.

“Are you experiencing any pain right now, Mr White?” I asked officiously, as I recorded his temperature and blood pressure readings on his notes, all the while trying not to actually look at him.

“Yes,” he said. “My heart hurts because you won’t call me Mason or even look at me. And after all the trouble I went to just so I can see you again.”

“You did this on purpose?” I stared at him, incredulous. “How did you even know I’m a nurse?”

“I didn’t. That was a joke.” He rolled his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes again. “Look, you’re cute and I like you, but not so much I’d total my bike and put myself in hospital to see you again.”

He didn’t seem to have anything to add, so I left him to doze while I carried on my rounds. I passed my colleague, Kate, in the corridor and asked her to take Mr White – Mason – some pain relief. She gave me a strange look, but didn’t ask why I didn’t want to do it, and I didn’t offer up an explanation.

For the first few hours, I was run off my feet and, thankfully, kept far too busy to give Mason White more than the most cursory of thoughts. But it turned into a quiet night. The patients were all settled and sleeping before midnight and none of them seemed to have the potential for developing problems. My colleagues, including the ward sister, were gathered around a computer at the nurses’ station, evidently having found some cat video on YouTube that was hysterically funny.

I, perhaps inevitably, found myself standing at the end of a certain patient’s bed. I watched him sleep and tried to figure out what it was about him that intrigued me so. He was handsome, yes, but I had seen plenty of handsome men in my time without being captivated by them. Mason White was not my type. He was too tall, too broad, too muscular…too everything. He looked like Alex Gill for fuck’s sake, and Alex tended to terrify me rather than entice me.

“Can’t stay away, huh?”

I met his amused gaze, feeling guilty that he had caught me looking at him again.

“Just doing my job, Mr White.”

“Right, even though you’ve been avoiding me all evening. It’s Mason, by the way. Two syllables. May-sun. Go on, try it.”

“Sorry,” I said, turning away. “I have work to do.”

“No, you don’t. Everyone else is asleep. Stay. Talk to me.”

I turned back, because he was right, and if I had a little time to waste before my next rounds I would rather spend it with him than my guffawing colleagues.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know.” He closed his eyes, relaxing now that he was satisfied I would stay. “Tell me about you.”

“There’s not much to tell,” I said, moving closer to the bed. I was more comfortable talking to him while his eyes were shut; when I could study his handsome face to my heart’s content with him none the wiser. “My name is Eric Montgomery, just like it says on my name badge. I’m twenty-four.” He winced at that, making me wonder if he was older than he looked. “I love chocolate and hate spiders.” Interesting that I should choose to put my love of chocolate over my love for Rufus. Best not to read too much into that, although it wouldn’t hurt to remind Mason that I was spoken for. “I don’t understand this Pokémon craze,” I told him, “but my boyfriend plays it all the time.”

“I want to know about you, not him,” Mason grumbled. “But I’m with you on the Pokémon thing. I don’t get it either.” He opened his eyes and I glanced away quickly. “I know some of the guys in the club are really into it. Only they call it Grindr and everybody’s looking for Twinkachu and Pokebear.”

The laugh burst from my lips before I could stop it and Mason smiled, looking pleased with himself. Maybe he thought he was getting somewhere with me, winning me round, but I wasn’t the type of guy to throw away my relationship just because he had a nice smile and a sense of humour, even if Rufus…

If Rufus what? How had did I think that sentence ended? Even if Rufus cheated on me? Used me? Spent every penny I earned on his own selfish needs? No. I wasn’t going to start playing the blame game simply because I’d met someone I liked and wanted to ease my guilty conscience. I’d known what Rufus was like from the very beginning and I had still come to love him.

“Tell me about you,” I said, not quite ready to walk away from him.

“My name is Mason White, just like it says on my medical records. I’m…ahem…thirty-two.” So that would explain why he flinched when I told him my age. He was eight years older than me and definitely older than he looked. “I love motorbikes, especially Harley Davidsons, and I hate men who cheat on their boyfriends.”

Okay, that had to be another dig at Rufus. He didn’t even know Rufus, so who was he to judge? Mason was trying to get me to cheat on my boyfriend, but wouldn’t that make me the type of man he claimed to dislike so vehemently?

“I really do need to get back to work,” I said, suddenly awkward with him again, because I had the feeling he was playing games with me, only I wasn’t sure what game or what the rules were.

“Fine,” he replied. His unwavering gaze locked onto mine. “But…just so you know, Eric…once you’re mine, I’m never going to let you walk away from me again.”

Once I was his…not if but once. As if my fate was already decided and I had no say in the matter. I didn’t bother answering. Instead, I walked away, with my heart racing and my soul in turmoil.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked, looking up from her paperwork as I neared the nurses’ station.

“I’m fine.”

In truth, I didn’t know what I was right at that moment. Mason White had me tied up in knots, and I didn’t know if what I felt was disgust or delight, anger or excitement. Once you’re mine. I had to admit, I did like Mason more than I should, but it was like having a crush on a famous actor or a pop star. It wasn’t real. Nothing could ever happen between us. I didn’t even want it to, but as I went back to work, those three words played over and over in my head.

Once you’re mine…