Chapter 2: Chapter 2
“Okay, then, I appreciate your concern and I’ll be sure to be more careful driving through the hospital parking lot.” He stabbed his fork into the salad. Then something occurred to him. He looked up, staring. “You look kind of familiar. Have we met?”
“No, you probably recognize me from when you nearly killed me.”
He ignored that and stuffed a bite in his mouth. “No, it’s something…Lassiter. I’ve heard that name before.” He tilted his head to the side, studying the sexy doc. “Wait, I know.”
Lassiter scowled when others in the room looked their way. “Keep your voice down.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I remember now. I should have thought about it yesterday when the other nurses were talking about you.”
That got him another icy glare. “And what were they saying?”
He felt himself heat in a blush this time. He cleared his throat. “How great a doctor you were. A-anyway, I guess I didn’t connect it then, but now that I see you, it makes sense.”
“I’m glad to hear it. What?”
“You have a brother named Barnaby, don’t you?”
Dr. Lassiter grimaced. “Former lover?”
“What? No.”
“You looked sort of like his type. His old type, I should say.”
Matt wondered what type he looked like, but decided to let that pass, at least for the moment. “My stepbrother is Nathan Llewellyn.”
Matt’s stepbrother, Nathan, had brought his new boyfriend, Barnaby, along for a family gathering about a month ago. He’d been surprised because he thought Nathan went for stuffy lawyers just like himself, not pretty boys in makeup.
He had to admit Barnaby was very attractive, but Matt thought his brother, Calvin, was even more beautiful.
“Right. I do seem to recall Nathan mentioning a stepbrother who is a nurse. I don’t think he ever mentioned your name.”
Matt nodded. “Yeah, we aren’t very close. We see each other maybe twice a year at family things. His father married my mother several years ago and we share some half-siblings.”
“Hmm.”
Silence descended over the table and Matt felt the need to break it. “So, you and your brother are both gay?”
Lassiter stiffened and pushed aside his Styrofoam cup and stood. “I don’t discuss my private life with the nursing staff. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back.”
Matt turned and watched the doctor walk away. Apparently his fellow nurses had been right. Calvin Lassiter was not the friendly sort. He finished his lunch, cleaned up, and prepared to return to work.
As soon as he got back to the emergency room, Matt got busy all over again and almost forgot about Dr. Lassiter, even though he saw him several times working on patients with other nurses.
He didn’t get a moment to breathe again until his shift was nearly over, close to seven in the morning. He leaned against a wall, closing his eyes briefly.
“Rough night, huh?”
Matt opened his eyes to see another nurse, Valerie, smiling in sympathy at him.
“Yeah, I’m exhausted. And starving, too.”
“You didn’t get a lunch?”
“Several hours ago I had a salad down in the cafeteria. Food was all right, the company not so much.”
“Don’t tell me the female nurses are already bugging you?”
Matt laughed. “Nah, nothing so frightening. I made the mistake of introducing myself to Dr. Lassiter.”
“Oh.” She nodded.
“Guy’s just as bad as everyone said.”
Valerie’s expression was one of vague uneasiness.
“Uh, sorry, is he a friend?”
She sighed. “Not exactly. Look, I’m not saying he’s warm and fuzzy or anything, but he had a really bad night. He lost a patient. Motorcycle accident victim brought here in full cardiac arrest. He couldn’t save him.”
Matt’s gut twisted. He felt like the biggest jerk all of a sudden. “I didn’t know.”
Valerie patted his arm. “You’re almost off. Lucky you. See you tonight?”
Matt was due back in for his next twelve hour shift at seven that night. “Yeah, thanks.”
When his shift ended, he headed outside. The morning was overcast and he seemed to recall they had predicted rain later that night. He was about to head out to where he’d parked his motorcycle when he spotted Dr. Lassiter coming outside.
The sexy doc had changed from his scrubs into tailored beige pants and a maroon button-down shirt. Even more beautiful if that were possible.
“Hey, doc, you going home, too?”
Lassiter jumped.
Matt grinned. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t scare me, just startled me.”
“I wanted to apologize.”
The doctor frowned. “For?”
“I didn’t know about the…you know, the patient. I’ve had patients die on me, too. Once a little boy who I’d been caring for in the critical care unit passed when I went off shift. It was horrible.”
Dr. Lassiter nodded, but didn’t respond. He looked away and then up at the sky.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone