Bad Patient: A Bad Boy Romance Read online

  "Look, Carmichael, you are in some deep shit. You're not getting out of here, so why don't you just cooperate," the sweaty cop said, sounding like he was taking the part as the good cop.

  "I told you, I didn't know the guy ..."

  "We've had enough of this bullshit about you not knowing who Joe Fontinella or Vinny DiFazio are! You need to start talking and it'd better be now!" the other cop yelled as he kicked the foot of the bed a couple feet across the room.

  Just then the door flew open and that incredibly sexy nurse and the lady doctor walked in.

  "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you gentleman to leave, now. This conversation is beyond inappropriate for my patient. I've already explained to you that you will have plenty of time to interrogate him after he has recovered ..."

  "Doctor, this man is dangerous and you are obstructing our work here ..."

  "I'm not obstructing anything, detectives. This man is handcuffed to the bed. He's not going anywhere. He cannot even sit up yet. If anything you are obstructing my ability to properly care for my patient. Now, please go out into the hall. If you have anything else to say we can discuss it out there."

  "You're making a big mistake doctor. We're just trying to protect you and everyone else in this hospital."

  "I'm willing to take that risk, detective. This is my patient and my rules. You'll have him in your custody when he is ready to be transported, but for now I am going to have to insist that you both step outside."

  That woman was not someone to be messed with and I was suddenly incredibly glad she was my doctor and that she took her job so seriously. I looked over at the nurse and her eyes were already on me, like she had been looking at me for a while. She suddenly snapped out of her trance and looked at the doctor.

  "Jess, I want you to stay in here and check Mr. Carmichael's vitals. I'll be back in a few minutes," she said as she narrowed her eyes at the detectives, waiting for them to walk through the door ahead of her.

  "Gentlemen, please," she said as she gestured out into the hall.

  "We'll be back, Carmichael," the sweaty one said as they walked to the door. I didn't know if they actually thought that sounded like a threat, but it almost made me laugh.

  "How are you feeling?" the sexy nurse said as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm. "You're going to feel a little bit of pressure," she said as she pushed the button and started the machine.

  "Not bad, considering," I said as I watched her enter something into a tablet. "So, am I right in assuming that there's a guard outside the door?" I asked when she ripped the cuff off my arm and stuck it back on the wall.

  "Yep, there's one out there twenty-four hours a day. You're just lucky he's not sitting in here with you," she said with a faint smile.

  She had a really nice smile, a kind smile. That first day when I open my eyes and asked her where I was, all I really could see was her incredible eyes. Now that I was a little more aware of my surroundings, I could see that she had a lot more going for her than just that. She had all kinds of curves that were visible no matter what angle you looked at her from.

  "Your name's Jess, right?" I asked, studying her face as she concentrated on putting info into the tablet in her hand. "You look way too sexy to be a nurse," I said as I watched her eyes look up at me while her head stayed pointed down at the tablet in her hands. A look of amusement spread across her face and her eyes flared a little, then she looked back down and continued to type something.

  "Are you in any pain today, Mr. Carmichael?" she asked, clearly ignoring my comment, but I could tell she wasn't offended. In fact, she seemed almost flattered. At least that's what I was hoping.

  "It's Brody," I said, watching her reaction.

  "Are you in any pain, Brody," she asked again, looking up at me with those gorgeous eyes. Her lashes almost looked too heavy for her, the way her eyelids swept up in that lazy way. It was so incredibly sexy it almost made me hard just looking at the way her damned eyelids moved.

  "How long have you been a nurse?"

  "Long enough," she said, walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a few things before she returned to the side of the bed.

  "So this is a life choice? You really like helping people?"

  "Well, I'm not in it for the money, if that's what you're asking. Yes, I do like helping people. Open your mouth please," she said as she looked down at me with a thermometer in her hand.

  "You're still using those old fashion things? I thought they had infrared models nowadays."

  "You've been watching too much TV," she said as a warm laugh spilled out of her throat. "Besides, this is a county funded hospital. We're lucky that we're moving into the digital age with our charts. Everything we have works the way we need it to even though it isn't exactly top of the line equipment. Open..."

  I opened my mouth and she slipped the thermometer under my tongue and I watched her as she put more data into her tablet.

  "That looks pretty fancy," I said through clenched lips.

  "Yes, well I didn't say we were still in the dark ages." And there were those sexy, lazy lids again. I could watch those things go up and down for hours. The thermometer beeped and she pulled it out of my mouth then added more info into the tablet.

  "I don't see a ring, Jess. Do they not allow you to wear jewelry while you're at work?" I asked, clearly not interested in the hospital's policies. She looked up at me with a kind but stern look.

  "I think it would be best for you to keep your mind on your recovery, Brody. That's the only thing in this room that should concern you right now."

  "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be ... I guess having a beautiful woman taking care of you really does a number on a guy," I said with a weak smile. "I hope I didn't offend you."

  "Not at all. Is there anything I can get you?"

  "Do you happen to know where my phone is? I had one on me when I ... the last I remember."

  "I'm sorry, they won't allow us to bring in any personal items in for you. I can get you a paper though, and there's a TV. One hundred and fifty channels of pure unadulterated crap at your fingertips," she said with a much bigger smile than before. I was really starting to like her. I wanted to get to know her but I didn't want to come off like a creep and send her running for the hills. I had to figure out how to play this.

  "Yeah, the paper would be great. And if you have any free time a chat would be nice to," I said with a smile.

  "I'll get you the newspaper. Why don't you close your eyes and try to get some rest," she said as she turned and headed out the door.

  I stared at the ceiling trying to figure out what I was going to do next. I was furious with myself for getting into this situation, but I knew that wasn't going to get me out of there. I had to get the hell out of that hospital.

  5

  Jess

  "So what are you doing for lunch?" Madonna asked as she wrestled through some charts on the ER reception desk. "I cannot wait until we are done with this transition and I never have to see another manila folder again," she said as she picked up a few that had slid onto the floor.

  "I'm just gonna eat up in the ICU today," I said as I watched her place the charts precariously on the top of the pile again.

  "Ok, but I wanna take you out someday this week. I got a bonus in my paycheck for some overtime, I mean like over the regular overtime I usually work, and I thought maybe we could celebrate a little."

  "Thanks, Madonna, that's really sweet. There's actually a patient up in the ICU that wanted me to stop in and have a chat during lunch."

  "Oh, is it that kid with the appendix? He's a real sweetie."

  "No, it's not the little boy with the ruptured appendix," I said as I quickly looked down the hall, trying not to let Madonna see the look on my face. I knew I was still holding on to what happened to that little boy a year ago, and I also knew it was starting to get ridiculous. I really needed to just let it go but I couldn't figure out how.

  "Come on, Jess. It's been a year, and it was
an accident. No one blames you for what happened."

  "His parents did. I saw in their eyes that they blamed me for his death. And he's never going to be able to grow up, live his life and see all the beautiful things there are to see in the world and it's all my fault. I took his life away from him because I was careless," I said as I looked down at my feet. "But you're right, I need to get over it, I know I do."

  "So who's your lunch date then?" she asked, thankfully changing the subject.

  "It's the gunshot wound to the abdomen."

  "The guy they brought in with the dead cop? Doesn't he have a guard posted outside his room or something?" she asked with big, round eyes.

  "Yeah, he's cuffed to the bed too. He actually seems like a nice guy, like maybe he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," I said, hoping Madonna would stop asking me questions. I wasn't in the mood to be interrogated about my choice for a lunch partner and maybe I was just feeling defensive but it wasn't very hard to imagine her getting carried away.

  "Well, if he's some kind of big-time criminal he probably knows how to talk to get people to believe what he wants them to believe. Don'tcha think?" she asked, but I was done with the conversation.

  "Yeah, probably. I'm going to head up to the ICU. I'll talk to you later," I said with a wave as I walked off. I didn't need anyone telling me who I should and shouldn't talk to, or date, for that matter.

  Date? Who the hell said anything about dating Brody. He's just a patient. A patient that told you that you're too sexy to be a nurse, though.

  As I walked toward Brody's door with a lunch tray from the cafeteria I saw the two detectives standing there talking to the cop that was on watch.

  "From now on, no one is admitted into this room except for that nurse right there," he said as he pointed at me, "and Dr. Maxwell. You got that?"

  "Yes sir," the uniformed cop said as he looked me up and down.

  "That's impossible, detective. I don't work twenty-four hours a day," I said as I approached the three men standing in front of the door. "Mr. Carmichael still needs twenty-four-hour observation and care and there's no way he can get that from one nurse. And even if I was the only nurse to enter his room during my shift that would put an incredible strain on the rest of the staff in this unit. I have many other patients that I see to throughout my shift, detective. What you're asking is unreasonable."

  "I don't think you understand the situation here, Ms. Hernandez. That could be a very dangerous man in there and we are just trying to protect you and everyone else in this hospital."

  "So, you've identified him? It's my understanding that he didn't have any official identification on him when he was brought into the ER."

  "He didn't. All we have is a couple credit cards with his name that are linked to a hotel address. His fingerprints don't match anything in our databases and the phone he was using was just a cheap disposable with no recent calls. What it all boils down to, Ms. Hernandez, is he's someone who doesn't want to be identified.

  He was brought in as a result of a job that had gone bad at a resort hotel that is owned by the head of the oldest mob family in Florida. A private high stakes poker game was taking place right at the time of a heist that was planned on the hotel safe. Somehow, that man in there knew that there would be fifty million dollars in the hotel safe. He and his accomplice knew exactly where the safe was as well as the combination. They were interrupted by a cop that had been hired for the night and he wound up dead.

  We still don't know if Carmichael shot the cop or if it was his accomplice, but we're pretty sure that he had one because we have witnesses that saw another known mobster leaving the resort right at the time of the incident and his fingerprints just happened to be all over the safe."

  "What do you mean another known mobster? You just said you weren't sure of this patient's identity."

  "I was referring to the owner of the resort. He's the head of the DiFazio crime family. He hasn't been active for at least a decade, although there are always rumors of private poker games and a very exclusive escort service. He's not high on the list of wanted men these days, but Carmichael's alleged accomplice is another story.

  We're trying to find the connection here because the man that was seen leaving the resort is a very dangerous man, and if Carmichael is involved with him then there's no telling what he's capable of."

  "Do you think he's going to come here to the hospital?"

  "We don't know. We're just asking for your cooperation here, Ms. Hernandez. We would like as few people in and out of this room as possible and we would prefer it if only you and Dr. Maxwell had access to Carmichael's hospital records."

  "I'm afraid this isn't my decision, detective. The hospital administration is going to have to ..."

  "We've already cleared everything with the chief of staff and the administration. You can check with Dr. Maxwell if you have any questions. We've already spoken with her and she is aware of who we talked to and what decision was made."

  "Ok, well, that means I'll have to rearrange my staff and work every day this week. But I can't work twenty-four hours a day, gentlemen. That's just not possible."

  "If you have a nurse you can recommend we'd be more than happy to interview that person and consider giving them access to the suspect's room. But only with one of our men inside the room and they won't have access to the records."

  "Well, I trust all of my nurses, I'll just have to find one that is able to work twelve hour shifts for a week straight," I said as I looked down at the food on the tray that was probably already cold.

  "We really appreciate your cooperation here. This should only be for about another week tops. That's what Dr. Maxwell says and we'd like to get him into custody as soon as possible. Then you and your staff can return to your normal schedule."

  "I'm also going to need patient care and nursing assistants in there with me at times. I can't do it all myself."

  "Alright, when you need assistance I'm going to have to insist that you bring the guard on duty into the room with you and your staff. And only one additional person can enter with you. And any assistants you bring in with you are to have no contact whatsoever with the suspect. Is that understood?"

  "Yes, detective, but why me? What makes you trust me to be alone with him?"

  "Frankly, we don't, but Dr. Maxwell says that she would trust you over anyone in the hospital so we have to take her word. She says that having the guard in the room will compromise the patient's recuperation and she insisted that you be allowed in the room to do your job alone."

  "Ok, I'll see what I can do about finding a nurse for the night shift. But now I'd like to get this food to my patient, ok?"

  "Go right ahead," he said as he pushed open the door for me. I walked in and waited until he shut the door before I went in any further. I just did not like those detectives. They weren't making my job very easy and they were causing problems with my staff and their schedules. I didn't really care what they thought of Brody, he didn't seem like the kind of guy that would be involved with the mob.

  6

  Brody

  "So, do you see a lot of death around here? It seems like kind of a depressing place to work, if you ask me," I asked Jess as she started to spoon some applesauce into my mouth. I've never been fed by anyone before, not that I could remember anyway, and even though it was tempting to have this gorgeous woman take care of me I couldn't stand feeling so helpless. "I think I can take care of that," I said as I smiled at her. She put the spoon back in the cup of applesauce and handed it to me.

  "Death? No, not so much in the ICU," she said as she took a bite of her sandwich. I watched her as she talked a bit about working in the ICU and I couldn't help but feel drawn to her. I liked this. I liked having a woman to talk to and that thought almost made me laugh. There had been plenty of women in and out of my bed over the years, but none of them mattered to me at all.

  None of them stuck around for more than one night and that's because I made sure of it
. One piece of ass was just like the next so if I didn't think about it too much it was really like having the same woman with me all the time. A nice, quiet woman that I never had to talk or listen to or put up with. To me a relationship meant nothing but screaming and crying and blame and I didn't need any of that.

  So, I always had a woman on my arm when I was out and whenever I wanted one in my bed, but not a single one of them ever got my phone number. I had arranged my life so I never had to get uncomfortably close to anyone, but when I watched Jess I realized that I was really getting tired of the solitary life I'd perfected over the last decade.

  "Yeah, but there's sick people all over the place in hospitals. At least in all of the hospitals I've ever been too."

  "Well, every once in a while someone comes to the ICU and for whatever reason they're not strong enough to recover from surgery no matter how much we try to help them. Maybe they're at the end of their life or one of their systems is compromised. But for the most part people move on from here and get better. The ER is a different story though."

  I watched Jess's eyes go dark and my curiosity got the better of me. She seemed like a strong, capable woman, but she had a sadness that lingered in her eyes that I found captivating. I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open but I wanted to know more about her. I wanted her to sit next to my bed all day and just tell me about herself.

  "So you've worked in the ER? Is that where you got your start in nursing?"

  "No, I was a home health nurse for a couple years before I started training as an ER nurse. For some reason I thought working in the ER would get me away from all the death that comes with the territory of home health care. I've always wanted to make a difference in people's lives but watching people die is really hard work."