Page 41 of His to Seduce
Chapter 13
David
The look of confusion mixed with pain and then understanding slamming down on her face hit me in the chest like she’d thrown a rock at me.
It took everything I had in me to stay still, to not abandon the still-seizing man in front of me and go for her.
Dropping my head, I inhaled a deep, steadying breath. “Damn it.”
This was too much. The attention, the people…This wasn’t how she was supposed to figure out the truth. I was supposed to tell her.
Damn it! Why didn’t I tell her?
Flashing lights in the distance caught my attention as Camden disappeared into the darkness at the end of the pier.
“David,” Declan said, rushing forward. “You okay? You can go after her. We’ll tell them what happened and get this woman and her husband situated.”
Next to me, Milly’s hand touched my forearm. Her still-trembling soft voice wrapped around me and chained me to my spot. “Please. I don’t know…Harold’s always talked to the doctors, and you know what to say.”
I covered her hand without dragging my eyes off Declan. “I’ll stay with you. Don’t worry.”
Patting her twice, I watched the EMTs hustle down the pier toward us, a stretcher between them, thudding rhythmically over the wooden dock. The man had been seizing for over five minutes. Other than making sure he didn’t choke or injure himself, there wasn’t much I could do. Hopefully the nearest hospital or clinic could give him something to help. Mostly, I wanted him watched overnight.
“David.”
I lifted a hand and silenced Declan. To most, his large frame was intimidating. Standing in front of me, hands fisted at his sides, he didn’t scare me. The last time I hadn’t been able to do my job, everything had gone ass-over-teakettle, as my mom would say. That couldn’t happen again, whether or not I was still a practicing doctor. “I have to go with them. They’re elderly. I want to make sure he’s okay and help explain it to her. And who knows what his medical condition will be.”
“David,” Chelsea said, scurrying up to me, her breath ragged. She’d run after Camden and then hurried back to the crowd still lingering as the stretcher rolled behind her. I didn’t have time for this.
I didn’t need another woman pissed at me.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“She said she’s leaving.”
Shit.For a moment, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. But I could fix things with Camden later, when I got back. Harold and Milly needed my immediate help.
“Chelsea, I need to help them. Please…tell her that I’ll explain everything.”
Chelsea shook her head and stepped back, wrapping her arms around her stomach like she needed to hold herself together. “You don’t get it, David. She’s gone. Left.”
I stepped toward her, reaching for her, when the stretcher came between us.
“Excuse us,” one of the young men said, his voice thickened with the local accent.
I bit my lip so harshly I felt the sting of blood in my mouth. Chelsea stepped away, shaking her head. “You hurt her,” she said, her eyes wide and her voice a mere breath in the heavy, tense air. “I didn’t think you’d be the guy to do it. But I think you broke her heart.”
“Chelsea, please…whatever you can do to get her to stay…” My gaze flickered down to Harold. The sting of Milly’s nails cut into my forearms. I couldn’t go. She was pale and terrified, and who knew what would happen in a foreign hospital where they knew no one?
“I followed her, David. She didn’t even go back to her bungalow or yours. Just hopped in a cab dropping off other guests at the front of the resort’s main entrance. She’s gone.”
I stepped forward, out of Milly’s touch. “She what?”
“David,” Aidan said, cutting in front of Chelsea. “We’ll take care of Camden. We’ll figure out where she went, okay? You get to the hospital, take care of Milly and Harold here, and we’ll do the rest.”
Blood bubbled in my veins, frustration at my own stupidity, my own inability to just tell the freaking truth from the beginning. But I hadn’t figured out if I was ever going to return to being a doctor. What was the point of sharing it? If I didn’t, Camden would have had to get used to being with a bartender.
I needed that. I needed that security, just like I knew she craved hers in her own way.
