He’d cleaned up nicely.
“Whatever was going on seems to be resolved,” Dr. Thomas was saying. “Let’s get him in an exam room. Erin, we need to get his blood for the panel.”
“Yes, Doctor.” The words came out of my mouth automatically because the only thing in my thoughts was the man with the dark and fiery eyes now walking out the door.
So I wouldn’t see him again. So what? He’d vandalized a blood bank because he hadn’t found any food in what he thought was a regular refrigerator. I had better things to do than lust after him, like getting back to the exam room and drawing blood for this poor guy’s drug panel.
I assessed him. His teeth looked decent, so probably not meth. Opioids most likely. We were seeing a lot of that lately.
I entered the exam room. He had regained consciousness, and Dr. Thomas was talking to him while she examined him.
“Here’s the nurse now. Erin, Mr. Lincoln has agreed to the drug panel.”
“Good. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Lincoln. Can you make a fist for me, sir?”
His brown eyes were wide as he looked at me. “Did you see him?”
I tied the rubber banding around his upper arm. “See who?”
“The vampire.”
I looked to Dr. Thomas, who shook her head slightly at me. The man was on something, clearly. That was Dr. Thomas’s signal for “just go with it.”
“I’m afraid I didn’t.” I tapped at the vein on the inside of his elbow. “You’re going to feel a quick prick, okay?”
He nodded. “I’m used to it.”
I’ll bet he is. I didn’t see any tracks on his arm though. I drew two vials of blood and then bandaged the puncture site. “All good, Mr. Lincoln.”
Dr. Thomas was looking into his eyes again. “Dilation is gone. Interesting. How’s your vision, Mr. Lincoln? Can you see all right?”
“I lost my glasses a year ago,” he said.
“I see. We’ll have your results soon. In the meantime, we need to keep you here for observation.” Dr. Thomas wrote a few notes in his chart and then hung it on the door and smiled. “If you need anything, Erin will see that you get it.” She left the room.
He grabbed my wrist again.
I yanked my arm away, and this time he let go.
“I’m not on drugs,” he said.
“I understand.” I patted his arm. The lab report would tell the truth. “I need to do some rounds. Just push the red button if you need anything.”
“I’m not on drugs,” he said again.
I sighed and left the room. That’s what they all said. It was a continual enigma to me how people who lived on the streets always seemed to find money to get high. I was living paycheck to paycheck. Good thing I wasn’t an addict. I wouldn’t be able to afford it.
I worked on two more cases before my shift ended at sunrise. I yawned as I retrieved my purse from my locker and changed into my regular clothes. Home, breakfast, and then bed. My routine.
I loved the night shift. I’d always been sort of nocturnal, being more comfortable during the night. I was a classic introvert, and fewer people were around at nighttime, except for all-night partyers, which were plentiful here, but I was not in any shape or form a party girl. Nope, just plain old Erin Hamilton, an ER nurse from Columbus, Ohio, who’d moved to New Orleans for an old boyfriend three years ago. The relationship had ended, but I’d stayed. I liked it here. My brother was here. My best friend, Lucy Cyrus, was here. She was also an ER nurse on the night shift.
I exited the hospital and headed toward the parking lot where my car was—
Someone jerked me backward.
A hand over my mouth muffled my scream.
“Please. You have to help me.”
The man. I struggled against his grasp, my heart pounding. “Help!” I yelled, though it came out muffled.
“Please. I won’t hurt you. I promise. I need your help.” He eased his hand from my lips. “Please don’t scream.”
Was he kidding? I stepped forward to run, but he grabbed me again. I looked around, hoping someone had seen us.
The parking lot was eerily vacant.
“Please,” he said again. “I will not hurt you.”
I nodded. I had nowhere to run anyway, no one to turn to for help. I’d have to take him at his word. I looked into his eyes. I didn’t see anything to fear in them. In fact, they seemed to speak to me. They seemed to say I need you. The desire to help him rose again within me.
He eased his hand from my mouth.
“I told you to stay put,” I said.
“I know. I would have, but I had…something I’d left unattended.”
I drew in a deep breath, attempting to slow my racing pulse. “Do you want me to call someone for you? Do you need a hot meal? There’s a soup kitchen not too far from here.”
“No!” he said urgently. “I need to get out of the sun. My skin burns easily.”
He was quite fair-skinned. I hated my own pale skin, but on him it looked good. His hair was in disarray, and he was wearing jeans that were way too small, but there was no denying how attractive he was.
“I hear you. Mine does too. But it looks kind of cloudy today so far.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“All right.” I fumbled in my purse and pulled out a tube of sunscreen. “Try this.”
He smeared some onto his face. The rest of his body was covered by clothes. He handed the tube back to me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I paused, not sure what to do next. My head said to go to my car and drive home. My legs, though, stayed planted.
“Please. Help me.”
“I’ll show you where the soup kitchen is, okay?”
“No, I mean—” He jerked his head to the left. “Get me out of here. Please.”
“Hey, I don’t even know your—”
“Where’s your car?”
“Over there”—I gestured—“but—”
He grabbed onto me. “Go!”
I went.
I didn’t know why, but my legs seemed to. I walked briskly toward my car in the hospital staff lot.
When he was in the passenger seat of my VW Beetle, I turned on the ignition.
And had no idea where I was going.