Kindle Alexander - Up In Arms (21 page)

“This rehab is world renowned. It was between here and one in San Antonio, but this one has pioneered some new technologies in prosthesis, which could aid you better in recovery. Plus, my home is more comfortable for us than trying to stay in a San Antonio hotel.”

Reed continued talking as he pushed Trevor through the sliding doors of the garage and into a private elevator. Trevor didn’t respond at all, which Reed was beginning to understand meant he was getting nervous. Trevor always became eerily quiet, pulling within himself, when he became uncertain of things. Reed laid a hand on Trevor’s shoulder, running a finger along his neck. He felt the increase in Trevor’s heart rate at his touch, and bent down to whisper quietly in Trevor’s ear.

“Did I tell you how much I loved hearing you moan while I rode you this morning? I can’t wait to get home for a repeat performance, sexy. I love you and I love the way you love me. Making love to you every day for the rest of my life is quite an appealing thought.”

Trevor lifted his gaze up to Reed. A blush spread across his cheeks and a smile lit up his face. Leaning in, Reed placed a small kiss on those perfectly pouty lips smiling up at him.

“Every part of your rehab will be here in this facility if it suits you, handsome. The prosthesis company will come here to measure and fit you. All your doctor’s appointments and physical therapy will take place here.” He placed small kisses on Trevor’s lips between each sentence he spoke. Each ring of the bell sounded off as the floors passed by. It cost Reed quite a bit to work it this way, but in the end he hoped Trevor’s recovery would be more complete.

Their first order of business was to clear Trevor to begin rehab. Dr. McBride would be present at the initial exam today and would work with Trevor’s new orthopedist, Dr. Carlton, to come up with a comprehensive treatment plan for the rest of Trevor’s care. Both physicians were working together for Trevor’s best possible outcome, all on Reed’s dime. And they were never to let Trevor know.

The elevator opened to a short, perky, young woman standing in the standard professional garb of a crisp navy blue business suit. Her pencil skirt fell just below the knee, blazer to the hip, a cream colored, modestly cut matching shirt, with a set of matching pearl earrings and necklace completed her professional business attire. The little woman also came with a giant toothy smile and clipboard in her well-manicured hands.

“Sgt. West, Mr. Kensington, welcome to National Rehab. I’m Natalie, your Patient Liaison. It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I have your exam room ready if you will follow me this way.” With a sweep of the arm, the little woman walked through the foyer, small heels clicking on the marble tile floor. She turned back to them every couple of seconds as she spoke. “First let me start off by telling you how happy we are you have chosen our facility. I have a folder of information for you with my telephone numbers. I’ll be here with you each step of the way. Any question or concern you may have, I’m happy to help you find the best answers for you. We truly feel privileged you have chosen us to provide your care through this stage of your recovery.”

They followed Natalie into a spacious exam room. The room was so large it held a waiting area with a small solid print sofa and flat screen television anchored from the ceiling. Along with a small sink, refrigerator, and a large open area, the room was designed for a wheelchair to easily access everything.

“Here’s your room. Dr. Carlton and Dr. McBride will be with you shortly. Until then, please remove your clothing and have a seat on the exam table. Here’s a gown for you to wear. Dr. McBride called and he’s running a little behind. We’re waiting for his arrival now and expect him at any moment. Again, please make yourself at home. I’ll leave this folder with you now.”

“Perfect, Natalie. Thank you for the warm greeting.” Reed grinned his sexy grin and gave her a wink, pushing Trevor into the room, helping him from the chair. After a moment, when no answer came from Natalie, both Trevor and Reed looked her way. She stood just staring at them. Her only movement was the blinking of her eyes. All three of them held each other’s gaze for a brief moment before Natalie finally turned on her heels, clearing her throat.

“All right then, I’ll leave you two to get ready. Just dial zero if you need anything.” Natalie didn’t look back as she left the room, pushing the door wide open with the palms of her hands.

“Dear Lord, could they be any hotter? Seriously, why do all the good looking ones have to be gay? I mean, Jesus Christ, did you see those two?” Natalie took her clip board and began to fan herself, muttering while stepping up to the large ornately curved mahogany receptionist desk in the front lobby of the hospital.

“Did you see them, Nikki? That one in the chair was seriously a brick house, or heck, he looked like he benched brick houses regularly. And, dear God, when the blond smiled at me I lost all ability to reason,” Natalie whispered, while bending over the side of the high reception desk. Nikki quietly pointed her finger in the direction of a new tour, standing just a few feet from them in the front foyer of the hospital.

Natalie’s assistant, Mandy, was just starting the standard introductory greeting they were all required to give with two potential prospects, and Natalie didn’t hesitate. She straightened and ran her hands down the front of her business suit, putting on her game face. Census room counts were down; the hospital needed patients badly. Incentives were handed down earlier this morning. For every new person brought in, there would be a five hundred dollar bonus sent her way. Clearing her throat, Natalie stuck out her hand in greeting to the very pretty young woman talking to her mousy, frumpy assistant, who painstakingly followed protocol to the point of boring the prospective patients away.

“Hi, I’m Natalie Vickery, Patient Liaison. Welcome to National Rehabilitation Hospital. Thank you, Mandy, I’ll take it from here.” With that, Natalie effectively dismissed her employee without a backward glance. She turned to the woman, who was standing with a young man. They looked as different as two people could look. They didn’t seem to be a couple. The woman was polished and smoothly sophisticated, wearing spiky Jimmy Choos, large round Prada sunglasses, and carrying a fashionably sensible, large Louis Vuitton shoulder bag. She wore thousands of dollars in just her accessories, while the man beside her looked like he just rolled out of bed and forgot to comb his hair or shave his face, and possibly forgot to brush his teeth or put clean clothes on. Natalie forced her eyes away from the man to turn back to the woman.

“I’m Michelle Buffet and this is my older brother, Josh. We’re looking for a place for our father. He was recently in a mountain climbing accident. My father wants to keep things under wraps. His board of directors doesn’t know of this accident. There was alcohol involved. So, Father sent us here to start the process. We only want the best for his care. Money isn’t an issue, and Daddy usually likes to have a floor to himself in situations like these. Not that there have been a lot of situations like these, but there have been a few. Can you accommodate such a stay?” Laurie spoke quickly, giving a fake cultured British accent.

On the ride over, she drilled Josh, her cameraman, on possible alibis and accents. This was the only one he could pull off effectively, and they needed to sound similar yet foreign in order for this to work. Adjusting the straps of her fake Louis Vuitton over her shoulder, she felt the weight of Josh’s camera straining her neck and shoulder muscles. She knew the weight would cause a painful crick in her neck by morning.

“Absolutely, Ms. Buffet, I understand the importance of discretion. You will absolutely get it here. It’s very responsible of you to do this for your father. The sooner you get him into the facility, the better and faster his outcome will be. We do have the room right now to accommodate a floor request, but you would have to act fast to secure an entire floor dedicated to him. Walk with me. Let’s take this conversation to a more private area and I’ll show you around. We can end the tour in my office. I can have the contracts drawn up within minutes to get your father started.”

“Great, but the stay will be extended. I’m not sure he would be willing to leave until the whole process is complete. Money isn’t an issue, I’m sure you know of my father’s wealth. Is there a secure entrance for him?” Laurie could see Natalie sizing her up, connecting her with Warren Buffet, the dollar signs coming to her eyes. Who knew if Warren Buffet had children, but she could tell Natalie fell hook, line, and sinker for her story. Resisting the urge to do the happy dance right here in the foyer, Laurie followed slowly behind. She wished Natalie would just walk and stop looking back over her shoulder.

“Yes, we do, but let me start from the beginning to hopefully answer all of your questions. Your family can rest assured, our medical director and his staff of specialty trained physicians will work closely with your father’s treating physician to work up a comprehensive treatment plan to accelerate your father’s recovery. Our center is state of the art with the most current technologies and equipment available today. I won’t bore you with the specifics, but we are well equipped enough to handle anything thrown our way.” Natalie moved them through the front lobby, entering a quick key code into a security pad, without asking for credentials from either of them. Laurie couldn’t believe how easy it all turned out to be. Once inside the center, she stood, momentarily shocked at truly being behind the scenes. Most of her competition tried to get in on a regular basis and were always locked out, but she did it on the first try!

The first room they entered was a large work-out style room. Several patients were receiving their physical therapy, all in different stages of care. Medical personnel stood close by, instructing or supporting the patients in whatever task they were assigned to perform. Laurie quickly scanned the room, looking over the faces of those in treatment, but found no one looking to be active military.

“As you can see, here we have the work out rooms. These are standard traditional rooms, equipped for every stage of the recovery. Your father can have time here to himself, but we have found when other patients are in the room, it helps build a sense of unity. It’s very sweet how encouraging all the patients become with one another. Now, if you will follow me, these halls lead to a series of exam rooms and the secure entrance you asked about earlier. These elevator doors to the left come from a private underground parking garage entrance. There’s security placed in different check points along the way, blocking anyone from coming down the garage who isn’t pre-authorized to do so. Now through these doors we have the official exam rooms. Most medical care is done right here in these rooms. Hi, Dr. McBride, they’re in exam room six, sir.” Natalie stopped and turned her friendly, fake smile to an older man who looked lost in the hall. Laurie prayed her own fake smile looked as natural as the ugly little Natalie’s did.

“Thank you, have they been here long?” Dr. McBride asked. “No, sir, just a few minutes.”
Dr. McBride gave a nod of dismissal to them all, and ducked into the

exam room Natalie pointed to. Turning back to Laurie, Natalie continued on with what had to be a pre-memorized, boring as hell, speech. “If your father’s physician wants to monitor care, our medical staff will work closely with that person much like Dr. McBride there, making sure everyone’s comfortable with all treatment plans provided.”

The tour continued at a quick pace. Laurie desperately needed to slow it down. They were moving too quickly and she needed more time to search. Slowly, she began to walk several feet behind Natalie and dug the knuckles of her first two fingers into Josh’s shoulder. She pushed him forward, whispering with a hiss for him to be useful and ask engaging questions while she searched the hospital. Laurie stayed several feet behind the two, hoping she looked thoughtful. No one in the place looked to be active military or a blond, perfect Kensington. All the pictures of Reed Kensington her research department sent included a tall, extremely good looking, and always fashionable man. His hair and clothing were never in the same style, but always in the current style of the time. Reed also always had a different man on his arm in every picture, many being reasonably well known male models. Reed shied away from the camera while his partners always posed, drawing all the attention to them, making it hard to really study his features too closely.

As the tour continued, Laurie’s attitude took a nose dive. Natalie couldn’t be more boring and Laurie grew increasingly frustrated. Maybe they were too early or too late, or maybe Harry didn’t have any idea what the hell he talked about! Reality crashed in. Perhaps it wasn’t her mad skills that got her into the facility; maybe the reason they were able to walk right in was because they had no high profile patients in stay right now. Instantly, Laurie began to formulate plans on how she could get Harry back for this wasted afternoon trip.

Watching Natalie walk, Laurie thought maybe she could do a story on the ugly clothes marketing people wore. Then Natalie looked down at her clipboard. Laurie’s eyes darted down too. The sheet on the clipboard was titled Daily Census Counts, with a list of names appearing underneath. It looked to be a list of every patient in the facility today. With a sliding step forward, Laurie stayed behind Natalie, getting enough of a glimpse to see she was right. Laurie slowly began asking questions, trying hard to work the clipboard out of Natalie’s greedy little hands. It took about ten minutes, but Natalie finally put the damn clipboard down to help Laurie find a contact lens she pretended to lose. It was all it took. Laurie quickly swiped the top page and folded it, dropping into her skirt pocket. Feigning more eye problems, Laurie quickly escaped to the restroom with her purse in hand to read over the report.

The center received four new patients today. Two females, two males, one being twenty three, the other fifty seven. Trevor West was the twenty three year old. Pulling her iPhone out, Laurie sent a quick message to her research team back in the office asking for bio information on Trevor West ASAP! And within seconds, photos of Trevor West appeared on her phone. His bio followed shortly after. Trevor West, a Sergeant in the Marine’s Special Forces and, bingo! Just like that, Laurie had her guy! Excitement built deep within her, and she took a minute to calm herself. She must think. Her heart began a slow steady pound as her eyes darted back to the census report, seeing his appointment scheduled for thirty minutes earlier. He was still somewhere in this building!