Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (44 page)

Bythos toyed with his beer bottle. “I’m
sorry to bring this up, Nick, but did you tell her about the nanites?”

A pang of guilt went through him. “I
almost did,” he admitted. “She’d solidified the water, and everyone was
choking. I just wanted her to let them go. Luckily, Claire attacked her before
I could say anything. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Bythos said, shaking his
head. “Thetis is not a fool, and I suspect she will find out the truth about
what is in her blood sooner or later. The important thing is
,
we also know what is infecting her, and how she is creating her minions. Now we
have to find a way to turn that to our advantage.”

“Assuming we can,” Ian said glumly.

****

The next morning Nick called Dr. Lina Reyes
at Olympic Regional Medical Center. After a brief chat, they scheduled an
interview in the following week, and she gave him an email address where he
could send his CV and references. She reminded him that Florida was a
quick-transfer state for out-of-state doctors being allowed to practice, and
suggested that he file the paperwork as soon as possible.

Chiron showed up soon afterwards,
appearing in the kitchen while Nick was making coffee. “Heard you and the
tadpoles had quite the adventure,” the centaur said briskly. “You okay?”

“About as okay as I could be,
considering that I had to sit there and watch a goddess die. And my fucker of
an ex caught Liam and—” He cut himself off, not wanting to talk about it.

The centaur nodded, blowing a breath
through his lips in a sound that could only be called a whinny. “Look, I’ve got
a suggestion,” he said. “You’re free to tell me to fuck off, but I’m hoping you
take me up on this, especially since we can’t afford to lose any of you to PTSD
right now.”

Nick folded his arms across his chest.
The thin scab there had already started to crumble off, but he’d always be left
with the scar. “I’m listening.”

“I know a good counselor who can talk to
all three of you, individually and in a group. Both you and Stretch were
assaulted by the same asshole. Then he killed your psycho ex, you killed an
ilkothella, and I’m guessing the Boy Ranger is going to be dealing with massive
guilt issues for not protecting either of you. You all need to get this worked
out, and talking to someone about it will help.”

Nick remembered Liam tossing and turning
in bed the night before. He’d assumed it was partially due to their messed-up
circadians, but now he wondered if the mer had been having the same kind of
nightmares he’d had. “That might not be a bad idea,” he admitted. “But where
are you going to find a psychologist who can handle the whole ‘oh, by the way,
merfolk are real’ angle?”

Chiron smirked. “Trust me.”

Later that day after Liam and Aidan
returned
,
there was a knock on the front door. When
Nick checked the peephole, he saw a tall, familiar-looking brunette in a simple
white sundress waiting on the porch.

He opened the door. “Can I help you?”

She smiled. “Hello, Dr. Gardiner. My
name is Amphitrite. May I come in?”

He blinked as the name rang one huge
bell. She looked familiar because she was Heather and Thetis’s sister, as well
as the consort of Poseidon and Ian’s mother-in-law. “Um, yes, of course, sorry,
come in,” he stammered, stepping back.

She walked in, giving him a warm smile.
“Let me guess. Chiron didn’t tell you I was coming today?”

“Uh, no.
Wait.” He shook
his head. “Chiron said he was going to send over a counselor. That’s
you
?”

Her smile brightened. “My son Bythos
isn’t the only one who’s taken human university courses. I know it may sound
odd, but I’ve undertaken a number of careers in human culture over the
millennia, usually somewhere in the social sciences. Among other things, I’m a
licensed psychologist, and Chiron feels I can help you and your mates.”

He was still trying to process the idea
of a sea goddess getting a psychology degree. “Um, okay.”

To his relief, both Liam and Aidan
agreed that they needed to talk about what had happened (Nick suspected that
Amphitrite’s elevated status had something to do with their willingness). Her
calm presence and thoughtful attitude smoothed the bumps in their initial
session, and she set up a schedule of twice-weekly meetings for the next month.

The next week Nick headed into Olympic
Beach for his job interview. Dr. Reyes turned out to be an intelligent, witty
woman in her forties with an impressive grasp of emergency medicine. She
quizzed Nick on his background, training, and previous cases for a good hour
before taking him on a tour of Olympic Regional’s emergency room. Unlike
Memorial, the Florida hospital primarily handled a combination of snowbirds,
migrant workers, and teens and 20-somethings drawn to the party attractions of
the beach.

“Our peak times are the winter months,
especially around the holidays, and spring break for the obvious reasons,” Dr. Reyes
said as they walked through the halls decorated in tropical colors. The bulk of
the triage bays were empty except for one containing an old man wired up to
various machines and flirting outrageously with a nurse. “Now, do you have any
questions for me?”

Nick hauled out his list, tossing in
questions about the department’s ability to handle ocean-based injuries. Reyes seemed
impressed by his regional awareness and answered his questions quickly.

“I have to admit, Dr. Gardiner, you
sound like you would make a good fit with our team,” she said, guiding him back
to her office. “Once your Florida license is processed, I’d like you to start
and shadow Marina before she takes off on maternity leave.”

They shook hands, and after leaving
copies of his driver’s license and other completed paperwork Nick drove back to
the cove with a bubbling sense of relief. He had a job, at least for a couple
of months.
Next on the to-do list, book a
flight back to Chicago, pack the stuff I want, toss everything else in the
apartment into a storage facility, and drive home.
What with the cottage
being fully furnished, the only things he really wanted were his books,
computer, and clothes.

He grinned as he turned onto the road
leading to the cove.
I called the cottage
home. Well, it’s definitely where my heart is.

Chapter Sixteen

Nick finished signing off on the stack of patient charts,
eyeing the very pregnant doctor leaning against the counter at the nurse’s
station. “You know, if you want to go take a break I’ll cover your intakes,” he
offered. “You look like you’re about to pop.”

“I should be so lucky,” Dr. Marina Bryson muttered, rubbing
her small of her back. “I still have three weeks of lugging a cannon ball
around.”

As Nick watched, the surface of her taut belly fluttered
through her blouse. Groaning, she started rubbing it instead. “Come on, dude,
give Mommy a break,” she said to her stomach and its active inhabitant. “Can we
save the soccer practice for later?”

“Rina, go lie down,” Nick insisted gently. “The place is
pretty much dead, anyway. I got this.”

After a grunting sigh, she finally nodded. “You want him
after he’s out? Seriously, I don’t mind donating him.”

He pointed towards the on-call room where ER doctors
could grab naps in between patients. “Go.”

“Yes, dear.”
She waddled off, giving him a weary
salute. Grinning, Nick turned back to his charts.

As promised, Memorial had written him a glowing
recommendation, and Florida’s expedited medical licensing process had come
through, giving him permission to practice medicine in the state. Now all he
had to do was fly back to Chicago, pack up his apartment, put his furniture in
storage, and bring everything else back down in a U-Haul. Marcia Kuttner had
been more than happy to let him have the cottage for the rest of the summer;
he’d worry about where he’d live in the fall then.

Aidan and Liam hadn’t been happy when he told them about
the trip, especially once they learned they couldn’t travel with him. But
Bythos had put his foot down, insisting that they stay behind in Florida. “We
are not going to re-enact
Splash
, thank you very much,” he’d rumbled at
the glowering mers.

Aidan frowned.
“
Splash
?”

“It’s a movie about a mermaid in New York—I’ll Netflix
it,” Nick had said.

His men only calmed down after Ian offered to go back
with him. “I need to put my stuff in storage, too, plus I want to check in with
my sister before she decides to pull a surprise inspection,” the storm god had
said. “Also, I would kill or die for some decent pizza.”

Mentally drooling over a potential menu of Chicago specialties,
Nick finished with the charts and was re-racking them just as the next shift’s
attending came in. He handed off his patient roster with updates, then grabbed
his jacket and headed out to the ER waiting room’s exit.

A familiar voice caught his attention as he walked
through the room, and he slowed. “I don’t care what you’re doing, get your ass
on a plane and get down here,” the voice barked.

Nick spotted the tall, elegant man standing in a corner
and holding onto his cell phone with a white-knuckled grip. “Then charter one
if you have to,” the man snarled. “Just get down here!” He stabbed at the
smartphone’s face with a rigid thumb, glancing up at Nick as if ready to snap.

Then his eyes widened. “Nick? Oh, my God, is that you?”

“Aaron?” Nick walked over to his former Dom, surprised
when Aaron grabbed him in a desperate bear hug. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

He heard more than felt the other man’s throat working.
Slowly, Aaron pulled back, and Nick realized there were tears in his strict,
hard-ass ex-Dom’s eyes. “It’s Delphine,” he said simply.

Aaron’s wife was the light of his life, an intelligent,
sophisticated native of Paris who was blessedly sympathetic to her husband’s
kinky needs and desire to exercise them on willing men. Nick had run into the
two of them once at a show, and had been stunned by the naughty twinkle in
Delphine’s eye when she declared she was charmed to meet Aaron’s “exercise
partner”. “Of course I told her about you—I always tell her about my subs,”
Aaron had said when Nick questioned him later. “The French have a much more
practical view of extramarital activities. She knows that you’re important to
me, but she also knows that she is, as well.”

Now the tall man looked exhausted and beaten. “What
happened?” Nick asked, switching over to ER mode. “Is she okay?”

“She’s sick, Nicky,” Aaron said, raw pain in his voice. “She’s
been sick for a while. We met in Jupiter, you see, and she wanted to come back
one last time. I should have said no, but I couldn’t bear to turn her down.”

The Dom’s words painted the picture of a dying woman. “What’s
wrong with her?”

Aaron’s mouth did something Nick never imaged he would
ever see—it trembled.
“Lung cancer.
She got the
diagnosis a year ago.”

Nick felt like he’d been punched. “Oh, my God,” he
whispered. “That’s why you released me.”

Aaron’s throat worked painfully. “Yes. I am so sorry
about that, Nicky, but you deserved someone who could give their full attention
to you, make you the center of their world.” He shook his head. “And I couldn’t
do that. I had to take care of Delphine.”

Nick was hit with a sudden tangle of emotions—anger,
hurt, regret, and a still tangible love.
She’s his wife. You always knew she
came first. And if he hadn’t let you go, you never would have met Aidan and
Liam.

The emotions
struggled to overwhelm him. One by
one, he faced them,
then
released them. The most
stubborn one was the love. He held onto that for one last moment, treasuring
it, before letting it go.

He nodded. “It’s all right, Aaron. You did the right
thing.”

The older man sagged, relief clearly written across his
face. “Thank you, Nicky. You have no idea how much that means to me. I’m ...
I’m very glad I ran into you today. I may need...”

He trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. If
Delphine died, so far away from home, Nick knew the powerful man would crumble.

He had to help. “Is she in one of the exam rooms?” he asked
gently.

“Yes. She sent me out. Didn’t want me to see what they
were doing.” Aaron laughed once. “Women have their pride, you know. I called
our doctor and he’s on his way, but … Nicky. Would you see her? Please?”

He half-expected the request, but hearing it still filled
him with dread. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do, Aaron.”

“I know. Just … see her. Please.”

There was no way he could refuse.

Aaron spoke with the nurses, and one took them both back
to the exam room. When she drew back the privacy curtain, Nick was shocked at
the emaciated body on the exam bed. Delphine Carstairs had always been slender,
but her disease had turned her into a walking skeleton. Her long blonde hair
was obviously gone, and a pretty scarf had been wrapped around her delicate
skull as an impromptu turban.