Love Me Sweet (Love Me book 1)

Chapter 6

"Lia, what's this I hear about you hanging out with a murderer?" a police officer visiting the E.R asked the following day.

Lia's back was to the young man, and she rolled her eyes as she looked at Chole across the nurse's station. "Oh, you know, I like to live life on the edge," she said offhandedly without turning around.

She knew that if she jumped to Ben's defense, it would only make matters worse, but if she played it down interest would wane soon enough.

The young officer laughed and headed on his way without a backward glance.

"What was that all about?" Chloe asked, leaning back in her chair. It was a rare lull, and they were standing still for a change, or in Chloe's case sitting still.

"Ben Emerson, he's my neighbor, and he needed help last night. He borrowed my ladder because he locked himself out of his house," Lia said as Faye joined them.

"How'd that go?" Faye asked, reaching for her coffee and taking a sip. "They were at each other's throat's yesterday morning." Faye filled Chloe in on the story while Lia waited.

"Fine, I met his sister, she seemed nice, nicer than him anyway." Lia was hesitant to share the moment in the alley when he had hugged her. Somehow that had seemed private. She wasn't one to broadcast her feelings even to her closest friends, and she was still unsure as to why she had unburdened herself to Ben. The only thing she could think of was that she had needed to, and he had been available, although it had felt like more than that.

"I remember Ben from high school, and I don't believe for a minute that he killed his wife," Chole said shaking her head.

"You knew him that long ago? You didn't date him, did you?" Faye asked. It was an odd question, and both girls looked at her strangely.

"No, I didn't," Chloe said slowly. "He was a few years older than I was, and I remember that he was always good at everything, football, academics, and he was unbelievably handsome, is he still handsome?" Chloe looked at Lia.

"Couldn't say, he's covered in hair," Lia was trying to act as if she didn't particularly care about the conversation, she didn't want Chloe and Faye to know that she was interested.

She paused at the thought. Was she interested? She couldn't be, he was a mean and nasty, wasn't he?

"Covered in hair?" Chloe asked, confused.

"Yes, a thick beard and shaggy hair, and his clothes, while clean, have seen better days," Lia explained.

"Huh, he was always well put together when we were in school." Chloe shook her head at the thought

There was a ding, and they all looked over their shoulders to see the light turn on over one of the rooms at the end of the hall. It was the room with a very needy patient.

"I'll be back," Faye said with a sigh since it was her patient.

"Maybe he's working on a book, I've heard that authors are like that sometimes," Chloe turned back towards Lia, picking up the conversation.

"Is that what he does?" Lia asked surprised.

"You didn't know? He's kind of famous." Another ding and another light. "Mine," Chloe said. She had taken a lot of the problem cases that day, she had heard about the child the night before, and it was as if she was trying to make it up to Lia by giving her as easy a day as possible.

A few minutes later both Chloe and Faye returned, laughing about something with one of the techs.

"Chloe, I forgot to ask you about your author, the one who is staying with Faye, did he get settled in alright?" Lia asked, looking over at the two women.

Faye's back was turned, and Chloe gave a smile. "He did, it was good to see him again, he brought news of my father."

Chloe's father was a doctor from a little war-torn country in eastern Europe where there was currently a revolution going on, and he worked in the rebel camps which made communication hard at the best of times.

Chloe had been raised in Savannah by her mother but had joined her father after her mother's death when she was halfway through high school.

"He's doing well?" Faye asked as she typed something into a patient's chart.

"Yes, he is." There was always a sadness about Chole, and they had chalked it to her father's absence.

"Ladies," Chance Lennox greeted as he joined them. He was one of the hospital's administrators and Lia's ex. He was a tall, lanky man with blond hair and cold blue eyes, at least they looked cold to Lia after the fact.

The three of them turned to look at him without saying a word.

"Can I talk to you Lia?" he asked with a forced smile.

Lia thought about saying no, but she knew that it would be easier to let him have his say about whatever it was he wanted to discuss with her. If she didn't, he would keep hounding her until she caved.

Standing, she let him lead her down the hall to an empty exam bay at the end of the long corridor.

"What's this I hear about you spending time with Ben Emerson?" he asked, crossing his arms in disapproval.

Lia tilted his head, looking at him. It was as if she was seeing him for the first time, his chin was a little weak, in fact, his whole body looked a little weak, and she knew he was weak minded.

"How's River?" Lia asked sweetly. River Styles was a fellow nurse at the hospital. Her parents were loaded, and she was five years younger then Lia, having just qualified as a nurse. She was also the one that for whom Chance had left her.

"I don't want to talk about River; I want to talk about your new friend," he insisted.

"My new friend?" she asked. "I don't see what business it is of yours who my friends are."

"When their murderers, and you work at my hospital it does!" he hissed trying to keep his voice down.

Lia rolled her eyes. "Your hospital?"

"Yes, mine," he hissed again.

"Then perhaps you should visit your Human Resources division so that they can tell you all the different ways I can sue your ass right now!" she hissed back.

"You have to let go of this petty jealousy!"

"Me jealous, you're the one who wants to talk about my new friend!"

"I'm serious Lia, stop seeing him." Then he turned and walked away from her with a fake smile and a nod for people who had no clue who he was.

Lia stomped back towards the nurse's station, she hated it when she didn't get the last word, and Chance had always been good at walking away from an argument after he had delivered a parting shot. It made it seem as if he had won when the argument had only just begun.

"What did he want?" Faye asked over her shoulder, noting Lia's angry stance.

"He told me to stay away from Ben Emerson," she huffed.

Her friends recognized her anger and didn't say anything else; they knew she had a short fuse and was close to losing it.

"How is Huck settling into the new place," Faye asked to change the subject.

"Oh, you know Huck. He settles anywhere," Lia said, thinking once again about Ben and what had happened yesterday.

Ben Emerson had been on her mind almost all day, and that wouldn't do. She had only just met the man. She had only known him one day, and he was creating havoc on her senses and in her life, and she would like nothing more than to rub Chance's nose the fact that she knew Ben, well. It had taken all her willpower not to play up the relationship as more than it was just to bait him a little.

Somehow, her gut told her that Ben probably wouldn't care overly much if she did that very thing. It was something to think about anyway.