Hunger

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

He shouldn't have come to work, Jackson realized woefully. He leaned on the counter at the nurse's station, watching the hustle and bustle of the emergency room. It wasn't his usual post as he generally worked with oncologists lately, but one of the emergency room surgeons had called in sick and that left him with the ever so delightful emergency room posting.

He was only a couple hours into his first shift back and he already felt a headache coming on. He was restless and antsy and wasn't entirely sure what it was about.

Mm, nope, that was a lie, actually. He knew exactly what had him on pins and needles and he was annoyed that such a thing would invade his fucking life now of all times. To think that he was all wound up over an omega. And not just any omega, but a mouthy smartass punk who lived in a totally not safe part of town and was probably going into heat at this very moment.

He reached up to rub at his temples. He'd hoped coming to work would've cooled his head. After all, work was where he could concentrate. It was where he could shut off all his chaotic thoughts and focus on the task at hand. After all, the hospital was structured. Everything had a place and a purpose. Everything had a routine, a procedure, a by-the-book task. And yet, he found himself unable to quiet his mind down long enough to actually read the fucking clipboard on the counter in front of him.

Why the fuck was he stuck reading this guy's chart anyway? He hadn't even done the surgery to have the guy's whatever pulled out of whatever and were the charts always so fucking white? His retinas were on fire.

"You look like you're seconds away from putting yourself into one of those beds over there." Jackson looked up to see nurse practitioner Lisa Garrett taking a seat behind one of the computers to type up a report. He felt his lip twitch as she managed to make a joke without even looking at him. That was what he liked about Lisa; she could do her job and throw around jabs. A third generation alpha, Lisa was basically the boss of ER. Oh, sure, there were plenty of people higher up on the medical food chain, but Lisa had the attitude to carry herself among them. A slender six foot two with long dark hair coiled up in a ponytail, her bangs cut straight across above her sharp hazel eyes, Lisa could honestly stop traffic if she wanted to.

"Just feeling a little on edge," Jackson replied after a moment. Lisa snorted so hard that one of the other nurses gave her a dry stare that she swiftly ignored.

"Welcome to the ER, my sweet," she retorted. Jackson gave a half-hearted laugh before he cleared his throat and glanced back down at the chart, scowling at the words that really just were not clicking with his brain at all. Lisa glanced at him, drawing up an arch brow.

"What, is it in Mandarin? I know some of its probably Latin, but you should've learned that in med school," she said, making Jackson sigh heavily.

"No, just... not sinking in today."

"That's what I like to hear in my ER," Lisa answered flatly, then frowned as she pushed away from the computer to roll over to where Jackson was leaning on the desk, "Listen, hun, if you're not feeling a hundred percent, it's okay to hang the coat up and leave. As much as I love seeing that hot face of yours around here, I also really need that hot brain to go with it. The last thing I need is someone with their head in the clouds." Jackson completely agreed. It was straight up irresponsible of him to be here if he wasn't a hundred percent there. He'd just gone through the motions of what was a normal day for him. Except nothing was normal for him anymore, was it?

Sighing, Jackson pushed the chart across the desk and Lisa took it with a grim smile.

"It's not wrong to admit you're still tired, Jacks," she said, making Jackson glance at her, "And for what it's worth, I am really sorry about your mom. I had the pleasure of meeting her on my graduation day. She was an amazing woman." Jackson actually felt a clump of tears rising in his throat at her words. He tried to pretend he wasn't remembering her at his own graduation either. He cleared his throat in an attempt to sound less hoarse.