CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT
JOSH

"Trust me, I'm heading home to crash soon," I said, running a hand over my face in an effort to stay awake. "Just need to grab my charger first."

I’d been volunteering at LHAC for so long I had my own designated desk. Most of my work involved staffing the free clinic for uninsured patients, though I also helped consult on legal cases needing medical input.

"Before you leave, you should meet our new research associate." Barbs gestured toward the kitchen door at the end of the hall. "You’ll like her. She’s got some fire."

I raised a brow. "Already brought someone new on?"

Lisa, the clinic's legal director, had mentioned hiring someone temporarily to manage the recent spike in cases, but I hadn’t expected it to happen this quickly.

"Yep. Third-year at Thayer Law," Barbs said, her eyes gleaming with mischief that immediately put me on alert. "She’s smart. Pretty too—bit intense. Showed up on her first day fifteen minutes before we even opened."

"Congrats, that’s half of Thayer's female student population." Most of them were classic overachievers. "And don’t even go there," I added when Barbs opened her mouth. "I don’t mess around at work."

Sure, I had a reputation for being a player, but I had a hard line when it came to mixing business and pleasure—especially in a professional or even volunteer environment.

Barbs didn’t blink at my language; she'd heard far worse in this clinic. Still, she looked disappointed. She liked playing matchmaker and had been trying to set me up for years.

"If I ever did date someone here, it’d be you," I said, flashing a grin.

She held onto her frown for a beat longer before it broke into a smile. "You're full of it."

"Me? Lie?" I put a hand to my heart, feigning innocence. "Never."

She rolled her eyes. "Go on. Take that act somewhere else. You're way too young for me. And let me know what you think of her after you meet her," she added with a chuckle as I shot her a mock-annoyed glance over my shoulder.

I snagged my charger from my desk and slid it into my pocket. Curiosity got the better of me, and I headed toward the kitchen to see what all the hype was about.

I pushed open the kitchen door, my mouth curving into a welcoming-What. The. Fuck.

My smile disappeared faster than candy at a kid's birthday party.

Because sitting in the middle of the room, drinking coffee out of my favorite mug and examining a stack of papers, was none other than Lena Carter.

My blood pressure spiked.

No. Fuck no. I must've fallen asleep after my shift and entered a vivid nightmare because there was no way Lena was the new research associate. The universe wouldn't be so cruel.

She glanced up at the sound of the door opening, and I would've taken great pleasure in the way her face paled had I not been equally thunderstruck.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Our voices mingled in a discordant melody-her words pitched high with stress, mine low with horror.

A muscle jumped in my jaw. "I work here." I released the doorknob and crossed my arms over my chest. "What's your excuse?"

"I work here. You work in the ER." Lena arched an eyebrow. "I see you're going senile already. That's what happens when your brain uses all its limited faculties on basic upkeep."

Goddammit. I didn't have time for this. I came here to pick up my charger, and now I was stuck arguing with the she-devil when all I wanted was sleep.

But it was too late. There was no backing down unless I wanted her to rub getting the last word in my face until the end of time.

"Don't project, it's unbecoming. Just because you have lower than average mental capacity doesn't mean everyone else does." A smirk touched my mouth when her eye twitched. "As for the clinic, I've been volunteering here since I was in med school."

Translation: it was my space. I'd claimed it first.

Was that a juvenile way to look at things? Perhaps. But there were so few places I felt truly at home. The clinic was one of them, and Lena's presence would smash that peace to smithereens.

"It's not too late to quit." I leaned against the wall, keeping my eyes locked to hers in a silent challenge. "You'd have more fun spending your free time elsewhere. I'm sure there's a poor sap who's willing to fill in the gaps in your schedule if you're bored."

"I could say the same for you, Judgy McHale." Lena sipped her coffee out of my fucking mug. "Or have you run out of women who'll fall for your bullshit? Unless you're using the volunteer excuse to pick up women, which is just sad."

I closed the distance between us in three strides and slammed my hands on the table hard enough to rattle the highlighters lined up next to her papers. I leaned forward until our faces were only inches apart and our breaths mingled in a cloud of animosity.

"Quit." The word vibrated, taut and furious, between us.

Lena's eyes glowed with challenge. "No."

Her slow, precise enunciation ratcheted my blood pressure up another notch.

My knuckles dug into the hard wood as I fisted my hands on the table. My heart pounded so hard its drumbeat echoed in my head, taunting me.

...

I didn't know why this one thing bothered me so much. Lena was the new research associate. So what? I didn't come into the clinic often, and I didn't have to talk to her if I didn't want to. Plus, hers was a temporary position. She'd be gone in a few months.

But the mere idea of her here, in my haven, drinking out of my mug and laughing with my friends and filling every molecule of air with her presence, made it really fucking hard to breathe.

One. Two. Three. I forced oxygen into my lungs with each count.

A few feet away, the fridge hummed, oblivious to the battle playing out in the kitchen. Meanwhile, the clock ticked its way toward the half hour, reminding me I should be long gone by now.

Shower. Bed. Blissful sleep.

They called my name, yet here I was, face to face with Lena, unwilling to wave the white flag in our silent war.

Even at this close proximity, I couldn't spot a single flaw in her creamy skin. I could, however, count the individual lashes framing her hazel eyes and spot the teeny tiny mole above her upper lip.

The fact I noticed those things pissed me off even more.

"I thought you were all about corporate law. Big bucks. Prestige." Each syllable came out cold and sharp enough to sting. "The clinic may not be as fancy as Silver & Klein, but we do important work here. It's not a playground for you to mess around in until you leave for the 'big leagues." It was a low blow. I knew it even as I said it.

Lena probably needed a job to tide her over until she passed the bar exam, and there was nothing wrong with that.

But my frustration-over my father, over Alex, over the empty, gnawing feeling in my chest that had plagued me for more nights than I cared to admit turned me into someone I didn't recognize and didn't particularly like. Normally, Icould pretend I was the same carefree guy I'd been in school, but for some reason, my mask never lasted long with Lena.

Perhaps it was because I didn't care whether she saw the worst of me. There was a certain liberation in not giving a shit about what other people thought.

"How like you to assume the worst of me." If my voice was cold, Lena's was an inferno, incinerating the sharp edges of my irritation until only the ashes of shame remained.

"What, you think I'm going to swan in here every week, push a few papers around, and pretend to work just because I'm a temp? Newsflash, asshole, when I commit to doing something, I do it well. I don't care if it's a big law firm, a nonprofit, or a fucking lemonade stand at the end of a dead-end road. You're not better than me just because you're a doctor, and I'm not the devil just because I want a high-paying career. So you can take your sanctimonious attitude and shove it up your ass, Hale Hale, because I'm over it."

Silence blanketed the room, broken only by Lena's ragged breaths. Her earlier cool had evaporated, replaced with flushed cheeks and blazing eyes, but for once, I didn't take pleasure in riling her up.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but I was too stunned to formulate an appropriate response.

Lena and I had exchanged more barbs than I could count over the years. She always gave as good as she got, but what happened just now...if I didn't know better, I could've sworn she was actually hurt.

A hot poker of guilt stabbed at my chest.

I straightened and rubbed a hand over my face, wondering when the hell my life had gotten so complicated. I missed the days when Lena and I insulted each other with zero guilt or remorse, when my sister wasn't in love with

my ex-best friend, and when my best friend had still been my friend.

I missed the days when I was me.

Now here I was, about to do something old Hale would've rather cut off his arm than do.

"I shouldn't have said that," I finally conceded. "It was a low blow, and I..." A muscle worked in my jaw. Dammit. "I'm sorry."

I spit out the words. It was the first time I'd ever apologized to Lena, and I wanted to get it over as quickly as possible.

Just because I did the right thing didn't mean I had to like it.

I braced myself for Lena's gloating, but none came. Instead, she just stared at me like I hadn't spoken.

I forged ahead. "However, the clinic is important to me, and I don't want our...differences to get in the way of our work. So I propose a truce."

Proposing a truce might as well be surrendering, but I refused to let our animosity poison my time at the clinic. Everywhere else, fine. But not here.

Her brow wrinkled. "A truce."

"Only when we're in the clinic." I wasn't naive enough to think we could uphold any semblance of peace outside a work environment. "No insults, no snarky comments. We keep it professional. Deal?" I held out my hand.

Lena eyed it like it was a coiled-up cobra waiting to strike.

"Unless, of course, you don't think you can do it." Satisfaction trickled through me when her lips thinned. I'd touched on a competitive nerve, as I knew I would.

She didn't take her eyes off mine as she grasped my hand and squeezed. Hard.

Jesus. For someone so small, she was fucking strong.

"Deal," she said with a smile.

I smiled back through gritted teeth and squeezed even harder, relishing the way her nostrils flared at the pressure.

"Excellent."

Forget what I said about being bored.

This was going to be an interesting few months.