Page 25 of Thunder

Scottie grins wide as her cheeks redden with the nickname while Doc’s whole fucking face lights up and he says, “It’s nice to meet you, darling,” and she replies, “It’s nice to meet you too.” Before she looks back at me and confirms, “I’m guessing he’ll be in with your surgery?”

I nod and confirm, “He will be, apparently I don’t have a say in it,” and Doc cuts in, “Too fucking right you don’t,” causing her to giggle again, a sound I fucking love and I demand gently, "Now explain the nerve graft to me…” causing Doc to raise a brow so Dr. Thomas says, “Dr. Aimes here is getting ready to take her boards to finish off her first year. She’s a year ahead of her peers and my top resident, the only one to touch a scalpel in the OR in her class.”

I notice Dr. Fuckface scowling harder as Doc pulls a chair out and sits near my girl, who sighs knowing she won’t get out of not explaining.

“A nerve graft is completely different to a trapped nerve,” she says, then explains, “You’ll be in surgery for up to six hours depending on the complexity,” she winces, “Dr. Thomas, who I’m guessing will be doing the surgery with your brother-in-law, will need to take a healthy and less critical nerve from somewhere else in your body. Then they will use it to bridge the gap in the damaged nerve, reconnecting the ends so the nerve fibers have a pathway to regrow,” she leans back in her chair, “You’ll need someone to drive you home so no bike, you’ll need physical therapy. Recovery can take over twelve months and the first four weeks you’ll require a crutch, it’s, I mean…”

She gives me a disappointing look, and again, I have to bite back a smirk, especially when she looks at Dr. Thomas and asks, “Do you have his scans on you?” and my Doc openly grins.

“I do,” Dr. Thomas says with pride and hands over his phone, and she quickly takes it, then zooms in on my scan.

“I like her,” Doc murmurs just so I can hear as he leans forward, “And now I understand your hesitation in coming home. I fucking get it, but remember, your sister won’t let you stay here. She will make a brilliant surgeon in Wincher…”

“You are not taking my resident!” Dr. Thomas snaps quietly so Scottie doesn’t hear, and that fuckface glares at us. He clearly hates our conversation before looking back at Scottie while Doc grins wide.

He’s taking his best resident.

“She has her nephew,” Marshall joins in as he leans over so fuckface who’s still staring at my girl with a scowl doesn’t hear. “She won’t leave that boy. It doesn’t matter what her sister and Kavan did. Sammie is her world and she watches him most weekends.”

Doc tenses when we lock eyes, and he demands lowly, “Please tell me you are not thinking of joining the Untamed?”

“Worse,” I mutter, “Literal kidnapping,” and Marshall adds, “I approve,” making my lips twitch as Doc's eyes widen in shock.

I spent years purposely hurting myself to stop brothers from leaving the club. I won’t be a hypocrite, but I also won’t expect Scottie to leave Sammie. I’ll just have to take him with us, and his grandpa approves so that’s half the battle.

“Fuck, we’re going to need a really good lawyer,” Doc chokes and Marshall mentions, “I’ll have my wife do it whether she likes it or not,” and I chuckle.

Dr. Thomas mentioned how blind his wife is to their other daughter and their son.

The woman is stubborn and has taken her anger out on her youngest, so in my eyes, she isn’t trusted.

She fucking reminds me of Kathleen, who I still haven’t heard from.

“Is Dad here yet?” I ask Doc, and he nods.

“He arrived half an hour after you left and he brought Kathleen,” he admits and I clench my jaw with frustration.

“I told him not to bring her,” I grunt as I side-eye Scottie, who is frowning at the phone Dr. Thomas is holding.

“She threatened to throw his shit out if she didn’t bring her along. She doesn’t know you’re having surgery yet, only that this is where you ended up,” he admits, not bothering to question why I didn’t want her here and I sigh.

Doc, Brit, Trigger, Ashley, Achor and Summer arrived two days ago, and all have refused to leave until I do. Ace and Dirty call me several times a fucking day, pissed that they haven’t got clearance to travel, Doc deciding they were more needed at the club with Stone. Dad was told to come today but not explain why to anyone knowing the brothers would fucking storm the place.

“Dr. Thomas, does Bradley really need a graft done?” Scottie asks with a frown, gaining everyone's attention, and Doc raises a brow at her while Dr. Thomas asks, “That is what the best option is, why?”

She looks at the phone then back at the Rebel’s brother and admits, “Because I don’t see why he needs a graft,” and Doc mutters, “She has balls going up against a Rebel’s brother, I fucking like her.”

I grin and look at Dr. Thomas as he leans forward, giving her all his attention.

“Elaborate, Dr. Aimes,” he demands, his teaching ways coming out while we all watch with fascination.

Clearing her throat as she looks around the men as she puts Dr. Thomas’s phone in the middle of the table and drags the photo with two of her fingers, then points at what looks like a thin line.

“Because to me, his nerve still looks intact,” she says then explains, “From a distance it looks torn. You can just see the line before muscle overshadows it, so yes, surgically intervene, but graft? I don’t think it is necessary…”

“Fuck me, she’s good,” Doc murmurs as he stands and looks at the screen and her father mutters, “I feel like I should be a proud fucking peacock right now,” and Dr. Thomas states, “You should be because she’s fucking right, good catch, Dr. Aimes!”

Scottie’s cheeks redden, and I grin as we lock eyes.