Page 26 of The Stalker Snafu

“I can give you Tylenol now for the pain, but you can’t take any other painkillers until we’ve ruled out a concussion,” he said, getting two pills and a glass of water from the nightstand.

I almost cried in relief as I accepted them from him. “Yes, please.”

“They might make you a little drowsy while the medicine does its job and the adrenaline wears off, but we’ll wake you every two hours to make sure you don’t have a concussion.” He waited for me to offer the tiniest nod in understanding before reaching back into his vet bag.

Noah appeared behind Julian’s shoulder, and his gaze ran over me as I swallowed the pills. “Is she all right?”

“I think so. She’s not my typical patient, so I’m running a little blind here,” Julian answered before sending me a subtle wink. “Definitely my prettiest patient, though.”

I focused on chugging water to chase the painkillers and hopefully hide the heat rising to my cheeks as Noah muttered under his breath. Was his friend flirting with me? I took my time swallowing before handing the cup to Noah.

“Careful, doctor,” I warned breathlessly. My next exhale came out in a wheeze. “Noah gets his panties in a twist when guys flirt with me.”

Julian’s eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline as he looked at my boyfriend. “Does he now? I never took you for territorial, Kincaid.”

I couldn’t see Noah’s face, but he didn’t sound thrilled. “Just fix her.”

Julian caught my gaze before rolling his eyes, and I bit the inside of my cheek to hide a smile.

“I cleaned up your wound and finished applying the surgical glue to close it⁠—”

“Glue?” I echoed. Had I misheard him? “You glued my head? Like a kindergarten art project?”

His lips twitched. “I did.”

A frown creased my forehead, inciting another jolt of pain and a wince. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“You should feel good, because now we can luckily avoid stitches and it minimizes the scarring. The bandages are mostly to stop you from fussing with the glue, and they’ll just need to be reapplied a couple times each day until the glue dissolves. The blood on Noah’s shirt and the napkins looked bad at first, but you really didn’t lose that much, so I’m not concerned about a transfusion,” Julian explained as he leaned over me on the bed. He pulled out the blasted penlight again and shone it in both my eyes before lowering his voice to a sad excuse for a whisper. “What does he do when guys flirt with you?”

I snorted, then immediately regretted it when my entire head throbbed.

“He pees on me,” I answered through gritted teeth, flinching when the vet’s fingers slipped and his penlight bonked me under my eye. “Hey, watch it!”

Julian didn’t even notice he’d almost blinded me. He was too busy gaping at my boyfriend. “You what?”

Noah stared at me, lips parted, before finding any words. “I would never do that. Emma is clearly under the influence of the pain meds you pushed on her⁠—”

“No.” I coughed, and another pang ran through my head. Groaning, I flopped around to find a more comfortable position on the mattress. “You like to mark your territory like a dog, remember? That’s what you did to me when Charlie asked me out after class.”

A long moment passed as both guys let that sink in.

“Ignore her,” Noah muttered in a low voice, giving me a look that snapped my mouth shut. “This is being taken out of context again. It was figurative, not literal.”

“Well, I sure hope so,” Julian said in disbelief. “I’ve been learning a lot of new things about you lately. One might think I didn’t know you at all.”

My lips pulled down as I was reminded of their secret phone call. I still had a lot to learn about Noah, too.

I blinked through the throbbing in my head and snuggled into the covers to get comfortable. My body was exhausted and didn’t want to move, but I needed to stay awake.

“It’s okay. You can sleep,” Noah said as I felt his hand trail down my arm. I belatedly realized I hadn’t opened my eyes back up after my last blink. I didn’t really want to. “I’ll wake you in a couple hours.”

Thanks.

“Emma?” Noah asked as the hand trailed back up my arm.

Yes, Noah?

“Those knocked her out fast,” Julian said, but his voice sounded warped, like I was hearing it through a wind tunnel. “I gave her the adult dose, but she’s such a tiny little thing.”