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The clinic constantly struggled for money. Half our equipment was outdated, and Jenna had spent most of the previous week threatening to throw one of the monitors through a wall every time it froze during patient intake. That amount of cash would cover supplies for months. I hated the wave of relief that came with realizing that. I knew it probably wasn’t just payment for treatment. It was also insurance. A reminder that the club took care of its own problems and expected silence in return.

I kept thinking about supply orders we’d been putting off for weeks because we couldn’t afford them. Part of me still wasn’t comfortable accepting money that probably came attached to violence somewhere down the line, but another part of me had spent the last month pretending outdated equipment wasn’t becoming a serious problem. The clinic needed help, and whether I liked it or not, Riot and his club had just provided it.

“You could’ve mailed it,” I said eventually.

“Could’ve.” Riot nodded once toward the envelope. “Clinic taken care of now?”

There was something straightforward about the question that made me glance back at him again. He wasn’t threatening, just asking. I looked back down at the money before answering. “Yeah,” I admitted quietly. “Actually, yeah.”

By the fourth day, Riot had stopped pretending he had actual reasons to be there. Coffee just started appearing beside me during late shifts. Not good coffee either. Terrible gas station coffee that tasted burnt enough to strip paint off walls.

“You know this is awful, right?” I asked after the first sip.

Riot leaned against the nurses’ station, drinking his own cup like he hadn’t just committed a crime against caffeine. “Still drinking it.”

Jenna snorted behind reception while I ignored both of them. Mostly because Riot looked far too pleased with himself.

One night he appeared beside my desk while I rubbed at my eyes after twelve straight hours on shift.

“You look like shit,” he observed calmly.

“Thank you.”

“When’s the last time you slept?”

I looked up over the stack of paperwork. “You flirting or insulting me?”

“Could be both.”

I rolled my eyes and went back to the patient charts. “My exams are in a few weeks. I’m basically surviving on caffeine and spite at this point.”

Riot stayed quiet for a second before asking, “You eat today?”

I looked up again. “What?”

“You heard me.”

I frowned slightly. “Why do you care?”

One shoulder lifted beneath his kutte. “Need my favorite nurse conscious.”

I looked back down at the paperwork before he noticed the smile trying to happen. Absolutely ridiculous. There was no reason a biker calling me his favorite nurse should’ve affected me at all. No reason my eyes darted to the door every time it opened, waiting to see him.

Riot pushed away from the counter. “Come on.”

I frowned. “Where?”

“Break.”

“I already took one.”

“Take another.”

I stared at him for a second before grabbing my hoodie off the chair. “My shift ends in ten minutes. This is probably a terrible idea.”

Riot smirked slightly. “Probably.”

I checked in with Jenna who practically shoved me out the door. It was a quiet night anyway and shift change would be arriving in moments.