Read Online Tattooed Hearts by Mika Jolie - Free Book Online

urgent.
    “I gotta go.” He was already sliding in the car, his heart thudding
in his chest.
    “What’s going on?”
Blake reached for the door, concern in his voice.
    “Dad was in a car
accident. Peter sent me a text to get there ASAP.” He checked the text message again for a timestamp. That was twenty minutes
ago. As a doctor, he knew a person’s condition could quickly deteriorate in the
span of five minutes. Shit.
    “I’ll meet you there.”
    He shook his head.
“Not necessary.”
    Blake’s phone beeped.
He peek ed at the screen and smiled. “Ovulating time.”
    “Go home.”
    “All right, but send
me a text as soon as you get there.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Forrest swerved the
Jeep into an empty parking space, jumped out and bolted toward the entrance.
His heart pounded to the beat of his feet racing against the pavement, only one
thought swarming through his mind. Please let Dad be okay.
    He avoided the revol ving door and shoved through the manual entryway, taking
the flight of stairs by two, three even, until he reached the reception area.
An older woman probably in her early seventies sat behind the desk. Damn it,
she must be new, as he didn’t recognize her. Her eyes
grazed up, and grew wide at his untamed appearance.
    “Forrest Montgomery
Desvareaux, my father, Luc, is here.” He jotted down the French names, first
and last for her to avoid any spelling confusion. He knew the process. She’d
ask him to spell his last name at least two times
before looking it up on the computer. Writing his name down took away at least
two minutes.
    She scanned the paper
where he’d just written his father’s name. As she typed, each click scraped
across his raw nerves. He bit back t he anxiety
swimming through his veins, willing himself to be patient. After a few attempts
at what he guessed was typing his name properly, she looked up, pity on her
face.
    “ICU,” she said in a
low tone. “Third…”
    Her voice faded behind
him. He already kne w which floor. He might have his
own practice but he worked closely with the only hospital on the island. Within
seconds he was by the elevator, punching the UP arrow again and again until the
door slid open. Mind racing, he hit the number three with a tre mbling hand. As the door closed, he grabbed his phone and
thumbed ICU to Blake. Intensive Care Units catered
to patients with the most severe and life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
    After what felt like
hours, the hollow ping announced he’d reached hi s
destination. The elevator door opened and he stepped onto the quiet floor. For
a minute he stilled, letting the strange feeling that he was here this time not
as a doctor but as a son settle in before walking to the nurse’s station.
    “Hey.”
    He turned to G wen, the pretty nurse who’d dated Adam once upon a time.
She touched his shoulder, a compassionate touch. He recognized it. As a doctor,
he was all too familiar with the bedside manner reserved for people losing a
loved one soon. He’d done the same on a fe w
occasions.
    “Is it too late for
surgery?” he asked, needing to know.
    Gwen cleared her
throat, a sign of nervousness. His heart clenched.
    “Has the neurosurgeon
seen him?”
    “Yes.”
    A deafening silence
settled between them for a beat. But the doctor in him got the message , it
was too late.
    “Third
room on your right. Your mother and Charles are there.”
    Charles Montgomery was
Jason’s father, his parents’ best friend.
    “Thanks, Gwen.”
    He walked down the
hall to the room, dazed in an almost dreamlike state. For the first time in a long time, the antiseptic smell sickened
his stomach. It smelled clean–overly clean to the point of nothing, but there
was so much nothing that the nothing was something. Dead germs, he concluded,
hospitals carried the scent of faintly dead germs,
like a hotel room for souls in purgatory.
    He entered the room, sounds and beeps of the
machines greeted him. Trained eyes immediately checked his