Stolen by Jolie Vines

2

Maddock

At the hospital check-in desk, we waited on the nurse to finish admitting the person ahead of us. Rory fidgeted and rolled her head, her ponytail of dark curls tumbling over her shoulders. Her gaze skittered over the posters and forms around the desk.

On the drive here, the pretty lass had barely spoken, but that suited me. One look at her today, and all I could think about was her slight weight on my arm, her determination. Her red lips…

I stole another glance at her.

The same flash of sharp attraction flared.

Rory was my brother’s girlfriend, or had been on the way to taking up that role. Her mistake in kissing me had been exactly that—a simple error.

Why the fuck did I need to be so magnetically drawn to the single woman I couldn’t have?

The question leapt into my mouth before I could stop it. “Why did Cameron call me and not Max?”

Rory paused in her search of the papers. “I’ve no idea. Maybe Max is incommunicado to everyone, not just me.”

I stared, but before I could ask more, she raised a question of her own.

“Where’s the charge sheet? Aren’t they meant to display things like that?”

“What are ye talking about?”

Her cheeks reddened. “I need to prepare myself for how much this is going to cost. The X-ray. The consultation. It’s going to be thousands of dollars, right?”

I tilted my head. “It’s a flat fee. A few hundred, irrespective of what you need to have done.”

The flush spread to her ears. She slid a look at the reception then dropped her voice. “You don’t understand. I’m not insured. I cheaped out and didn’t buy any. So I’m not covered.”

Right. In a flash, I understood her reticence on the mountainside. “Still the same. All emergency treatment is the same for tourists. One single payment, and it covers you for a year.”

Emotion passed over Rory’s gaze, and she opened and closed her mouth. “For real?”

“Can I help you?” The nurse at the desk beckoned us forward.

Wide-eyed, Rory tore her gaze off me and approached the reception. “I’ve hurt my arm. But I’m a tourist and I don’t have insurance.”

The kindly nurse clucked over the injury and got Rory set up with paperwork to complete, repeating my words on the low-charge status. She ushered us to the seating area where a screen on the wall gave a waiting time of forty-five minutes.

I knew better than to believe that. Trips to A&E took a minimum of a few hours, particularly when hopping between departments as we’d need to do, but I also knew full well that the tourists we picked up in the mountain rescue service often panicked over the potential costs.

I was an idiot for not mentioning it to Rory earlier.

The whole time I’d treated her, then on the drive, I’d been preoccupied with not letting myself think about her as anything other than a person needing help. At the same time, she’d been quietly panicking over the bill.

“Could you help me fill this out?” She broke into my thoughts, holding out the clipboard. “Left-handed. I can’t manage with my right.”

With a grim smile, I took it. In a few minutes, I knew her full name, Aurora Robin Westacre, her address, date of birth, and other facts. She was almost a year older than me, but I’d assumed younger. Maybe because of her petite, curvy frame. And huge brown eyes.

Great. Now I was staring.

“Sorry,” I muttered and sank back into my caregiver role.

For the next hour, I waited by her side as she saw the triage nurse, then outside the radiology suite.

She emerged from the room, her phone in her hand. “I got to take a picture of my X-ray. This is so cool. My skeleton’s on there!”

I gestured for her to show me the shot, and I zoomed in, peering at the image.

Rory gawped. “Don’t tell me you can see breaks on X-rays. Even the technician refused to do that. She said I had to wait for the doctor.”

“I’ve learned a few things from bringing people in, like on chest X-rays, ye can see the wobbly lines in the lungs of a pneumonia patient, or in these cases, dark lines over bones from breaks. But I’m only first-aid trained. I’m just being nosy. I cannae see anything wrong here.”

The lass watched me for a long moment. “You’re being lovely. After everything, you’re still here and trying to help me.”

“Why wouldn’t I? It’s the least I can do.”

“The least you can do?”

I twisted her phone in my hands. While she’d been in the room, I’d let my mind wander over our short and bizarre history. A week ago, I’d got off work at the hangar and had been walking home. This wee missile of a beautiful lass had sprinted down the path and leapt into my arms, her bright eyes holding mischief. She’d demanded I greet her then told me that although we were strangers in this, she wanted to change that. I was there, she was there, and she was just going to do it.

Then the kiss happened.

It had taken Max’s voice to drag my whole-body focus away.

He’d clearly planned this meeting with her, and she’d pounced on the wrong twin. He’d seen everything, then shot off on his motorbike.

And not called Rory back since.

The fault was mine, even if Rory didn’t know it.

I’d hurt my brother once before over a lass, someone he’d loved, and now, I’d found myself in the same situation again.

“Ye said Max hasnae been in touch. I can fix that.”

Rory raised a shoulder. “There’s no need. If he wants to be a jerk, that’s his call.”

Her phone buzzed, her sister’s name onscreen. I handed it over, and she answered.

As she listened, I let my resolve settle.

Aye, Max was a jerk, but because of me. I didn’t want her holiday to be ruined by this.

“You didn’t have to, but a hug sounds good,” Rory said to Elise. “We’re coming down to the Accident and Emergency department again. See you in a minute.” She hung up. To me, she explained, “Elise and Cameron are almost here. I told them not to cut their trip short, but they did anyway.”

Which was my cue to leave.

I gave her a nod, and we returned to A&E. At the busy waiting area, Rory paused, but I spoke first.

“It was good seeing ye again. I’d better get back. I have training this evening so I need to get to the hangar.”

“For the mountain rescue service?”

“Naw. Night flights. I’m a pilot.”

She took a heavy breath. “Of course you are. So listen up, pilot. You’ve been amazing today. Thank you for that. For the record, I want to apologise for the unwelcome kiss. It was a huge mistake and it’ll never happen again.”

“Again,” I repeated, fixating on the wrong part of her speech.

She burst out in an embarrassed laugh. “You know what I mean. Oh boy.”

Down the hall, her sister and Cameron emerged, concern in their looks. The two sisters reunited with careful hugs, and I stepped away. Over their heads, Cameron gave me a quizzical head tilt.

I just needed to leave. I had to find Max.

With a muttered apology, I turned on my heel and marched out the door.

* * *

With the hospital and the injured, too-lovely lass in my rearview, I sped through the gathering dusk.

Once inside the gateposts that marked the McRae estate, I took a right along the loch road instead of the left that would deliver me to my cottage. I was heading to my parents’ home, where Max still lived.

I had twenty minutes before I needed to report in for work, but this was important.

At the waterside house where I’d grown up, I scanned the ground and parked up. My brother’s motorbike wasn’t here, but that didn’t mean anything.

“Max?” I called, letting myself into the house.

“Not here, Maddock. But we are,” Ma yelled back.

I jogged down the hall and found her at the kitchen table, Da at the stove, tossing vegetables in a big frying pan.

My mother swept me into a hug. “Are you here for dinner? Cait, Lochie, and Isla will be here soon.”

I liked spending time with my sister and her family, as I did with our extended family. Da was one of twins, like Max and me. Uncle Wasp was identical to my father, though in appearance only—apparently my father had been a wild child when young. Beyond that, Ma’s older sister was married to Da’s oldest brother. I had so many relatives here, and we were all close.

But right now, I didn’t have time to linger. “Nope, just looking for Max, then I need to fly.”

Da extended a fist for a bump. “He hasnae been here for a week. He’s off doing something somewhere.”

“Do ye know what?”

“Nope. I texted him, and he replied with exactly that.” My father put on a voice. “I’m doing something somewhere. See ye when I’m back.”

I grumbled to myself. “I think I’m the reason he’s vanished.”

My parents exchanged a glance.

“Uh-oh. What happened this time?” Ma asked.

My sigh came automatically, because her implication was right. This time was one of many. Max and I fell out on a regular basis, though not so much since I’d left for university then moved out.

As kids, we’d fought, and it got worse as teens. We always made up. Usually in secret because we both enjoyed the antagonism.

But after what happened in the not-too-distant past, Max had every reason to despise me permanently.

Unknowingly, I’d slept with his ex-girlfriend.

That act had destroyed any chance we had of being close.

“Something easier to fix this time, I hope. Sorry, got to go. Gordain has me flying nights. Love ye both.”

They let me leave without further explanation.

Outside, I returned to my car, but the garage across the track snagged my attention. The standalone structure had always been my brother’s territory, and I rarely stepped foot inside. Like with everything, we had battlelines drawn.

Our relationship had to change. We weren’t kids anymore.

Eventually, I’d have a family and kids here. No room for quarrelling with my twin. We had to understand each other better.

I slid open the garage door and snuck inside.

It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the gloom, then I made out a worktop and wall of tools. Beneath, a tarp covered something. I pulled it clear, revealing an old scrambler.

Max’s first motorbike.

Years ago, he’d loved this bike. I’d ruined that by backing into it one dark night. It had been an accident, me only sixteen and in my first car, but again, Max had suffered at my hands.

With a fingertip, I traced over the shiny metal, my mind leaping to unpleasant scenes from the past.

A pattern existed I’d never really noticed.

I broke the things Max loved most.

I’d worked weekends to pay for the repairs, so why didn’t he ride it now? I knew he’d upgraded to better bikes, but this one looked pretty sweet.

I strode back to the house and stuck my head in the door. “Ma? Why doesn’t Max use his old scrambler anymore? The one I broke. It still runs, aye?”

There was a pause, then her voice drifted down the hall. “It did, but there was one part he couldn’t afford to fix. The instrument panel had a crack and water got into the electrics. He wrote it off.”

I called out thanks and slammed the door once more.

If I was going to patch things up with my brother, I could start with fixing everything I’d damaged.

The ex-girlfriend was a step too far, the current girlfriend who I’d kissed and one hundred percent couldn’t get out of my mind would have to call that shot, but the bike was a definite place to start.