Braxton (Station 47)

Chapter 12

TWELVE

HANNAH

My thoughts are still on Braxton and Christina an hour later, so after going down to the emergency room to see how things are going and chat with LeeAnna for a bit, I come back upstairs to see how things are going with them. I’m still not quite sure why I’m so invested in all of this. I’ve had plenty of patients who were either single moms, just found out they were father’s or had terminal cancer, but something about this being Braxton has it hitting me harder for some reason.

Unfortunately, I’m not paying much attention to what’s going on around me, so I completely miss Landon Percy coming towards me until it’s too late to make a quick escape.

“Hannah?” Even the way he says my name makes my skin crawl. It’s not even that he’s this horrible creepy guy. He’s just an asshole who thinks way too much of himself and is convinced that he knows better than everyone. He also thinks women shouldn’t work and their main purpose in life is to spit out babies and take care of their man . That’s an exact quote by the way, from the last date we went on and the final nail in his coffin. Okay, so maybe he is kind of creepy with those opinions.

Landon is the last person I want to see on a normal day, but definitely not right now after an emotional twenty-four hours.

Knowing I don’t have any choice but to be respectful and acknowledge him, I take a deep breath and turn to face him, hating the smarmy smile on his entirely too handsome face.

“Hello, Landon. What can I do for you?” I keep my voice flat and polite, face blank even though it’s hard to hide the amount of disdain I have for this man.

He stops way too close to me, ignoring any semblance of personal space, lifting his hand and stroking his knuckles down the side of my face in a way that creeps me out. I take a step back instinctively, which means my back knocks into the wall behind me.

“Please don’t touch me.” I’m not proud of the way my voice trembles, but he makes me so uncomfortable. I don’t know what possessed me to agree to go on even one date with him, let alone the five miserable ones we had before I finally broke it off.

I guess I just wanted someone to make me feel attractive, and the fact that he pursued me so hard made me feel good. It’s hard to fell pretty or sexy when your husband of over ten years decides he’s no longer attracted to you. Well, if we’re being honest, he confessed he’s never been as attracted to you as he is to men. I do wish he’d been honest about that before we got married and had two children, but I also understand that his parents are not the most accepting people. If it wasn’t for Madison and Mallory, I’m pretty sure they would’ve disowned him when he came out three years ago.

Unfortunately, Landon really is the biggest asshole I think I’ve ever met, so the good feelings didn’t last very long. Instead, I was left feeling grossed out and just… as Mallory would say, eww .

“Oh, come on, Hannah.” Landon rolls his eyes like he thinks I’m being ridiculous, and to him I probably am. When you think you’re God’s gift to all women, I’m sure it’s hard to imagine anyone wouldn’t come looking for you on a daily basis. “You aren’t usually on this floor, so naturally, I assumed you must have come looking for me. What other reason would you have to be up here?”

The man is so full of himself. Why in the world would I come looking for him? And why would he ever think I would? I was pretty clear last year when I told him I wasn’t interested in seeing him romantically again. At least, I thought I balanced being firm and being respectful considering he’s got more seniority and a higher title than I do.

A door down the hall creaks open, and it isn’t long before I hear a familiar voice. Braxton practically growls, “Pretty sure no one comes looking specifically for you. Not anyone with even a little bit of sense at least.” One muscled arm wraps around my shoulders, pulling me into his side, and when I look up at him, Braxton’s jaw is tense and his eyes are locked on Landon.

“Sorry that took so long, Han. Ready to go get lunch?”

Uh, what?! I don’t say anything, still trying to process the way he’s holding me so close. I’m not sure Braxton and I have ever touched this much at one time. He’s so close I can smell his cologne and it causes a visceral reaction I don’t understand. It’s something woodsy, but I swear he always smells a little like a campfire, like not even the fires he fights want to completely let go of him.

Thoughts like that make me pretty certain my brain is broken. Am I still asleep? Maybe I haven’t actually woken up for the day, and when I pinch myself, I’ll sit up in bed and realize my alarm’s about to go off.

Braxton leads me down the hallway, dismissing Landon without another word and I just know he hates it. The thought brings a smile to my face, and I relax further into Braxton’s side, ignoring the fluttery feeling in my stomach as I do.