It should have been a good day.  Reid had come out of a six-hour surgery in which he removed a Grade III meningioma from the cerebral cavity of a nine-year-old boy.  Reid had felt elated as he walked out of the operating room.  Assuming the tumor didn't appear again, the child would live to a ripe old age, and it was Reid's skill ( Read more... )

               Luke was tired from awaking early to smuggle in the print that he bought for Reid before the doctor arrived at work.  He arrived at the hospital particularly early after a sleepless night.  Thoughts of the box Reid had thrown away had kept Luke awake all night. Luke had rolled around in his bed so much that all the sheets were ( Read more... )

                The dreams, however, only partially contributed to Reid being in a particularly foul mood on his fourth day of incarceration in Oakdale.  When he had not been dreaming of Luke’s voice, he would wake to the image of Luke Snyder’s bare chest.  His lack of control annoyed him endlessly.  Not only was he thinking about it while he was ( Read more... )

                Luke arrived with Will and Casey at Katie’s apartment thirty minutes before the party was supposed to start.  Worried about how he should look tonight, he wanted the threesome’s opinions on what he should wear.  When they got there, Henry was already there seemingly having already drunk three martinis from the glasses on the ( Read more... )

Chapter 14

Reid’s third day of work at Oakdale Memorial was less satisfying than his first two.

After his fourth appointment, he was walking around the corner to his office when a man in a white lab coat ran right into him.  The guy had a square face, eyebrows slung low over his green eyes, and an expression that ( Read more... )

                Dr. Stephen Regan waited nervously to welcome his new temporary staff surgeon, Reid Oliver.  Stephen, the head of the neuro-wing for the past five years, felt no small amount of trepidation about having the man for whom the center was named suddenly reappear at the hospital.  Stephen enjoyed his job and was not keen on losing it, ( Read more... )

                By the time Reid arrived at his apartment, he was willing to walk without shoes back to New York.  From the moment he had first seen Luke Snyder, his life had been a hectic series of nonsensical events.  Today had been no different.  Bob had looked ready to weep when he met Reid at the hospital.  Weep!  What sort of person had ( Read more... )

Chapter 9

Reid had been so engrossed in Luke that he had no idea how long Alec had even been standing there.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” said Alec.  It took all Reid’s will power to refrain from saying, “Of course you do.”

“Who’s your friend?” asked Alec.

Oh Christ, he’s going to try to pretend he doesn’t ( Read more... )

Chapter 7

After his discussion with Luke, Reid tried to do some paperwork in his office, but eventually admitted defeat and went back to his apartment in Chelsea.  He felt like he was crawling out of his skin by the time he got home.  Reid’s brain was trained to focus on one task at a time while blocking out all distractions.  It ( Read more... )

Chapter 6

I watched you die.  The words echoed in his head.  Dropping his hand from the doorknob, Reid slowly turned and replied, “You what now?”

Luke really had not wanted to broach this part of the story this early, but it was naïve thinking he could avoid it.  “First, my name is Luke Snyder.  But to answer your question, it’s a long story. ( Read more... )