The double doors between us slap open. Joe appears like a mirage, oozing dark energy. He sees Sarah and me standing in front of one another and makes a face. It is something between Shit and Dom, you dumb fuck. It is an exceedingly Joe-like expression.

“Seph,” Sarah moans. Her shoulders sag. “Oh my God.”

I don’t know if she is saying this about the accident, or about the acuteness of Dom’s situation, or about the cheating, or about all of it.

“Sar. How’re you holding up?”

Seph and Sar. This is all the confirmation I need that these two know each other.

“Terrible,” she says.

Joe’s eyes travel to me. He is checking the temperature. Trying to gauge how angry I am.

Because it is easy—and because he deserves it—as soon as he reaches for me, to give me a hug, I slap him. This time I get his left cheek. Two slaps in one day is some kind of record, I’m sure.

He rubs at his cheek. “I deserve that.”

“You bastard,” I hiss.

“Guilty as charged. We’ll revisit the subject later.” He turns to Sarah. “Any news on him?”

Sarah is hugging herself. I can tell that she is watching our interaction closely, and that she finds it very odd. She shakes her head. “Not yet, but I was going to try to get into the operating room.”

“You should do that,” he says firmly. “Now.”

After looking between us helplessly, Sarah stalks off down the corridor. Joe and I are left alone. It seems stupid to talk about Dom’s infidelity when he might not even make it. Then again, there is nothing else to talk about. We don’t know anything. As screwed up as it is, Dr. Sarah Nelson is exactly the distraction I need to forget that my fiancé is currently fighting for his life.

“He is two-timing me,” I say matter-of-factly once Sarah is gone and it’s just the two of us between the mint-green walls. I notice that Belinda the receptionist is showing a healthy interest in what’s going on in her waiting room. She’s been reading the same page in her novel for ten minutes now.

Joe scratches his jaw, looking away. “He’s my brother, Ever. What was I supposed to do? Rat him out?” His jaw hardens. “I tried to indicate to you in numerous ways that it wasn’t the end of the world if we kissed.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right!” I snap.

“In my book, if you’re stupid enough to cheat on two perfectly good women, you’re not good enough for either of them.”

“Why didn’t you talk sense into him?”