Free Fallen from Grace [Part Two of the Thicker than Blood Series] by Olivia Leighton Page A

“He has this faint Italian accent too.”
     
    “Nice... he's Italian?”
     
    “I think so...,” I said and held up my phone, showing her his hospital photo.  “That's him.  Matt says his name is Alessandro.”
     
    She narrowed her eyes looking at the image and smiled.  “Alessandro,” Tiffany repeated with a heavy Spanish accent, rolling the r.  “He's really hot.  Did you guys go out?”
     
    “No, actually.  We... we just kissed.”
     
    “Wait... what?”  Tiffany stopped to stare at me.  “You haven't gone out... so where's he kissing you?”
     
    “On the mouth... for now...,” I said with a smirk.
     
    Tiffany sighed and put her hands on her hips.  “You know what I mean...”
     
    “I know.”  I laughed.  “Actually, it's very... I don't know.  The first time he kissed me, it was in a patient's room.”
     
    “What?”  Her left brow rose.
     
    “Yeah.  Never met the guy before, I go into my patient's room and he's there charting.  I think we exchanged like two sentences and he backed me against the all... and kissed me.”  My stomach fluttered, suddenly filled with butterflies with the thought of that moment.  “Thankfully, my patient was a deep sleeper... but it was... amazing and terrifying at the same time.  He made me feel like I was floating and like I was prey.”
     
    Her eyes were big.  “Are you serious?”
     
    I nodded.  “Yeah, and then he just left.”
     
    “Left?”
 
    “ As in left the hospital.”
     
    “Just like that... he didn't say anything... he kissed you and then left?”
     
    “Pretty much... but then it happened again on Sunday night, when I was floated to the ER.  I was on the roof having coffee and he came up behind me.  God, I can't tell you how strange it all was.  He was conflicted about being there... and he kissed me again.”  I paused, trying to gather my thoughts.  “And then, I stepped back to look at something, when I turned around... he was gone.”
     
    “Gone?”
     
    “Yeah.  He left without a sound... although I did see his foot prints through the puddle on the roof.”
     
    “Have you seen him since?”
     
    “No.”
     
    Tiffany rubbed the back of her neck.  “Oh... kay.  What are your thoughts on all of this?”
     
    My mind had been tossing that around since Dr. Amante first kissed me.  “I don't know.  Matt told me to stay away from him.”
     
    “Matt knows him?”
     
    I shook my head and shrugged.  “I don't know.  When I told him of the incident, he got angry.  He said Amante was toxic.  He basically yelled at me, telling me to stay away from the guy and I haven't seen Matt since.”
     
    Tiffany looked away for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed.  She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to a bench and we both sat down. 
     
    “Okay... Matt's obviously jealous.  But,” Tiffany said as she looked me in the eyes.  “Why did you wait until now to tell me all of this?  I'm sure it's been eating you alive.”
     
    “Yeah,” I said.  “Honestly, I kept expecting to wake from a dream.”  My eyes looked at the tiled floor but remained unfocused.  “Then, to top it off, we had a guy come into the ER.  After he passed away, a cop questioned most of us.  Later, I asked the others about it, they had no idea what I was talking about, like the cop never existed.
     
    Tiffany just stared.
     
    “So, yeah.  It's been a very weird weekend.”
     
    “They didn't remember the cop?”
     
    I shook my head.  “Like he never was there.  The funny thing was... the cop tried to tell me to forget about him.  So... did he tell the others the same... and they really forget him?”
     
    Tiffany opened her mouth, but thought more before she spoke.  “Kenna, I am at a loss.  I have no advice or thoughts on that.  Actually, if it were me, I'd probably be freaking out but you were always much better at dealing with stuff than I was.”
     
    Stretching my hands out, I yawned.  “Meh.  Pair that