Unchecked, p.1
Unchecked, page 1
Fall in Love at MetroGen Downtown
MetroGen Forbidden Love Duets
Tempted
Sampled
Smolder
High Risk
Inferno
Compromised
MetroGen After Hours
Live Wire
Wildcat
Volatile
Burn Card
Roulette
MetroGen Lifelines
Embers
Matched
Collections and Anthologies
Heroes with Heat and Heart Volume 1
Heroes with Heat and Heart Volume 2
Copyright © 2021 by Carina Alyce
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
Carina Alyce asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Carina Alyce has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.
This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination beyond events covered by fair use and public record.
First edition
Contents
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Cast of Characters
. Chapter
Unchecked
NOW
1. Chapter 1
FOUR YEARS AGO
2. Chapter 2
TWO YEARS AGO
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
ONE YEAR AGO
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
SIX MONTHS AGO
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
NOW
14. Chapter 14
Afterword
About Carina Alyce
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She's not looking for Mr. Forever - just Mr. Right Now. It all changes when she takes her city's star football player home, and he WANTS more. So much more . . .
The sultry secrets of MetroGen are yours for the taking, especially if you wish Grey's Anatomy and Chicago Fire had a ton more naughty scenes starring ripped football players.
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Get a free copy of the prequel
Wildcat: A Steamy Firefighter Romance here
carinaalyce.com/welcome-to-metrogen
Cast of Characters
MetroGen Hospital
Dr. Stella Magi - ENT surgeon
Dr. Elizabeth Kandal - general surgeon
Dr. Kayla Varma - ICU attending, Elizabeth's sister
Dr. Angela Perkins - cardiology fellow, Kayla's best friend
Dr. Alfred 'Joel' Glazier - Orthopedic surgeon
Dr. Marcus Doyle - ER attending
Dr. Alexander Casserty - neurosurgeon
A FREE MetroGen Romance and a rookie survival guide can be found at https://CarinAalyce.com/newsletter!
To everyone who felt their favorite TV show screwed them over by jumping the shark
Unchecked
Adjective
1. Not examined for quality or accuracy. 2. Something generally undesirable that is not restrained or controlled. Typically referred to disease spread/expansion in medicine
-Netter’s Medical Dictionary
NOW
June
Chapter 1
A brain tumor isn’t the only reason people make horrible decisions. If anyone knew that, it would be Dr. Stella Magi.
Every morning, she looked in the mirror and said to herself, “Today is going to be a great day. No day but today. One day at a time. No moment but this one.”
Yeah, that was like four different affirmations at the same time. A solid combo of positive thinking, a dash of Rent, and several shots of Alcoholics Anonymous.
And today, she would need every bit of help.
Stella fluffed her dark brown hair in the mirror and put the final touches on her makeup. Her picture was going to be taken a million times, so she needed to look even better than her usual slightly messy surgeon self.
At least her hair was glorious. She couldn’t get rid of the puffiness under her cheeks and chin, but it didn’t make her any less of a dentist/ENT surgeon/all around kick-ass staying sober lady doctor.
Her cell phone sitting on the sink’s counter rang. There was only one person she expected to call.
“You aren’t chickening out, are you?” her next-door neighbor and second cousin by marriage, Dr. Elizabeth Kandal, asked.
“Me, chicken out? I don’t chicken out. I’m gonna haul my slutty self down the stairs and give them enough to talk about.” Stella wouldn’t hide anything. Hiding didn’t help; it only made things worse.
She would know. She’d completed a six-year combined MD-DDS program and a seven-year ENT residency while being a full-blown alcoholic. It took a fresh start at MetroGen Hospital and finding a circle of solid friends to keep her on the sober side.
Saying ‘straight and narrow’ would have been an exaggeration.
“This is going to be epic. Memorable. Everyone you know is coming, and I think they’re taking bets,” Eliza said sardonically. “Do you think gossip mixes best with champagne, Bloody Marys, or Moscato?”
“Spike the mystery punch with Everclear. Steal the Jungle Juice recipe from Throckies’ Halloween party,” Stella suggested the almost industrial grade barely legal alcohol. Never do anything in half measures.
“Will we have any gentleman callers?” Eliza asked carefully, trying to gauge Stella’s mood.
“Nope, not a one. Should keep the bet spread even,” Stella said, cutting to the chase. No reason not to take a scalpel to the problem.
She had perfect hands and great instincts in the OR. How could she have miscalculated so badly?
“Remember, you are the guest of honor, so don’t be late. Don’t show up hungover or shit-faced drunk either.”
“You’re very funny. See you soon.” Stella hung up the phone. She picked up her hair pick and re-brushed her locks for the third time.
There was no reason for her to bother. Whatever she did, it looked the same. With her precision skills, as far as Stella was concerned, there was no such thing as a bad hair day. If she used the right amount of focus, she could overcome anything.
Except alcoholism and terrible decision making.
Fortunately, den mother Eliza Kandal, her sister Kayla Varma, and their friend Angela Perkins had stood behind Stella as she took a hammer to everything around her. Elizabeth had a tendency to take in strays that accumulated at MetroGen hospital, whether it be wayward cousins by marriage, half-sisters, or random cardiologists-in-training. She was eternally trying to fix things, especially after her husband Scott had died.
Still, she was hard pressed to fix things for Stella.
Sometimes breaking things is in one’s nature.
Stella carefully spread a layer of eye shadow and used her perfectly steady hands to apply mascara. She hadn’t gone too loud, but no amount of makeup could cover the puffy face.
Things would be different soon enough.
If she had to do it all again, she’d probably do it exactly the same way.
Stella adjusted her dress and checked herself in the mirror one more time. Yep, still 40-weeks pregnant, and it was time for her baby shower.
FOUR YEARS AGO
September
Chapter 2
Ortho was yelling at his residents again. This was going to be fun.
Stella had been on staff at MetroGen for about two months. Sometimes surgery was such a boys’ club. There was nothing more dudely or manly than orthopedic surgery. Between surgeons, they were called glorified plumbers or carpenters. It was hilarious because matching for a residency spot in ortho required the highest test scores and understanding of pathology. But once they started training, they got handed bone saws, the dosing chart for the antibiotic Ancef, and permission to forget everything else.
“Bone broke. Fix it.”
There were plenty of medical memes which suggested orthopods didn’t even know how to read.
“Residents, fucking SCRAM!” growled an authoritative voice from the scrub room of a nearby OR. Stella saw three ortho residents scatter like scared kittens ahead of one of the attendings. “If you do that again, I’m gonna staple your fucking hand to the patient!”
Stella tried to stifle her laughter with her non-existent sleeve. She opted to hide her face behind a post-op chart. She’d heard of Joel Alfred ‘Fred’ Glazier. Usually, she’d heard the residents referring to him as a ‘tyrant,’ ‘murderer,’ and ‘vampire.’ No one called him ‘Fred’ within his hearing. He was a tallish, tannish, bald, White guy nearing forty. Like most ortho guys, he’d been a pretty serious athlete and reportedly had the most colorful vocabulary of any attending in surgery.
Basically, an all-around asshole, according to his residents.
Personally, Stella didn’t mind. As long as he wasn’t an asshole to her. She could use somebody who positively oozed testosterone.
Her second cousin, Dr. Scott Kandal, right before his untimely death in a boating accident, had helped her get a job at MetroGen after her program chair’s wife had strongly suggested Stella leave the East Coast. It might have had something to do with a drunken kiss between Stella and the woman’s husband at the residency graduation.
Stella had been sober four—FOUR—months now, but she was getting that restless itch. She needed a high of some kind. She kept munching on candy, which she should have known better as a dentist. Caffeine didn’t do it either.
There was a certain itch she could scratch with the right type of guy.
Maybe Glazier…
“You’d better run, ass-wipes!” Glazier wasn’t done calling after them. He threw an unopened box of gloves at them, hitting one in the back. He punched the counter near Stella.
“Did they commit one of the seven deadly sins?” she asked.
“Other than incurring my wrath? Is stupidity a deadly sin?” His gray eyes were still burning. He softened slightly when he realized he didn’t know who she was.
“No, I think it’s gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, greed, wrath, and, of course, the winner—lust,” Stella said, unabashedly checking him out. He was a few years older than her and had nice biceps. It was possible he had ripped his scrub sleeves off to show off those guns. He had a bold black tattoo on the left one.
“Now that is a good sin. They aren’t my type, so I’ll stick with wrath to bash actual learning into these stupid residents.” Glazier equally made no attempts to hide his examination of her with growing interest.
“So what exactly did they do? Forget how to count?”
“My dumb-ass intern put his hand in the surgical field while a resident was using the bovie.” Stella flinched at his words. The bovie was the heated instrument a surgeon used to cauterize blood vessels and tissue. “Since neither of those cocksuckers were paying attention, the intern got his hand fried. It’s the fucking OR. They should know how to get through a single case without almost setting themselves on fire.”
“I like the yelling. Very macho,” Stella told him.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be the sledgehammer and pound these residents flat before you can reshape them.” Now that he was close, she realized that he was actually gigantically tall compared to her five foot one. He had to be about six-five, with massive hands to match, though he was built to run, not tackle things.
Stella flexed her fingers. Her small hands were perfect for the minuscule adjustments needed for the delicate nerves of the face. “See, I go for more of the fake-gentle approach of psychological flaying. Ask them uncomfortable questions in the middle of a high focus procedure.”
“I don’t think my guys would recognize gentle if it slapped them.” Glazier’s gaze traveled up and down her body before settling on her ID.
“I don’t think that counts as gentle. You’re not known as a guy with a light touch. Rumor is, you don’t even know what that is.” She winked and licked her lips.
He raised an eyebrow, charcoal grey too, despite his lack of hair on top. “In my experience, you can go both gentle and hard depending on which one you need.”
“Really? And which do you think you’re in the mood for this morning?”
He modulated his tone to a deep purr. “I feel like I should be able to do both deadly sins at the same time. How about wrath and lust?”
“I see. Married?” Stella had decided New-Stella needed to have at least a minimum standard.
“Nope. You?”
“Christ, no. Kids?” Stella wasn’t sure if the sober New-Stella viewed men with kids as a deal-breaker. She’d never thought far enough ahead for it to matter.
“Divorced over a decade ago. My two boys are pushing eighteen,” he told her.
“That isn’t a boy anymore. That’s a man.” Stella was pretty sure high schoolers were too much of a Mrs. Robinson vibe for New-Stella. Having a standard was a starting point at least.
“You’re not a man until you know how to be a man.” He tilted his head at her. “I have another hour before my next case. And I have a very nice office.”
“What a coincidence! I have an hour until my next case too. And my new office is very nice.” Her excitement was building. Drunk Old-Stella had enjoyed dirty, inappropriate sex with ineligible men. New-Stella seemed into inappropriate sex too, but it sounded like he was eligible.
“I’m the division head, so mine is bigger. It has a leather couch. Butter soft.” His residents attempted to sneak past them en route to post-op monitoring. Glazier gave them a baleful glare. “Don’t kill him, imbeciles. While you wait, start naming the bones of your hand and then your foot. Don’t stop until I see you in an hour. I expect at least forty-five reps. Pick up the box of gloves, too.”
They scrambled like the frightened kittens they were. Stella couldn’t help squeezing her legs together with quite a bit of the seventh deadly sin. He might have been a smidgen older than her usual type, but New-Stella must be attracted to men who were mean and owned their testosterone.
“I bet you could convince me to look at your—” she paused and let her eyes drift over his body, finally stopping on his crotch. “—couch.”
He stretched with male pride. “Let’s take the elevator and find out.” They went out to the staff elevator, which was pretty packed. He stood directly behind her, and she subtly pressed her butt against him. Something was getting harder, and she doubted it was his hand.
It was a four-floor trip downstairs from the OR on the sixth floor to the surgery clinics on the second. She started grinding a bit harder each time someone got in. It was daring and dangerous and what Old-Stella would have been prone to overdo and get caught. New-Stella could be subtle.
Cousin Scott had warned her something about the hospital’s dating policy before she applied for the job. What was it?
Ah, yes.
Attendings could sleep together as much as they wanted. Residents and attendings had to fill out disclosure forms to the hospital. MetroGen had the option of declining, but the higher up a doctor was in the chain, the more likely they’d give permission.
“I’ve always wanted to see the Ortho side of the offices,” she said with a seductive grin. They entered the back door and walked past the medical records staff. “It’s important to have good relations between other departments in surgery.” She was tempted to give his crotch a hard squeeze, but the file clerks might notice, which didn’t fit in with New-Stella’s subtlety standard.
He opened the door to his office. She stepped in, and he closed it carefully with a thud.
She pounced first, dropping her phone and ID on a side table and pulling him toward her. “Talk to me like you do the residents. A bad intern you found doing naughty things with some of your ortho residents. Teach me a lesson. No bruises.”
Correction: Subtle didn’t work here. New-Stella was a naughty girl who needed some discipline.
And that lit a fire underneath Glazier. He spun her toward the aforementioned brown leather couch and bent her over the arm. “You’ve been a bad girl. Very naughty.” He pulled her scrub pants and her underwear down. “If you’re going to let anyone fuck you in the hospital, you should be spreading your legs for an attending. Get one who actually knows what he’s doing.”
