Love Never Dies Read online

  LOVE NEVER DIES

  BY ALEKS MITCHELL

  © 2019 Aleks Mitchell. All rights reserved.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  OTHER BOOKS BY ALEKS MITCHELL

  Chapter 1—Hope

  Chapter 2—Julie

  Chapter 3—Hope

  Chapter 4—Julie

  Chapter 5—Hope

  Chapter 6—Julie

  Chapter 7—Hope

  Chapter 8—Julie

  Chapter 9—Hope

  Chapter 10—Julie

  Chapter 11—Hope

  Chapter 12—Julie

  Chapter 13—Hope

  Chapter 14—Julie

  Chapter 15—Hope

  Chapter 16—Julie

  Chapter 17—Hope

  Chapter 18—Julie

  UPCOMING RELEASES THIS MONTH

  OTHER BOOKS BY ALEKS MITCHELL

  I Like That About Her Series:

  I Like That About Her (Book 1)

  I Like That About Her (Book 2)

  A Risk Worth Taking Series:

  A Risk Worth Taking (Book 1)

  A Risk Worth Taking (Book 2)

  Beautifully Damaged Series:

  Beautifully Damaged (Book 1)

  Stand Alone Books:

  Immoral Love

  Swimming Beside Me

  Firehouse 34 Series:

  Running Into Her (Firehouse 34 Series Book 1)

  A Witch In Time Series:

  A Witch In Time Book 1

  Chapter 1—Hope

  “Is there a particular reason you’re sneaking out of bed without waking me up to say bye?”

  I turned around to face Cary, her naked body covered by a thin white sheet. Memories of last night came rushing back. Our first time together was way more exciting than I had anticipated. I never pegged her for a top, but she was so different in bed. It was as if she took on a different persona behind a closed bedroom door.

  “First of all, I wasn’t sneaking, and second I know you just worked a double at the hospital. I figured you could use the sleep.”

  Cary was a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. It was how we met. I was a cardiothoracic surgeon, well I almost was. My residency was just about over.

  “Especially after last night,” Cary said, a playful glint in her eye. “You really wore me out last night.”

  I blushed under the scrutiny. There was something about Cary that sent me over the edge. I hadn’t experienced feelings like this since I was with a certain someone. A someone that I wasn’t allowed to think about anymore.

  “I seem to recall you being the one to wear me out,” I said, smiling as I approached her. “I did fall asleep and wake up to find you sitting on top of me naked ready for round four. Not that I can say that I minded that.”

  Now it was her turn to blush as our lips met in a gentle kiss.

  Cary was everything I had been looking for. She was unbelievably caring, smart, talented, beautiful. And apparently, she was amazing in bed.

  She knew about my past relationship with she who shall not be named, and she didn’t hold it against me. I knew everyone at the hospital knew, but she wasn’t like the rest of the gossiping “adults” of Northwestern. She didn’t mention her until I brought her up. She cared about my feelings. Never once did she push me to divulge details of my painful intimate past.

  “I couldn’t help myself,” she said, smiling up at me. “You bring it out in me.”

  “You bring it out in me too.”

  “Then come back to bed.”

  “As much as I want to, I have to get to the hospital. I’m already late for rounds.”

  “Off to save the world,” she commented.

  “One heart at a time.”

  I loved being a doctor. Having the opportunity to save another person’s life was such a rewarding career. Sometimes I had to pinch myself to realize I was in fact living my dream. In a few short months I would be a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon. I ravished to think about all the people I was going to help throughout my career.

  “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of something as precious as that,” she said.

  “You could never get in the way of anything,” I said to her, kissing her one last time before stepping back from the bed. “But I really do have to go.”

  “Any idea when I’ll be seeing you again?”

  “I work every day this week, but maybe we can grab a drink one night?”

  “I’ll hold you to it.”

  The things this woman could do to me amazed me. I never thought I would experience this feeling again, but here I was, bashful over the way Cary was looking at me.

  I knew it was soon to be saying this, so I didn’t dare say it out loud to Cary. But I think I was falling in love with her.

  When I got into the hospital and caught up with Dr. Bernstein, I was surprised to see who our patient was.

  Dr. Andrew Gates was lying in the bed, unconscious.

  No, what the hell happened?

  “Dr. Bernstein.”

  My attending turned to glare at me. “Where the hell have you been?”

  “I’m sorry. There was a problem with the L. What’s wrong with Dr. Gates?”

  “He had a heart attack.”

  “A heart attack?”

  How is that possible?

  Obviously, I knew how it was possible, but he was a cardiothoracic surgeon himself. He was “the” cardiothoracic surgeon. He was the reason I went into cardio to begin with. The reason I became a doctor at all. I knew him since I was a little girl. I spent countless nights at his house. Maybe even more nights at his house than my own. How could he be suffering from a heart attack?

  “Yes, I need you to contact his daughters. This is serious. Tell them they need to come right away.”

  “Are you going to perform surgery?” There had to be something we were going to do. People had heart attacks all the time. A lot of times they served as a reminder to take better care of themselves. A heart attack didn’t mean a certain death. I knew that better than anyone.

  “No,” Dr. Bernstein sighed. “We managed to resuscitate him, but he was without oxygen to the brain for quite some time. I’m ordering an EEG, but I have a feeling I already know what the results are going to be.”

  This couldn’t be happening. Was Dr. Gates really going to die? Was I really going to have to deliver this news to his daughters? More importantly, to her?

  “I know your relationship to Dr. Gates and his daughters, is this case going to be a problem for you?”

  My head was screaming yes, but I found myself saying no. “Of course not. I’ll contact his daughters right away.”

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Naomi said over the phone.

  “Hey Naomi.”

  “To what do I owe this rare occurrence. I wasn’t sure you knew how to operate a phone anymore. You don’t seem to return text messages let alone know how to dial a person’s phone number and push send.”

  I couldn’t blame her for the hostility. She may have not been the Gates sister that broke my heart, but she was her twin and therefore a constant reminder of the woman that stomped all over my heart. They may have been fraternal, but they resembled each other enough that I didn’t want to be in contact with either sister. I avoided her just as much as I avoided her sister, which wasn’t fair considering we had been best friends since childhood.

  “Na, I have bad news.”

  She went silent at the grim sound of my voice. I had gotten used to delivering sad news to families, but this was practically my family. This was the hardest thing I had to do as a doctor yet.

  “You called me Na. This must be serious.”

  “It’s your dad. He had a heart attack.”

  “Is he dead?”
/>   “No, but he’s in critical condition. They resuscitated him, but it took forty-five minutes and they don’t know how long he was without oxygen to the brain before they found him in his office. We’re ordering an EEG, but you and Julie should come as soon as possible.”

  “We’ll catch the next flight out.”

  “You’ll tell Julie?”

  It was bad enough having to tell Naomi. I didn’t think I could withstand telling Julie. The first conversation since we broke up could not be me telling her that her father was dying.

  Naomi sighed into the phone. “Yeah, I’ll tell Julie. Don’t worry. I got her.”

  That reassurance did little to appease my racing thoughts. Julie was usually the one that had Naomi. She was the strong twin. The impassive one. Naomi, on the other hand was full of emotions. She always depended on Julie to hold her up. It was hard to picture it being the other way around.

  Maybe I should have been the one to tell Julie. We may not be on good terms, but maybe it’s wrong to make Naomi tell Julie that their father is dying.

  Then again, did I owe Julie any kind of sensitivity? I certainly didn’t. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter what I owed Julie. I still cared about her. I cared how she was going to take the news of her father’s impending death.

  I didn’t want to, but I did. This news was going to hurt her. There was a time when I would do anything to protect her from being hurt.

  But then she hurt me. She left me. I couldn’t go down this road right now. I had too much going on. I was finally finding myself happy again. I moved on from her when I never thought that was possible.

  I’m where I want to be in my career. I’m dating someone I can see an actual future with. My life is going great for the first time in a long time.

  I can’t let Julie or the situation with her father drag me back down. After all, we weren’t even friends anymore. She wasn’t my problem.

  Julie wasn’t mine to take care of anymore.

  If that were true, why did I find myself sick to my stomach with worry for her?

  Chapter 2—Julie

  “I don’t see why you didn’t just bring a carry-on?”

  Naomi and I were waiting for her luggage to come around. It seemed that everyone’s luggage, but hers was coming out. It was so typical that her luggage would end up being last.

  On any other day, I’d have the patience to wait. Not today. Today felt like it would never end. I woke up to a phone call from my twin sister. She was in tears and therefore barely audible.

  Once I figured out what she was trying to say I realized her tears were more than warranted.

  Our father was dying. How he had a heart attack, I was still trying to figure out.

  “We don’t know how long we’ll be in Chicago, Jules,” Naomi said.

  “From what you told me, not long.”

  Given the description of what happened to our father, it sounded like it was just a matter of pulling the plug. People didn’t usually come back from being dead for over forty-five minutes. Chances were, he was brain dead. It would only take a few days to plan and have his funeral.

  I know I sounded morbid and detached, but I was being realistic. It was my way of coping with stressful situations. I became inappropriately unemotional. Practically a sociopath if you asked my sister.

  I knew I couldn’t stay in Chicago long. I had to get back to work. Somehow, I think my father would understand. We were cut from the same cloth, him and I. I got my work ethic from him. He was obsessed with his job just as much as I was. It was amazing he still found time to be such a great dad. He was a single parent after my mom left. And still, he found time to always be there for any soccer game we had.

  “I’m not letting you borrow my clothes when you end up not having anything to wear,” she said.

  “Come on, you know I would never wear anything you wear in public.”

  “Cute.”

  “That’s what people tell me. Listen, if I run out of clothes, we have a perfectly good washing machine at the house. I can wash clothes, you know.”

  “Julie, you’ve been sending your clothes out to get washed since medical school. I’m not sure you even know the difference between detergent and softener.”

  “I’ll figure it out,” I said sheepishly, shrugging my shoulder. “What’s up with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Naomi was acting off. I knew our father was dying, but she seemed like she was hiding something. Call it a twin thing, or just common sense since Naomi was an open-book and terrible at keeping secrets.

  “You have a secret.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  I glared at her. “Yes, you do.”

  She sighed, her hazel eyes meeting my brown eyes. “You have to promise not to be mad.”

  “I can’t promise not to be mad at something if I don’t know what it is.”

  My sister could be so childish at times. Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that she was my best friend in the entire world, I would have ditched her a long time ago. For twins, we couldn’t be more different from one another.

  She was half-glass-full. I was emptier than half-glass-empty.

  “Can you just promise?”

  “I promise that I’ll promise not to be mad once you tell me what it is.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  “And you’re insufferable. Just tell me.”

  “I may have left something out earlier. Dad’s doctors, one of them is Hope.”

  I could feel the color drain from my face. Just the mere mention of Hope’s name sent my heart into my stomach.

  “Please don’t be mad at me.”

  “A little warning would have been nice! If I didn’t say anything were you just going to let me be surprised when we met up with my ex-girlfriend to discuss our father’s prognosis?”

  “I was going to tell you eventually.”

  “We’re going to the hospital now, Na!”

  There was nothing I could do about having to see Hope. But I needed time to prepare myself. I knew I would run into her at Northwestern, but I didn’t even think there was a possibility she would end up being on Dad’s case.

  “I’m sorry, Jules.”

  “It’s fine. It’s not a big deal. Hope and I are practically strangers now. This isn’t going to be a problem.”

  The entire declaration sounded ridiculous. I knew it and unfortunately, so did Naomi.

  “You’re full of crap. You’re still in love with Hope and you know it. You’re just afraid of falling in love so you convinced yourself to ruin the only good thing you ever had in your life.”

  “I’m not interested in love.”

  “That’s blatantly obvious with the way you go through women and men.”

  “Exactly. I’m long over Hope.”

  “You use sex to numb your pain.”

  “Naomi, I have sex, because I like having sex. You see, adults, which we are, like to have sex. Understand?”

  “Sex with one person, is normal. Sex with a new person every other day is cause for concern.”

  Everything I did was cause for concern. I wished my sister went into a specialty that was actually necessary, not psychiatry. She thought because she was a psychiatrist she had some type of gift for interpreting every little thing I did.

  “It’s the twenty-first century, most people are sluts and proud of it. Get on board or fall behind. That’s your bag.”

  Naomi turned her attention to the carousel. “Finally!”

  I wasn’t sure if I was ready to see Hope. I couldn’t admit it to Naomi because she wouldn’t shut up about it, but I was nervous to see the once love of my life. I hurt her. I hurt the only person that ever loved me.

  How was I supposed to face her after what I did?

  Chapter 3—Hope

  Julie looked just like I remembered. I knew it had been five years since we saw each other. I didn’t know why I expected her to have changed so much in five years. Here she was, sitting
in front of me, completely unchanged. Her wavy brown hair may have grown a bit longer, but she was still just as I remembered her. Beautiful.

  I always found Julie gorgeous. Though, most people did. It happened every time she walked into the room. It wasn’t just her physical beauty, it was the way that she carried herself. The confidence that emanated from her was awe-inspiring.

  It was so hard to sit across the table from her. I wanted to yell at her, but I knew it wasn’t the time. Her father was dying.

  “Based on the results of your father’s neuroglial analysis and EEG, we’ve determined that he’s…”

  I had to stop. I made the mistake of making eye contact with Julie. She was putting on a strong face, but I knew her so well. Behind those cold sparkling dark eyes was a little girl that was scared to lose her father. I was about to be the person that told her there was no hope she would get to speak to her father again. I would forever be that person.

  “Unfortunately, Dr. Gates is brain dead,” Dr. Bernstein said. Luckily, he picked up on the difficulty I was having saying those words out loud. I was eternally grateful for the man in that moment.

  “Is there any chance he may wake up?” Naomi asked tearfully.

  “Based on my medical knowledge, it’s highly unlikely that he will wake up. And even if he did, there’s no chance of him recovering without severe deficits.”

  Dr. Bernstein was twisting the knife in their guts. Mine too.

  I can’t believe he’s gone.

  Andrew was the best doctor I had the opportunity to work under. He was an incredible teacher. And more than that, he was family. I viewed him as a father-figure. I could only imagine how Naomi and Julie felt if this was how sad I felt over their father’s condition.

  “I think we should give him time,” Naomi said. “The brain can recover. There are miracles every day.”

  “The brain can recover if it’s not dead,” Julie said gently.

  “We don’t know for sure if he’s braindead.”