Page 58 of Bloodlust

He smirks. "I'm sure they washed the sheets first."

"Damn, Doc," I muse, clicking my tongue. "You must make nickels if you can't afford brand-new sheets." I cross my arms. "And here I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger. Good thing I let that dream go."

"You wanted to be a doctor?" Hayden asks, suddenly interested. "Really?"

"Yeah." I blink, swallowing. "Well not like an MD or anything, humans disgust me." I run a hand through my hair. "I wanted to be a vet."

"A vet?"

"Mhmm," I hum, pushing myself off his desk. I glance outside, smiling as the bulleting rain stops and a tiny glimpse of sunshine peeks out from behind the clouds. I grab my coat off the couch and nod at the door. "Let's go."

Hayden frowns. "Go where?"

"I want a pretzel," I say. "There's a guy in the park that makes 'em just right."

Hayden doesn't budge from his spot. "We're in the middle of a session."

I roll my eyes. "I'll tell you more about my vet dreams."

Hayden snorts, giving me a knowing smirk. "Yourwetdreams?"

I balk, realizing what I'd just said. Oh, fuck me. "My veterinary aspirations." I cast him a tight-lipped smile. "Better?"

Hayden shrugs, giving in as he grabs his jacket from the coat rack. "I think I preferred vet dreams."

"Don't start something you can't finish, Doc," I say as we head out of his office. "Bye, Heather! I'll have him back in no time."

"Bye?" Hayden's assistant regards us warily, giving me a weak wave of goodbye.

"Ignore her, Heather," Hayden says as we head downstairs. When we turn the corner, he places his hand on the small of my back, leaning into my ear. "Be careful, Camilla, you'll give my assistant the wrong idea."

"And what kind of idea is that?" I ask as we reach the last step and enter the empty streets. I inhale the fresh spring air. There's nothing like a little rain to reset a city. I glance over at Hayden, whose eyes are closed as he does the same thing. "Well?"

He exhales slowly, a melancholy smile on his face. "Let's talk about your vet dreams, shall we?"

"You're no fun," I sigh, playfully shoving my elbow into his side as we stroll toward Central Park.

"No, I'm boring and bleak, remember?" He's kind of a brat, isn't he? "So?Dr Bianco?"

"It was a stupid pipe dream." I wave him off, nostalgia panging at my heart. "Nothing else to really say."

"Did you go to school for it?" he asks as we cross the street.

"Yeah," I mutter, regretting revealing this tidbit of my past. "Almost graduated too."

"Why didn't you finish?"

I look at Hayden and see Daniel's face. "Destiny had other plans."

Hayden stiffens. "Out of your control?"

"A lot of things were out of my control back then," I say as we enter the park. I point to the pretzel vendor who's uncovering his stand. "But they're not anymore."

Hayen follows closely behind me as I pick up my pace. "How so?"

"I'm the boss now." I stop in front of Elmo. He smiles at me. "I make my own destiny."

"Cami!" Elmo exclaims, grinning at me. "You came back!"