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“She’s here, Dr. Vane,” she reported before ending the call. The smile she turned to me was professional. “Welcome, Harlow. I’m Nurse Drew. I’m the head nurse of this floor. Let’s go meet the others.”
I just hoped they were nothing like the people I’d met so far.
Hiro
Monday Afternoon
Third Floor Common Room
The nurse eyeballed us all, warning us silently to be on our best behavior. We’d gotten our usual lecture to not scare off the new patient.
Drake had grunted in acknowledgment, the extent of communication our resident alpha neanderthal offered.
Layne was having a good day. The omega was bubbly on her good ones and she’d asked questions the moment she heard we were getting another girl on our floor. Of course, they’d refused to tell us anything other than she was a new omega joining our floor.
Crew, a beta like me, was excited, but that was his usual reaction to anything new. I was curious but holding out hope she’d be a good addition.
We didn’t need more anger or drama here.
Drake absently shuffled cards from his spot on one of the worn couches. Layne was propped on a table, rolling a set of dice in her hands. She never stopped fidgeting. Crew was sitting next to me at another table. He was kicked back in his chair, the picture of casual with his jeans and faded graphic tee. The bored expression on his face wasn’t genuine, and his eyes were trained on the elevator.
We didn’t even bother to put something in front of us to make it seem like we were busy, which made me feel even more anxious.
Would she think it’s weird? Did we look intimidating because of it?
Overthinking would drive me crazier one of these days.
By the time the elevator opened and the nurse rushed to the new girl, all pretenses of fake business were gone and all eyes were on her.
What I didn’t expect was for her to look like that.
Tragically beautiful.
There was a pain in her eyes, one I’d seen in enough patients to know what caused it. Her expression was guarded, but not volatile, and that was a start.
She had a vulnerability about her that wasn’t jaded by years of bullshit. Because I wasn’t naive enough to think this world was kind to those of us with a diagnosis.
Hell, I’d lost friends and family because of mine.
Dissociative identity disorder.
Just uttering its title was like a curse. One mention of it and everyone looked at me differently.
But I didn’t ask for it.
Roman didn’t ask to die.
That night changed me forever. Just the thought of it had that dizzy feeling starting, and I breathed several times and locked it down before Roman came out to play.
I didn’t want protection, I wanted to meet the new girl.
“Everyone, this is Harlow Devoe. She’s our newest member of this little community. Treat her well,” Nurse Drew said absently as she took a paper from Harlow and walked away. Talk about feeding her to the sharks.
“We don’t bite,” I told her gently. Everyone turned to look at me, surprised to hear me talk. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. “I’m Hiro.”
“Sometimes,” Layne muttered loud enough for her to hear. My cheeks burned but I didn’t shy away. It was the truth and Harlow would know soon enough.
Layne’s snark wasn’t anything new. And in all fairness, I did avoid them all on most days. But something in me couldn’t let her talk to Drake first. For some reason I didn’t want her to think we were all assholes like he was.
