Page 49 of No Asylum Here

The bitter taste of hatred exploded over my tongue when she pointed between the stuffed toy's legs.

Normally, I was of a calmer disposition. It was the late ‘60s, for Christ’s sake. With no end to the war in sight, this decade had seen enough suffering. When the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” started playing, it was surely unholy serendipity.

There was no sympathy for the devil in this house.

Violence spread through me like poison, and before I realized what I was doing, I was already charging across my office. “Stay here, Bunny.”

“What are you going to do?” I glanced back to see her curled up on the couch with her knees tucked under her chin.

“I’m taking a page from your book. I’m going to punish a bad parent.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Mal

"I once looked up to you. Now look at you. I think less of you than the cum rag I keep in my goddamn nightstand."

My father's attention jerked up when I burst into his office. He was seated at his desk, doing what appeared to be paperwork. His pinched face and open mouth had me pausing.

He wasn't alone. Someone was under his desk. "Damn it, boy. Can't you see I'm busy?"

One of the nurses crawled out from his desk on her hands and knees. A vein jumped in my temple when my father bent down to slap her ass. "Hey, who said you were done?"

"Oh—" The nurse flicked her gaze to me, wetting her lips. "Will you be joining us, Dr. Rook? I have two holes. You can fuck my ass while your dad takes my pussy."

Her voice was all silk and honey in an attempt to lure me over. Couldn't blame her, fucking her old skin-sack of a boss had to get old.

"Get the fuck out." The nurse jumped at my barked command. Instead of leaving, she looked back at my father as if unsure of what to do, and I snarled louder, "Leave!"

He rolled his eyes at me, as if we'd slipped into a parallel dimension where I was the disappointment. "Do you fucking mind, Mal? I'll be getting blue balls now, thanks to you."

"I don't give two fucks." My knuckles cracked as I gripped the edge of his desk. I held on for dear life. If I let go, I didn't trust myself not to wrap my hands around his throat and watch the light slowly leech from his eyes. Getting put away for murder wasn't the ideal outcome, as much as I was considering it. "You're lucky I don't have you neutered like the rabid dog you are."

Satisfaction coiled through me at his taken aback expression, as if I'd struck him with an invisible force far heavier than a backhand. He recovered quickly and kicked back in his chair, glaring at me over his steepled fingers.

"What are you referring to, exactly, boy?"

"Call me Doctor or don't call me anything." Every syllable dripped with acid. "I'm twice the physician you'll ever be."

"You're wandering into dangerous territory, Son. You'd better tell me what has your nuts in a twist. I'd like to know the reason for firing my own boy before I make it official."

"Fire me, then! I never wanted to work in this hellhole to begin with. In fact, the only reason I agreed to go to Brown was so that I could get the fuck away from here.”

"You're wandering into dangerous territory⁠—"

"What did you do to Barbara Reed?" I pressed, leaning over his desk to shove my sneer in his face. "Did you rape her?"

"Which one is Barbara Reed again?"

Bile scorched my throat. If that wasn't enough context to narrow the patient down for him, that meant she wasn't the only one. "Fucking nurses is one thing. But patients? And a sexual assault survivor at that? Jesus fucking Christ, she's barely eighteen!"

"She's legal. That's all that matters. Besides, whatever she told you is a lie. I was simply giving her a standard physical examination, as doctors do."

"Since when does a standard physical require you to put your fingers between her legs? And don't you dare use her miscarriage as an excuse. She's healthy. And if it had been a simple exam as you say, she wouldn't be up in my office shaking like a leaf."

"You're reading into the behaviors of a mentally ill murderer. And frankly, your attachment to this imbecilic child is embarrassing.”

Pain shot through my skull as my teeth ground together. Imbecilic was not only outdated, but just about all respectable mental health facilities had abandoned the derogatory term. Not my father.