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Her eyes widen. The calm professional she’s been portraying falls away. She glances over her shoulder nervously and then back to Timofey. “Tips aren’t allowed.”
“It’s not a tip. It’s a bribe.”
She smooths a hand across her cheek. “Well, I’m not supposed to accept that, either.”
“Then don’t tell anyone,” Timofey says evenly. “Just take the money and watch my son.”
I can see the war she’s waging inside. Timofey can, too, because he pulls out another fold of bills and adds it to the stack.
Whatever willpower the nurse had crumbles. She plucks the money out of his hand and shoves it into the pocket of her pale purple scrubs.
“I’ll be here,” she says. “All night.”
Timofey nods curtly. “Good.”
The woman slips back into the hallway. As soon as she’s gone, Timofey is on the move. He spins around, grabs his jacket, and fishes out his phone.
“I’ll call Akim to come and pick you up. He’s the only one home right now who can drive the motorcycle.”
“But we drove here together.”
“In a car,” he points out. “I don’t assume you’ll want to ride in that back home.”
I frown. “I don’t know. I didn’t really… I guess I didn’t notice on the way here.”
“You were slightly distracted.”
“I guess so.” Truthfully, I think the fact I was with Timofey has something to do with me being able to stay calm. “But I’ll be okay for the drive back. I mean, we’re going to the same place. It feels like a waste for someone to come get me.”
“I’m not going home.”
“But the nurse said to rest.”
“I’m going to a penthouse I own nearby,” he says. “So I’m close by in case anything changes with Benjamin.”
I press my lips together and try to hold in the question burning inside of me.
Can I come with you?
I want to be close by in case anything happens to Benjamin. I want to be back here in the morning for his surgery.
But Timofey didn’t ask me to come with him. Maybe he doesn’t want me there.
I follow him quietly out of the hospital room and into the hall. Timofey pulls out his phone, and I assume he’s texting Akim to come get me.
He starts tapping out a message, and I try to accept my fate. I’m going to go home while Timofey handles things with Benjamin on his own. He’s going to go to his penthouse in the city and be alone. Or maybe… not alone.
He wouldn’t call a woman to come be with him tonight, right? No, of course he wouldn’t. I know that.
The animal part of my brain doesn’t, though.Timofey is getting rid of me so he can be with someone else. That’s why he’s pawning me off on Akim,it says. Petty, traitorous little bitch.
I glance over at his phone screen. I can’t read it, but the message is long. Before I can stop myself, I grab his wrist and yank him towards me.
“What the fuck?” He scowls, twisting to make sure his phone doesn’t clatter to the hard tile floor.
“Take me with you.” There’s a broken, pleading edge to my voice. “I want to—I want to be close to Benjamin.”
I want to be close to you,too.
