AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course!” she responded. “Meet you in the cafeteria later?”
“Yes!” I said. “I will see you later.”
“Great,” Elaine said. “See you later.”
I turned away to take care of the last business that needed to be covered before I left here for good. I had forms to fill out so someone else could take over where I left off. Nursing supervisors informed me that other nurses would have to cover the gap when someone new came in, and I had to handle the formalities with HR so the payroll could be updated.
Leaving here was bittersweet. I’d been disappointed in the clinic when I’d come here at first, but I’d grown fond of the place over the weeks, and there was still so much I’d have liked to take care of.
I loved projects. I loved challenges. I liked rolling up my sleeves and getting into something and whipping it back into shape. This clinic would have been a great pet project. It just wasn’t right for me to stay. This wasn’t my home, and it was time to go.
By the time I finished all my admin work, it was nearly time for lunch, and I felt sick to my stomach. I walked to the cafeteria and found Elaine keeping a spot for me in the line. She waved at me, and I smiled.
I would miss her when I went back. She’d been such a great colleague, treating me like she treated everyone. In New York, I felt isolated sometimes because I was so close with Colter, and the others didn’t want to risk crossing me.
Here, I wasn’t anyone special. I was just another doctor who had the same goal as all the other doctors and nurses: to help where we could.
“Are you okay?” Elaine asked while we chose our lunch. “You look a little down.”
“I have a lot on my mind,” I admitted.
We paid for our food and walked to our usual booth. The others had started leaving it open for us since we always sat there, and it had become our thing.
“The weather is nice,” I said, making small talk while I tried to arrange my thoughts.
“So, are you going to keep avoiding the topic?” Elaine probed when we fell silent for a while. “Or are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
I sighed. “It’s such a long, complicated story.”
“We have a bit of time,” Elaine said. “Tell me.”
I started telling her about Turk arriving in New York and joining Colter’s pack. I told her how he’d gone missing, how I’d come here to find him with the clinic as a guise to get the job done, and how I’d fallen for Bishop without even trying.
“It was never the plan,” I said. “I just wanted to find Turk and get the hell out of dodge, but now I’m knee-deep in something that could be the best relationship I’ve ever had… and I’m terrified it’s not real.”
Elaine thought about it. “I don’t think Bishop is using you,” she finally said.
“How do you figure that?”
“He doesn’t do love. He fucks women when he needs the release, sure, but never more than once. That’s not like him, which makes me think this isn’t the same as that. I think he cares.”
“You’ve told me this before. You don’t know him,” I sighed.
“Maybe not, but I know what he usually does, and this is nothing like that.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what I feel. I just think that it’s time to go home.”
Elaine frowned. “Are you going home, or are you running away?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Elaine shrugged. “Maybe you’re scared about Bishop being serious about you.”
That hit a nerve. Iwasn’tscared.
Except… I was. Elaine was right. What I shared with Bishop—the bond, the power—scared me. I’d nearly lost him, and that scared me more.
I didn’t say any of that out loud.
