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“Nothing. Make sure we can go out again soon.” I stormed out of the room before I did something stupid, like throw her onto one of those beds and have my damn way with her.
MEETING MOM
SUTTON
Why the hell was I so irritated? Walking out of the on-call room and toward the nurses’ station, I felt a ball of dread in my stomach. Everyone was watching me, their eyes filled with mischief, wonder, and accusations.
“He’s gorgeous,” one of the women said as I approached.
I turned around just in time to see Joseph disappear into an elevator.
“I know. I know,” I agreed before I continued moving down the hall.
If I stopped for even a second too long, I’d never get away from all the questions, and the last thing I wanted to do was lie to all their faces. I’d already done that this morning after the pictures of me and Joseph from last night went viral and the press showed up.
I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what my problem was, but I was no closer to the truth than I had been an hour before. Joseph showing up, all concerned for my well-being and over-the-top dramatic, had messed with my head. His actions had felt like something a real boyfriend would do, but he wasn’t my boyfriend. He wasn’t anything, except for a paycheck at the end of my service.
I shook out my body after thinking those words to get rid of the icky feeling it had given me. My accepting a paycheck for this seemed weird and wrong. But I still planned on doing it.
“Sutton, you’re still here?” Dr. Bonnova asked as we passed each other in the hallway.
She was a freaking goddess at this hospital, all groundbreaking and ridiculously smart. It was awesome that she even knew who I was.
“Yes?” I asked, clearly confused.
“It’s almost seven,” she said, and I reared back my head.
“Oh.” I’d spent so much of the day lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t even realize I’d stayed past my assigned shift. “Thanks, Dr. Bonnova. Have a good night.”
She laughed as I picked up my pace. “Have fun with Romeo’s Other Brother,” she shouted, using one of his less popular nicknames from the press.
I spun on my heels, turning around to face her, but she waved me off, and I swallowed whatever words I was going to say instead of saying them out loud. Then, I reminded myself that I needed to get used to this kind of thing. If I was going to be fake dating Joseph Martin, I had to be prepared for everything that came with it, and that included comments from my coworkers who were all too familiar with his reputation in the city.
And that was why I’d been so irritated when I saw him earlier. I wasn’t really pissed that I’d been harassed since the moment I woke up, that my voice mail was filled, and that my social media accounts had been inundated with requests and direct messages. I wasn’t even mad that the press and paparazzi had found out where I worked and shown up there, waiting to get pictures of me. I mean, one night with Joseph had turned my life into something I hadn’t even remotely considered. I’d thought I understood what being seen with him meant, but I had no clue.
To be fair, none of that was any of his fault or choice. What I was mad about was the fact that he’d come over to my place of employment and pretended to care about my well-being and mental state. He acted like I mattered when we both knew that I didn’t. He showed up in the middle of the day to check on me. And it’d made me so angry because…I liked it.
And I wanted it to be real.
Walking into the locker room, I grabbed my phone and turned it on for the first time since I’d turned it off that morning. Alerts pinged for what felt like a full five minutes before finally stopping. I looked down at the screen and couldn’t believe the number of notifications there. I opened my text messages first. The social media requests could wait. I scrolled through, responding to my parents separately before stopping on Joseph’s name.
He’d sent another text about an hour ago.
Uh, my mom has requested our presence.
My heart dropped inside my chest, and I almost let go of my phone. Instead of texting him back, I pressed on his name and called him.
“Hey,” he answered on the first ring.
“I just got your text. What?”
“She wants us to come over. She’s insisting.”
I sat down on the long bench, thankful that no one else was in the room. “When?”
“Now?” he said like it was a question.
I blew out a long breath. “Are you kidding me?”
