Page 21 of Careless Whisper (Modern Vintage Romances #11)

Reggie

I came back from Mexico lighter, clearer, and more at peace with myself than I had been since Elias walked into the OR at Harper Memorial.

I’d had ten beautiful days without an OR, without the tight band of adrenaline around my ribs, without Maren’s voice in my ear or Elias’s silence in my heart.

I’d even started to think—maybe—I could still reclaim what they’d tried to take from me.

But, very soon, that proved to be a ridiculous thought.

Cindy was waiting for me when I walked into the department. She didn’t say anything—just nodded toward her office. The look on her face told me that she was not happy, and whatever she had to say to me would result in me not being happy either.

She closed the door behind us and stayed standing.

“There’s something you need to know,” she began quietly .

I nodded. “Okay.”

“There’s a new complaint, officially , that has been sent through. This is from one of the cardiology attendings.”

I flinched. “Who?”

“I haven’t filed it yet,” she admitted. “I wanted to talk to you first.”

I crossed my arms because suddenly I felt cold. All the good vibes I’d brought with me from San Miguel de Allende had fled as if the devil had chased them away.

Cindy didn’t look stoic but harassed. “You know Dr. Kirk?—”

“He’s on the trial project with Dr. Loring,” I snapped. “He’s been kissing her ass so hard his nose is brown.”

“The complaint is not from her; if it were, I’d be able to do something, but she was in the room when it was made. And I’d bet good money she’s the one who orchestrated it.” Cindy looked dejected, her eyes troubled. I’d never seen her like this—defeated, shoulders slumped.

I waited for the rest.

“I also don’t think it would’ve come through without Elias knowing,” she added. “Nothing like this does—not from his team.”

My mouth went dry. “Right.”

“This isn’t medicine.” Her jaw clenched like it hurt to say it out loud. “It’s politics. And I hate it.”

I swallowed hard and nodded, my throat tight. That was three complaints. Three strikes, and you’re out. I was out.

“Do you want to hear the details?” she ventured.

I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “Will it make a difference?”

“Reggie—”

“I know why you waited to file that complaint, and I’m grateful.” I gave her a travesty of a smile. “I resign, Cindy. I can send you a formal email shortly.”

She looked down at her shoes, then back at me. “You sure?”

“Yes. I’m not going to beg to stay in a place that wants me gone so badly they’re inventing reasons.”

Her eyes shone. Not tears—Cindy didn’t do tears. But there was a weariness there I hadn’t seen before. The same exhaustion I’d felt for months.

“I’ll miss you,” she murmured. “We all will.”

“Thanks for everything.”

A shadow passed over her face. “Please don’t thank me. I didn’t protect you. I thought I could, but?—”

“Hey, you know the rules. You fuck up with an attending like Dr. Graham, and there’s no getting out of it unscathed.”

I should’ve resigned the minute I knew he was coming here.

I’d been foolish, egotistically holding on to the hope that he’d see how great a nurse I was, regret the past, and want me.

Yes, that’s why I stayed because I thought the man I loved would finally get his head out of his ass and love me the way I deserved to be loved.

All I got was a couple of on-call-room orgasms and a ton of heartache.

We stood there for a breath, nearly two. There were no hugs; she wasn’t the type, and I wasn’t in a place to do it without breaking apart.

“I’ll leave my badge and…stuff at the nurse’s station.” I was going to say goodbye to my colleagues, to Luther, to Nina, to everyone who’d been a team with me. I hated that now they’d all wonder if it would be their turn to get into trouble.

“Yes.” Cindy looked just about ready to keel over.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

She set her jaw, shaking her head. “If we let you go, you’d at least get some severance, now…”

I gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m going to let you in on a secret…well, it’s not a secret, just that I don’t talk about it to anyone.”

She frowned.

“I…you know the Lancaster Foundation that funded the peds center for us last year?”

She nodded hesitantly.

“Well, my mother is a Lancaster.”

Cindy’s eyes widened.

I grinned. “Money is…well, it’s not a problem.”

“You are a Lancaster?”

“Well…yes. I am one of the heirs.”

Cindy huffed out a laugh. “You’re kidding me?”

I let out a long breath, shaking my head slowly.

“So, I don’t have to worry about you living on the streets?”

“Not unless I want to,” I stated nonchalantly.

She let out a relieved sigh. “I’m just…I’ve been so worried. I was going to give you a month’s pay myself so you’d?—”

“Cindy, you softy,” I teased, but my eyes filled up. She cared about me, and that touched my heart in the best way possible.

When I took a step toward her, she held up her hand. “Do not hug me,” she warned, but she was smiling.

Then she licked her lips, and a slow, sly smile took over her face. “Can I tell Dr. Loring who you are? I mean…you know she’s been trying to get funding from Lancaster for her trial.”

I knew, and since I was working on that project, I’d said nothing to G’Mum and Grandpa; otherwise, I knew they’d play nepotism without a moment’s thought.

“Why don’t we keep it under wraps,” I requested. “It’s probably going to come out one way or the other.”

I hadn’t wanted to work on the trial project with Maren, but after what she pulled last time, I needed to be there to make sure she didn’t fudge the numbers like she did with the Armitage Foundation.

“Thanks again, Cindy.” I walked out of her office, my feet finding momentum as anger surged through me.

Let the asshole have his OR, his complaints, and his vendettas dressed up as protocol.

I went straight to Elias’s office, pleased that he was there. A part of me wondered if this was just the kind of opportunity fate was waiting to inflict, one last cruel laugh at my expense—but I also didn’t care.

“Reggie—”

“I quit,” I threw at him even as he got up from his chair and started to walk toward me. “ Before I was fired, so I don’t know how much quitting I was doing. Probably just saving face, you know? Maybe taking care of my pride a little. Leaving before I was asked to?—”

“You’re not getting fired.” He was in front of me, smelling like he did, looking so sincere. But I knew better.

“You know the rules here, Dr. Graham, three strikes, and I’m out!”

He froze. “No.”

“Oh yes,” I chirped sarcastically. “You filed a bogus complaint, and then your fiancée did, and now her lackey filed the last one.”

“She’s not my fiancée.”

“Whatever.” I flung my hands up in the air.

“I was going to rescind my complaint. I was…I just…things got busy and?—”

“Who cares about the career of a two-bit nurse like me?” I finished for him .

“No, Gigi?—”

“Stop calling me that,” I shouted. “Just fucking stop it, Elias.”

His lips tightened as his gaze sharpened.

I bit my bottom lip, eyes clouded. “This is the second time you and your bitch have fucked with my life. But this is the last time. You know what I don’t understand is that if I’m such a horrible human being, worth being trampled over, why did you have sex with me?”

“First, you’re not a horrible anything . You are a wonderful, smart, gorgeous, intelligent?—“

“Shut up,” I hissed and put my hands on his torso and pushed him. He staggered two steps back, surprise etched into his face. “You don’t get to say one nice thing to me when you got me fired.”

“I swear to God, Reggie?—”

I sneered at him. “Don’t give me more of your insincere bullshit. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care if it was you or Maren or Agar or all of you playing some administrative game—because I’m not playing anymore.”

“I never—” He looked genuinely shaken.

“You signed off on the complaint. Or are you saying attendings and residents in your department do whatever the hell they like without your say-so?”

“Reggie, I didn’t sign off anything. Why would I?”

“I don’t know,” I growled, my body stiff as a board. “Maybe you needed someone to take the fall…again. Maybe you needed to prove to yourself I wasn’t good enough.”

“I didn’t?—”

“You did. Maybe not on paper, but every time you stayed quiet, every time you looked the other way, every time you told me to be more careful instead of standing up for me—you did.”

He reached for me. “ Please . Let me explain.”

“Don’t you dare touch me,” I raged, stepping away from him.

He held up both his hands, palms out, looking at me like I was a wild animal and he had to be careful, or I’d attack. “Baby, listen to me. You don’t have to quit. I’m going to fix this.”

I stepped back, my voice low but lethal, “Really? You’re going to fix what, Elias? My reputation that you and Maren decimated again ? Or my heart that you broke again ?”

“Baby, I?—"

“No. You don’t get to call me baby.”

I glared at him, and for the first time since I fell in love with him, I didn’t feel any longing for what we could be. I just felt exhausted. I was done , not just with Harper Memorial but with him .

“Go fuck yourself, Elias,” I advised calmly and walked away.