Page 36

There’s a commotion happening in the center. Some new piece of gossip is spreading like wildfire. I’ve never seen it cause so much of an uproar before.

Everyone is whispering to each other, murmuring in my hall, every time I get up to peek out of my door, quiet ensues and people skitter away.

Marie shoos me back into my office, but I spare a look for her. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“If I did, don’t you think I would tell you?”

She would, and if she doesn’t know…and it’s this big. That screams trouble.

Especially since something seemed to break midday. I haven’t seen Olivia today. She wasn’t at lunch with Nick as she usually is, and she hasn’t stopped by to say hello. It’s odd, and it leaves me in a funk.

It takes me another hour and a half of phone calls and emails before I can take the break and leave my office to check on the staff. To see if I can figure out what’s distracting all of them.

But as I charge past Marie, her brows furrowed, that initial worry gets worse.

I’m getting looks as I walk by. Gazes avert from mine, and the heat of displeasure and disappointment builds slowly.

If this is another smear campaign on Olivia’s personal life, any hint of gossip about her, I will go nuclear. And maybe that’s the problem with my dating her. I don’t care. I will set an example about pettiness in the workplace.

Of sticking noses where they do not belong.

More avoidance sends a sinking feeling low in my stomach, especially when Maddison, my head nurse, skitters away from my approach.

Fuck.

I run into Nick, and his frown shoves my stomach lower.

“What’s going on?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know. Have you seen Olivia?”

“No. She was with you last night, right?” I send him a side glance as we both peer around the empty hallway.

“Yeah. Dropped her at her lab after class. She didn’t feel well. Maybe she went home before her clinic this afternoon?” His worry has him rubbing a hand over his mouth.

It’s still an hour until then.

“Is anyone talking to you? Your students? Clients or patients that have overheard anything?” I ask, hopeful that this is all something being blown out of proportion rather than something serious that’s sent Olivia running.

I hope that she would have come to me right away if someone had done something to her here.

“No. Nothing. Fuck, this is bad, isn’t it? I’m usually included in the less serious, less cutting gossip.”

Of course he is, as charming and pretty as he is. Which is unfair of me.

At least, I didn’t say that out loud.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” I nod him toward the stairs, down to Waylen’s office.

He’s standing with his hands on his hips in the doorway, staring down the hall at a couple of nurses who are hurrying off. He looks furious, not confused.

The fire in his blue eyes is the reason so many of his students are scared of him. Surprisingly, his reputation still isn’t as bad as mine for scaring staff and students alike.

Waylen meets our gazes and nods toward his clinical office, shutting the door behind us.

We stand in silence for far too long.

“The rumor mill is saying Olivia is pregnant. And what’s worse, they’re speculating about which one of us is the dad.” Waylen’s voice is dark and serious.

Olivia pregnant?

Flashes of her lack of energy and concerns of her spreading herself too thin click into place along with the few times she’s been put off by a certain food she typically likes.

No wonder everyone is avoiding us.

If this is true, if she’s actually pregnant, it could be any of ours. Fuck, we need to shut this down. Right now.

My hands ball into fists. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to punch something, but the desire is strong.

I take a few deep breaths, thinking about the more positive part of this news. Olivia could be pregnant with my child; that sends a thrill through me.

If it’s not my baby, I still want to be one of their dads. Would she be open to kids, plural? It’s not something I thought about in any seriousness, but now?

I absolutely want Olivia to have my baby.

And I absolutely want to tear the throats out of anyone threatening her safety or well-being.

“Who? Who started this?”

Waylen gives me a humorous look, like seeing my anger prods something vindictive in his own. Between the two of us, we would tear the world apart for Olivia.

Nick sighs at once, glances at us, then his head drops back. “I’ll give you one guess.”

“The trio,” I say. I should have known.

The way Angelica has been watching me, even after the talk I had with her. The one that Maddison had with her on my prompting.

Britney’s scene at the fundraiser, her clear shriek when Nick rejected her. His calm afterward, the fact that he didn’t raise his voice or try to tear her down publicly. She brought it on herself, and she’s lashing out unprofessionally.

The way Jeremy has been doting on Waylen. Spending too much time fetching things for him, whispering in his ear, trying to distract him when Olivia was near.

Trouble. All three of them.

And if they weren’t such good nurses, they would have been cut loose long ago.

This is beyond crossing a line though.

“I will take care of it.” And I will. A sit-down will not be enough. This is a breach of privacy at best. Malicious harassment at the worst.

“Before anything else. We need to talk to Olivia,” Nick says. “I’ve texted her, but no response.”

I suck in a long breath. “Find her. I’m right behind you, but this needs to be taken care of now.”

Nick sends another message on his phone, thumbs tapping, and I meet Waylen’s icy gaze again.

“They’ve done more than enough to deserve whatever wrath you bring down on them,” he reminds me.

We’re in agreement, so I go do the worst part of my job.

I charge to the nurses station, and my anger must be evident because instead of running, they seem stuck in place, more scared of me than ever.

Maddison finally appears, stepping up to the station tentatively. “Dr. Rivers?”

Our gazes lock, and her shoulders drop.

“Locate Angelica, Britney, and Jeremy. I want them in my office two minutes ago.”