Page 44 of Diamonds

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No.No.No.

I will not allow her to win.

My mother did what she did that day to exert dominance over me in the only way she felt she still could.

Gone were the days when she could tie me up to the lemon tree.

So she used the last tool at her disposal.

And if I continue to think of that wretched moment in her bathroom, if I allow that to dictate my actions… She’s getting exactly what she wanted.

I don’t know why I keep thinking back to that awful day.Everything with May has dredged up old memories—memories that are best kept swept under the rug.

I need a moment to clear my head.

I walk into the employee break room.Usually this is where nurses and doctors break down after a particularly grueling day—sometimes when there’s an unexpected influx of patients after an accident, or sometimes when we’ve lost a cherished patient.

The room is full of sofas in muted colors and a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.A coffeemaker sits in the corner, its pot still half full.

I pour myself a cup.It’s lukewarm, but just having something to sip on will calm my nerves.

Something basic, something human, something normal.

I slowly draw in a breath through my nose, hold it for ten seconds, and then exhale through my mouth.

I repeat it.Again.And again.I take sips of coffee between each cycle.

The coffee is nice, but I’d prefer something hard.

And by hard, I don’t necessarily mean a drink.I mean Maddox’s hard cock.

The only thing that could make me feel human after what we went through last night.

A night with him would cleanse me from the inside out.

At least…it would for a moment.Forthatmoment.

But our problems would be waiting for us as soon as we came back to earth.

I’m not supposed to check my phone while I’m on the clock, but the news of Rouge being on the hospital board has me on edge.I need to at least text Maddox and let him know this new slice of information.

Of course, if I do that, he might insist that I stop working at the hospital.

That would only alert Rouge.We have to keep acting as if everything’s normal if we’re going to get away with this.

I open my locker and grab my phone.

My heart lights up when I see I have a text from Maddox.

I unlock my phone and read it.

Hey.I know we said we’d hang Thursday—turns out that’s the date of the Shostakovich symphony at CSO.Got us tickets.We can meet there or grab dinner before.Whatever works.Have a great day at work.

I raise an eyebrow.

What on earth is Maddox doing, buying concert tickets after everything we’ve been through?