Page 14

“And two department heads were there and heard you,” I continued.

“And they were so disgusted with what you said and how you talked about your colleagues that one went to a member of the board they know because you were talking about her niece .” He finally winced then, but I didn’t let up.

“I have detailed quotes about what you said.

“The person in question also heard you talking about her body in the trauma bay. Another staff member has come forward that you were saying unsavory things during surgery and everyone was uncomfortable. So you didn’t listen to me and doubled down to the point people are requesting off your service because you are toxic. ”

“What?” he whispered, his face going pale.

“I told you,” I sighed. “I told you that the nurses and PAs were talking of boycotting you for your behavior, but you got pissy and doubled down. I wasn’t out of line and people aren’t being too sensitive.

” I gave him a moment with that. “Just because you want to discuss your sex life doesn’t give you the right to talk about their bodies!

“You would throw a fit if you walked into a conversation where someone pay grades above you was discussing the shape and size of your penis and how long you stayed hard during sex. And you would be right to, but that’s what you do all of the time .

You talked about her breasts. Their size, their density, and that they weren’t sensitive enough for your liking.

“Are you nuts? In surgery? Where is your head? Clearly not on what it should be or being professional. Then you ranted that she couldn’t keep up with your stamina and needed to do more cardio before you’d ever consider bedding her again.

That was so far over the line—I honestly wish I could fire you. ”

“Wait, Ellie, I get it and that was too much, but you don’t have to get jealous or—”

“I am not jealous , Dr. Fitz. I’m disgusted,” I told him honestly.

“I’m disgusted that you speak of women in such a manner and degrade them down to such superficial parts and blab about it like you do a damn car.

I’m disgusted that I can’t fire you and make an example of you that this has to stop and this toxic behavior is over. ”

“I did go too far,” he accepted, studying me and getting he couldn’t spin this around or gaslight me this time.

Asshole.

“I can accept that and apologize for—”

“Oh, we’re beyond that,” I chuckled darkly.

“We’re so far beyond that, you blink funny and even the department heads and board will demand you get booted.

” I grabbed the right file and handed it to him.

“You’re suspended for a week without pay and no bonuses for a month.

Your department head demanded that if he’s to keep you in trauma. ”

“Dr. Carpenter did?” he whispered, taking the file with a shaky hand.

“Yes, he did, and this is not the first time he’s voiced his disgust on how you behave, but apparently it will be the last time because the board will be changing the rule. Because of you. Because of how far you went over the line and who you stepped in it with this time. Finally.”

He went pale. “You’re serious.”

“You alone have cost us at least two dozen good staff because of your behavior. Not just your conquests, but decent people who were disgusted this behavior was allowed at ASH. But maybe we can get them back now that it won’t be allowed anymore.

Because you went too far and pissed off enough people now. ”

“Wait, there has to be a way to roll this back or handle things so this isn’t the outcome.”

“Probably.” I snorted when hope filled his eyes. “You are not hearing me that this is a change I want . I have wanted. You are part of the reason. Your behavior is disgusting and toxic, and I will not help you put the problem back in a box to be ignored.”

“Look, I get that, and okay, I’ve gone too far—I’m not the only one, and changes do need to be made,” he agreed. “But everything after the disaster was too volatile, and we were all—”

“No, everyone wasn’t, Dr. Fitz. You were. You behaved this way and it finally broke people who have tired of it and they kicked over the first dominoes that I won’t get in the way of.” I sighed when he started to argue again. “You’re not even sorry.”

“What?” he asked, doing a double take at the change of direction.

I shook my head, completely disgusted I’d ever touched this man much less for years.

“You’re not even sorry or bothered to ask if she’s okay.

” I met his gaze and knew mine was hard.

“Do you seriously have no shame? You want to put the cork back in the bottle so you can still have your rotating door sex life and don’t care at all about what you did. ”

He sighed, giving me a look like I was being too much. “She’s a tramp who wanted to jump into bed thinking she could get a doctor husband out of it and—”

“ She’s a tramp? Are you kidding me? You knew that was what she wanted and used her for sex. Do you not hear yourself?” I pushed to my feet because I had to move before I exploded. “I can’t even keep up with your numbers and you dare to call anyone else a tramp? Disgusting.”

“Fine, that was a poor choice of words,” he muttered. “But the point—”

“The point is you are a cancer on this hospital, Dr. Fitz, and others are tired of it. I couldn’t be fair on the topic and let a lot of it buzz past my ears because it was you, but now people are making it clear this stops and you should go.

So I suggest you take the week to get your head on straight and realize you are the problem if you are to continue to work here. ”

He stared at me for a full minute.

“You may leave,” I finally told him. “Sign the write- up that you got it, take what you need, and turn in your security everything over since you’re suspended for the week.” I reached over and tossed him a pen.

He moved like a robot, not even looking at what was in the folder, but finding the place to sign. That was fine. I’d make sure he got a copy of the complaint later.

It wasn’t until he was almost to the door that I dropped the last bomb on him and why I hadn’t wanted HR to be here for this part.

“And Tommy? We’re done,” I told him firmly.

I nodded when he slowly turned to look at me with even more shock in his eyes.

“I won’t even screw someone who talks about women like that and can’t remotely be professional.

I also told you the next time that I saw you that you better have an apology for how you behaved about Clark and whatever he said.

“Instead, you came in here and blasted me like I answer to you and you have any right to judge me. You have to have a screw loose to get all over my case about anything when even Hastings made it clear you’d gone too far and didn’t want to be buddies with you anymore.

Seriously, get your act together because I’m not even your friend anymore after this. ”

He left. He stared at me until my phone rang and I answered, ignoring his presence, and after a few more moments, he just left.

Good.

I let out a long slow breath that at least things were over with Tommy before giving the call my full attention. Security sent me a message when Tommy turned over his ID and keys.

Even better. He left without a fuss.

Sadly, it wasn’t anything I’d said, but it was the fact Dr. Carpenter had been one of the complaints. Tommy idolized Alan and wanted to take over for him one day.

His heart would actually be broken that Alan hated him when he worked under Alan. He’d made more than a few comments when we were alone that he wanted to drain the warlock to finally shut his mouth.

I sent a message to a couple of the department heads who were on board with the next move. They all wanted the board out and most had made their opinion on Tommy known, but there were only a couple I truly trusted. At least to handle this well and not risk making a bigger mess.

Well, I wanted a bigger mess so the board was backed into a corner.

I didn’t want a bigger mess for me to clean up.

It worked, and by the end of the day, I had three requests to transfer from under Tommy because doctors under him were worried he was going to be fired.

Sorry, Tommy. You made your own bed on this and I warned you several times. You should have listened.

I threw gas on the fire the next day by giving Ms. Boyd’s niece two weeks’ leave.

I made it clear to her that it was for her to think about her career and professionalism.

That Tommy was out of line, but even I knew she wanted a rich husband, and my hospital wasn’t a fucking hunting ground for wannabe trophy wives but professionals.

And her aunt was already on thin ice with the owner, so it was time to act like an adult instead of running to family to cover for her.

But to everyone else in the hospital, it would be spun as free time off to pay her off for what Tommy had done, making it clear the board was trying to clean up their mess… And drawing attention to the fact they’d made a mess.

The ultimate best part was Joel Warren was still banned from the hospital, so he couldn’t even try to storm into my office and start trouble. Yeah, I thanked the gods for the timing on that one.

Now I just had to handle the other list of issues and drama that were always piled on me. Especially after the disaster we’d helped.

Thinking of that, I sent a reminder to my counterpart in Asia letting them know how much time they had left before I blew up the situation. I’d given them enough leeway. Now I wanted our damn property back.