Page 76 of Intense

Someone bumps into me, but I don’t stop.

I don’t go to my office. Not when that plaque is still on the door, laughing in gold.

I run.

Straight to the only place in this hospital no one thinks to look.

Where I can breathe.

Where I’ve cried more tears than anyone knows.

Where life and death hang in the balance every goddamn day.

The hospital roof.

I find my secret spot, hidden in the corner, and find my stash of cigarettes behind the planter.

Lighting one, relief washes over me.

I know I shouldn’t. How I preach to my patients not to.

But, damn. They do work for stress. And today has been awful.

I nearly fucking cried in front of a room of people.

I promised myself I’d never become a man’s property. Or allow a man to control me. I forged my way in this industry on my own, in spite of them.

And then in waltzes Finn, just like he did six years ago.

Storming in and taking over.

And now, that includes me.

The door clicks in the distance, and I close my eyes.

Here we go.

Round two.

And I want to throw him over the railing. Maybe watching his body splat on the concrete below will bring me some sort of satisfaction.

No. Killing my boss, and now my apparent husband, would be a bad idea. And what’s worse, I could never do that to him.

Sighing, I keep my gaze fixed on the ground, hoping that, if I don’t look at him, he won’t come over. That he will just let me have a minute.

But, no.

His shiny black shoes soon appear in my vision.

Blowing out an exhale of my cigarette, I lift my head.

His eyes are like daggers. There is no remorse for what he just did to me. How he humiliated me, like I am some pawn in his game, only there for his amusement.

I toss my cigarette on his sparkling rich boy shoes, and he growls. I might as well have spat in his face by the sound of his reaction.

I stop breathing as his hand snatches my face, dragging me up to him like I’m nothing but a rag doll made for punishment.

His crazed eyes don’t just stare; they consume.