Until Autumn - Sheridan Anne Page 0,61
to stop my movement before Suzi takes over and raises my shirt just high enough to see the back of my ribs.
She sucks in a breath as Thorne leans around me to get a good look. “Is it bad?” I ask, fearing his response.
He looks to Suzi as my shirt is lowered back into place. “I want an X-ray done just to make sure.”
She nods. “I’ll book it right away,” she tells him before scurrying out the door, just as another four people come barging in, one of them being Patricia who gasps at the unconscious man laying on the break room floor.
“What on earth happened in here?” she demands.
I see red.
“What happened,” I spit, stepping out from Thorne’s arms. “Is that you so carelessly have told every single person who crosses your path that I’ve been whoring myself out for grades and now dickheads like this,” I say, kicking at his leg. “Think that gives them the right to come and demand sexual favors out of me and when I tell them no, believe that gives them the right to just take what they want.”
“I … I …. No, I—”
“Enough,” Thorne says, holding his hand up and stopping whatever bullshit was about to come out of Patricia’s mouth. “We can deal with this bullshit later. For now, someone needs to get this bastard off my ward and in a private room with a guard at the door. Mark my words, he will be going down, and for that to happen, we will be doing everything by the book. Have him thoroughly taken care of, and do not leave him unsupervised for even one second. Is that understood?” The two midwives standing by the door nod as Thorne focuses his stare on Patricia. “As for you, go and fetch incident reports. I want everyone who was involved here today to write a thorough report, even if they were just passing by.”
“Yes, Dr. Mayson,” she says, nodding her head and refusing to meet his eyes.
Just like that, the room turns into a flurry of activity, and not two seconds later, a male nurse is brought in and helps remove Dr. Harding from the room. Suzi returns a moment later with a wheelchair and prompts me to take a seat. Thorne all but grabs me and puts me in the chair before taking over for Suzi and pushing me out of the room.
Half an hour later, I sit with Thorne in an examination room as the head of plastic surgery stitches up his hand. He stares at the X-rays of my ribs, going over them again and again. Even though every doctor who has come and gone from this room has confirmed with him that my ribs aren’t broken, just bruised. I can’t say I blame him though, I’ve been watching over Thorne’s split knuckles, making sure that the doctor doesn’t miss a single stitch, despite being the best in his field. Some may call it being an overprotective douche, but I call it looking out for your own.
The door opens a second later and Patricia nervously steps through with papers in her hands. She passes one to me and then one to Thorne and as I glance down at it, I realize that it’s the report I’m going to have to fill out that could potentially have Dr. Harding fired.
I quickly thank her while avoiding eye contact, and when I expect her to leave, I glance up, realizing that she’s not going anywhere, just hovering awkwardly by the door. My brows furrow and I watch her for a moment. “Can we help you?” I ask, unable to keep the disdain from my tone.
“I, uhh …” she starts, glancing between me and Thorne. “I owe you both an apology. My behavior toward you has been unprofessional and I can now see what you mean to one another. This is clearly more than just a workplace fling. It’s obvious that the two of you care deeply for one another, and so I must apologize for allowing anyone else to think any less of your relationship. I had a great deal to do with spreading rumors and hate. I regret that my actions have led to this afternoon’s awful event, and I hope that one day, you will both be able to forgive me and that we can move on in the future to work together in a healthy capacity.”
I raise my brows, hardly able to believe what I hear, but before I get