Chapter 3

Every time I walked through the parking deck to my car, I felt a chill go down my spine. It was like someone was watching me, but I never saw anyone around. Goosebumps crept up my arms as I made my way across the lot.

I made sure my phone and keys were secured in my hands as I marched to my destination. Blame my love for thrillers for making me paranoid as hell. Just in case I wasn’t being irrational, I never wasted any time getting to my car. As soon as I hopped in the car and slammed the door, my phone rang, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin.

“Hello?” I quickly answered without bothering to look at the caller ID.

“Are you ready to have a rational conversation, or do you plan on continuing this foolishness, Anya?” Graham’s voice made my skin crawl.

It was miraculous how a voice that used to cause me to swoon now only gave me the urge to vomit. Graham was selfish and disgusting. It didn’t matter how many times he called me, how many times he changed his number or how many insults he hurled my way, I refused to go back to the life I once lived with him. When I was with Graham, I was a shell of myself. Not that I was miserable. It was just that he made me change, correct, and water down so many parts of my personality that I no longer felt like myself.

Even in the short period of time that I had been living on my own in my apartment, I felt the difference. I felt free. Graham had apologized for his behavior a thousand times in the past. He would tell me how sorry he was. He would tell me all the sweet things I wanted to hear, just to get me to reluctantly give him another chance.

It was never long before he was up to his old tricks, lying and being sneaky again. It felt like a waste to lose the life we were building due to a couple of mistakes, but this was more than a couple of mistakes. At the end of the day, staying wasn’t worth it. My baby’s life was too high of a cost to preserve a relationship built on a pile of bullshit and lies in the first place.

“Graham, I asked you to stop calling me.”

“Anya, you can’t still be trying to blame me for you losing the baby. You know that’s not on me. You’re just looking for someone to blame. How many babies had you lost before that, huh? Come on now. Stop this nonsense and come home!”

I wasn’t in the mood to hear anything he had to say. Graham could apologize a thousand more times. I didn’t want to hear it. I especially didn’t want to hear him trying to explain how nothing was his fault. Tossing my phone in the passenger seat, I started my car and rushed out of the parking garage. The sooner I got home, the better I would feel.

As I came to the third stoplight in a row to catch me, my phone rang again. I was sick of Graham. I picked up my phone ready to tell him just that. The air that had puffed up my chest came out in a long sigh when I saw that it was my sister Angel calling instead.

“Hey, babe. How are you feeling?”

“I’m good,” I lied.

“How was work? Michael still shooting his shot?”

“Thank God his ass had to help out in the emergency room today.” I rolled my eyes.

“See, I told you that you should have reported him from the jump. Now you’re dreading going to work.”

“I know. I really thought I had it under control.”

“Sis, you can’t control people like him by being nice. You fight for everyone else. You have to fight for yourself sometimes.”

“It’s less of a fight and more tolerating his annoying ass.”

“You don’t have to do that. Stand up to him.”

My unit manager, Michael, clearly had a thing for me. At best, working with him was uncomfortable. Not that the man was hard on the eyes, because the brother was fine. He was tall with curly hair and of medium build. Most of the nurses had a crush on him. I didn’t like mixing business with pleasure. It was irritating that he was so persistent, knowing full well I was very much a married woman.

When my pregnancy started to show, he called me to his office and came right out and asked if I was pregnant. I hadn’t planned to disclose for a few more weeks, but since I was asked directly, I went ahead and told him about my pregnancy. If anything, I hoped that it would make him back off and see that he didn’t have a chance with me. Instead of backing off, he was on me more, giving me a hard time every chance he got. He was obviously pissed that I had the audacity to be pregnant by my own damn husband.

All of a sudden, I got all the hardest patient sets. He purposely did things to make me miss my lunch breaks or have to stay late. He would send me to other departments to pitch in near the end of the shift, knowing I would end up staying late.

After he pulled his stunts making my job harder, I was called into his office to discuss why I was riding the clock and getting unauthorized overtime. He actually accused me of stealing time and wrote me up. It seemed as if he were looking for a reason to fire me. I missed the mark to report him for sexual harassment. Now it would look like I was trying to retaliate for being written up.

After ending the call with my sister, I drove to the corner store near my apartment. Since losing my baby and filing for divorce, I had resorted back to my old stress relieving habits: snacking and smoking weed. I didn’t even know how I started back smoking. Well, actually I did. When I was unpacking my things, I ran across half an ounce of weed I had stashed in a box years ago. Apparently, the potency wasn’t affected by the years. Now, for the past month, I had been smoking and feeding my munchies.

I walked into the convenience store and grabbed a big bag of Smartfood popcorn, some gummy bears, and a package of chocolate covered peanuts. When I made it to the register, I got a couple of those giant incense sticks and a lighter. Once I made it home, I would listen to music or binge watch TV until I fell asleep.

Since I didn’t have Graham to tend to and entertain anymore, I didn’t have big plans after work. I considered calling Charlotte to see what she was doing but decided against it. As I walked out of the store, I got the shock of my life when I saw Michael getting out of his car. Lowering my eyes, I willed him not to see me, as if that ever worked.

“Anya!” He called across the parking lot like we were old friends.

“Uh, hey!” I waved, never breaking my stride to get to my car.

“What are you up to? I didn’t know you lived near here.”

“Yeah, I recently moved.”

“I guess the rumors are true.”

“Rumors?” I asked with a frown.

“I heard you were going through a divorce.”

“You shouldn’t indulge in work rumors,” I responded.

“But they’re true, right? Is there any chance you would finally take me up on my offer and join me for drinks?”

“No. I’m not ready to start anything new. The paperwork isn’t even finalized.”

“I guess smoking is more your thing anyway, huh?” He chuckled as he motioned toward the cigar wraps in my hand.

“Um, no.” I shook my head.

“Good. I would hate to have to administer a random drug test to my favorite nurse.” He scoffed as he walked around me.

I slammed the cigars in the trashcan as I marched back to my car.

“Fuck!” I shouted as I slammed the door.

Punching the steering wheel, I gathered my thoughts before starting my car and barreling out of the parking lot. I officially hated Michael.

As chaotic and crazy as my job got sometimes, I still loved it. Even when my direct supervisor was being an absolute dick, I loved my job. It was like one of the medical reality TV shows I liked to binge watch. There was always something going down.

Like for the past five or six days, my nosy best friend and I were completely invested in whatever was going on behind the closely guarded doors of our VIP patient. They only let certain people in and out of the room. The staff never changed. The big, scary men guarding the door worked in shifts, making sure only authorized personnel entered.

Ted had eavesdropped enough to find out that the man who hardly ever left the room was the patient’s brother. I had barely gotten a look at him other than seeing that he was tall, lanky, and kept his face buried in his phone on the rare occasion that he came out of the room.

There was also a woman who stopped by every day. We had identified her as possibly his wife or girlfriend. Charlotte recognized the woman as a lawyer from the district attorney’s office. Maybe the VIP patient was in protective custody. The only reason we even knew it was a male was because they had him listed under John Doe in the system.

It was exciting. I really wanted to get in that room and see who in the world needed a twenty-four-hour security detail in the hospital. I had half a mind to come up with some elaborate scheme to get in there and risk getting in trouble. My job was on the line as it was. I knew it was a matter of time before Michael pulled a stunt and went through with his threat to have me drug tested.

Instead of nosing in a stranger’s business, I should have been online looking for a new job. When I considered a search, I always stopped myself because, yet again, there was the dilemma of passing the drug screen. I just needed a few weeks to make sure my system was clean. One day, I was going to go into the supply room and get a test to take home. I would self-administer a drug test in a couple of weeks to make sure I was good to go. That was if I lasted here two more weeks.

“What you eating for lunch?” Charlotte asked, sitting beside me, munching away on her favorite hot chips.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll probably grab a sandwich from downstairs.”

“This one I got damn sure is bussin’,” Ted mentioned.

“What kind did you get?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at him.

“A ham and turkey club.”

“I thought you were off pork for your new weight loss regimen,” I noted.

“That lasted every bit of about two days. As soon as I swung by my favorite spot to get a bacon, egg, and cheese, it was over.”

I shook my head as he went back to the mission of devouring his sandwich. Turning to an available computer, I looked over my patients’ next rounds of medicines and treatments to see what was on the agenda for the next couple of hours.

“Anya, I need to see you in my office at your earliest convenience.” Michael’s voice crawled up my spine like a black widow spider. I couldn’t stand him.

Worst of all, I knew more than likely he was about to be on some bullshit. So much for having a few weeks to make sure I could pass a drug test. I couldn’t very well explain that I was never under the influence during work hours. No one wanted to hear that. I was going to have to do what I had to do.

I considered asking Charlotte to give me some pee just in case, but I hadn’t even told her about the incident. She knew I had started back smoking due to all the stressors I was facing, but not that Michael was suspicious. Without waiting for a response, Michael continued down the hall and the hell out of my face.

“I don’t know why you won’t just give the man some play. It’s not like he’s ugly. I’d do him,” one of the swing nurses commented.

“Have at it,” I told her.

“She is going through a divorce,” Charlotte mentioned unnecessarily.

I shot her a look, and she shrugged her shoulders as if I was overreacting. I didn’t like these people in my business. Some of my coworkers were cool enough, but I liked to keep business and personal separated.

“I ran into him after work a couple of days ago. I might need a huge favor,” I mumbled as I watched Michael amble off toward his office like he owned the whole hospital.

“What did he do now?”

“The usual.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m going to need Bishop Reign’s medical records in five minutes or less!” one of the men who visited the VIP patient yelled as he approached the nurse’s station.

“Sir, are you his power of attorney?” Ted asked, lowering his sandwich.

“I’m about to be your power of attorney if you don’t get off your fat ass and get me my brother’s records.”

I didn’t know why that almost made me burst out laughing because, obviously, this man was dead serious. I should have been afraid, but I was amused.

“We can’t just release records to anyone that walks up to the desk requesting them,” Ted informed him.

“But you let any ol’ body walk up in my brother’s room after somebody tried to kill him. He’s being transferred the fuck out of here, and I’m going to need his records right the fuck now. You had five minutes, but since you think you need to run your mouth and speak to me condescendingly, you got sixty seconds to get off your ass and get me those records before I air this bitch out.”

So, someone tried to kill him. What did he mean we let anybody walk up in there? There was a big ass security guard standing right outside the door. Weren’t they responsible for keeping people out? All I knew was airing this bitch out didn’t mean he planned to open the windows. I was not about to get shot over someone’s medical records.

“Sir, calm down,” Charlotte spoke up.

“You didn’t have shit to say when I was standing here needing help, so don’t say shit now,” the man quipped.

“There are still forms that need to be filled out,” Ted insisted.

Didn’t he know when to shut the hell up? Where was Michael or hospital security? They were the ones that needed to handle something like this, not us.

“If you say another word about a form, I’m going to put your brains all over that wall over there. Get me the paperwork. My brother’s ride will be here in ten minutes.”

“He’s not in any condition to be moved,” Sarena, the swing nurse, mentioned. She was the only one who had worked with the VIP out of all of us.

“I don’t remember asking any of you anything outside of requesting those records that are not in my hand yet. Fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fifty-six.”

He was counting down. I didn’t know what came at the end of the countdown, but I wasn’t about to wait around and find out. I might be about to get fired, but I damn sure wasn’t about to get shot on top of it. I could find another job. I only had one life. I hit a few keys on the computer, and John Doe’s files started to print.

“OK, OK,” I said, holding my hands up. “It’s printing.”

Right on cue, some men came out of the elevator wheeling a stretcher. The man making threats gave them his attention briefly before they continued to the room in question. I moved to the printer and snatched the paperwork off. My hands were literally shaking as I passed the man the small stack of papers. If I was going to get fired, I might as well go out with a bang.

“What’s your name?”

“Anya.”

“You like working here with these assholes?” he asked, lifting his thick brows.

You mean aside from being sexually harassed by my boss and being threatened by a maniac? I never get bored here, that was for sure.

“It’s a job,” I replied.

“What if I told you I had a job for you that would double your salary?”

I scoffed. “Um, that would be crazy.”

How could he say that? He didn’t even know how much I made here.

“Call me crazy. Plug your number in my phone, and I’ll contact you later with the details,” he said, before passing me his phone.

My hands shook even harder as I entered my number in his phone. As soon as I passed the phone back, he headed toward the elevator. All the air left my lungs as I plopped back down in my chair. Wouldn’t you know Michael’s head finally popped out of his office when the coast was clear.

“I’m about to take my lunch. Anya, make sure you come see me when I get back,” he stated as he strolled to the elevator as if his scary ass hadn’t heard all that commotion out here.

My phone buzzed on the desk, and I saw that there was a text message from an unrecognizable number.

Unknown number:

Sixty dollars an hour plus medical and vision. A thousand dollar up-front cash bonus if you can start tonight.

“Girl, fuck him.” Charlotte sneered, rolling her eyes at Michael’s back.

I agreed. Picking up my phone and my purse, I decided to blow this joint before Michael had the chance to make his move.

“I’m out for the day, y’all,” I told my coworkers, standing and walking away from the desk. Actually, I was out for good.