Page 36 of Doctor Charmer

I stand there, chest heaving and waiting. Waiting for him to tell me I’ve gotten it all wrong. Waiting for him to explain how I’ve gotten it all wrong. That I’m missing something.

He just stares at me, and I wonder if he’s memorializing me, knowing this is our end. I step blindly backward, refusing to look away. I wait. Will he even fight for this? For us. I trip over my missing shoe, bending down and blindly sweeping my hand below me to snatch it.

Still, he doesn’t say a word. And that’s what hurts the most. “I guess I’m not even worth the energy for you even to try to charmyour way out of this.” I bite down on my lip so hard I’m surprised I don’t taste blood. “Goodbye, Dr. Morgan.”

I flick off his lights before I slip out his door.

I leave him alone in the dark and realize I feel the exact same way – in the dark. We are finally a match.

Chapter Nineteen

Reggie

Istand in total darkness for ten minutes. Ten minutes feels like ten hours. I huff out a frustrated breath, feeling a pain I thought I’d never feel again—heartache.

I click on my desk lamp, plopping hard to the chair, and press the speaker button phone on my desk phone. I press the pre-programmed number, dialing the number of the last person who made me feel anything like this.

“Reggie? Is everything okay at the hospital?” I hear the surprise in Angie’s voice. “I have you on speaker. Brayton and I are driving to that country line-dancing spot I was telling you about.”

I shake my head at the ridiculousness of two African Americans in the wilds of Rhode Island, traipsing across the state to hit up every country line dance honky-tonk bar in a seventy-five-mile radius. I couldn’t be happier for her.

“Sorry, Brayton, nothing personal, but Angie, can you take me off speaker?”

I only catch a bit of her whisper to her fiancé before the line clicks over. “What’s up?”

Angie is my best friend, and I’m encroaching on her holiday time, so I don’t beat around the bush. “Don’t drink too much tonight. I just got suspended, and Dr. Riggs is going to reach out to have you cover the ER tomorrow.”

Angie sucks at covering her phone, and I catch her whisper to Brayton, “Reggie got himself suspended.”

“And you are surprised, why?”Brayton’s response comes through unfiltered. Like I said, she sucks at covering her phone.

“Reggie, what did you do?” She’s back.

“It’s what I didn’t do. The attestation.”

“You still refusing to sign?” she asks, familiar with my act but not my reason. “Why is Dr. Riggs involved?”

I rub my hands through my hair. “HR escalated. He confronted me. I was in a pissy mood, and the rest is history.”

“I pushed you on this two years ago. And you refused to tell me why you wouldn’t sign. I’m assuming nothing’s changed. You’re still not telling me your reason?”

“That’s right. Nothing’s changed. Make your joke like everyone else does.”

“We’re here.”I hear Brayton’s not-so-quiet whisper. They’ve reached their destination. Angie will stay on the phone with me all night if warranted, but Brayton doesn’t have our history or her tolerance. We had our standoff in his early days when he suspected correctly that I had feelings for Angie. But we’ve all come a long way since then.

“Reg, this is me. I’ve not brought it up in three years because I know if you feel this strongly about it, you have your reasons. I know you. I know your heart. This isn’t about you. You’re protecting someone.”

My head drops with her words, my eyes closing. Her words salve my soul. I knew she was the right person to call. She knows me, all of me. “Thank you for that.”

“No thanks required. If you weren’t such a protective ass with your heart, others would see it too.” Her words cut, breaking skin and bringing pain. “I have no idea who you’re protecting, but I know if you’re doing the fighting, she must be someone who can’t protect herself. You know you don’t have to go into battle alone. Say the word.”

My heart warms with her support. I’m a lucky bastard that the crush I carried for so many years didn’t ruin our friendship. “It’s not your fight.”

“Doesn’t sound like it’s yours either, yet here we are. Now, are you going to tell me what got you into a pissy mood because when I left you were all googly-eyed with Ivy. Even Brayton wanted to yell for you two to get a room.”

“She heard about the suspension. I couldn’t tell her why I won’t sign it.”

I wait for Angie to connect the dots. “Does she know about your moniker?”

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