Page 52 of Aching for His Discretion

“Anything for you, Tesoro...”

Absolutely anything for you.

Chapter twenty-two

Teegan

Going over to the salad bar, I looked at the sad and healthy options before me as Beverly picked up a yogurt parfait. Hospital food wasn’t always the worst, but... we all have our good and bad days. Today was, unfortunately, one of those bad days, and I felt stuck with a salad and a bowl of fruit for lunch.

“How has your OB/GYN rotation been so far?” she asked as we sat in the sitting area of the cafeteria, and I sighed.

“Fun and stressful… kinda sad it’ll be over in the next week or so,” I muttered, and she nodded.

“Haven’t heard from Alec lately, huh?” she asked, plucking a grape from my bowl, and I felt my heart skip a beat as vivid memories from just a few days ago tried to resurface.

“No, still haven’t.”

She nodded, and we continued making a bit of small talk as we finished our lunches. I still had a reasonable amount of time before returning to the clinic, and Beverly was almost done with her break when miraculously—

“Your attention, please. Level two trauma alert, ETA now. Your attention, please. Level two trauma alert, ETA now,” we heard over the loudspeaker.

Beverly looked over to me and whined. “Come with, please! I don’t want to get yelled at by the trauma surgeon without some emotional support to back me up.” She pouted, and I laughed as I nodded.

We quickly stood up and went over to the trauma bay. Upon entering, as usual, it was highly chaotic, and I did my best to stay in the corner as Beverly stood by the foot of the bed, waiting for any instruction.

It looked to be a woman in her mid-forties who suffered from a seizure, ultimately causing her to fall down some steps, leaving her arm broken and her neck unstable. She was having trouble breathing, and the attending quickly performed a tracheostomy with his residents after ordering Beverly to help stabilize the woman’s head. Afterward, she was put in a neck brace, and eventually, the orthopedic resident helped reset her bones that were out of place.

Noticing the time was beginning to fly, I waved goodbye to Beverly, who gave me a wave back before continuing to help the nurse. Walking toward the elevator, I pushed the button and waited.

“Lovely to see you again, Ms. Monroe...” I heard beside me and looked over my shoulder only to stare directly at Alec’s father.

I gulped softly, nodded my head in respect, and responded, “You as well, Dr. Harrington.”

The doors opened, and we both stepped in as the air began to thicken.

“Most likely… you and your classmates have noticed the recent disappearance of my son,” he muttered.

I looked over at him. “Is he okay?” I asked, feeling sympathy for his situation.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, but then he sighed. Reaching up to his face, he massaged his temples.

“Kidnappers... if you want to call them that. They sent me photos of him beaten up, a request of $750,000 cash, and for me to resign,” he muttered and shook his head.

I bit my lip as I, unfortunately, already knew the circumstances he was in.

He looked over at me, giving me a small smile. “I know I shouldn’t be telling you this sort of information, Ms. Monroe. But I don’t know, I have a feeling you’d probably be a good person to talk to,” he responded, and a slight blush rose to my face as the elevator doors opened to the OB/GYN floor.

Stepping out, I looked back at Dr. Harrington to see he was still staring at me. I was itching to get out of there but I didn’t want to abruptly leave as he was being vulnerable towards me.

“I hope you’ll be able to find Alec soon, Dr. Harrington,” I said softly, and he gave me a small grin as the doors began to close.

“I hope so too, Teegan.”

Finishing up the last of my charting for the day, I glanced at the clock to see it was already six PM. Taking a sip of coffee, I jumped as I heard something drop beside me. Looking over, I saw Dr. Woods sitting in the chair. The thing he dropped on the floor was his bag.

“What are you doing here still? Go home,” he muttered, and I laughed as I turned the computer off.

“I had to finish up your charts and mine, Dr. Woods. I want you to go home, too. You’ve been in the OR all day. You need a break, too, you know,” I said, smiling, and he shook his head.

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