Page 113 of Promises in the Dark

That was a low blow. He was obviously trying to get a rise out of me.

And it worked.

“Go shove your opinion up your ass, you spineless coward.”

I felt my hand move before my brain could catch up, instinctively grabbing Dr. Prick by the collar. I pulled him close, jerking him up to meet my cold, emotionless eyes.

My fist clenched as I prepared to connect it with his arrogant face and the motherfucker grinned at me as if he was enjoying this. He was trying to provoke me, and I was itching to knock him out.

In a split second, I felt someone grabbing my arm and pulling me back before I could do any lasting damage.

“That’s enough,” Captain’s voice rang out, piercingly authoritarian but I didn’t back down. “That’s fucking enough!” he warned again, louder this time.

I gritted my teeth, the taste of bile rising in the back of my throat as I forced myself to back the fuck off before I did something that would land me in deep shit.

“Lieutenant, I need to remind you that Dr. Davis was transferred to this base as afavourto you. You asked for her to be assigned here, and I granted your request.”

I didn’t need a reminder of the debt I fucking owed.

He had this condescending way that made me want to punch him too, but I bit my tongue.

A low growl rumbled from deep in my chest as I released that cunt’s collar, stepping back, struggling to calm the hell down.

“Yeah, I didn’t forget that,sir,” I replied in a more controlled voice. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stand by and watch this fucker sabotage her career.”

“That’s not what’s happening here, Rogue,” Captain replied, full of that holier-than-thou bullshit, turning to Red. “Whatishappening is Dr. Moore will be overseeingallof Dr. Davis’s medical decisions from now on. Every call you make will need to go through him. You act only with his permission.”

Beneath all the anger, there was a persistently sense of despair, a feeling of being helpless, that no matter how hard I fought, I was powerless to stop the machine from grinding us all into fucking dust.

Red’s defeated expression tore at my fucking heartstrings, her eyes dull with resignation as she asked the question we’d both been dreading.

“How long?”

Captain dodged the question like the coward he was, his face unreadable, hiding behind more bullshit.

“I’ll reassess the situation in a few weeks, Dr. Davis. See how things go.”

“Afew weeks?” she repeated, her voice spiked with outrage. “You’re going to let him dictate my every move forweeks? Months? Forever?”

“I’ll review the situation regularly,” was his final verdict.

It wasn’t fucking fair, none of it was.

It was rigged from the start, and it made me want to tear the whole damn system down. But no amount of yelling or swinging fists would change the fact that Red was now trapped, forced to dance to that piece of shit’s tune.

Still, this fight was far from over.

As the captain wrapped up, his eyes locked onto mine, delivering his final fucking warning.

“Lieutenant,” he said low and even, “watch your temper. You’re on thin ice, son. One more outburst, one more incident, and there will be consequences.”

Son.

I nearly told him to go fuck himself right then and there, that his threats meant jack shit to me.

“You heard me?” he asked again because I wasn’t reacting fast enough for his liking.

I bit back the fucking retort that rose to my lips, knowing that now wasn’t the time to push my luck any further.

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