Page 47 of Forever Mine

I slammed him against the wall. The guy tried to kick at me but missed. “What…are you…talking…about?”

I slammed him again, fingers tightening. “Don’t lie to me. I know it’s you. You have five seconds to answer me before I snap your fucking neck.”

“Fuck you.” His nails dug into my hand, making me bleed, but I didn’t loosen my hold. “I…haven’t done…shit…crazy motherfucker.”

My other hand closed into a fist and reared back, ready to break his fucking face.

“What’s going on here?” Startled, I jumped away to see a doctor in his early fifties walk in, a frown on his face. He looked familiar, but in my raged-up haze, I couldn’t put a name to his face.

Still, I let my hold of the guy go and he stumbled back against the wall, holding his neck and gasping for breath.

“This fucker is trying to kill me, Dr. Kiley!” the guy yelled.

“And you deserve it after the hell you’ve put Dakota through!”

“I haven’t done shit!”

“Then why the fuck are you here? Why are you always here?”

“Enough.” The doctor’s deep baritone was enough to get us both turning toward him.

“I’m so sorry about this, John. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He glared at me. “I should press charges.”

“Do it.” I snapped, stalking toward him again, getting a tiny bit of glee when he stumbled away from me, fear in his eyes, “Like I wouldn’t happily spend the rest of my life in jail if it meant you couldn’t bother Dakota again.”

“I’m not! Jesus fucking Christ!”

“Jay.” The doctor using my name snapped my attention to him. “John is here because his mother is in the hospital with an infection. He has every right to be here, as he has every right to press charges, though I am hopeful that he understands that this was a big misunderstanding?”

The doctor looked to John, who just shrugged. “Keep that fucker away from me. If I see him even look at me, I’ll call the fucking cops.”

Dr. Kiley’s lips thinned, like that bothered him, which made no sense. He just witnessed me assaulting someone. He should be calling security himself, not getting the guy to back off.Something about his behavior was off, but I couldn’t fully process what, before John stormed out of the waiting room, leaving me wondering if I just let Dakota’s stalker go, or if I was just about to kill an innocent man.

“Fuck.” I scrubbed my face, pacing away from the doctor. “Fuck. Fuck.” I…needed…something. To hurt someone…punch something. Meds or a drink. Dakota. I didn’t fucking know, but I was spiraling right there in the waiting room while a fucking doctor watched me.

“Jay.” I spun to him, ready to snap. Why the fuck was he still here?

“How about we go to the break room? You can wait there and I’ll get Dakota for you.”

I sucked my lip ring in between my teeth. That…sounded better. If I stayed here I’d probably try to hunt down that asshole again, and likely this time I would kill him. I mean, it had to be him, right? It’s too much of a coincidence that he happened to be fucking here? Not only that, how did he even know Dakota’s name or who I was? The only way he’d know that was if he was following us.

I took a step toward the door, ready to body the doctor if I needed to. “His mother really is a patient. I can show you if you want. It’s against the rules, but under the circumstances, I’m willing to make an exception.”

Fuck. I pulled on my hair so fucking hard I was lucky I didn’t rip it out. I needed to get control of myself. “No…” I gritted out. “It’s fine. Show me the break room, please.”

The doctor nodded tightly and seemed relieved. He turned around and I followed him out and down the hallway. I kept looking for Dakota but I didn’t see him anywhere. He was probably in with a patient, but I really wished I couldn’t at least get a glimpse of him. I needed him.

“It’s right through here.” I paused mid-step. The hallway he was leading me down wasn’t where I found Dakota the day my car was fucked with. It was possible there were more than one area for the employees, itwasa fucking hospital, but something didn’t feel right.

“Where are you taking me?” My hand slipped in my pocket and closed around the knife handle. Funny enough I didn’t even think to go for it when I was choking the life outta John, but now…

“Just to the break room to wait for Dakota, that’s all.”

I opened my mouth to tell him this wasn’t the right way to the one I knew, when something sharp pricked my neck. I grabbed at it, and turned toward Dr. Kiley, who was holding a fucking syringe in his hand.

“What the fuck?” The knife fell to the floor as the world started to spin and I collapsed. I got one last look at the doctor staring down at me before everything went black.

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