Page 74 of Connected

“Um… no Carol. No, it’s fine… I’m fine. They’re um, they’re friends of mine. I think you might remember them.”

He gulps nervously as Digby pushes him inside the office—walking him backward—Digby forces him against the desk and Zak closes the door behind them and guards the exit.

Trapped in the office, Riley takes a deep breath as Digby towers menacingly over him. “Oh, you’re no fuckin’ friend of mine or Kat’s anymore.” he shoves him hard in the chest. “Cos, what kind offriendgets someone’s girlfriend to kill his kid? Answer that for me. Is this what you do for a livin’?”

“No—not usually—no. But Kat, she… she asked for a favor and… Look, she was gonna do it, anyway.”

There’s a heavy thud as Digby thumps him hard in the face and knocks him to the floor. “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you. You know that?”

“Please… I didn’t—I didn’t agree with this. I tried to caution her about doing it. I told her she should talk to you first but… it’s Kat and she’d already made up her mind. I just wanted to help her. Look instead of taking this out on me, why don’t you go home and talk to her?”

“Diggs…” Zak positions himself between the pair of them—finding himself now protecting Riley as Digby continues to threaten the smaller doctor’s life. “Diggs, he’s right. You should go home and talk to Kat. Maybe you can straighten this out.”

“Yeah, when I’m done with him I will.”

Digby shoves Zak away and drags Riley to his feet and punches him low in the gut. The medic gasps in submission as the breath leaves his body and he drops in a heap to the floor. He’s bleeding and covers his head with his hands, begging for Digbyto stop. The wolf won’t listen and losing control he lashes out, punching again and again.

Zak takes a deep breath and wedging himself against the wall he uses all of his strength to force Digby back. “Diggs… Diggs, you can’t do this. Get real. You can’t kill him in here.” he takes another breath and they glare at each other. “Wait… you need to stop and think. He’s right, Kat did this, so it’s her you need to talk to. Digby, can’t you see she’s scared? Hell, she’s gotta give up everythin’—everythin’ she ever wanted to do. Just try’n imagine if you had to give up operatin’. How would you feel?”

“Well then she shoulda been more fuckin’ careful, she shoulda taken precautions…”

“Oh, c’mon Diggs, that’s not fair. What happened with Alvarez, shook her up. All the chaos comin’ back, she didn’t have time to think about that. Hell, if I’m honest, what happened out there—it shook me up too. She’s had her mind on other things and… it was a mistake. These things happen, but don’t make her pay for it. Give her a chance to explain.”

“Zak, my pup is not a mistake—none of my pups are mistakes.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, and you damn well know it. What I meant is it’s a lot for her to take on board. You two need to talk. Hell, maybe you can talk her around and find some kinda compromise.”

“Get the fuck off me!” Digby shoves Zak away and growls at Riley. “You… You remember, he just saved your fuckin’ life. And don’t come near me or Kat again, are we clear?”

Riley nods, wiping the blood from under his nose.

“Good.” Digby rakes a hand through his hair and takes a breath. “I need to go. There’s someone I need to speak to.”

“Diggs…. Digby! Where the hell are you goin’ now? Oh, fuck…” Zak sighs, rubbing the sweat from his brow.

“I need to go see Ezra. I need to talk to him. Just get a goddamn cab back to the house. And Zak… make sure Kat doesn’t do anythin’ fuckin’ stupid until I get back.”

“All right, but please… just calm yourself down. Hey, and don’t get into anythin’ with Ezra. The mood you’re in, you don’t need to piss him off as well.” Zak sighs and shakes his head as he looks at the forlorn-looking Riley slumped against the wall. “Shit… Are you all right? Okay, c’mon let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Um… yeah, I think I’m good. Zak, I really didn’t mean for this to happen. He was never supposed to know.”

“No I know, but it didn’t help your name all over the box on those fuckin’ pills. Hey, look don’t worry. I’ll try’n talk to him—when he calms down. So, is Quinn here at the hospital? Cos you might wanna call him, get him to take you home. You probably shouldn’t drive in this condition.”

“Is Kat all right?”

“You mean did he do this to her? No, he wouldn’t. God, what a fuckin mess.” Zak slumps, head in hands, onto the office chair. He sighs as he drags his hand through his hair. “And today started so fuckin’ great.”

“You know, I tried to talk her out of it. I—”

“Yeah, I’m sure you did. But this is Kat we’re talking about, right? She has this way of gettin’ you to do whatever she wants. C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up and call Quinn.”

***

Digby smiles as he stands in the bedroom doorway looking at Kat. There’s an awkward silence between them as she looks up from the bed where she’s sat clutching her knees to her chest.

“Hey…. You need anythin’?”

“No.” She bites her lip anxiously as they continue to stare at each other. His blue eyes glare brightly with the gloom of the hallway behind him. “I… I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t know how to make this right.”

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