Page 26 of Beg, Borrow or Steal
‘I don’t work for you any more,’ she interrupted, and he frowned at her in frustration. ‘And quite frankly this is none of your business.’ She was surprised when he didn’t stop her as she stalked out of the treatment room. As she crossed to the central island Matt, the registrar, caught up with her and handed her a chart.
‘Would you mind taking a history and examining the baby?’ he asked. ‘Mum doesn’t seem to have taken to Toby and we don’t want a complaint on our hands.’
‘No worries,’ Libby replied, taking the chart with a smile as she caught sight of Toby’s retreating back, practically running out of the department.
‘Thought he could use a break,’ Matt explained. Libby smiled again and just before she turned to leave he blocked her way. ‘Good call with that biker,’ he said, and then shifted uncomfortably in front of her for a moment. ‘Look,’ he muttered, his voice dropping to a lower volume, ‘I just wanted to say sorry for not being the best teacher the last couple of days.’ He rubbed his neck, looking down at his feet. ‘I played rugby with Toby and I … well … he might have implied that … Look, I’m sorry. Won’t happen again.’
Libby waved her hand dismissively. ‘Crikey, don’t worry about me. I’m no delicate flower, I promise you.’ She moved a little closer so that she could touch his upper arm to reassure him. ‘Thanks for saying something though,’ she said, her expression serious. The registrar looked up from her hand to her face and his eyes went unfocused, his jaw dropping slightly before Libby could realize her mistake.
‘Go out with me,’ he blurted, and she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. She took a small step back after giving his arm a friendly pat and withdrawing her hand. On balance it was probably better when he was ignoring her.
‘I’m going to get back to work now,’ she told him, her smile still in place but now a little forced. ‘Okay?’
He blinked and she wanted to click her fingers in front of his face to pull his mind back to the here and now. A loud slam made them both jump a little and Libby looked over to see Dr Grantham scowling in their direction. They were close enough that he had probably heard the entire conversation. She heard him mutter what sounded like ‘fucking hell’ under his breath as he swept past them and zeroed in on the consultant in charge. Libby gave the registrar another brief smile and made her way over to the island to read the patient file for the baby. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Dr Grantham take the consultant aside, who at first had a smile of greeting on her face, but the smile was slowly fading now with whatever Dr Grantham was telling her.
Libby could tell that Dr Grantham was angry, given the jerky way he was using his hands as he spoke. He nodded towards Libby and they both looked over to where she was sitting. Libby’s face flushed red, and she wished the ground would swallow her up. When Dr Grantham had finished, Libby abandoned the file and moved quickly to cut him off in the corridor.
‘How dare you speak to the consultant about me,’ she hissed. ‘I can look after myself. I’d sorted it all out. It’s none of your business.’
‘Libby,’ he said, his jaw tight and his eyes narrowed on her. ‘I’m in charge of some aspects of training, and if those fuckwits in there are putting you at risk then it most definitely is my business.’
‘You – ’
‘And,’ he cut in, taking a step closer to her so that he was right in her personal space. ‘Fair warning, Libby. I’m makingyoumy business from now on, so you better get used to it.’
With that statement and without any warning he reached up, cupped her face and for a crazy moment she thought he was going to kiss her, right in the middle of the deserted corridor. His stubbled face hovered millimetres from hers and she was surrounded by his clean masculine scent, before he pulled away abruptly and stormed off. Her mouth fell open as she watched him leave and a hand went up to touch her lips. It may have lasted all of a few seconds, and he may be a total prick, but Libby thought that was the most turned on she had ever been in her entire life.
*****
‘You kissed her?’ Libby heard Mr Martakis’s voice through the door of Dr Grantham’s office and she froze, her hand hovering over the door handle. ‘What the bloody hell are you playing at, mate? I thought you didn’t touch the students?’
‘I said Inearlykissed her,’ Dr Grantham groaned, and she heard a soft thump which was likely him collapsing into his office chair. ‘Christ,’ she heard him say, and held her breath. She had decided to talk to him in his office after her shift, before she picked up Rosie. Explain to him that she didn’t want someone fighting her battles for her and that she was not interested in becoming any man’sbusiness. The last thing she wanted was to be cornered in front of Rosie or at work again; it would be better if they could talk alone.
It didn’t matter that she couldn’t get his smell out of her head. The last thing she needed was any complications to her manic-enough life, and he’d already proved himself to be more than a bit of a tosser.
‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never felt like that before. When I saw the bruises on her arms it turned me into this weird over-protective caveman. I went nuts at Rebecca for letting her get hurt and the poor woman wasn’t even on the floor when it happened.’
‘Do you like her?’
‘Of course I like her. Have youseenher?’
‘Jamie, mate,’ Mr Martakis said, his voice more serious than Libby had ever heard it before. ‘You know what I mean. Do youlikeher? You don’t fuck around with a single mother. Bad form.’ There was a pause and Libby assumed that Dr Grantham must have made some sort of non-verbal response, as Mr Martakis went on: ‘Well then, go for it, mate. Stop making everything so difficult for yourself.’
‘She’s a student, and even if she weren’t, she’s not exactly a girl I can take home to Mum and Dad, is she?’ Jamie said, and Libby jerked back from the door sharply, as if she had been slapped. ‘I mean, not even Dan at his very worst brought astripperhome.’ Tears stung her eyes but she blinked them away, refusing to let them fall. Before she could hear any more she gave his door a one-finger salute, and spun on her heel to run down the corridor in the direction of the crèche, but slammed into something as she turned.
‘Oomph!’ Libby heard, and watched in horror as Dr Morrison staggered back from the impact.
‘Shit, sorry,’ Libby cried, her hands coming up to steady the other woman but withdrawing when Dr Morrison jerked away. The brunette straightened up and dusted down her still immaculate skirt.
‘It’s fine,’ Dr Morrison said, her eyes darting to Libby’s for a moment before she looked away. But something must have caught her attention because she frowned, swallowed and looked back at Libby’s face. ‘Are you … ?’ Dr Morrison looked like she was going to take a step towards Libby but then drew back again. ‘Areyoualright?’ The words sounded stilted and awkward but there was genuine concern in her expression.
‘It’s nothing,’ Libby said, moving round Dr Morrison to continue down the corridor. ‘So sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was – ’
‘Why were you swearing at the door?’ Dr Morrison asked, and Libby froze, forcing out a light laugh.
‘Just a little joke,’ she said, moving away again. ‘Well, sorry. See you around.’
She didn’t wait for Dr Morrison’s response. She needed to get her child, go home and forget about the hospital and all its stuck-up, judgmental occupants for a while.
