Page 70 of Safe With You

Dr. Hendricks races to block my path, arms up against my shoulders, forcing me to focus.

“She’s okay, she’ll be okay. They took her down to the ER to get checked out.”

I shove Dr. Hendricks away, turning instead to the doorway that leads down to the ER.

“No,” he again stands in front of me, this time shoving me back with both hands. “You can’t go down there, not now. You need to get the fuck out of here. Now.” He tucks his hand under my armpit and leads me down the hall like a child. He opens the door to the doctor’s lounge, practically shoving me inside. I pace the path in the narrow hall, back and forth, back and forth, willing myself to calm down.

Dr. Hendricks stands, hands resting on his hips as he shakes his head. “This is a mess, Ryan.”

“You didn’t see what he was doing to her,” I shout, chest heaving with each word. I storm the last few paces to him until we are face to face, and I point behind him to the unit. “You didn’t see—”

“I saw enough,” he interrupts. His voice is softer now, soft enough that I see the worry etched on his face. The reality of the last ten minutes hits me, and I back myself into the wall, letting my legs give out as I slump to the floor.

The phone on Dr. Hendricks’ hip rings, and he picks it up. He murmurs a few short, one-word answers to whoever is on the other line. He tucks it back in his coat pocket, groaning as he throws his head back. He turns to leave me alone in the lounge, pausing once the doorknob is within reach.

“Take a shower, Dr. Ryan. You’re covered in his blood. When you’re done here, security will escort you out.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lainey

“What happens now?” The words are nearly impossible to push out. Each swallow, each clearing of my throat burns. The rasp of my scratchy, sore voice startles my supervisor. Since we arrived in the ER, she has been furiously texting on her phone talking with upper management, security, or whoever needs to know about what happened.

“Sorry, what?” she asks, finally breaking her gaze from her phone and giving me her full attention.

I wrap the heated blanket tighter around myself, but it isn’t enough to stop the trembling. “What happens next?”

“You are taking some time off, for one. Human Resources wants you to come back tomorrow to give an official statement, to explain what circumstances led to …”

To me getting attacked.

I’m bloody and bruised, barely able to hold my composure right now and all this hospital can focus on is reliving the whole situation again in front of a board of Grace General’s finest.

I pull the blanket up over my shoulders, burrowing in, counting my breaths to quell the tears begging to be set free.

“I don’t know what they will do to Dr. Ryan.”

Her comment has me sitting up a little further, wincing at the sore muscles. “Why would they doanythingto him? If he hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t pulled him away, who knows wha—”

“He didn’t just pull him off of you,” she interrupts, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He didn’t just pull him off and hold him back, he fought him. He took it way too far and there may be punitive action taken against him.”

If it was possible to feel any worse at this moment, her comment would have done me in. I couldn’t imagine that after saving my life, the hospital would decide to fire Ryan. Or worse, strip him of his license. Or let the patient press criminal charges against him.

But I also decided right then and there that if, and only if, the patient or hospital tries to act against Ryan, I will use whatever leverage I have. Maybe Iwouldend up burning this hospital to the ground if it meant protecting him.

“Without him, I wouldn’t be here.”

She lets her head fall back to hit the cold, textured wall behind her, sighing heavily. “I know …” She’s quiet for a moment before a small chuckle escapes her, and she immediately clasps her hand over her mouth to quell the noise. “Sorry,” she says sheepishly, “I was thinking that after all this is over, once the dust has settled, I might start calling Dr. Ryan the Hulk.”

I furrow my brow at her comment.

“Lainey, these aren’t your basic wooden door. They’re made from a fancy polymer that’s denser. They were created because generally, it’s a more hygienic material than wood, which a hospital needs, but they’re insulated, fire rated, soundproof …” she pauses as she shakes her head, “fucking durable if you don’tmind my French … meant to withstand a hell of a lot, and he busted through it like it was nothing.”

Most everything about what happened is a blur. I remember fear, a true stomach-clenching fear that was too eerily like other experiences I have. But then I remember a feeling of relief. A usual calm washed over me once I saw it was Ryan trying to break through the door. I saw his foot bust through multiple layers of whatever material she said it was, and I knew he’d stop at nothing to save me. Even if he wasn’t sure how I felt, or if he still questioned what he felt, there wasn’t a shred of doubt in my mind that he would find a way to me.

A knock on the door sounds, and a blonde doctor in navy scrubs enters. My supervisor takes that moment to answer her phone and leaves us with a finger pointed in the air. “Be right back.”

I recognized the doctor immediately as Ryan’s friend, the one he was with the first night we met, the one he was with that fateful night he crashed my terrible date.

---