Roxie couldn’t even imagine how it would feel to see him with another woman, but she knew she either had to give him all of her or nothing. Kian wouldn’t accept anything less than . . . well, everything. That’s how she’d gotten lost in him the first time around. And it was so much more intense now than it had been back then.
“How’s everything going, Roxie?”
She turned to find one of the new young nurses standing there with far too much perk in her step and eyes. Roxie hated the woman just the tiniest bit in that moment. She would love to feel carefree with no burdens on her shoulders. It didn’t even matter if she was placing half of them on her own shoulders.
With an unusual attitude, Roxie found herself wanting to throw a kicking, screaming, downright three-year-old tantrum. She found herself wanting to throw her perfectly good cup across the room and enjoy it as it slid down the wall. Her lips twitched as she pictured the poor nurse’s expression. It was almost worth it just for that. Instead, she sipped her coffee and smiled.
“It’s great. How are you, Jeanette?”
“Wonderful. My boyfriend is taking me out to a romantic dinner tonight.”
Ah, that’s why the girl was being all social. She wanted to brag. Well, goodie for her, Roxie thought snidely.
“I shouldn’t jinx it, but I think he’s gonna propose,” she added with a sigh.
“How old are you?” Roxie asked. She looked twelve but obviously had to be older than that.
“I just turned twenty-one. I graduated high school early,” she said with a giggle.
Oh, the things Roxie wanted to tell this girl. She wanted to explain how much she would change in the next few years, wanted to warn her not to jump too quickly into marriage, wanted to tell her to run. But then that would be putting Roxie’s own burdens on her. So, she just smiled and said what she was supposed to say.
“That’s wonderful, I can’t wait to hear what happens.”
Jeanette beamed as she literally bounced out of the room. Roxie downed her coffee and refilled her mug before heading out to the floor again. Her shift wasn’t even halfway over, and it felt as if the day had only just begun. Normally she loved her job, but Kian had her mind and emotions all screwed up, and maybe, just maybe, she was going to find him and give him a real piece of her mind. That made an actual smile pop up on her face.
Without her consent, or even being in her right mind, Roxie found herself heading to the elevators and pushing the “Up” button. She waited impatiently for the doors to open, and when they did, she stepped on with determination. She was going to give him a piece of her mind.
It didn’t take her long to find him, and she was all worked up when she did. He was talking to another doctor, and she stood in his peripheral vision and tapped her foot impatiently. The other doctor eyed her for a moment before turning back to Kian, who didn’t acknowledge her presence. That only infuriated her all the more.
She was about to scream when the doctor Kian had been talking to gave her one more weary glance then scooted away. She wanted to yell at the man that the hospital only ran so efficiently because of the nursing staff, and maybe he should give them a lot more respect. Somehow, she managed not to do just that.
Kian turned to her and really pissed her off when he gave her that same damn smile he gave rowdy patients, that calm-down-and-trust-me smile. She heard a low growl escape her lips and was shocked enough by it that she took a step back.
“We need to talk,” she told him, her voice raw with emotion.
“Okay,” he said, not attempting to argue with her. He was being perfectly reasonable, and that should have calmed her, but it only infuriated her all the more. If she was being even a little bit rational, then maybe she would realize how insane she was acting, but she was too far gone for that.
“We need to talk about the other night,” she said, trying desperately to keep her voice down as people passed by them.
He seemed utterly relaxed, without a care in the world if people heard them or not. That wasn’t helping her blood pressure at all. She was trembling; she was getting herself so worked up, and he was just calm, that damn patient-calming smile on his perfect too-handsome face.
“What about it?” he asked. He then had the gall to glance down at the chart in his hand. Roxie then did something she never thought she’d be capable of doing. She stepped up to him and slapped the file from underneath. The papers flew up in the air and then fluttered to the ground. Several people were passing by and stared, obviously trying to assess if they needed to call security or not.
She might have calmed down at that point if she hadn’t looked into Kian’s eyes and seen laughter in them. The corners of his eyes were crinkling, and his lips were twitching. He was trying desperately not to laugh at her.
The rest of Roxie’s cool evaporated as she launched herself forward, more determined than ever to wipe that smugness from his face. She wasn’t even sure who in the hell she was anymore; she just knew she had to damage him.
The chuckle that escaped him as he easily lifted her up, placing her over his shoulder, vibrated through her body, and she pounded her hands against his back. When she heard his next words, she felt her face go scarlet as she tried to sink within herself.
“Sorry about this, folks, we just have a patient who needs to be returned to the fourth floor,” he said.
“Ah,” came the response. The fourth floor was the damn psych ward! She was so spitting angry, she could kill him.
He carried her down the hallway over his shoulder, and Roxie continued to beat against his back as he laughed. He didn’t stop until he went through a doorway and shut a door, the lock going firmly in place. Then, as if she were a sack of potatoes, he shifted her from his shoulders and tossed her on the bed.
The bright light was shining as he stood above her. The wretched man had the gall to lean against the bunk beds across from her, his arms folded as he gazed at her with a smile, as if he hadn’t just humiliated her.
“Carry on,” he said.
“Carry on?” she screeched. She didn’t even recognize her own voice anymore.
“You were saying?” he prompted.
Roxie jumped from the bed, her limbs tangling, tripping her up, certainly slowing her momentum. Then she was finally on her feet and coming after him. He didn’t budge. Just stood there as she pounded her fists against his chest. His expression never changed as she wore herself out. Finally, her anger dimmed, and then she was absolutely horrified at what she’d become, of what she’d just done.
Her eyes widened, and she took a step back, her hands going over her mouth. “I-I-I . . .” She closed her mouth. “I don’t know what happened,” she said.
Her knees gave out, and she flopped down on the bed as her head dropped. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why I was so mad.”
She was close to sobbing, but she couldn’t fall apart. She was in the middle of a shift. She had to get back out on the floor. As if Kian could read her mind, he lifted his phone, pressing it to his ear.
“This is Dr. Forbes,” he said, his voice filled with professionalism and authority. “Nurse Gilbert will need to be replaced. I’m having a consultation with her that will take the rest of the shift.” There was a pause. “Thank you.”