“Mr. Cleary,” a voice intruded and then my shadow was gone. Wait…where had he gone? Or had he been there? Janice hustled me down a hallway, she was talking. Had I imagined someone had been there?
Probably better not to ask.
They really didn’t like it when I asked things.
CHAPTER 18
FREDDIE
“Mr. Cleary,” the doctor said as he came into the room where I’d been waiting for my intake. Liam had to leave me at the front. All I had to do was play sullen and disinterested. Not a problem. I’d been dressed in pajama bottoms, a t-shirt and socks with some expensive fucking slippers on. If not for the fact we were going to the fancy pants loony bin, I might have given Liam shit about them.
As it was, Liam wasn’t alone in delivering me. While Rome stayed in the car, his gaze fixed on the gothic looking building, Liam had two men escort me inside with him. I couldn’t say I was a fan of the hired muscle. Still, we’d all had a part to play and theirs was to make sure I got in and stayed in.
What. Ever.
I barely glanced at the doc. Expert counselors, nurses, and orderlies comprised the majority of the staff of Pinetree Psychiatric. It had only one full time doctor. Convenient. Told me exactly who I needed to stab.
The fact he was within arm’s reach made him a tempting target. Really tempting. Not until I found Boo-Boo. That was the point of this exercise. Since the goal was for me to be hostile and morose, I didn’t have to do shit.
“I’m Doctor Schuitevoerder,” he began as he circled the room to take a seat on the opposite side of the table. Dude was pretty fucking brave coming in here by himself. Course, the guys probably hadn’t added violence to my record.
I’d make sure to add that for them. Then because I couldn’t resist, I said, “Gesundheit.”
The doctor gave me a bland look. “Mr. Cleary, or do you prefer Frederick?”
Right, nope. I went back to staring at the wall. My lack of answer didn’t seem to be much of a deterrent for the scumbag doc.
“It says here you answer to Freddie, but I’m going to insist on Mr. Cleary until we’ve developed a rapport. To that end, I will also request you to call me Doctor Schuitevoerder.”
Rolling my head from side to side, I savored the crack of my vertebrae. “Gesundheit.”
“And,” Doctor Sneeze continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “I will require your attendants to also address you as Mr. Cleary. Let’s make it clear from the beginning, Mr. Cleary, you are here as a patient. Your records indicate a troubled history of drug abuse, pandering, excessive partying, and self-destructive behaviors. None of those will be tolerated here at Pinetree.”
Sounded pretty fucking boring. Then again, torture probably wasn’t something they wanted to advertise.
“We’re going to concentrate on your routine. You will have a private room. Breakfast will be held in the common area. There’s a community room for recreation. We’ll have your morning sessions with group, then afternoon sessions with your individual therapists. Patients are restricted to the controlled areas for the first ten days or so, but adherence to the rules will earn you a pass sooner, rather than later.”
Man, he could drone on and on and on.
“Lunches can be taken in the community room, but dinners will be in the dining hall. Again, we encourage socialization…”
Now we were talking. I definitely wanted to socialize while I was here. Specifically, with Boo-Boo.
“…to that end, however, we also require that patients maintain a healthy social distance from each other, emotionally as well as physically. Friendships can be beneficial, but not everyone here is ready for a relationship, positive or otherwise.”
Man, he was a dick.
“For example, you might strike up a conversation with someone because of group, but you need to understand that their physical and mental wellbeing are as important to us as your own. That means we’ll ask you to respect their space and to keep your hands to yourself.”
Were we done yet?
“Do you understand?”
I could write him a fucking essay if he needed it, but I wouldn’t. Right now, I just wanted out to their common area. I needed to see Boo-Boo. I needed to put my hands on her and just feel that she was okay.
“Mr. Cleary?”
I glanced at him.
When I continued to say nothing, he favored me with a dark look. “You should say, yes, Doctor Schuitevoerder.”
“Gesundheit.”
His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. Yep. The man did not want to be teased about his name. Thank you for playing, and showing me a weakness.
“Are we done now?” I asked. “I’m tired.”
The doctor didn’t quite glare at me. But he also wasn’t not glaring. Yeah, he had buttons. I had a partial combination. Give me time and I’d drive him mad. That would be the start of the payback I wanted to deliver.
“Let’s go over the rules then, shall we?”
I’d rather poke sticks in my eyes, but sure, why not? It took him a half hour to go over the rules. They were basically the same thing, just rephrased slightly differently. Boring as fuck, didn’t begin to cover it. A nurse interrupting saved my sanity, this particular trip.
“Doctor Schuitevoerder?” she said as she opened the door.
“Gesundheit,” I told her. The doctor slammed the file down on the table.
Temper temper.
“Yes?” It was like he had to grind the word out between his teeth. Must suck to be him. And if it didn’t now, I fully intended for it to suck later.
“You have an appointment in ten minutes, you asked me to remind you?”
“Ah, thank you, Ms. Hassmen,” he said.
Wow. That was just too easy.
“Mr. Cleary, this is Ms. Hassmen.”
“Assmen?” I repeated cause, c’mon.
The doctor glared this time. Oh, he felt that one. Good good. “Hassmen,” Doctor Sneeze repeated.
“Oh.” Bummer. I preferred Assmen. Lots more possibilities there. Still. “Ms. Assmen,” I greeted her.
The doctor’s teeth came together with a click. “Get Broderick, have him take Mr. Cleary to his room and get him settled. He’ll need to surrender everything and change his clothes. He can check out books or other materials from the library. At the moment, he has decided to be belligerent. When his attitude adjusts, we’ll discuss letting him have his things again.”
“Do I have to go to bed without supper?” I called as the doctor headed for the door.
“Don’t tempt me, Mr. Cleary,” the doctor responded when he stood in the doorway. He swept a cool look over me. “Don’t press your luck.”
Doctor, I haven’t even begun pressing my luck. While Ms. Assmen wasn’t bad to look at, she had ass for miles, she also wasn’t the person who took me to my room. No, that was Broderick. Big. Broad. And stupid looking. Like an ox.
Sweat trickled down my spine as he “escorted” me by the arm down the hall. Instinct told me to jerk away from the grip he had on my arm. I ignored it. Just like I ignored the sour way my sweat smelled. It was fine, I was supposed to look strung out.
The hallway was bad enough, but the room with its narrow walls and tiny cot was a lot worse. Broderick didn’t leave a lot of room for oxygen to fill the place. “Strip,” the man ordered after we were in there.