I heard her before I saw her. She sounded annoyed as she explained something.
At first, I couldn’t hear what was being said, but as I got closer, I realized that something had happened that had put someone’s life in danger, and it’d all been because of some protocol that the dumbass had refused to support.
“…If we’d just had a sitter in the room with the psych patient, he wouldn’t have been able to gather anything to try to stab Rachelle with. As it is, she had to have four stitches because he stabbed her with a sharpened tongue depressor. If someone had been in there sitting with him, he wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“Listen, Prudence…”
“Pru. My name is Pru. It’s not shortened. It is what it is,” she said.
She didn’t snap it, but she might as well have.
“Pru,” the man who I assumed was Kelley said. “I realize that this was a bad experience…”
“A bad experience?” Pru sounded like she was about to lose her shit on the man. “This could’ve been awful. He could’ve stabbed her in the heart and not her arm. He could’ve done some serious damage. Then what would’ve happened?”
Kelley sighed.
“Good luck,” the guard whispered, turning and walking away.
I waved him off and stopped just outside the door.
“I’ll discuss new protocol measures with the board when we meet next month. In the meantime, maybe you should have a nurse sit with them,” he suggested.
“You’re kidding, right?” She sounded incredulous. “I’m short two at least once every shift. I never get the chance to eat, let alone use the bathroom. My nurses are run ragged, and we wouldn’t have any spare time to sit in a patient’s room and keep watch on him seeing as you want our times to see patients so low. To make those low we have to be able to utilize our staff, which we can’t do when one of them is tied up watching a patient when you could easily have a sitter down here doing the same thing for less pay.”
“Listen, dearheart,” Kelley started.
That’s when I backed up a few steps, then practically stomped my way to the door, put on a large fake smile and said, “Thanks for showing me the way, man. Have a good night.”
When I made my way inside without knocking, it was to find a tall, skinny man with perfectly styled hair and a three-piece suit leaning against his desk. He had his legs crossed in front of him, and his hands in his lap.
He looked like he hadn’t a care in the world, and wasn’t discussing his staff’s safety.
Pru, on the other hand, was as far from him as she could get—in the corner—with her arms crossed over her chest defensively.
She looked angry as hell but also relieved to see me there.
“Hey, darlin’,” I drawled. “The security guard showed me where to find you. I hate to rush you, but I got food in my saddlebags waiting for us. Are you ready?”
Pru’s eyes lit. “I am.”
“And who, might I ask, is this?” Kelley stood up to his full height.
He was taller than me, but not by much.
But he was definitely trying to intimidate me with his superior height.
It wouldn’t work.
The man likely hadn’t ever fought a day in his life based on the state of his obviously manicured hand.
I could take him with my eyes closed.
“This is Kelley Lowe,” Pru introduced me. “Kelley, this is…”
“Her boyfriend, Hoax Hicks. Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand for him to shake.
Kelley looked at it like it was a rabid possum instead of a hand, but inevitably took it and shook it once limply before letting it go.
My grandfather had taught me a lot over my time, and one of the things had been that you always gave a good handshake. Man, woman, or child, you treated them all the same. Gave them all the respect they deserved. Not too hard, but not soft. You don’t want them to think you’re a pussy.
I could hear my grandfather’s voice in my head plain as day. Honestly, it was almost as if he was speaking to me about this very instance.
“I can’t say that I’ve heard a lot about you,” Kelley wiped his hand on his leg like he’d gotten something slimy on it.
I barely contained the urge to laugh out loud.
“Yeah?” I looked over at Pru and winked. “We’re still pretty new, but she’s kind of a big deal to me.”
Pru visibly softened, and I knew I’d said the right thing.
Getting jealous over whatever this man said wasn’t something that I wanted to do.
She worked with the man. It was understandable that she’d talk to him.
And, admittedly, we were new so there was a chance that she wouldn’t shout from the rooftops about me just yet. If we didn’t work out—which I had a feeling that we might—she didn’t want her private life splattered all over the place just in case.
But, I got the vibe from this man that Pru didn’t particularly care for him. It’d make sense that she wouldn’t talk to him.
She had spoken with the guard about me—in length apparently—and he’d known quite a bit.
“Well, I’ll hope to hear more about this from the board,” Pru sniffed as she made her way toward me.
She had to brush by Kelley to do it, and he didn’t make the effort to try to get out of the way even a little bit. She had to turn sideways not to touch him.
Which was likely his intent.
“Have a good one,” I told him the moment she got close enough to me.
Wrapping my arm around her, I showed her out of the room.
The moment we were at the corner of the hallway, she stopped me with a ‘wait.’
I waited.
Turning to look at her, she pulled out her phone and texted something before shoving it back into her pocket.
“Had to text Conleigh and Phoebe so they knew I made it out alive.” She rolled her eyes.
Then she threw herself at me, pressing her soft lips against mine.
Instinctively, I caught her and pulled her in close.
This wasn’t our first kiss…but it was definitely something I hadn’t experienced to that extent before.
I groaned into her mouth and tasted her, licking lightly at her tongue that made its way into my mouth.
I loved that she was the one to initiate the kiss. I loved even more that she wasn’t shy when it came to me.
When she pulled away moments later, her eyes were glazed, and she was panting lightly.
“I might’ve gotten a little overly excited that you came for me,” she whispered, looking guilty.
I pulled her back into me until I was inches from her mouth.
“You can get overly excited with me anytime,” I teased her.
Then I placed my mouth once again on hers.
She shuddered and leaned farther into the kiss.
My hand was moving south, its destination her ass, when I heard a disgusted throat clearing.
I pulled my mouth away from Pru’s and found myself staring into the angry, pissed off beyond belief eyes belonging to Kelley.
“I do believe that’s inappropriate to be doing at your place of work,” he huffed.
I looked around the abandoned hallway. “This portion of the hospital closes down at five. And, I’m sorry to say, we weren’t doing anything inappropriate in the first place. Had clothes started to come off, then it would’ve been inappropriate.”
Kelley’s eyes narrowed.
But before he could get a word in edgewise, I caught Pru by the wrist and tugged her along with me. “I hope you like cold Chinese food.”
She made an agreeing sound in the back of her throat and quickened her step.
I picked up my pace with her, and not a minute later we were outside where the security guard was standing vigil at my bike.
“You left the keys, I was concerned,” he explained his actions.
“Oh, you’re just the sweetest thing ever, Mr. M!” Pru teased.
The door behind us whooshed open, and I turned to find Kelley making his way out. He didn’t say anything else, but his glare said enough.
He didn’t like me.
The feeling was mutual, though. I sure as fuck didn’t like him.
At first, I couldn’t hear what was being said, but as I got closer, I realized that something had happened that had put someone’s life in danger, and it’d all been because of some protocol that the dumbass had refused to support.
“…If we’d just had a sitter in the room with the psych patient, he wouldn’t have been able to gather anything to try to stab Rachelle with. As it is, she had to have four stitches because he stabbed her with a sharpened tongue depressor. If someone had been in there sitting with him, he wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“Listen, Prudence…”
“Pru. My name is Pru. It’s not shortened. It is what it is,” she said.
She didn’t snap it, but she might as well have.
“Pru,” the man who I assumed was Kelley said. “I realize that this was a bad experience…”
“A bad experience?” Pru sounded like she was about to lose her shit on the man. “This could’ve been awful. He could’ve stabbed her in the heart and not her arm. He could’ve done some serious damage. Then what would’ve happened?”
Kelley sighed.
“Good luck,” the guard whispered, turning and walking away.
I waved him off and stopped just outside the door.
“I’ll discuss new protocol measures with the board when we meet next month. In the meantime, maybe you should have a nurse sit with them,” he suggested.
“You’re kidding, right?” She sounded incredulous. “I’m short two at least once every shift. I never get the chance to eat, let alone use the bathroom. My nurses are run ragged, and we wouldn’t have any spare time to sit in a patient’s room and keep watch on him seeing as you want our times to see patients so low. To make those low we have to be able to utilize our staff, which we can’t do when one of them is tied up watching a patient when you could easily have a sitter down here doing the same thing for less pay.”
“Listen, dearheart,” Kelley started.
That’s when I backed up a few steps, then practically stomped my way to the door, put on a large fake smile and said, “Thanks for showing me the way, man. Have a good night.”
When I made my way inside without knocking, it was to find a tall, skinny man with perfectly styled hair and a three-piece suit leaning against his desk. He had his legs crossed in front of him, and his hands in his lap.
He looked like he hadn’t a care in the world, and wasn’t discussing his staff’s safety.
Pru, on the other hand, was as far from him as she could get—in the corner—with her arms crossed over her chest defensively.
She looked angry as hell but also relieved to see me there.
“Hey, darlin’,” I drawled. “The security guard showed me where to find you. I hate to rush you, but I got food in my saddlebags waiting for us. Are you ready?”
Pru’s eyes lit. “I am.”
“And who, might I ask, is this?” Kelley stood up to his full height.
He was taller than me, but not by much.
But he was definitely trying to intimidate me with his superior height.
It wouldn’t work.
The man likely hadn’t ever fought a day in his life based on the state of his obviously manicured hand.
I could take him with my eyes closed.
“This is Kelley Lowe,” Pru introduced me. “Kelley, this is…”
“Her boyfriend, Hoax Hicks. Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand for him to shake.
Kelley looked at it like it was a rabid possum instead of a hand, but inevitably took it and shook it once limply before letting it go.
My grandfather had taught me a lot over my time, and one of the things had been that you always gave a good handshake. Man, woman, or child, you treated them all the same. Gave them all the respect they deserved. Not too hard, but not soft. You don’t want them to think you’re a pussy.
I could hear my grandfather’s voice in my head plain as day. Honestly, it was almost as if he was speaking to me about this very instance.
“I can’t say that I’ve heard a lot about you,” Kelley wiped his hand on his leg like he’d gotten something slimy on it.
I barely contained the urge to laugh out loud.
“Yeah?” I looked over at Pru and winked. “We’re still pretty new, but she’s kind of a big deal to me.”
Pru visibly softened, and I knew I’d said the right thing.
Getting jealous over whatever this man said wasn’t something that I wanted to do.
She worked with the man. It was understandable that she’d talk to him.
And, admittedly, we were new so there was a chance that she wouldn’t shout from the rooftops about me just yet. If we didn’t work out—which I had a feeling that we might—she didn’t want her private life splattered all over the place just in case.
But, I got the vibe from this man that Pru didn’t particularly care for him. It’d make sense that she wouldn’t talk to him.
She had spoken with the guard about me—in length apparently—and he’d known quite a bit.
“Well, I’ll hope to hear more about this from the board,” Pru sniffed as she made her way toward me.
She had to brush by Kelley to do it, and he didn’t make the effort to try to get out of the way even a little bit. She had to turn sideways not to touch him.
Which was likely his intent.
“Have a good one,” I told him the moment she got close enough to me.
Wrapping my arm around her, I showed her out of the room.
The moment we were at the corner of the hallway, she stopped me with a ‘wait.’
I waited.
Turning to look at her, she pulled out her phone and texted something before shoving it back into her pocket.
“Had to text Conleigh and Phoebe so they knew I made it out alive.” She rolled her eyes.
Then she threw herself at me, pressing her soft lips against mine.
Instinctively, I caught her and pulled her in close.
This wasn’t our first kiss…but it was definitely something I hadn’t experienced to that extent before.
I groaned into her mouth and tasted her, licking lightly at her tongue that made its way into my mouth.
I loved that she was the one to initiate the kiss. I loved even more that she wasn’t shy when it came to me.
When she pulled away moments later, her eyes were glazed, and she was panting lightly.
“I might’ve gotten a little overly excited that you came for me,” she whispered, looking guilty.
I pulled her back into me until I was inches from her mouth.
“You can get overly excited with me anytime,” I teased her.
Then I placed my mouth once again on hers.
She shuddered and leaned farther into the kiss.
My hand was moving south, its destination her ass, when I heard a disgusted throat clearing.
I pulled my mouth away from Pru’s and found myself staring into the angry, pissed off beyond belief eyes belonging to Kelley.
“I do believe that’s inappropriate to be doing at your place of work,” he huffed.
I looked around the abandoned hallway. “This portion of the hospital closes down at five. And, I’m sorry to say, we weren’t doing anything inappropriate in the first place. Had clothes started to come off, then it would’ve been inappropriate.”
Kelley’s eyes narrowed.
But before he could get a word in edgewise, I caught Pru by the wrist and tugged her along with me. “I hope you like cold Chinese food.”
She made an agreeing sound in the back of her throat and quickened her step.
I picked up my pace with her, and not a minute later we were outside where the security guard was standing vigil at my bike.
“You left the keys, I was concerned,” he explained his actions.
“Oh, you’re just the sweetest thing ever, Mr. M!” Pru teased.
The door behind us whooshed open, and I turned to find Kelley making his way out. He didn’t say anything else, but his glare said enough.
He didn’t like me.
The feeling was mutual, though. I sure as fuck didn’t like him.
