Page 27 of Shades of Loyalty
And, to my surprise, Jennifer agreed. She genuinely meant it when she told me she thinks it’s agreatidea. It surprised me.
"This is going to be your workplace," I explain as we walk into the medical room. She looks around.
“Workplace? You’re joking, right?”
“No. I allow you to stay with us. We keep you safe, and you make sure our men get help. You’re a nurse, aren’t you?”
She rolls her eyes, most likely confused as to why I’d want her to work for us.
"Doesn't seem like you have any other medical staff here," she mumbles.
I laugh. "Yeah, we don't. Not anymore."
"Well. What happened to your—"
"He died a while ago. But he was pretty old and sick as well; we expected it." She looks at me suspiciously,probably because she doesn’t believe me. But it’s the whole truth.
"Look. Our doctor was good, but, well... he used to serve my grandfather, at some point. I think that says enough about his age," I laugh before continuing.
"See, Jenny, it’s just that we haven’t had a doctor here for weeks. And the amount of people who’ve gotten hurt? You don’t even want to know. Seriously, I don’t know whose idea it was anymore, but putting some guys who work for the mafia in a medical room to try and work as a doctor? While they’re not qualified? Bad idea. Very fucking bad."
She rolls her eyes, shaking her head.
"You should’ve expected that. Did something bad happen after you lost the doctor? And why didn’t you get a new doctor before?" she asks, either not caring or simply ignoring the nickname, before taking a closer look at some of the medical equipment.
"Not much happened, no. Two guys hurt their legs, one broke his hand, and the other... Well, he got shot. But you know about that.” I sigh. “Besides, it’s not that easy to try and find a doctor who’s willing to work for a mafia. I thought that was obvious.”
I hear her take a deep breath. Fuck. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned Roy. I look at her, noticing the way she’s slowly dissociating as she stares at the floor, her fingernails scratching at her hands. To get rid of blood which hasn’t been there for over twenty-four hours now.
I’ve seen it before on my men. But when seeing it, I thought it was normal. I went through it as well. For our workers, it’s nothing more than a normal side effect.
But seeing her do it? It fucking breaks my heart. And once again, I wish she wouldn’t have to be here.
Yet another selfish side of me tells me I want her to be here. She’s pretty. She’s nice. She’s everything I’d want in a woman. But I’m a fucking bastard for even thinking this way.
"Well, then, Daniel. Fine, I’ll work for you for a while, but I have some important conditions." Her tone tells me she isn’t joking. Not at all.
I smile weakly, ready to give her anything she asks for. "Tell me, pretty. What is it that you need?"
"First of all, you’re going to get me new medical equipment. I mean, I get that the man was old, but this thing? We’re living in 2025 now, Daniel. Not going with the times might be fun for some people—vintage is in again, after all. But this? Seriously? It doesn’t surprise me that you can’t take care of patients properly."
A simple nod is all it takes to satisfy her. "Alright, then. Tell me what you need, and I’ll make sure you get it. No big deal. I take my people’s health very seriously. Especially my worker’s health.”
I don’t know if she understands what I’m referring to, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s going to be a worker for me, as well. But I know I’m going to treat her better than anybody else. Just because she’s a woman, of course.
Before she continues staring at the tools, her eyes land on the big bookshelf on the wall. There are boxes filled with hundreds of medical records from our soldiers.
She pulls one of the files out of a box labeledImportantand flips through it. Although I don’t think much of it, I sigh the second I realize whose file it is.
Of course, she’s going to want to investigate my file. How the fuck did she even find it that quickly?
"I don’t think you should look through that now. It’s not important. And none of your business.” I immediately speak up, but all I earn is a mocking laugh. “You want me to be your nurse and work for you, but you don’t allow me to look through my patient’s files? How’s that gonna work?”
I gulp when she looks up at me, her ocean blue eyes burning with fire as they pierce right through me. When I finally find my composure to speak up, she continues to talk. “I’m gonna write patient files for you in the future. So I’m expecting you to allow me to look through old files, as well. What if I miss somebody’s pre-existing conditions and something goes wrong because of—”
“Fine. Fine. Look through it. Do whatever you want with the files,” I sigh, “They’re all yours to search through.”
For some fucked up reason, the sneaky smile she gives me before she dives back into the file makes me want to spank her ass until she admits being this snappy with me is wrong.
