Page 34 of Knight
She smiled. “Let me guess. You’re a new resident.”
“What gave me away?” I asked. “My incredible confidence?”
She laughed a little too hard at that. “Come on, I’ll take you to Dr. Rose. We should have about five minutes before she heads into surgery. I’m Liliana. I didn’t catch your name, Dr…?”
“Donovan,” I said. “But you can call me Aiden.”
She gave me an assessing look as we walked down the hall. “You’re too young to be hitting on me.”
“And too gay,” I said.
“Ah, that explains it.”
“Explains what?” I asked, wary.
Not everyone was open-minded about my sexuality, but I didn’t want to worry about hiding it on the job. After my dad died, I’d never played straight again.
It hadn’t saved me from his rage, anyway.
He’d lashed out at me with his fists, but it’d always been his words that hurt the most.
You’re a waste of space.
Weak.
Pathetic.
You should have never been born.
After that, what harm could anyone else really do?
“It explains why you’re more polite than most of the doctors around here.” She nudged me with a laugh. “Save me from the overconfidence of straight cis men, am I right?”
I laughed with her. “Are there a lot of those here?”
“Too many, honey. Way too many.”
A man emerged from an office a few feet in front of us.Liliana gestured to him. “Dr. Foley is a perfect example.” She lowered her voice. “Senior surgical resident. A real charmer, if you know what I mean.”
He looked over, as if sensing we were speaking about him. “Liliana, what are you doing out of the free clinic? The meth heads need their Florence Nightingale.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve got to pay the bills. You know the clinic is volunteer only. You could always help out.”
He scoffed. “Sorry, but I’ve got surgeries lined up all day. That’s a little more important than doling out antibiotics.” His gaze flicked to me. “And who is this?”
“Dr. Foley, this is Dr. Donovan. He’s a new resident.”
His eyes narrowed. “I haven’t heard about any new surgical residents.”
“I’m in the research fellowship,” I said, stepping forward to hold out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
He shook my hand. “Ah, so you’re not really one of us.”
“I guess not in the traditional sense, no. Dr. Rose asked me to meet with her.”
Foley turned and rapped on her door before opening it. “Hey, Monique, you’ve got a lost little research lamb out here.”
I turned to thank Liliana, but she’d already slipped away. Smart woman.
