“Not that we know of,” Lucy scoffed, and I wanted to slap the shit out of her and that look off her damn face.
“Look, Grace, we know you like him or have been seeing him or whatever.”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Angela blinked, shocked, but she shook it off. “Yeah, well, he attacked Suzanne and he’s already been suspended for it. He’ll likely lose his job and he’ll be lucky if he stays out of jail.”
“You’re lying. Jacob wouldn’t attack—”
“Oh yeah?”
I turned to see an angry and scowling Suzanne standing on the other side of the nurses’ station.
“That monster attacked me in his office for no reason.”
I shook my head as my body began trembling with anger.
“You don’t believe me. Just look at my neck!” she yelled, snatching the silk scarf she tied around her neck off.
Gasping, I covered my mouth in horror when the red marks around her neck became obvious. The world stopped spinning for a few heartbeats, and all was silent as my mind tried to reconcile what it was seeing.
“Dr. Lyons walked in on him, and if she hadn’t, he would’ve killed me. I was terrified for my life.” Suzanne began sobbing.
Two of the nurses behind me brushed past me to move to comfort Suzanne, hugging her.
“He’s a m-monster,” she heaved at me through trembling lips. “You don’t want to believe it because he’s your boyfriend but he’s dangerous, Grace.”
“I’m sorry, Grace.” Lucy came up behind me, placing her hand on my shoulder.
I shook my shoulder free, turning to face her. “We don’t know what happened in that room.”
Lucy’s eyes narrowed on me; obviously she couldn’t believe that in the face of such mounting evidence I would even consider still defending Jacob.
“We do know that Suzanne has some obvious injuries, and that Dr. Lyons and a patient of hers all back up her claims. We know Dr. Reynolds is not the friendliest staff member on this floor. Look, I’m sorry but the facts don’t lie. And his case isn’t helped by him not saying anything.”
I tilted my head. “What do you mean he hasn’t said anything?”
“According to my friend who works as one of the administrative assistants in the legal department, Dr. Reynolds never even spoke when asked what happened. Never said what precipitated him attacking Suzanne. But he never denied it either. He just walked out of the office.”
I wrinkled my forehead in utter confusion. “He left?”
Lucy nodded. “Without a word.”
Turning, I gave Suzanne one final look as she proceeded down the hall, her shoulders shaking as she cried, being comforted by the two other nurses. I narrowed my gaze on her back. Something just didn’t feel right. I’d never trusted Suzanne, and she was talking about the man that I’d fallen in love with. I would’ve automatically dismissed her claims as lies, but the red marks around her neck and eyewitnesses were two things I couldn’t get passed.
“I’m sorry, Grace,” Lucy said before passing me and heading down the hallway.
I stood there alone and trying to comprehend this situation. When I couldn’t, I pulled out my cell phone and tried to call Jacob. His phone went straight to voicemail. I sent him a text asking where he was.
Glancing at the clock on the wall, I sighed realizing I still had an hour before my shift was over and a ton of more work to do that would likely take me well past that hour. I sent him another text telling him that I would get out of work past my scheduled time but that I’d head directly over to his place afterwards.
I didn’t receive any message back, not that I expected to. Jacob was clearly in the wind.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jacob
I stuffed my cell phone back into my pocket, barely letting the two text messages I received from Grace sink in. She’d be at my place once she got off work.
