Alex exhaled heavily and her breath tickled my spine. "Like I said, I was working on a bowel obstruction. It was situation normal, no need for the Chief of Surgery to scrub in and watch over my shoulder, but he did it anyway. He doesn't say a single word during the entire procedure. Asked no questions. Probably didn't even blink. Just watched andscowled."
"What a bastard," Nick said under his breath as he popped the top off a bottleofbeer.
She exhaled again, and tossed a growl in with it. I liked a girl who growled. "He observes the whole damn procedure and then—in front of my goddamn residents and the OR nurses and basically everyone in the entire hospital—he launches into a tirade about mysurgical posture. Surgical fuckingposture."
Nick shrugged. "Yeah, that's obnoxious." He pointed at her with his beer bottle. "But don't blow it off entirely. Youarehunching."
Two moreminutes.
"Shut the fuck up," Alex snapped. "If anyone else had been running that procedure today, Chapelton would still be going on about the surgeon's clean, efficient work and low incidence for complications. He'd be throwing down bonuses and cushy schedules before wheeling the patient intopost-op."
"I don't disagree,"hesaid.
"There's literally nothing I can do to break even here," she said. She wasn't working so hard at being right anymore, and the brassy beat of intimidation was gone from her tone. Now she just sounded sad. Defeated. "He's not going to fire me because I'm the best gastrointestinal surgery attending he has, and he knows it. But he's not allowing me to advance at all, and he's not giving me a drop of credit for my performance. I'd quit right now, but I can't leave without a decent recommendation from the guy. We all know I'm not going togetthat."
"Not until you correct that surgical posture," Nickquipped.
"Thanks for that," she said. "I just need to prove that I'm not the same—I don't know, slut? floozy? idiot?—who hooked up with one of herinterns."
Erin shook her head. "Women are always getting punished for having sex. It's theworst."
"It wasn't evengoodsex," Alexgroused.
"Nowthat'sthe worst," Erinreplied.
"The Chief will come around," Nick said, but it didn't sound like he truly believed it. "Keep on keeping on. Soon enough, yourreputation—"
"Myreputation," she interrupted, "is based on being the resident who slept with her intern, and not realizing that he was using me to get access to additional OR time and better procedures before going back to his girlfriend in Minneapolis. That's my reputation, Acevedo. Every time we get a new cohort of interns or residents, everyone starts wondering which one I'll take to bed. Which one will get the preferential treatment this time around? They whisper about whether I like them young, or just love the power trip of it all. I could drop a stomach on the operating room floor or remove the wrong duct and people would still think of me as that one bitch who didn't knowbetter."
"Well," Erin said as she opened a bottle of wine, "if you ever want to get drunk and complain about the patriarchy, a bunch of us go out for pedicures on Thursday evenings. I don't always make it since I travel for work a fair amount, but it's a good time. We go to this cool spot where they serve margaritas, heavy on thetequila."
"Thanks for the invite. I'll think about it." She brought her hand to my shoulder. "All done and"—she pointed to the clock—"thirty-five seconds to spare." I sat up and reached back to touch it but she slapped my hand away. "No. We have enough issues with the rusty nail wound, and it wasn't a pretty one. Don't add irritation to infection by touching it. Wash your hands, and I'll write you a course ofantibiotics."
"Not so fast." Nick set his beer on the countertop and dug through the backpack. "I think I have a vial of tetanus in here somewhere. I stocked up after that nail gun incident. Yeah, here it is." He glanced at me while drawing the fluid into a syringe. "You readyforthis?"
I stood and unbuckled my belt, and my shorts hit the floor. "Iguessso."
Alex studied me while she peeled off her gloves. Her brows were furrowed and that frown was firmly in place, but her eyes were all over my chest. I pushed my boxer briefs down just enough for another stab wound, and her lips parted with a sigh that sounded too delicate tobereal.
And she was staring at my ass, her mouth open and her hand pressed to her throat like she was trying to clutch a strand of pearls orsomething.
Nick looked from the syringe to me, to my bare ass, to Alex, and then back to me. "Dude," he said. "Pull your damn pants up." He pointed to his upper arm. "Deltoid, notgluteal."
I tipped my chin toward Alex. "Only if Gastro Girl candoit."
ChapterSix
Alexandra
No one hadany business with an asslikethat.
Orabs…
…orarms…
…orface.
It was obnoxious, really. The whole perfectly built picture. No one neededthatmuch.
