“I’m so sorry, Ellie, but—”
“Aurora, I’m not mad,” she said quietly, giving me a moment with that. “Tell me first what is going on with Mark? Does he always treat you like…”
Creed snorted again, crossing his arms over his chest when Ellie looked at him. “Like shit on his shoes? I honestly didn’t know he had another way to behave but yeah, he treated Aurora like that.” He frowned deeper when he looked at me. “Tell her.”
I cleared my throat and looked down at my hands. “I deserve it after what I did to Ellie.”
“No, you don’t,” they both said together, Ellie continuing. “I’ll handle Mark and get you a different contact for help if youneed it. Maybe you…” She cleared her throat, shooting Creed a questioning look.
“Thank you, Ellie,” I whispered, realizing she didn’t want to embarrass me. I let out a slow breath and met Creed’s upset eyes but then looked away again. “I can’t speak when you’re so angry. Please, it’s not what you think. Ellie didn’t know and it wasn’t nefarious, Creed.”
“Creed Maddox from maintenance, right?” Ellie hedged.
“Yes.” That was it,buthe did relax some when it was clear this wasn’t some setup. “I’ve been too screwed over to not get pissed, Aurora, but I believe you.”
That was about the best I would get, so I took it. I met his gaze but then realized I should talk to Ellie. “I walked up on doctors very openly and loudly harassing him. It was obviously a normal thing and I interjected. A few weeks ago.” I waited until she nodded and looked at Creed. “Ellie’s worked really hard to cut out the corruption and toxicity.”
He sighed. “So you wanted to know why me. Okay, well, she knows I’m an ex-con and—I’m sorry, Aurora, but she’s…” He closed his mouth and ran his tongue over his teeth.
“Part of the problem?” Ellie chuckled darkly. “I doubt that, but I understand most thinking that. So tell me whatever you think I’m involved in or not handling. Without recourse. I promise.”
“Ellie would want to know, Creed. Please, trust me on that,” I pushed when he gave her a look that he wasn’t stupid. “She is the purest soul I’ve ever known.”
Ellie snorted. “I’ve killed too many people for that to ever be true, Aurora, but that was a different time.” She narrowed her eyes at Creed. “I am a busy woman though, so spit it out or quit—”
That was the right button to push because he adjusted his neck and cut her off. “I puteverythinginto studying and trainingfor the EMT parole program. Top of the class. I got to pick wherever I wanted to go because of it. What better place than ASH, the mecca of medicine and saving everyone who cares, right? Yeah, bullshit, when I fucking come here to be ajanitorand—”
“Wait—what?” Ellie bit out, rage practically pouring off of her. “Who decided that if you passed the program?”
Creed blinked at her for several seconds and then shook himself out of it. “The guy I reported to for the next step in the process. The doc in the emergency department. He practically laughed in my face that I thought I would really get to train to be an ED tech and told me to grab a mop bucket and be grateful I had a job.
“That he’d call my parole officer if I so much as looked at him funny or stepped foot in the emergency department. My supervisor told me the program is all bullshit and three others on the maintenance staff were in the same boat. To just suffer through the time during my parole and get a different job later because then not everyone would know I was an ex-con.”
“They aren’t supposed to knownow,” Ellie bit out.
“They do,” I told her. “He was hassled while we were eating lunch.” I focused back on Creed. “Yes, I knew something was off and wanted to get to the bottom of why you were being bullied, but I wasn’t spying or—I thought I could help and knew Ellie wouldn’t allow this. I truly enjoyed our lunches and have—”
“Wait, so this wasn’t just today?” Ellie interjected, looking worried now instead of angry.
“No, we’ve been having lunch for a few weeks now,” I admitted. I winced when she sighed and rubbed her forehead.
Creed chuckled darkly. “Yeah, I got it. You’ll fix me getting fucked over, but stay away from your stepmom, right?”
The anger instantly came back in Ellie’s eyes. “She has a bodyguard. She needs one.”
“So we’re dropping the act that he’s my driver, huh?” I whispered, mortified that she announced that to Creed.
She lost her anger and squeezed my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Aurora. That was unfair of me, but I have pieces of both sides of this that clearly you both don’t have. I know his history and yours, and it’s not him or you, but the combination—it’s like watching a car crash.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” I whispered, staring back at my hands.
“That’s it?” Creed asked. “She says no and that’s it?” He snorted. “Wow, Aurora, okay, so cool. So glad that—”
“And your anger issues are partly why,” Ellie growled. “You have piles of reasons to hate the world, and I’m sorry getting screwed over by my hospital has now added to that, but she is…”
“I told him that I’m a survivor of abuse,” I whispered, understanding why she hesitated. I let out a slow breath before meeting Creed’s gaze. “I don’t judge you for being in prison because I should be too. If the sins I committed weren’t centuries ago, I would be. They were against both my daughters. They’re sins I can’t ever be forgiven for. Excuse me.”
“Aurora, wait,” Ellie sighed as I headed for the door.
