“You were only stitched up a couple of days ago,” Dr. Andoh reminded me, the picture of calm. He came over and unlooped the stethoscope from his neck. In seconds, he had the earpieces secured and the bell on my chest. “You walk.”
I did as he asked, and he kept pace with me. I fought back some pained grunts, and he nodded along before stepping away to glare down at the bandage on my leg like it offended him somehow. The white gauze peeked out from under the black cotton shorts a nurse had given me this morning.
“Yeah, but the nurse said they’d be sending me home for sure tomorrow, maybe today. So why not just today, Dr. Andoh?” I flashed him a cheerful smile I was pretty sure all the sweat streaming down my cheeks ruined. “What’s the difference?”
“Maybe because you need to rest and everyone knows you won’t do it at home,” Rowdy said, pointedly glancing at my leg.
“Oh, that’s a bunch of horse shit. I’m fine.” My leg gave a harsh throb, as if to take Rowdy’s side, and I groaned. “Okay, maybe not fine, but I’ll live.”
Dr. Andoh cut an inquiring look at Rowdy, pursed his lips at me, and nodded. “I see you have things on your mind that aren’t healing.” He shrugged. “I’m fine to send you home, if you have someone to keep an eye on you. You’re not going to want to get up and down much in the next few days, but you do need to keep active. It’s a fine line.”
Rowdy huffed out a laugh. “You can stay at my house tonight.”
“You gonna take time off to babysit?” I snarked.
“Already did.” He flashed me a big, toothy grin.
Dr. Andoh laughed and slung his stethoscope back into place around his neck. “Fine. Your heart is strong. I’ll put through the paperwork, but you need to keep every single appointment for that leg. And the side. You had serious wounds, Mr. Greene. Maybe you should change your career, huh?”
Groaning, I only nodded at him, though he didn’t sound like he thought I’d seriously rush off to do something other than be a prison guard.
Dr. Andoh shook my hand with one final warm smile that showed off every tooth he owned. The spring in his step as he walked quickly from the room irked me. I couldn’t wait until I was feeling that good. Already my sick time was digging under my skin like a case of poison ivy.
“He’s chipper,” Rowdy said, eyes twinkling.
“Well, he doesn’t have any chunks missing. Makes it easier.”
It took me a minute to force myself back to the bed, and I let out a groan as I sank down to sit. Rowdy only rolled his eyes at me.
There was another knock on the door, and I perked up, hoping it was someone with discharge papers already, but I was surprised when Burnsdale stuck her head in the door. She was dressed like she was on her way home from a shift at TFC—maybe she’d pulled the morning—and her uniform was covered by a puffy, pink winter jacket. Her blonde hair was down and tickling her cheeks in a way I’d never seen it, and she had a friendly smile.
“Hey, you,” she said and stepped in. “Can you give us a minute?” She shot a pleading pout at Rowdy, something I’d also never seen on her at work, and he was on his feet in a flash.
“Sure.” Rowdy gave me a wide-eyed, questioning look, complete with a shoulder shrug, but I only nodded. He didn’t quite close the door as he left.
“I look like total shit, here. Sorry,” I mumbled. “How are you doing?” What I really wanted to do was ask about Peter. How could I manage that without coming off suspicious?
“Oh, me? I’m great.” She only shook her head. “You should look bad, from what I heard happened. I saw the footage, too. Brutal stuff. So, that’s where they got you.” She stared down at my leg, and I lifted my shirt so she could see the bandage hiding under there as well. It was a fucked-up adult version of show-and-tell. Every time a guard was injured, we all wanted to see what was in store for us.
“Yeah. The fuckers got me good.”
“Are you doing okay otherwise?” She stepped closer with a small vase of yellow roses clutched in her hands and settled the gift onto the tray table pushed against the wall.
“Thanks. Yeah.” My heart clattered along, going too fast. I hoped she hadn’t gotten the wrong idea from me hanging out in the guard station so much. “Are you here for the betting pool? How many thought I would kick the bucket? Come on. I won’t be upset.” I forced a laugh.
She giggled, a delicate, girlish sound that had me grinning. “You’re obviously too buff to die. But… uh… did you know that they’d put cameras in the medical rooms? They had a nurse who was apparently disappearing with some meds, and the admin was trying to get a solid case on her.”
My blood froze, and I couldn’t budge as fear scrabbled around in me. Her expression was merely curious. I’d waited to take things further with Peter, not because I didn’t want to get fired, but because it wasn’t right to put that on him behind bars. I’d still done more with him than I should’ve. I let out a long breath and barely kept myself from tipping forward headfirst off the bed.
“No. I did not know that.”
She lifted her eyebrows at me.
“I—we—when he gets out—”
“Drew, I know you.” She wasn’t hurling accusations, and some of my panic faded as she took a small step closer to the bed. “I don’t think you’re… hmm. Doing anything against the letter of our work policy.” She drew the words out as if to imply she was well-aware I was violating the spirit of the no-fraternization-with-cons rule. “You do have a thing with him, though?”
“Are you turning me in?” I whispered. “You’d be within your rights to do it.”
