Fucking hell, I needed to get out of this damn room and away from this fucking cop. “Dr. Jacee’s number is on the last page. Call him if you need anything else.”
“Wait—”
Ignoring him, I spun around on my heel and marched out, breathing a sigh of relief the second I was back in the familiar hallways of the hospital’s chaos.
CHAPTER 10
Terran
Life moved quicklyover the next two and a half weeks.
Getting discharged from the hospital, while swift, had me back with my family within hours of the paperwork being signed and put into the system. My sister, along with Ainsley in tow, had picked me up and whisked me back to our house. Strict orders of bed rest were non negotiable, as were the nightly bedtime stories Ainsley had conned her mother into allowing me to read to her before we settled her in for the night.
The kid was certainly going places with her skilled tactics.
I wagered a courtroom. My sister was betting on real estate.
Being back home and in my own bed, surrounded by my family, was so much better than trying to sleep in that damn hospital room, fighting to shut out the sounds of the staff and patients coming and going outside of my open door.
The staff had tried to make me as comfortable as possible while I was there, but nothing beat being back in your own environment, surrounded by the familiarity of the life and comfort you’d built for yourself.
My follow up with getting my stitches removed this morning had come just as quickly. A relatively painless process and handled with care by Dr. Jacee, who’d pulled and plucked nineteen stitches from my skin with ease. The work had been impeccably done, a fact Dr. Jacee felt the need to point out several times while I was laid out on his table.
None of it surprised me. Dr. Montgomery—Silas, as I’d come to find out from my paperwork—struck me as a perfectionist. He was calculated in the way he talked and carried himself. It made sense as to why that was also mirrored in his work.
I tried to not allow my gaze to wander around the halls while I passed through them on the way out of Dr. Jacee’s office and to the front entrance, once I was sent on my way with one more follow up appointment for the end of the month. Searching for a familiar tall figure and finding none that matched was annoying to catch myself over. Especially, once that small sliver of disappointment stabbed at me when leaving the hospital once more.
While unsurprised to be shoved off onto another doctor after what happened the last time we were alone in a room together, I found myself irritated over how quickly things had gone downhill. In the blink of an eye, I’d gone from thanking the man who quite literally saved my life, to making him wildly uncomfortable to the point in completely cutting off care and sending me to someone else.
Not only was it embarrassing, but it tainted the gratitude I had tried to show him.
What kind of thank you ended with a boner and a stifled moan?
How much of a desperate horn dog was I?
The only silver lining to all of this was the phone call I’d received from my captain the moment I’d climbed into the passenger seat of my and Amelia’s car, telling me I was neededdown at the precinct for my formal interview with IAB, giving me a much needed distraction from the agony of reliving that scene in my head over and over again.
Amelia had dropped me off soon after, wishing me luck before heading out to grab Ainsley from daycare.
Two officers from IAB were waiting for me by the time I stepped through the double doors, and they had quickly ushered me into one of the back interrogation rooms for our chat. Audio and video recording had been set up, and then we got down to business.
Recounting the details wasn’t nearly as nerve-wracking as I originally thought it’d be. Largely due to TJ and I following exact protocol up until the point I was stabbed. Neither of the officers batted an eye while they recorded my play-by-play of tackling Thomas to the ground and reaching for my handcuffs when I should’ve been grabbing his arms to pin them down instead.
Their underwhelming reaction meant one of two things: either they were going to wait until the investigation concluded to lecture or fire me, or they didn’t care at all and believed this to be a one-off situation.
The conclusion of which would come within the next few weeks.
“Your cooperation is appreciated, Bishop.” Matthers, one of the IA desk jockeys, shot a hand out to catch my shoulder, giving it a hard squeeze that twinged up along the base of my neck when we all stood up. “I’m sure you understand that discretion is needed at this time.”
“Yeah, of course.” My shoulder subtly twitched under his hand. “Any word on if a lawsuit is being brought against us?”
“We’re not at liberty to say at this time.”
Figures.
“Understood.”
The other one, Jacobs, said, “We’ll be in touch. Collaborate with your captain on the next steps for your leave and when you’ll be returning.”
