That was stupid. I know that was stupid. But fuck him. And it was still vague enough that no one could say much.
He makes a tantrum-style noise I’m positive he’s regretting now. It shows his hand way too much.
“Lived together for a year and everything.”
So, he’s the dick she broke up with before she moved into Micha’s. It makes sense. It also makes me want to interrogate him and break his bones for hurting her, however he did. Because if he weren’t a dick, I wouldn’t be forced to live with her, and she wouldn’t enter into my thoughts because that wouldn’t be an option. Not that it is now.
But I can’t help but wonder what broke them up. Or if she loved him. If he broke her heart or if she felt relief when it ended. And how, legit how, after a year and a half together, was he unable to make her come? What’s up with Skylar’s lack of orgasms? Is it physical, mental, or shitty partners?
Whatever the reason, whatever all of this is or even isn’t, I want to watch him squirm. Just enough so he feels it. So he knows she’s no longer his. Even if she’ll never be mine.
“That must be difficult for you, considering she’s moved on.”
“What?” flees his lips, and I realize I’m completely talking out of my ass now. I have no clue who sent her the chocolates or where she was after work yesterday, when I know she got off at three and didn’t come home until after six. I’ve simply assumed she was with this guy, but now that I know she wasn’t, I don’t mind torturing him a bit.
He couldn’t even get her off. Which for some inexplicable reason makes me smile behind my mask.
“Someone sent her a massive box of dark chocolates—her favorite—for Valentine’s Day.” I tilt my head, the light coming from beneath my surgical glasses illuminating just how much blood has pooled in this kid’s lungs and how badly these ribs are fractured. “Let’s drain all this blood and get his lungs cleaned up. Then I want to place a patch here and redirect the ribs so they’ll heal faster and better. And I want to freeze the nerves. Poor kid’s been in a lot of pain.”
“I’ll ready the cryo,” the circulating nurse tells me.
“Let’s hang a unit of type specific,” the anesthesiologist says. “That’s a lot of blood you’re suctioning out of his lungs.”
“That’d be great. How are his vitals?” I ask.
“Holding steady, but his BP is dipping a little. The blood will bring it back up.”
“Perfect.”
“She’s not with anyone,” Josh picks up without caring about what we’re doing in the surgery. “I’d know.”
I peek up at him before I glance around the room, noting all the eyes on us, all the curious, gossip-loving eyes. It’s insanely unprofessional.
I shrug indifferently. “If you say so.” Now that the blood is drained from the lungs, I get to work on repairing the diaphragm before we can place the patch and freeze the nerves surrounding his broken ribs. “Perhaps you should focus moreon the patient and less on nurses you’re no longer dating. Especially while in my OR, Dr. Wesley.”
He doesn’t seem to care about the gossip-loving nurses and techs in the room. He’s steaming, visibly fuming, which is no easy feat considering we’re masked and goggled up. Whether it’s because I told him Skylar is dating someone else or because I called him out on it, it doesn’t matter. I don’t like him. I don’t want him seeking Skylar out or talking to her, or even so much as looking at her. Maybe it’s better if she continues to live with me.
Then again, I haven’t told anyone she is. And as far as I know, she hasn’t either.
It’s a secret, and I’m not sure why, when it’s innocent. A simple misunderstanding.
Smartly, Dr. Wesley keeps his mouth shut for the rest of the surgery while I save this little boy’s life.
“I’ll scrub out and speak to the parents,” he announces and goes to leave the OR without waiting for my response.
“You can do that,” I call out to him before he reaches the OR doors. “Because we all know you’ve been completely useless in this surgery. How you got into this program is a mystery to me. But if you ever behave this way in my OR again, caring more about a previous relationship instead of your patient, I will write you up. As it is, this was not the best first impression to make with me, Doctor. I expect better next time. Is that understood?”
He turns back to me, his eyes narrowed slightly, but otherwise he’s cool and composed. “Understood.”
The door opens and swings shut behind him, and I step back to allow the tech and nurses to finish up and get the patient ready to move to the PACU.
“Is it always like this here in the OR?” I ask. “What’s with all the drama?”
“He started chasing Skylar the moment he set foot in thishospital as an intern and saw her,” Marion, one of the nurses, informs me.
“Skylar thought it was a Fritz thing at first,” Erica, the circulating nurse, states. “Owen, Stone, Luca, and Kaplan Fritz all checked in on her when she started here three years ago, and word spread fast about her family. Plus, everyone knows her mother is Rina Fritz Davenport. There’s no hiding it if you’re a Fritz in this city, as I’m sure you know as a Hughes.”
“So, he was money- and fame-seeking?”
