“Sorry,” he said, flinching back and letting go of me. “Let me get the chair.”
“No!” I barked. “I’m fucking walking down there and telling that bitch that she’s fired!”
The prospect and Nurse Chipper looked between themselves, and he frowned. “Didn’t she already quit?”
I glared at him. “No one fuckin’ quits me.”
“All right, easy, brother,” Joey replied, holding his hands in the air. “Just take a breather and think about this for a minute.”
“You really need to get back to bed, Mr. Beast,” the nurse said, coming behind me. “Doctor Collins hasn’t given you authorization to leave this room.”
The prospect and I looked at each other and both started laughed. Wasn’t sure what was funnier: the fact she’d called me “Mr. Beast” or the fact she thought I needed the doc’s authorization to leave the room.
I threw open the door and stormed into the hallway, listening as the prospect called Gauge on his cell phone. The whole thing made me even more infuriated, like even the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks prospect thought I needed babysitting. I was so done with this fucking place.
Every barefoot step was agony, like splinters piercing through my muscles, as I made my way through the busy hospital hallways, glaring and scowling at anyone who got in my way. Doctor Collins came out of one of the side rooms, clipboard in hand, and looked up, his eyes going wide when he saw me.
“You can’t be out here!” he said, his voice filled with panic.
“Fuck off!” I barked, and continued on.
He scurried after me. “Beast, you need to get back to your room. You’re putting everyone in danger by being out here. If someone sees you…”
I stopped and turned to him. Piece of shit was five foot nothing, with a head of gray hair and bronze skin from all the fucking trips to the Caribbean that being on our payroll paid for. He was a pathetic weasel of a man, long face, twitchy eyes, and I’d never liked him. Liked him even less now that he was getting all up in my space and trying to tell me what I could and couldn’t do.
“Back the fuck off, Doc,” I said, accentuating each word carefully so he knew I was serious and not to be argued with.
He huffed like a dog being told off. “I want you out of my hospital today,” he said sternly. “I’m done treating you.”
I barked out a short, sharp laugh. “You think I care?”
For a little man he had a big pair of balls on him, because he shook his head at me, his eyes narrowing. “You have one hour to get your things and leave.”
“Get the fuck out of my way,” I snapped, and pushed him backwards so hard that he stumbled back and fell on his ass, his little clipboard sliding along the ground.
I turned back around, coming face to face with Belle.
Her expression was full of surprise. Surprise at seeing me out of bed, surprise at seeing my naked white ass, or surprise at me assaulting Doctor fucking Collins, I wasn’t exactly sure.
I pointed right at her, my jaw twitching as I glared. “You’re fired.”
Her surprise turned to confusion. “What?”
“You deaf? I said, you’re fired.”
She scowled at me, her pert little lips pouting. “I already quit, Beast.”
“I don’t accept your resignation because I was already firing you’re ass,” I snapped.
“You’re pathetic,” she said, and turned her back on me before walking away.
I stormed after her, grabbing her shoulder and turning her back to face me. “Who do you fucking think you’re dealing with, Belle? You think I’m one of the good guys who lets people speak to him like that? You think you get to quit on me? Sending this fucking ray of sunshine to my room like I’m a kid with extra pudding and a Styrofoam motherfucking cup because I can’t be trusted? Who the fuck do you think you’re fucking with?”
I was yelling so loudly now that my head had started to hurt and I felt dizzy. Or maybe it was because I shouldn’t have been on my feet. Hell, I shouldn’t have been walking, or moving either. I should have been fucking dead. That’s what I should have been.Dead!Six feet under and rotting back into the earth with Echo in a dirt grave, my cut and my gun to keep me company.
She shook her head. “I knowexactlywho you are! You’re a sad little boy who pushes people away when he doesn’t get what he wants!” she yelled back.
“Fuck you!” I roared.
