“Because you do.” I started to leave the room, but he reached out and took my arm.
“What the fuck, Mia? You going to blame this all on me? I told you to look into the EMR.”
“I represent the hospital and the hospital says it’s not the EMR.” Those words felt like sandpaper in my mouth.
He stepped back.
“Fortunately, it looks like you have a soft place to fall. Someone to comfort you.” I wished I’d been able to hold that back, but seeing Joyce openly proposition Nick made my blood boil.
His blonde brows shot up to his hairline. “What are you talking about?”
“Your friend Joyce.”
This time his brows narrowed. “You’re jealous.”
I leaned forward to keep our voices from being heard. “You fucked me last night and today you’re flirting with a patient.”
He leaned in too, until we were nearly nose to nose. “You’re the one that keeps saying we can’t be together. I’d hate for you to lose your job. When the hospital fires me, will that change or will you be repulsed by the man who killed Ms. Mason?” He stepped back, and I hated the look of anger and resentment on his face.
“Why is it wrong for me to want to keep my job?”
“It’s not. It’s what you do. Job over me. I know the drill.”
I knew he was talking about four years ago. “I didn’t see you choosing me back then.”
He lifted his hands in surrender. “Touché.”
“And me telling you to get a lawyer is my way of helping you keep your job.”
“So, the answer is no to you’d want to see me if I no longer posed a threat to your job. Does that mean you think I’m to blame for Ms. Mason’s death too?”
“Nick …” God he could be so exasperating. “No. I’m treading a thin line here. I’m trying to tell you the hospital’s position is human error.”
He scoffed. “Have you even checked the system?”
“I have an appointment with an IT person, but—”
He held up his hand. “I get it. You’re going to do whatever you have to to protect the hospital.”
“It’s my job.” A job that, at the moment, I hated. But I’d come this far, I kept going. “You flirting with patients or walking out on patients isn’t going to help. You were shaky the day the man accused you of making a mistake. Are you getting help for that?”
His blue eyes turned hard. “I knew you’d use my private life against me. Tell me, Mia, are you also going to tell them I fucked you? Or maybe I should hold on to that to protect my own ass.”
A whirlwind of emotions whipped through me. Fear. Anger. And surprise. Nick wouldn’t do that, would he? Maybe he would if the hospital tried to blame him for Ms. Mason’s death. If I was his lawyer, I’d hold on to that tidbit for leverage.
I swallowed all that down. “You do with that what you want. I’m telling you that if you continue to look like you lack confidence in your job, it will come out and the hospital will have evidence that can look bad for you.”
He stared at me like he didn’t know me. “I should have listened to my gut and not my dick all those years ago and stayed away from you. All you do is make my life miserable. It’s not enough that you broke my heart four years ago. Now you’re going to help the hospital ruin me.” With one last head shake, he said, “I’m going back to work while I still have a job.” He passed me and went through the door.
Me? I took a minute to wonder about the woman I’d become to hurt a man I cared about once. Cared about still.
19
Nick
How could my day go from annoyingly bad to worse? First, I had some sort of panic attack while treating a patient, which Mia caught me working my way through. Then I had to deal with Joyce’s advances. And then Mia told me she was going to blame me for Ms. Mason’s death.
Fortunately, it looks like you have a soft place to fall. Someone to comfort you.