“Coincidence,” I said. “We just happened to be at the same event.”
The student pulled out another picture. This one was outside of my office. Olivia was wearing the business attire she’d had on the day my dad and her mom came to announce their wedding. She appeared unaware that someone was taking a picture from afar. It was creepy, to say the least.
Finally, he revealed a blurry photo of a classroom door. In the narrow, rectangular window, I could make out some shapes that looked like people. Only I knew that it was Olivia going down on me in the classroom.
I pushed the pictures out of my face. “Kevin, is it?” I asked angrily.
“Yes.”
“Have you been following people around, taking creepy pictures of another intern and me?”
He frowned. “You’ve been having a relationship with an intern.”
“Allegedly,” I said, pointing at him. His evidence was overwhelmingly clear.
“Whatever. It’s not allowed.”
“Why do you give a shit?”
“Because,” he said in his whiny, nasally voice. “You’re going to give Olivia the internship because you’ve been fucking her. Why else would she be going to your office? You picked favorites and it’s not fair to the rest of us who have been working our ass off to win this prize.”
I sat down in my chair and rested my head in my hands for a moment. I wished I’d never decided to take on an intern. But the CEO thought it would be good for the hospital, and I agreed to choose one. Now, I just wanted to call the whole thing off.
There was no way I could give Olivia the internship now. It ate at me because she truly deserved it. Not only was she the most knowledgeable student with the best essay, but she had done so much for me. She put up with my childish bullshit, much better than any girl had ever done. She saved my ass by agreeing to go to the charity ball and helped me gain a new doctor for the CUIMC network. She deserved it the most, but I couldn’t give it to her.
“Get out of my face with that,” I said to Kevin as he set a piece of paper down in front of me.
“It’s from the hospital handbook,” he said, pointing to the copy on the desk. “It is very clear about this sort of behavior between doctors and interns. If this matter is brought up to the administration, it’s certain that you would be ousted from the hospital and a dark stain would remain on your reputation.”
“My reputation?” I scoffed. “Do you know who I am?”
I tried to sound tough around this dweeb, but truthfully, I was worried. As much of a pain in the ass this mentoring was, I still wanted to keep doing it. I’d found I actually did enjoy it. I knew that mentoring the interns was just good for the hospital and I got to be a part of that. I was successful in my career as a surgeon, but I was still young and there was a lot of time for my career to go downhill. If I were close to retirement, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. But, I wasn’t even thirty yet. There was still a lot I wanted to do before I was blacklisted from the city.
“Are you blackmailing me?” I asked. “Is there anything in the handbook about that?”
He shook his head. “I think the administration would want me to come forward. I don’t want to do that, though. I think you’re just a guy who made a mistake. If you’re going to right your mistake, I don’t see any reason for you to be punished.”
I took a deep breath. I was afraid my answer was already given to me.
“Why don’t you be straight with me? I’m not going to dance around the subject anymore to find out that I didn’t do what you wanted and you fucked me over because of it. Are you telling me that you’ll take your file folder of stalker photography to the people in charge if I don’t deny Olivia Hunter of the internship?”
“Yes,” Kevin said, his voice slightly wavering.
“Is that all?”
He looked at the ground, then cleared his throat. “I believe I am the strongest candidate for this position and you should choose me for my academic prowess and my ability to go after what I want.”
I rolled my eyes. “By cheating.”
He shrugged. “Look this is the best internship CUIMC offers. I’m sure a lot of people do things they don’t want to do in order to make it where they want.”
“Let me get this straight before I let some punk ruin my career—you’re going to show those pictures if you don’t get the internship?”
Kevin looked around the room before nodding.
I sighed. “Go sit down. Sessions are about to start.”
Looking smug, he found his seat as the rest of the interns came into the room. I tried not to look like I was on the verge of losing my mind. I had no choice but to hire this little asshole. He was probably qualified enough, but I didn’t want him working with me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olivia walk in. I couldn’t look at her. She would be so upset to hear that I was giving away her internship to someone else, after all I put her through. Though she might understand if I told her what happened, there wasn’t enough time to talk. Sessions were starting and all of the interns were eagerly awaiting news that could affect their future careers.
Little by little, my family was ruining hers. I ruined her chance at having a fast-tracked career by yanking out a promise from underneath her. I didn’t know if she had become attached to me, but with the marriage of our parents, I didn’t think I could continue to see her. My dad was certainly going to wreck their home and their marriage in a short amount of time. I needed to find a way to make it up to her, but that would be an impossible feat. In a few weeks, we would part ways, more bitter than we were before. It was wildly unfair, but it was how life worked. Kevin was an ass, but his behavior would likely go unpunished, but who knew if he’d be a successful surgeon? He certainly wouldn’t be part of the CUIMC family though, not if I had my way.
Olivia would hate me. Normally, I wouldn’t care about that, but something was different this time. I really didn’t want her to walk out of my life, but there was no way to save our friendship.
Not able to stall for any longer, I stood up from my seat and quieted the interns. “Okay, settle down,” I mumbled, feeling slightly queasy. “I want to keep this short today. We’re going to have a quick discussion about the other internships that will be available and then I’ll return your papers and announce the new surgical intern.”
I looked up at the class, and accidentally made eye contact with Olivia. She gave me a kind smile and I nearly walked away from everything right then and there. I felt terrible, but there was no going back in time and changing things. I had to move forward.
Chapter 23
Olivia
My stomach was in knots as I sat down in the conference room. I had been so nervous to see him, when in reality, I didn’t have any reason to be. I would simply sit in the conference room as I had so many times before. Before I ever introduced myself, I was just an anonymous intern. I tried to go back to that time by sitting quietly and not drawing any attention to myself.
Damon said that he was making his internship announcement at the end of the session. Though I feared that he might change his mind after our parents’ marriage, he gave me the impression that he was planning on going forward with his selection. Besides my own insecurities, I had no reason to think the job was anyone’s but mine. He didn’t know this, but after we left his office, his dad went on and on about how glad he was that I was getting the opportunity to work in the surgical wing. And, from what Damon said, Dr. Farnham was seemingly excited to have me join the surgical team for the summer. I had to remind myself that my
job status would not change, even if our relationship status did.
Throughout class, I tried to look over at him, just to make sure we were okay. I fully understood if he wanted to put an end to the sexual aspect of our relationship, but I had gained a valuable mentor and I wasn’t ready to be released into the world on my own. I still wanted to talk to him and get advice from one of the best surgeons in New York.
I completely spaced out Damon’s talk about the other internships that would be available. Since I had a very clear career path, I didn’t really worry about fallback plans. I would do my internship throughout the summer, and hopefully make my decision into joining the field permanently by the fall. For the first time since I started med school, I felt relieved. Everything I had been working toward had all paid off. And, with my new step-father’s generosity, I wouldn’t have to live like a poor person for the next few years. As cynical as I was about their relationship, I hoped it would last long enough for it to pay the bills.
Toward the end of class, Damon grabbed his stack of papers and called out names. He handed out the essays, looking uncharacteristically nervous or sickly. His usually bronzed face looked ashen. I figured he was either hungover or short on sleep. I’d been feeling the same way, too.
When he gave me mine, he didn’t even look at my face. I was a little confused, but then remembered that he was about to give me an internship, and didn’t want to make it look like I had to do anything extra to get it. In reality, I had put in overtime for this award and felt as though I went above and beyond to deserve it. I dealt with his poor behavior and bad attitude, stressed over every detail at the charity dinner, and put up a lot of convincing arguments.
I looked at the top of the paper, and it only contained one short sentence in Damon’s messy handwriting, next to the large A.
Great job, as always.
I smiled to myself. Praise from Damon was rare, no matter how minimal it was. I’d have to take it.