Until Autumn

I step into her, watching with a wicked pleasure as she shrinks back from me. “I did no such thing,” I tell her. “I don’t know how the other midwives like to do things around here, but Dr. Mayson and I, while it’s still very new, are in a committed relationship, and we have absolutely no plans of changing that. Now, you go ahead and do what you feel you need to do, but I promise you, if you even so much as try to destroy the one good relationship I’ve ever had, I’ll make it my mission to return the favor, starting with a complaint to the ethics board about being accused of whoring myself out for good grades.”

With that, I turn on my heel and stalk away, fearing the tears that well in my eyes. I will not cry. I will not cry.

I reach the break room and fly through the door before instantly pacing back and forth. She can’t take me off his service, can she? Shit, she probably can. She’s the supervising midwife on the ward, she can do whatever the hell she wants to do, but at the same time, my training program requires me to log a certain number of practical hours a week. She can’t keep me stuck on paperwork without violating the terms of my contract.

I’ll be okay. I have to be.

She’s not really going to hand us over to the board. I know there are rules and regulations about workplace romances but they’re just frowned upon. There’s nowhere in the by-laws that states that it’s forbidden to date a colleague, believe me, I’ve checked ten times over. We should be fine, but there’s still Thorne’s reputation to worry about. It won’t look good on his record to be caught fraternizing with his student, but this is so much more than that. I’m already falling for him. I can see him as the man that I spend the rest of my life with. I’m not ready to give that up.

I make my way over to the small fridge and grab my lunch out of it, despite it only being 10 am. Screw it, I need to eat something, otherwise, I’m going to keep pacing the room and eventually start sharpening my claws.

My ass drops down onto the uncomfortable chair and I slouch over the table while eating last night’s cheap left-over spaghetti Bolognese. My mind swarms with anger, every thought completely overtaken by rage that it’s nearly impossible to try and relax.

The minutes tick by, and before I know it, the door is pushed open and Thorne stands before me with his brows drawn. “Where the hell have you been? I was going to put the baby in your care, but you were gone. I had no choice but to pass it off to Sarah.”

Damn Sarah.

My glare shoots up to my boyfriend. “Patricia dragged me out of there like she was kicking out a bad one night stand the morning after.”

“What?” he grunts, walking deeper into the break room and letting the door fall closed behind him. “Why would she do that?”

“She knows,” I tell him.

His face scrunches into a cringe and he lets out a frustrated sigh. “Fuck. How did she take it?”

“Not well. She demanded that I end it with you, and when I kindly suggested that she could get fucked, she took me off your service and put me on paperwork before suggesting that I was whoring myself out for good grades.”

Thorne’s face darkens. “Tell me that she didn’t actually say that.”

“Word for word,” I tell him, my mood only slightly getting better now that he’s here. “She said she was going to speak with the ethics board about us, but I reminded her that while she certainly has the power to fuck with my career, that it’d be a big mistake to try and mess with yours.”

“Shit, babe,” he says with a heavy sigh before crossing the room and stepping right into my side. He reaches out and grabs me, instantly pulling me off my chair until his arms are wrapped around my body and my face is buried in his chest. “She won’t get away with it, don’t worry. She can’t touch us.”

“I know, but … paperwork?”

Thorne laughs. “Yeah, I don’t think there’s much I can do about you getting stuck with paperwork, that’s her domain, but she can’t take you off my service. If I say I want you working under me, that’s where you’ll be and she knows it.”

“What about the ethics board?”

“They won’t do shit,” he tells me. “They’ll want to investigate, but they’ll back off after realizing that we’re in a committed relationship.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, glancing up at him.

“Positive,” he tells me. “Besides, Patricia has been around for years, thinking that she’s the top dog on my ward. She threatens a visit to the ethics board once a month, and so far has never followed through. She’s all talk and no action.”