Gentleman Sinner

by Jodi Ellen Malpas

  What? I wince, dread filling me. He had none of those injuries the last time I saw him. “Susan, I—”

  “He told the police that you had an argument with him.”

  “He attacked me outside A&E,” I clarify, more sternly than I intended. There was no arguing, not at all.

  “He says you instigated a confrontation, but he tried to walk away.”

  I sit forward in my chair, astounded. “He cornered me in a doorway and threatened me.”

  She raises her eyebrow, returning her eyes to the paper and scanning the words. “He claims otherwise. He’s said when he tried to remove himself from the situation, he was ambushed by two large men, one who he recognized as your boyfriend.” She looks back up at me expectantly. But what is she expecting? For me to take responsibility for these lies?

  I gape at her, stunned. He’s twisting it. “Theo stepped in because Mr. Sugden was threatening me.” My alarm is making my voice higher. “Theo pulled him away, and then he let him go.” I neglect to mention the gun, since Susan hasn’t. I realize I’m being selective here, but there’s one thing that matters: Theo released Percy’s son uninjured, even if he was shaken to the core. Good. He deserved to be.

  “That’s a different version of events to what Mr. Sugden has told the police.” She sounds so high-handed, so unlike herself. This isn’t my boss as I know her. And come to think of it, what she’s dictating from that letter isn’t how she knows me. Surely she doesn’t believe this trash.

  “He’s lying,” I grate, incensed. “There wasn’t a scratch on Mr. Sugden when I last saw him, and Theo and Callum were with me for the rest of the night.”

  Susan sighs, dropping the paper to her desk. “I’m sorry, Izzy. With a complaint so serious, we have no choice but to suspend you pending further investigation.”

  “What? Susan, you saw that man. He’s an arsehole. He’s lying.”

  “Then how do you suggest he sustained those injuries?” she asks. “Broken limbs, Izzy. He hasn’t tripped up a curb or walked into a door.”

  I close my eyes briefly and try to calm myself, feeling tears threatening to break free. What is happening here? “I don’t know how he sustained those injuries, but I do know it has nothing to do with me or my boyfriend.”

  “Well, I have to treat every complaint according to protocol, Izzy. Mr. Sugden’s behavior prior to his complaint will be noted in your defense, but someone gave him those injuries. He says you encouraged the beating.”

  I fall back in the chair, absolutely dumbfounded. “I encouraged it? What, like egged them on?”

  Susan remains silent for a few moments, clearly thinking hard. I hope it’s hard enough to see damn sense. “Izzy, it may not be my place to ask, but do you really know this man you’re involved with?”

  I stare at my boss, trying to form words in my head that don’t include a flat fuck off. I’ve never once had any kind of complaint made against me since I qualified as a nurse. I’ve never had a confrontation with another member of staff, a patient, or a relative. Susan must know that this idiot’s claim is out of character for me. I egged Theo on? What I actually did was plead with him to let the idiot go. I stopped Mr. Sugden from being pummeled to death.

  I run through the horrid incident in my mind, from the moment Mr. Sugden cornered me to the moment Theo, Callum, and I got in the car. We were all together and…

  My thought process grinds to a halt, ice gushing into my veins. In the car park. Callum forgot to pay for the parking and Theo went to validate the ticket. My eyes dart across the desk before me, trying to figure out if the few minutes he was gone would be enough to inflict so much damage on Percy’s son.

  I should laugh at myself for asking such a pathetic question. Theo would need only ten seconds with him to inflict serious damage. I have no doubt. I push out a deep breath, now questioning what really happened. It doesn’t matter that Mr. Sugden is stretching the truth and twisting things. If Theo has knowingly jeopardized my job, I will lose my fucking shit.

  I look up to Susan and find her lips pressed into a straight line. “I’m sorry, Izzy. I suggest you contact the union, and I expect the police will be in touch to question you.” Her head tilts, sympathy engulfing her face. “You should leave now.”

  I get up, feeling numb, and walk away to collect my things. My head is a riot of thoughts as I go, questioning Theo’s honor to respect my wishes. There’s no doubt Mr. Sugden held me responsible for his father’s death and wanted some kind of stupid vengeance, and Theo has given him the opportunity for the best vengeance ever. What better way than to get me fired? Ruin my career, and on top of that, have my boyfriend locked up.

  I wander out of the hospital with my coat over my arm and my bag dragging along the ground. I’m in conflicting places, my mind a tattered mess. This was a lose-lose situation for me. Had Theo not been there for me last night, I’ve no doubt Sugden would have clouted me one, but I wouldn’t have been suspended from duty. Yet Theo was there, and yes, I’m unscathed, but I’m now facing the possibility of having my career fall down the drain as a result. Or Theo could have walked away like I thought he had, instead of sneakily going back to find Sugden and pulverize him. Then I’d be uninjured and still have a career. But Theo thought Percy’s son was someone else. He thought I was lying to him.

  With a loaded sigh, I drop to a bench outside the hospital and stare blankly at the ground. How could he do this? Years of training wasted. My sanctuary taken away from me. I have bills to pay. What am I going to do?

  My phone rings, and I sluggishly pull it out of my coat pocket, finding Jess is calling me. She’s on shift. Surely news couldn’t have made it to the other side of the hospital already. “Hey?”

  “Oh my God, Izzy. I just heard.”

  I sink into the hard wood of the bench. Seems it could. “Sugden’s lying.”

  “What the hell happened?” She’s whisper-shouting now, probably locked in a closet somewhere on the maternity unit.

  “I think he was waiting for me after my shift last night. He cornered me and threatened me. You know, your usual end-of-shift wind-down. He didn’t know Theo was with me.”

  “Seriously? Is the man blind? How did he miss him? He’s a fucking giant.”

  “He was getting me a coffee. I went outside to wait for Callum.” I glance around to check my privacy and lower my voice. “Theo had him held at gunpoint, Jess. Callum had to talk him down. But the gun hasn’t been mentioned. Theo let him go, and the last I saw, Sugden was all in one piece.”

  “Oh, fucking hell,” she breathes. “The last you saw?”

  “Theo disappeared for a couple of minutes to validate the parking ticket.” I close my eyes and cup my forehead in my palm, my head beginning to pound. “Callum was behind the wheel at the barrier, so Theo went.” It’s only now I realize Callum could have gone. If the car needed to be moved before he returned, surely Theo could have slid over to the driver’s seat and done it.

  “A couple of minutes? You think he could do that much damage so quickly?”

  “I know he could.”

  “God, Izzy, I know it’s not what you want to hear right now, but you can’t blame Theo for losing his shit if Sugden attacked you.”

  “No, but I can blame him for losing my job.”

  She falls silent for several seconds, but I can hear her breathing. She can’t argue with me. Because I’m right. She knows it, I know it, and I’ll make damn sure Theo knows it when I see him. “What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea, Jess,” I answer wearily, because I truly don’t. My verbal pleas to Theo, calling him off Sugden, were words. Hearsay. Unprovable. Sugden’s injuries are physical and visible, hard evidence if ever there was any. I’m screwed, and for the first time, I’m wondering who the hell I’ve really gotten myself involved with.

  “Go home,” Jess says. “And get a bottle of wine on the way. I’m off shift in a couple of hours.”

  “Okay.” I exhale, hang up, and mentally calculate how ma
ny bottles of wine I can carry by myself. I’m going to need more than one.

  What a fucking mess. My feet are heavy as I start my walk home, my mind weighed down, too, and as I reach the end of the road, I slow to a stop, seeing a familiar Bentley rounding the corner up ahead. My shoulders drop. I’m too tired to have an argument, and that’s exactly what we’re going to have. I follow the path of the big, posh car, slowly turning on the spot until I’m facing the road and it’s pulling up in front of me. The door opens and Theo slides out, my eyes lifting to accommodate his height. He looks smart, his deadly body encased in a gray three-piece suit. Today, I can’t appreciate the finely tuned man before me. Today, I can only wonder with increasing worry how damaged my career will be because of him. And, annoyingly—because I’m mad with him—whether Theo will be taken away from me. Arrested. Thrown in jail. As I said to Jess, you can’t live by the sword and never get cut.

  His deep blue eyes glimmer with delight until he clocks my expression, and then the brightness dulls, his dimple fades, and his forehead furrows. “Izzy?” He closes the door softly and takes a step toward me. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  “Why didn’t Callum go to pay for the ticket?” I ask, cutting straight to the point. If I don’t start getting answers, I’m going to explode all over Theo.

  His head turns to the side, but his eyes remain on me. “What?”

  “Yesterday when you picked me up from work, after you held a man at gunpoint. Why didn’t Callum go pay for the car park ticket?”

  “Why are you asking such a trivial question?”

  “Just answer me!” I yell, finding anger amid my exhaustion.

  His jaw ticks. “Don’t take that tone with me, Izzy.”

  “Why, what will you do?” I ask, stepping closer, bold and brave. I won’t back down. Never. Besides, isn’t my bravery one of the things Theo claims to love about me? Let’s see how much he loves facing my wrath. “Pull a gun on me?”

  Nostrils flaring, he takes one step back, putting the space he needs between us again. He doesn’t like this. My rage. He doesn’t know how to handle me. “I went because it was easier.” He takes another step back. “Callum was driving. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I’ve been suspended,” I declare evenly.

  His forehead wrinkles. “What?”

  Taking a deep breath, I repeat myself, though I know he heard me just fine. “I’ve been suspended from my job because the man who you held at gunpoint last night has lodged a complaint, not just with the hospital, but with the police, too.”

  Theo laughs a little under his breath. He actually laughs. Lord, give me strength before I lose the plot. “He can’t prove that I held a gun to his head.”

  “He hasn’t mentioned the gun in his statement, and he doesn’t need to. He doesn’t have a gunshot wound,” I tell him, my jaw aching from tenseness. “But he does have countless broken bones.”

  Theo recoils. “Say what?”

  “How could you?” I ask, forcing my voice not to shake with the anger bubbling up. “I told you to leave him, but you still went right ahead and—”

  He seizes me by the tops of my arms, and I jump, yet I don’t break free from his hold. It’s too firm. His face, tight with frustration, comes right up close to mine. “I never laid a finger on him.”

  “Liar,” I spit back. “You conveniently left us in the car for a few minutes. Where did you go?”

  “To pay for the parking.”

  “You sure?” I ask, wrenching myself free from Theo’s hold with some serious effort. “Because Sugden’s injuries suggest otherwise.”

  “What fucking injuries?”

  “Broken jaw, nose, arm. He’s reported it to the police, Theo. You’ll be arrested, I’ll lose my job, and probably be arrested, too, as a damn accomplice.” I raise my hand in anger and panic, forgetting myself for a moment, and launch it at his shoulder. It’s a stupid move, fueled only by hopelessness.

  He catches my arm by the wrist without even looking, his eyes developing an edge of lunacy, and I withdraw my body, wary, my wrist still stuck in his viselike grip. His lip curls. “He’s made a statement saying I kicked the shit out of him?”

  I nod, not daring to speak. He looks homicidal.

  His nostrils flare, and he releases my wrist, looking down at it when I start to rub away the slight pain from his squeeze. Gently this time, he reclaims my arm and takes over rubbing before bringing it to his mouth and kissing it sweetly, closing his eyes and breathing in a long, calming inhale. “I’m not fucking standing for this.” He drops my arm and strides off down the road toward the hospital.

  I stare at his back, letting the last few moments sink in. He’s not standing for it? Then what does he think he can do? I look at his car on the roadside and dip to get Callum in my view when the window lowers. He’s watching Theo walk off. “You’d better get in or any hope you have of keeping your job will be lost,” Callum says, shaking his head. It’s a sign of dread, and it has me straightening and finding Theo again. He’s at the bottom of the street already, his long legs eating up the distance in no time.

  “Izzy, get in the fucking car.”

  Callum’s demand has me moving quickly, and I jump into the car in a panic. As soon as I’ve pulled the door closed, he speeds off down the road. Before I know it, he’s swinging into the hospital grounds. The barrier takes an age to lift, to the point Callum starts cursing his impatience, and once he has just enough room, he puts his foot down, forcing a few pedestrians to jump from our path.

  “For the record,” Callum says as the Bentley skids to a stop, “he really was paying for parking. Wait there.” He jumps out, shutting the door and breaking into a sprint across the car park toward the entrance. I watch him pelt away, my mind a haze, trying to catch up. He really was just paying for parking? Theo’s not standing for this? So, again, what’s he going to do?

  “‘Wait here’?” I say to myself, seeing Callum disappear through the doors of the hospital in pursuit of my rankled boyfriend. “I don’t bloody think so.” I let myself out of the car and chase after him. Not fast enough, though. I lose sight of Callum, getting caught up in a crowd of people at the hospital entrance. “Excuse me,” I shout, fighting my way through, knocking people out of the way as I go.

  By the time I make it to my ward, I’m out of breath and sweating, my lungs burning. I pull to a slow jog near the entrance, trying to calm my breathing and my frantic state.

  That’s when I hear the commotion, and I flinch as the sound of Theo’s voice thunders through the hospital, echoing off every wall. “You can’t suspend her for something she didn’t do,” he yells. “I won’t have it!”

  “Sir, please. You can’t come in here throwing your weight around.” Susan’s high-pitched shrill hits my ears, and I drop my head into my hands in dread. “Please leave, or I’ll call security.”

  “Fucking call them,” Theo bellows. “What kind of imbecile does she work for? You know Izzy. Her kindness and her passion for her job. You’re going to let a depraved arsehole put her integrity and her reputation into doubt?”

  I follow the sound of his voice to Susan’s office, seeing the door open and Susan backed into the corner, despite Theo being on the other side of her desk, albeit with his fists planted on the wooden surface, leaning over. Callum is hovering behind, silent and still.

  “I have to follow protocol,” Susan stammers, her gaze flicking to me at the door. I hope she can see the sincerity in my eyes, the alarm and remorse for Theo’s threatening behavior. If she was concerned about my involvement with him before, then Theo has just confirmed why she should be. His presence is ominous. Intimidating.

  “Theo,” I say, approaching his heaving back. “Please, let’s just go.”

  “No, Izzy. Not until someone around here starts acting on common sense rather than fucking protocol. It’s a fucking joke.” He lifts, straightening to his full height. “You know as well as I do that she would never confront someone, let alone
a grieving person. Bollocks to protocol. Why the fuck aren’t you fighting in her corner?”

  “I know Izzy,” Susan retorts. “I have no idea who you are, and you’re most certainly not welcome here. It’s time for you to leave.”

  “I didn’t inflict those injuries,” Theo growls, his stubbled jaw ticking. “I wanted to, believe me, and if Izzy hadn’t stopped me, I promise you, he wouldn’t have wound up in Casualty, he would have wound up in the fucking morgue.”

  I close my eyes and fold on the inside, silently begging him to stop. I love his protective instinct, have grown to crave it, but I’m slowly grasping the consequences. I’m so utterly torn.

  A hive of activity breaks out behind me, and I swing around to find two hospital security guards. Oh shit, no. Callum moves fast, ever alert, grabbing one who launches himself toward Theo. He restrains the startled security guard quickly, thrusting him front-forward against the wall, his arm up his back. The man squeals in pain, and time seems to slow to a crawl, my attention whirling to Theo and then to the remaining security guard, the one who’s lacking one big fucker holding him back.

  I watch as the distance between him and Theo shrinks, the free security man’s body seeming to fly through the air toward my boyfriend. I don’t know what happens. Instinct? It must be. “No!” I jump in his path to stop him from reaching Theo, knowing the reprisals will be ugly.

  “Izzy!” Theo yells, though the sound is muffled, because the large arm of the security guard just connected with the side of my head, and I cry out in shock as I’m sent flying across Susan’s office, my body crashing into a nearby filing cabinet with a loud bang. I grunt, pain searing through me as I drop to the ground, stars dancing in my vision. Pain rips through my shoulder, and I grab it and squeeze as a blurry Theo appears in my sight, his hard face filled with concern. “Izzy, sweetheart.” His hands find my cheeks and pull my head up, his eyes searching mine.