Jenn looked downtrodden. “But I haven’t really thought about this at all — I try not to. What’s so bad about that?”
Andrew shifted in his seat and rolled up his sleeves. “I understand that. This situation is definitely very intense for you, and I don’t want to pressure you. What that means, however, is that this conversation we’re having right now is illegal. I’m not your attorney; you’re not my client. We can’t be discussing it. It means you could never talk about it to your sister, and you could never say anything about it later in your life. You could never speak ill of the hospital or expect it to repay you for anything that happened to you. Basically, you’d get free coverage for treatment, but other than that, it would silence you forever.”
At those words, a pregnant silence fell in the room. Then Andrew coughed and shuffled the papers around on his desk. He looked back up at Jenn to find her hands crossed in her lap and her hair covering her face as she stared stonily at the floor. “Jenn, I,” he paused and lowered his voice. “I don’t want to be too intrusive, and I can’t even begin to imgine what you went through. Please know that I— I want to help; in any way possible.” He glanced up at Kenzie, who was in turn looking at her sister with great concern in her eyes. When Jenn lifted her head back up and her eyes met Andrew’s, she, too could see the care in his eyes. Despite having just met him, she felt like she could depend on him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Andrew gently explained a few more terms in the settlement the hospital and agreed to work for Jenn pro bono, especially as she came to a decision about what to do. He was gunning for a trial; he hated seeing victims of abuses such as these silenced. He knew his senior partners at the firm would advise him to take a quicker, cheaper approach by avoiding a trial and agreeing to a settlement by both parties. Ultimately it was Jenn’s decision, but the more he discussed the options, the initial fleeting thought of taking down this powerful hospital system wouldn’t leave his mind. He hoped Jenn would make the right decision — for everyone.
As the girls stood to leave, so did Andrew. He walked around the side as Kenzie and Jenn began to walk out. He hesitated for a moment, and then awkwardly patted her back, as it to reassure her further. Jenn jumped at his touch, and gave him a slight smile, which he returned — Kenzie, standing at the door, couldn’t prevent a little smile from appearing on her own lips.
As soon as the door to the law firm shut on their way out, Kenzie elbowed Jenn’s side. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“You practically melted when he touched you!”
“What? Kenzie, come on, don’t be ridiculous.” Kenzie stopped Jenn short and stood with her hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised. “Oh, please, like you didn’t like him.”
“No! Of course not! I’m with Steve, remember?”
“That doesn’t mean other people don’t do it for you. Plus, I mean, you haven’t been going out with Steve that long. You’ve barely had time to know if he’s doing it for you.” She winked; Jenn blushed. “Well, then. Talk!”
“Wait; hold on a minute, where are we going?” Jenn looked around and realized they were still downtown. They parked their cars at separate lots, and eventually they’d have to drive home.
“I don’t know, for a walk. Come on, Jenn, tell me!” Kenzie dragged Jenn by the elbow.
Jenn groaned. She always knew these conversations were going to happen around her sister, but this time she was kind of excited about it. Sure, a lot had happened to her since she had first been intimate with Steve — and before then, too — but she finally knew what it was all about. She had a little experience now, and she had discovered that she loved being intimate with someone. She was glad Kenzie wanted to talk to her about something, anything, besides the ordeal and the potential lawsuit. Most people she’d talked to tiptoed around talking about anything real. They seemed to think it might overwhelm Jenn or be too dramatic for her, but not Kenzie — Kenzie knew Jenn well enough to know Jenn needed someone like her, to talk and laugh and tease with, and she was happy to have reached a point that she could talk openly about things in her personal life.
“Things are going well. Steve is great, and he’s being really understanding about all of this — don’t start with the ‘heir-apparent’ thing right now, Kenz,” Jenn’s voice adopted a slight chill when she realized Kenzie was about to revive the conversation about Steve being the hospital executive’s progeny. “It’s just nice that he understands I have to do this all at my own pace. Like the other day, we were, well, we were fooling around —” Kenzie smiled and started nodding her head suggestively, and Jenn pushed her, laughing. “Quit it or I’m not going to tell you! Just the other day, we were, you know, making love” — Kenzie rolled her eyes; her sister still couldn’t stop using euphemisms for sex — “and in the middle of it I realized I loved the way he felt.”
“Inside you?”
“Well, yes, but everywhere. When he touches me and kisses me. It’s really nice.”
“Aww, my baby sister, all grown up and getting down and dirty!” Kenzie ruffled Jenn’s hair. Then she put on a mock serious face. “Careful, you might become a sex addict.”
“Oh, whatever. I just mean I never knew what I was missing.” She paused, thinking about the times she and Steve spent together. Although it had been only a very short time since she had first been close with him, she was learning more about herself every minute they were together: her turn-ons and turn-offs; the things that drove her wild; the feelings she loved the most.
In fact, talking about Steve now had made Jenn a little hot, but she tried to play it off around Kenzie, who would have gone berserk if she knew what Jenn was thinking. “Actually, I had a question for you, Kenz.”
“A sexy question?”
“Well, yeah. See, Steve’s birthday is coming up soon, and I’m not sure what to get him. I was kind of thinking maybe something, um, special. You know, in the bedroom.”
“Ohhh, I like the sound of that.” Kenzie grinned. “What did you have in mind?”
“That’s what I need you for. I have no idea.”
“Well, an easy one is lingerie. Buy something really sexy, cute, and dress up for him. Maybe do a little dance, too.”
“Oh, that is a good idea.” Jenn took out her phone to make a note of the idea. “I was thinking maybe something more, too.” She grew visibly uncomfortable, looking down at the ground and scuffing her shoe on the ground. “Like, I don’t know, maybe a blow job. But I don’t know how.”
Kenzie had to stifle her laughter. “You haven’t done that yet? Oh, this is so exciting, your first time for so many things.”
“Oh, shut up and help me.”
“Fine, fine. Let me think.” Kenzie put her head in her hand for a moment, resting her elbow on a nearby mailbox. “Okay, do you remember those Shake Weight things? Those were made for hand job techniques — except less aggressive. Seriously, don’t treat a guy like that in real life, but then if you combined it with a popsicle you’d be a blow job expert.”
Jenn cringed. “Oh, god.”
“No, listen, okay, you treat his cock like a Shake Weight and take the shaft into both hands—“ Kenzie provided a generous pantomime of the action with her own hands, as strangers walked by eyeing her with slight concern “—and then you also take it into your mouth to get it nice and wet. You run your hands up and down while using your tongue to circle the tip or lick up and down the shaft, and take him into your mouth once in a while. But don’t bite off more than you can chew! That reminds me; make sure your teeth are nowhere near him.”
“Wow, this sounds ... intense.”
“Ha, well, they don’t call it a job for nothing. It gets pretty messy, but it’s actually kind of fun once you get the hang of it — I mean, you get to have total control over the guy’s body and pleasure. Just keep that in mind. Just go get ‘em, tiger,” Kenzie said with a smile, punching Jenn on the arm playfully. Jenn gave her a look before the sisters parted ways for the afternoon. She
didn’t feel any better about it, but at least Kenzie had been honest. She always was.
Chapter 3
Richard Connelly paced back and forth in his office, while his son sat in one of the chairs next to his desk and watched. Richard’s shoes clack lightly on the floor as he walked, and his normally impeccable appearance had become sullied by the anger and concern he felt over the situation; he had discarded his suit jacket on a table, rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie. Steve sat there nervously, too, not daring to break the silence.
“So you’re saying she might not take the settlement?” Suddenly Richard stopped abruptly and leaned heavily on his son’s chair.
Steve gulped. “I’m not sure. Her sister was just telling her to read everything very carefully.”
“Bah!” Richard threw up his hands. “You told me she would like it!”
“I thought she would! I didn’t count on her sister being there. She doesn’t even live here; she’s from Los Angeles. I had no idea she’d stick around this long.”
“That doesn’t matter. All that matters now is finding a way to keep all of this quiet. Do you know what will happen if anyone — anyone — finds out?” Richard clenched his teeth and spoke with such force that it frightened Steve. It was a rhetorical question. The hospital would be subject to endless lawsuits and federal investigations. It would destroy the careers of everyone in leadership positions — he included. Steve had planned on learning hospital policy and procedure from the ground up, posing as an intern from the very beginning, which is how he met Jenn. Now that he had been thrown into the mess that was the cover-up of a scandal, he knew his own future was on the line.
The one thing Steve’s father couldn’t understand was Steve’s love for Jenn. Despite everything they’d been through together, Steve knew his relationship with Jenn was still strong; she cared for him and depended on him. Although their official relationship had only been in the books for a few weeks, he already felt deeply committed to her.
Then, as if he was reading Steve’s mind, Richard spoke again. “How long have you and this girl been dating, again? A few weeks?” Steve nodded. “Is there anything you can do to, you know, help?”
“What do you mean?”
“Help. Take it to the next level. Make her think you really want the best for her.”
Steve felt the rising warmth of anger rising in his chest. “I really do want the best for her, Dad!”
Richard raised his hands in mock celebration. “Even better! Then take it to the next level. What can you do to promise her this is the right action for her?”
“But it’s only been a few weeks...”
“I don’t care, Steve. Find something. Pledge yourself to her. Get one of those purity rings or something.”
“Uh, Dad, I don’t think purity’s an option at this point.”
Richard glared at his son. “Then do something to show how committed you are to her,” he said. “We need her to take this settlement. Tell her I’ll— I’ll even bump up the cash from $300,000 to $500,000. We need this to end. Now.”
Steve got the message. The next day, when he paid Jenn a visit, his heart was practically beating up into his throat, he was so nervous about talking to Jenn about his father’s ideas. He put on his best poker face and gave Jenn a fierce kiss and a tight hug. “Is Kenzie here?” he asked nonchalantly after a moment.
“No, she went with my parents to the store. Why?”
“Oh, no reason. Listen, I have to ask you something.” Steve took both her hands and gazed fondly into her eyes.
Jenn’s heart started to beat faster. What is? No. It’s not what I think it is.... “Steve, don’t....” Her boyfriend shushed her. “No, listen, I think it’s time. Will you— will you be my girlfriend?” He pulled out a small black box from his jacket pocket and opened it to reveal a beautiful silver-chained necklace with a blue-green gem on the end of it.
Jenn was surprised. That’s not what I was expecting. “Um, aren’t we already dating?”
“Well, yeah, but I thought girls liked that sort of fancy gesture. And I wanted to do something nice for you.”
Jenn smiled. “Aww, thank you, honey,” she said, standing on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “This is really sweet. And of course I’ll be your girlfriend.” She laughed. “I thought that was a given.”
Steve smiled and led Jenn to the kitchen table, where he sat her down first and then took his own seat. “Listen, I have some great news. My father said he’d up the settlement amount to $500,000. What do you think? Have you had a chance to read through everything yet?”
Jenn shifted uncomfortably. “Listen, Steve, about that.”
Uh oh, he thought, this isn’t going to be good.
I read the whole thing and I’m just not sure about the settlement. I just don’t know about never being able to talk about it ever again, you know? It was such a huge thing, and I— well, I can’t make that promise. You understand, right?”
Goddamn it, Kenzie. Steve knew Jenn would have been much more likely to agree to his father’s proposal prior to the conversation with her sister. He filled with immediate frustration, but he forced a smile and nodded. “Sure, I do, Jenn. You know I want what’s best for you.” He clasped his hands together on the table. “Think of it this way, though. A lawsuit could take months, years, even, and it’ll be a long process. I just don’t want to see you keep hurting by having to bring everything up repeatedly. Don’t you want to leave all this behind you?”
Jenn was quiet for a moment. In a way, Steve was right. Jenn barely had a concept of time at this point, since every day ran together — some days she lived in the present, other days she was stuck in the nightmares of the past. It was absolutely true that if she chose to pursue legal action, what had already been a long year at St. Benedict Regional Medical Center would turn into an even longer one, and last longer than a year, probably. She did want to leave everything behind her and move on with her life, but she couldn’t fathom how to begin that process. It still was all too new, too raw for her to comprehend. If there was a way to forget anything had ever happened to her, Jenn might have taken it. Maybe taking the settlement and leaving would be the best thing to do. But —
“No,” Jenn said firmly.
“What?” Steve was taken aback. He leaned back against his chair and crossed his arms, in shock.
“No, I don’t want to leave everything in the past.” Jenn’s voice had hardened. She rose from her chair and stood tall. “Everything that happened in the past is what made my present a living hell, Steve. I can’t leave that behind. It’s a part of me now.”
Steve couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Jenn had never raised her voice around him. While he gaped at her, she stood up and started pacing around the kitchen.
Jenn wasn’t sure what had gotten into herself, either; all she knew was she was fired up and was starting to feel good again. “I have to tell people about what happened to me, Steve. You don’t understand. How am I going to survive without talking about it? How can I move on? I can’t change what happened to me, but it changed me. I can use it to help change others. If people know about this, then— then—“Jenn floundered for words. “It can never happen again.”
Steve stared. “But, Jenn, the money. That’s a lot of money. Think about how much you’d save by just settling with us.”
“With us?” Jenn’s eyes slowly started filling with tears. “So you and the hospital are an ‘us’ now?” Then she understood what Steve was saying, and she clapped a hand over her mouth in disgust. “You just want me to take the money and leave, so you can ride your dad’s coattails. You don’t care about me at all.”
Steve tried to stand and comfort Jenn, but she started crying. Her breathing picked up, and her nose began to run. She was in hysterics, slowly putting more of the pieces together. Then she looked down in horror at the necklace Steve had just given her. “This was a setup, wasn’t it? Just something to shut me up.” Jenn pulled it off her neck angri
ly; the small links broke easily.
“No, baby, listen—“
“No, I don’t want to talk to you anymore. Get out.”
“Jenn—“
“Leave. Now.”
Steve took two steps backward, in shock, but he obliged, and walked out to his car with rage in his steps. How dare she? How dare she blow off all the things this hospital has done for her?
Inside, Jenn was breathing erratically, and tears were flowing freely down her face. She put her hands level on the kitchen table, but she couldn’t stop them from shaking. Frustrated with everything happening in her life, she suddenly looked up again and slammed one closed fist down hard on the table, letting out a yell. Then she did the first thing she could think of: she picked up the phone and called Andrew.
Chapter 4
“Hello?” he said when he answered, barely audible above a rush of voices and activity in the phone on the other end.
“Hi, it’s Jenn. Sorry if you’re busy. I just wanted to talk.”
“Jenn! No, uh, I’m not busy.” In his crowded office, surrounded by the senior partners at the firm, Andrew hushed them with a quick gesture and banished them to take a private phone call. When the last person closed the door on the way out, he slumped down in his chair, put his head in his hands and breathed into the phone, “What’s going on?”
Jenn launched into it. Her conversations with Kenzie about whether to take the settlement, the triggers from dreams she’d had while under Dr. Blake’s care, the doubts she was having about Steve. Andrew listened with patience and compassion while Jenn spoke, not knowing what to say. She told him of her fight with Steve that afternoon, how he’d given her the necklace seemingly as a bribe to get her to take the settlement, how she didn’t appreciate him pressuring him, how she was worried he was only acting as his father’s pawn. “It’s just... I don’t know what to do. Kenzie thinks I’m being silly for considering the settlement, and Steve thinks I’m being stupid for not considering it. I ... I didn’t know who else to go to. I’m sorry.” She got quiet suddenly. Andrew didn’t speak either.
Kane (Alexander Shifter Brothers Book 1) Page 27
