“Maybe he’s good in bed like his son,” she suggested.
I cringed at the thought. “Never mention my mom having sex again.”
“Okay, okay,” she giggled. “Who knows what she sees in him. Love makes you do crazy things.”
“I guess. I wouldn’t know.”
Carol raised an eyebrow at me. “No?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not so sure about that. You’ve been acting stranger than ever since you started hooking up with Damon. It’s like you’re a completely different person. It’s not a bad thing, either. You’re suddenly much more badass than you’ve ever been.”
I frowned at this assertion. “I’m not in love with Damon. It’s nothing even close to that.”
“How do you know if you’ve never been in love before?”
I thought for a minute. She had me there, but I knew that I wasn’t in love.
“I’ve only been with him for a little longer than a week. We’re not exclusive. I’m not interested in having a long term relationship. He’d be a terrible partner and an even worse spouse. He’s crass and rude sometimes and thinks of himself before anyone else.”
“So? None of those things disqualify you for being in love with him.”
I stood up and started pacing around as I thought. “Infatuated, sure. Love, absolutely not. I do not love Dr. Damon Rye. He does not love me.”
“So you wouldn’t try to take your relationship to the next level if you could?”
“But I can’t,” I objected. “We’re stepsiblings now!”
“So it’s over?”
I hung my head. I hadn’t wrapped my mind around that part. It was shocking to find ourselves more connected than we once thought, so much so that I forgot about the finer details.
The truth was, I was in no way ready to stop seeing Damon. I knew that inevitably, the day would come when our affair would fizzle out or explode. We were not meant to be forever. There were just too many things keeping us apart. But, I fully intended on seeing him for as long as it was enjoyable. We were just two consenting adults who happened to have spectacular chemistry.
“I’m not sure if I can see him anymore,” I said as I came to the realization.
Carol nodded. “That’s understandable. What terrible timing.”
“Yeah,” I said gloomily. “What do I do now?”
“Go back to normal?”
I sighed. I wasn’t sure how to do that. I could hardly sit through a minute of sessions without imagining Damon on top of me. If I couldn’t be in his presence without wanting him, how was I supposed to do an internship in his wing of the hospital, let alone under his tutelage? My future depended upon what I learned in that internship. But, it was just too awkward and uncomfortable now.
“I’m not sure if I can,” I said.
“Well, you probably need to talk to him,” she said.
I cringed. “And say what— welcome to the family? Ask for pictures for the family photo album?”
“Maybe figure out what you’re going to do next. What if he isn’t as freaked out by this as you are? He’s probably used to getting a new family every few months. You’re the one who’s having a hard time coming to terms with this new arrangement. What if he wants you to work with him? What if he still wants to hook up with you? Is your relationship one where you could still be friends without the sex?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then you should talk to him. Give him a call and tell him what you’re worried about. Listen to what he has to say. Try to figure out an arrangement that works for both of you.”
I nodded. “I will— eventually. I just want a little time to myself. My mom is married to a serial cheater and I don’t know if she’s aware of it. I should probably make sure everything is okay on her end before I even worry about my problems.”
“Suit yourself,” Carol said, heading back to her room. “You can’t procrastinate on this conversation forever, though. Eventually, you’ll have to talk to him.”
“I know,” I replied, even though I was considering never discussing the topic with Damon ever again. My current plan was to leave him alone for as long as possible.
I retreated to my room and sent my mom a quick text, telling her I was happy to see her so happy, and that I would be turning off my phone so I could get some studying done. While this was mostly factual, the real reason was that I didn’t want to be tempted to talk to Damon, nor did I want to respond to his messages. But, perhaps most of all, I didn’t want to sit by my phone, waiting for a call that never came.
These things had a way of working themselves out. In time, the familial upheaval would settle down, and life would remain unchanged for me. Yes, it would be heartbreaking to see my mother get divorced years down the line, but we would get through it when the time came. There was no use in worrying about something so far in the future.
And, with any luck, I may be so successful by then that I could just buy myself a ticket across the country and work there. I would not let a Rye get to me, no matter how rich and charming one might be.
Chapter 22
Damon
As no surprise to me, my father didn’t try pushing his new marriage on me. By now, he knew that I was not amused by his rotating door of wives. I’m sure I’d hear about it again whenever they planned their reception, but until then, I preferred to be left out of the whole thing.
I knew it would be nice to reach out to Olivia about the whole disaster, but I wasn’t in the mood. I wanted to reassure her that everything was okay, but I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about us. I liked her, but clearly, things were not going to go any further. Ignoring her sent the message that there was nothing going on between us, so it was best to move on.
I was relieved to go days without a call or message from Olivia. Perhaps she was already on the same page as me and wanted to forget that any of this ever happened.
Sessions this week were going to be rough. I hadn’t finished grading the papers, I had to give my intern evaluations in soon and I would have to face Olivia for the first time in days. And, I still planned on naming her the surgical intern, even though we weren’t on great terms right now. I was not looking forward to it.
Our personal problems aside, she was still the best student for the job. I was impressed with her paper and thought of all of them, it was the most researched and best written of the group. There was no doubt in my mind that she would be a great addition to the surgical team here at CUIMC, but I would have to create a new plan for her to attend a different surgeon. Suddenly, it didn’t seem like such a good idea to have her working right beside me.
Any of my colleagues would be happy to have her around, so I wasn’t too worried about pawning her off on one of the other surgeons. And, for all I cared, we could just have her doing patient aftercare and going over case files, and maybe assisting on some of the other surgeon’s surgeries. She’d get the experience she wanted, she’d get paid, and she would be happy with that.
Expecting to have to talk to a bunch of interns after sessions concerning the internship and their final evaluations, I got there early, instead of exactly on time as I usually did. I nearly walked straight into one as I made my way to the front of the conference room.
“Doctor Rye,” the kid said. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Go ahead,” I told the nerdy-looking guy. “Make it quick.”
He pulled out a file folder. “Oh, I think you’re going to want to listen to this,” he said, pulling out photos.
“What’s that?” I asked, already bored at whatever he had to say. I had no problem answering easy questions. I just didn’t want to engage in long-winded conversations that did not interest me.
“That’s you,” he said, pointing at a blurry figure. “That’s Olivia Hunter. That’s your apartment building.”
I squinted at the photos. It’s very clear that we were holding hands.
“You can’t prove anything with a blurry photo,
” I said. “I have girls at my place all the time. That can be anybody. It’s definitely not one of my students.”
“How about this photo?” he asked, pulling a professional photograph from the event we attended. I hadn’t even thought about there being cameras for the event, but there always were. They used these things for publicity. In the photo, we danced in the background, our faces very close. It was obvious that we weren’t just there as friends.
“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.
Forbidden Prescription 6: A Stepbrother Fake Girlfriend Medical Romance (Forbidden Medicine) Page 13
