Lincoln Hospital (Trauma #1) (8 page)

“Well, sir, I can’t say that wouldn’t please me, although I know we’re several years off from that happening.  Still, thank you for the recognition.  I have a few other high profile cases to discuss with you as well that I’d like to bring in.”

Murphy grinned and nodded. “Call my secretary and have her set up a time for this week.  I want to hear more about this.”

Telling him he’d do that, Cian glanced to the left and watched as Webster came into the main foyer with her six interns trailing behind her.  Each had their heads hung as though in shame and from the way Webster’s head was tossing and her hip was cocked, he guessed they were getting in shit.  The guilty expressions confirmed it, all except Athena.  She didn’t look guilty or remorseful; she looked pissed. Curious, he moved closer to find out what the issue was.

“—interns.  You have no business making a diagnosis and you most certainly have no business telling a patient they have an incurable brain tumor!  What in the bloody hell is the matter with you?” Webster was livid, her voice raising with each word she spit out. “I want to know right now who it was that spoke to Mr. Seymour about his wife.”  They kept silent, looking at the floor or ceiling, refusing to meet Webster’s furious glare.  Except Athena, she stared at her head on, barely even blinking.  Cian knew immediately what she was going to do.

“It was me.  I told Mr. Seymour about the tumor, Dr. Webster.” Athena admitted, shocking everyone.

“Payne? Why would you do such a thing?  Do you understand now that I have to go and explain to those poor people that they
don’t
have to worry about terminal cancer?  What were you thinking? Is that the kind of patient care you want to give as a doctor?”

Athena was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to answer.  She wasn’t the one that screwed up, it was Dick, but seeing how he clearly wasn’t going to man up, someone had to or they’d never find their way out of the mess. To make matters worse, Cian was hovering behind Webster, witnessing her humiliation as she took the fall for something she didn’t do.

“No, Dr. Webster, that’s not how I want to care for my patients.  I honestly thought I was doing the right thing.” There, that wasn’t a total lie.

“I thought you were smarter than this, Payne.  I really did.  I’m disappointed in you.”

“Ahem,” Cian stepped forward and cleared his throat. He had no idea what he was doing.  He’d avoided all contact with Athena since the night they’d run into each other with Fergus. Now here he was getting in the middle of something that didn’t concern him.  Still, he couldn’t stop himself.

“Dr. Webster, if I may.  Isn’t the point of being an intern that you’re going to make mistakes? We rely on those mistakes to teach us what not to do in the future.  I think I remember a time or two that you were in some hot water with your resident.” He raised an eyebrow at her and watched as she paled at the memory of her own transgressions.  “Athena is one of our strongest interns, perhaps maybe look a little beneath the surface and see what really happened here before believing everything you’re told.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, still shocked that he’d risen to the defense of a female, an intern no less in front of half the hospital.  He didn’t have to glance back to feel all the eyes boring into his back or hear the tongues start wagging with gossip. 
Great.  Just fucking great
.

Faye Webster was one of the most respected residents in the Lincoln Hospital surgical program.  To receive a dressing down in front of her colleagues and subordinates was not something she ever expected to have happen to her.  The need to lash out was fierce, but she kept her cool and turned skeptical eyes to Athena.

“Payne, are you covering for someone?” The insinuation made by O’Reilly that she was missing information was not lost on her.  Her instincts might have been right after all when she was completely blown away by Payne’s confession.

Backed into a corner, Athena didn’t know what to do or say.  If she lied again now, and was found out later it would come back on her worse.  But if she told the truth, she’d be throwing Dick under the bus. At a loss, she glared hard at Dick, willing him to come forward on his own.  He of course, stared back defiantly, refusing to budge.  Left with no choice, she did the only thing she could.

“Yes.  But don’t ask me who.  We all have to work together as a team, you’ve told us that from the beginning.  If we can’t rely on each other to have each other’s backs outside of the OR, how are we ever going to learn to work together to save lives in the OR?” Her question was met with silence while Faye stared at her, considering her words.  Finally, she sighed.

“Fine.  But all of you will be present while I explain this situation to the family.  If I have to suffer through it, so do you.”

Sabine fell back into step with Athena as they headed to speak to the family.  “Oh, my fucking God, Thene!” she hissed.  “He came to your rescue, he spoke up in front of everyone for you! He so wants in your panties.  He wants those panties off you bad.  Dude, he wants you to never be wearing panties when he’s around!”

“Shhh, shut up!  Enough about my panties.  And he wasn’t defending me, he was helping.  Helping avoid a scene,” she finished lamely, clueless on what to say.  The truth was, she had no idea why Cian interjected the way he did.  For the past several weeks, since that night she’d run into him on his way to the OR, she’d done her best to avoid him.  Something about him that night was different; he was different. She could see it in his eyes.  The feral way he’d bared his teeth and snapped at her had sent terror skidding down her spine and she barely restrained herself from sprinting at a dead run away from him.  But as much as she was scared, she was also intrigued.  There was a conflicted war happening inside her where Cian O’Reilly was concerned.  A war she was petrified she was going to lose.  Especially if he kept up riding in like some white knight in shining armor.  Although in his case, it was more like a dark avenging angel.

“Ugh, you can be so blind sometimes!  Mark my words, Athena, it won’t be long before instead of him riding in like your white knight—” Athena’s head whipped up when Sabine plucked the thoughts right out of her head. “—he’s got you riding him instead.”

Athena smacked her on the arm and blushed furiously as the image of sliding herself down onto Cian’s waiting cock filled her head.  He’d reach up and tug her long hair back, exposing her throat to his teeth; biting down and marking her flesh as his as he slowly entered her, rocking his hips up and into her in a way that would have her moaning out his name.  She’d start to move in a leisurely pace at first and then—

“You’re totally picturing it!  You have sex face!” Sabine exclaimed far too loudly.  The entire group turned to gape at the two of them and Athena wished furiously for the floor to open up and swallow her, or better yet, to swallow her asshole best friend.

She caught a look of hurt flash across Clarence’s face but before she could wonder what that was about, Bianca burst out laughing, breaking the silence.

“You two are a trip,” she commented, shaking her head in disbelief.  Webster glared at all of them and motioned them into the room with her hands.

“God save me from interns,” she muttered, closing the door behind them.

Reynolds stopped him in the hall on his way out of the building a few hours after his run in with Webster and her interns. The gossips had already been churning over his latest stunt and rumors were running rampant about a torrid affair between him and the little Dr. Payne.

“Have you seen the news lately?” Reynolds asked, concern evident in his tone.

“Yeah. It’s a goddamn nightmare.  Where the hell is that nitwit getting her info?”

“I don’t know.  I was hoping you had some idea.  What’s our plan of action here?  Are we cooling things off for awhile until this blows over?” Reynolds asked.

“Fuck no.  Are you crazy?  We can’t stop now.  These fuckers need to pay for what they’ve done, Reynolds.  I thought you understood that.” Cian snapped.

“Calm down. Of course I understand that, but neither of us need this shit coming down on our heads,” he lowered his voice.  “We’re murdering people, Cian. Right here in this hospital under the fucking nose of everyone.  And someone knows about it and is feeding information to the press.  Doesn’t that concern you even a little?”

“You’re damn right it concerns me.  It concerns me enough to know we need to find the mole and flush this shit out now.  Someone is talking, you’re right about that, and when I catch who it is, they’re going to wish they never crossed me.  That’s a promise.” They headed out the sliding doors and into the dusky light of the just setting sun.

“Well if you won’t consider giving it a rest for awhile then we need to be really fucking careful on the twenty-third. It’s only a couple weeks away and I don’t want to have the cops showing up in our OR.”

“That’s not going to happen.  I’m going to handle this spy or mole or whatever the fuck it is and you’re going to help me.  Set up a meet of the team at my place tomorrow.  I want everyone there, no excuses.”

“Alright. Cian, are you sure there isn’t anything I can say to change your mind about taking a break for awhile?  I really think—”

“No.  How can you even say that to me, John?  You know the significance of that date.  You know why we have to keep moving forward with this.  If you want off the team, fine.  But just fucking say that instead of acting like a pussy and wanting a break.  We’re not fucking dating.” Cian’s temper snapped and he took a few menacing steps forward into Reynolds’ space.  It wasn’t often he called him by his first name, but the slight slip showed just how close he was to losing control.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.  No, I don’t want off the team, I still believe in what we’re doing.  I just want this fucking shit put to bed.”

Cian stared at him hard for a few long moments before walking to his car and wrenching open the door.  He leaned over the top of it and the look in his eyes was chilling as he spoke.

“Fine.  But don’t push me on this again.  I guarantee you won’t like the side of me it brings out.”

Two Years Ago

CIAN LEFT THE hospital and drove towards home, the genius idea of stopping off to pick up some fresh daisies to surprise his beautiful wife, Hannah, with popping in his head.  The local floral shop would be pleased with the business and he’d be blessed with one of Hannah’s “special” smiles as she called them, the dazzling one she saved for just the right moments, and hopefully a mind-blowing marathon of sex later that night in bed.

Their anniversary was coming up in a few months, five years of marriage.  Quite an accomplishment in this day and age.  He had plans to surprise her with a romantic cruise around the Caribbean, he just had a few more details to work out in his schedule at work and then he’d be making the reservations.  She’d argue with him over the money of course, they were complete opposites in that sense, she was frugal and seriously contemplated over every penny they spent, while he didn’t give a shit about what things cost.  They brought in a more than decent living between his salary at the hospital and hers as the Assistant District Attorney.

With demanding careers, their schedules didn’t allow for a lot of down time for the luxury of things like vacations, so pulling this off was going to be a huge feat on his part.  Luckily, Hannah had an amazing assistant that was helping to clear her schedule in a subtle way so that the cruise would be a surprise.  He couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

Pulling into the driveway of their home in the suburbs of New York, he glanced at Hannah’s old beat up Toyota Corolla and grimaced.  He really needed to put his foot down and talk her into letting them purchase her a better vehicle.  A nice SUV, something that he wouldn’t worry the wheels would fall off of as she drove down the road. Ever since he’d met her, she’d been stubborn and strong-willed, yet with a heart of gold.  Her compassion for others and her drive and ambition were the main things that attracted him to her.

The first time he’d seen her in line at a concession stand at a New York Rangers game, he’d thought she was adorable; all decked out in her Boston Bruins gear.  Damn ballsy of her at a Rangers game, but as he learned over the next several months, she was spirited and had no problem standing up and cheering for her team at an away game.  Her laugh and smile were so infectious at that first game that he had no choice but to charm his way into a date with her, beers at a local pub after the game to celebrate the Bruins win. Since then, it’d been history.  They married six months later in a small ceremony of mostly her friends and family since Cian didn’t have a large amount of either, and had been living their dream together ever since.