I halt in my tracks. “The DEA?” She pulls me aside to an empty waiting area. “Look, Chleo, you’ve got a really bright future ahead of you. That’s why I stuck my neck out to give you such a strong recommendation for the cardiothoracic surgery residency at Presbyterian over Simon. Don’t make me regret it. I don’t know exactly what’s going on with you, but you need to make this go away. It’s not good for the hospital and it sure as hell isn’t good for your career. Understand?” “Yes, completely, I’m so sorry, Dr. Wood.” Her face screws up. “I don’t want your apologies, just make it stop.” She closes her eyes and sighs heavily. “With the field you’ve chosen, you have to make a tough decision about what comes first, your career or your personal life. No man’s worth it, believe me.” Chleo’s been divorced two years now, it’s clear to see what choice she made, even if that means only seeing her kids on the weekends and holidays. She’s made her sacrifices and appears pretty annoyed with me
You’re barking up the wrong tree, Roberts,” I say, placing my hands on the armrest. “I’ve got patients to see.” He cranes forward in his chair, “If I can’t get Sergei, I’m coming after your boyfriend. I’ll take him down and anyone near him, including you.” “That doesn’t sound like justice, agent Roberts, it sounds like a vendetta,” I say as I rise and move out from behind the desk. “Like it’s gone from professional to personal.” Roberts stands but doesn’t block my path. Tubbs is standing at the door, his eyes fixed upon me. “We heard Petrosky broke it off with his fiancée…so you two are really that serious, huh?” Was that a look of jealousy or pity in his intense brown eyes? “I’m late for rounds,” I say as I exit the door. “She definitely knows something,” I hear Halls grumble. TheminutethatIget off the phone with Chleo, I place a call to Jim Donaldson, a cop with a horrible gambling addiction that keeps him on our payroll. “Why did I have to find out second hand that the DEA
“I’m telling you, there’s more money in it. I didn’t spend all those years earning a and working on Wall Street for nothing. I think it’s about time we started thinking more with our heads and less with our fists.” “Ah, but where’s the fun in that?” “Don’t worry, you’ll keep your club and run all the action you want.” “What about you? You might be making a fuck load of money, but with no heads to crack, how will you get through the day?” “Ha, now you’re a fucking comedian.” “Seriously, I just hope you know what you’re doing, Ben,” he laments. “You’re making a lot of changes all of a sudden. Not everyone’s going to like it.” “We’ve got to grow and adapt, be smarter. Let the rest of these assholes squabble over the petty stuff. We go big, where the real money is.” “I hear ya, Ben. Just let me know what you need me to do.” “For now, just keep your ear to the ground,” I say. “I have a strong feeling Wood going to strike out at me to make some powerplay.” “You got eyes on the doc?
Say what now?” I chuckle. “You know those medical school exams you had to study for, all those hours you spent grueling over all those books and papers, all the practice exams and preparations.” “Yeah, what about it?” “Not everyone had to work that hard at it. Or to be more precise, some tried and failed, but instead of taking a hint and moving on, they simply found someone else to take the exams for them so they could pass with flying colors and eventually become a chief resident in the ER of a certain prominent NY hospital.” Her mouth drops open. “No!” “Yes.” “There’s no way.” “I’m telling you,Chleo’s about to be knocked clean off that high horse of hers.” “Ben, this is nuts,” she says as her eyes dart side to side trying to process the implications. “How do you know? Is this real?” “I make it a point to acquire knowledge about the key people in my life and dealings. I hoped it would never come to this, but I needed to know any weaknesses that the chief resident might have,
Fine,” she says glancing from me to Nathan. Nathan gives me a quizzical look. I shrug. Who put sour milk in her cornflakes? Had something gone wrong with a patient? Or perhaps things have taken a bad turn with her boyfriend? I saw her earlier today and she seemed in good cheer. She finds a table not too far from ours and sits down rather noisily. “You want to join us?” I offer. “I’m good,” she says in an uncharacteristically clipped tone, glaring openly at us. Okay. I think. “Just as well,” I say, rising from the table and taking my coffee with me. “I need to be heading back anyway. Thanks for the coffee.” “Sure,” Nathan says, looking a little bewildered. It’s Friday and my shift ended at 4 p.m. so I’m pulling into our garage at 4:28. I wave at Dmitri and his brother before the garage door glides shut. Nathan is coming through the door carrying our overnight bags to load into the Jag. “Hey, babe,” I say, as I climb out of the car and greet him with a kiss. “You’ve already got
Relax, just let yourself enjoy it for a few minutes.” He wraps his arms around me, determined to keep me warm and quiet. So, I give him that, letting the tension in my neck and shoulders melt away as I lean into him, slipping an arm around his waist. He’s staring up into the night sky. Extending his hand, he points at one particularly bright star. “You see that? The glittering one, just there.” “Yeah, neat, it shines bright like a diamond, if I may quote Rihanna.” “That’s our star,” he says, his voice filled with awe. “Our star?” I glance at him. “Wait…you didn’t do one of those things where you get to name a star or something?” He laughs. “No, silly. I just meant, it feels like it’s shining for us. In fact, they all do.” Just then the stars surrounding the larger one begin to swirl in the night sky as they’re all marshalled forward. “What the?” I squeeze my eyes shut trying to banish the hallucination. “Chleo, you’re missing it,” Nathan says, drawing my hands away. The star
When the request is given, we sit at our assigned table near the bridal party and enjoy our meal. When the opportunity arises. I escort Madison onto the dance floor and take her into my arms. We move well together even though it’s our first time dancing with each other in a public setting. Our compatibility is tested when the slow song is replaced by an upbeat fast one. I try to draw Madison off the floor, but she pulls me back forcing me to join the myriad of others for the popular Cha-Cha slide dance. Despite myself, I seem to be wearing a ridiculous grin the whole time and manage to keep in step with the music alongside Madison. She’s a huge hit with the crowd, so we stick around for the equally popular Macarena line dance. “Enough,” I laugh when the song ends and another upbeat one begins to play. “I’m sitting this one out.” Some of the younger girls plead with Madison to keep dancing with their group for the Electric slide, and she glances at me. I shrug. So she waves at me and
“Oh, you can count on it,” she says with a smirk. “Later you two.” As they walk off, Chleo leans in. “Why didn’t you tell me about Kylie? She’s a hoot.” I chuckle. “She’s trouble, but she’s family.” “Meh, so, it took her an extra year to graduate, how bad can she be? I’m looking forward to getting to know her.” Before I can reply, Stieg approaches us. “Hey, Chleo, you mind if I pull him away a moment?” he asks. Chleo glances at me and then at the crowd forming around the wedding cake table. “Sure, but after they cut the cake, I’m going to be ready to go. These shoes may look amazing, but they’re killing me.” “Sounds good, I’m about beat too,” I reply. “We’ll meet back in ten minutes, all right?” “Tootles,” she says with a flutter of fingers. When we’re out of earshot, I ask Stieg, “What’s up? Is it Gregor?” “Yeah, the word is he’s itching to put one in your skull. We need to deal with that slimy turd, fast.” “I figured as much,” I reply. “I’m doubling security at my place to