Page 53 of Only You

“What company?” My heart felt whole at her declaration.

“Yeah, what company?” I repeated as I took her other shoe, sending it to the same place hers had gone. I spent the afternoon with my brother and the woman who had quickly become a mother to me.

Nina Nine would never!

As quickly as that thought crossed my mind, I let it go because Stephon was right. I hadn’t lost a damn thing.

CHAPTER 29

Brice

Unwrapping myself from Tayla’s body and crawling out of bed hadn’t been something that I wanted to do this morning. Yet here I was working another shift at this damn crazy ass hospital. I returned to work in the regular emergency room department. The only aspect I was glad about was that working over here allowed me to work with Ivy. Furthermore, hearing about the stellar ‘what about our oath’ Nurse Newton missing work today would have pissed me off.

Tayla had texted me at almost eleven. I knew that in her mind, she thought she would be up bright and early to get Bryson. After last night, I knew she needed the rest. I opened the blinds before leaving so the sun would prevent her from sleeping too long. I was also upset that she wasn’t legally my wife. She’d made sure somehow that my son carried my name, but it fucked with me that hers wasn’t the same. Tayla Renae Washington was what I should have been able to text back. Instead, I’d told her I had to go.

Fuck!

I stood at the nurse’s station alone, listening to all the beeps and dings of the machines nearby before Ivy joined me.

“Brice,” she called. Until now, she’d been calling me Dr. Washington as I had asked.

“Ivy,” I answered, and gave a small smile.

“You and I are friends, right?”

“I’d like to think so.”

“Tell me what’s been going on with you today? You seem distant.”

“Just been thinking about my sperm donor a lot today.”

I’m sorry, Dad.

“I have one of those.” Her eyes rolled as she said it.

“I recently found out that he had a child with another woman, and he’s been hiding her,” I said with a deep sigh. I let worry lines crease my forehead as I waited for her response.

“Well, this sounds all too familiar. I’m a hidden child.”

“What’s your story, Ivy?” I walked around the desk, leaning on the counter to get closer to her. Her body shifted closer to mine when she inhaled my cologne. I was playing a dangerous game with Ivy because she had no respect for Tay, and I was also purposely leading her on.

“My father is Italian. As you may know, mostly older Italian men don’t date outside their own race. His father arranged for him to marry a lovely Italian woman, I assume. Unfortunately for her, my father has a thing for black women. Insert me. The hidden daughter he claims tolove so much.”

“Damn, at least you get to see your father though,” I said, sadness marring my face.

“If you can call it that. I see my father occasionally, and when we do, we argue. He called me last night to cancel our planned dinner. He says he has to have renovations on his house and not to visit him. It’s the same house where he hides from his wife to be with his mistress, the only one I’m allowed inside. He just returned to town yesterday with his new mistress, who, guess what?” She said, hands flailing in the air.

“What?” I smirked, amused by her passion on this topic as her voice rose higher.

“She’s black. Nina, Nina, Nina! That’s all I hear about. So I know his ass is lying about his damn house. He’s probably holed up in one of his warehouses with her. He thinks I don’t know where he goes when he wants to stay off the grid.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, his family owns several of them in the warehouse district. One of them has housing inside.”

Bingo!

“Damn. My apologies, Short Stack. I didn’t mean to get you all riled up. You good, though?” I asked as I returned to the computer to log on and review patient intake. It was nearing time to make my rounds. As I scrolled through the list, I saw six new patients had been triaged. Five of those patients were low urgency, with one being high on that scale. I quickly reviewed his symptoms, logged out, and headed towards triage to see if he would need tobe admitted. As I walked, I took out my encrypted phone and shot off a quick text.

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