Page 95 of The Exception

Frank groaned. “How could I forget? Alright, the kid came by and we had coffee and talked.”

Sonya’s heart sank as every bit of the joy she’d felt was replaced by an anxious knot.

Frank continued, “He meant well. You should go easy on him.”

She wanted to scream. Frank was talking like she had control over all of the potential consequences of Trav’s actions. He had no idea how bad this could be if it was reported. Going to see a patient after discharge was against protocol. If Trav used hospital resources to get the information, his career would be over before it even began.

Oh God. This had the potential to be bad, and not just official reprimand bad. She needed to find Trav as soon as possible.

Sonya gave Frank a pat on the shoulder, mindful to keep her emotions from showing on her face. “You get settled in and I’ll be back later to check on you.”

Her mind was so busy going back and forth between being pissed beyond all logic and coming up with a recovery plan that she almost trampled over Dr. Lewis in her hurry to get out of there.

After offering little more than a mumbled apology, she continued down the hall to find Trav.

* * *

Trav was standing at the pharmacy window when she found him a few minutes later. His lips spread into a wide smile when he saw her like they always did. Usually she’d worry about that smile giving away their secret, or if she could last the entire shift without kissing him, but not this time. Today, she was trying to inspect him for any sign of the secret he’d been keeping from her.

“Hey, I was just about to go to lunch. Wanna join me?”

“Did you know Frank is back? He just showed up and checked himself in.”

Trav must’ve been working on his poker face because his smile didn’t falter. “That’s great. I’m glad he came around. Did he say what convinced him?”

Sonya narrowed her eyes. “He said he had a visitor who helped convince him.”

Trav shrugged, running a hand through his hair, and Sonya frowned. There it was. His tell was as clear as day.

“Anything that helped him see reason, I’m all for,” he said.

“An intervention like that could’ve gone the other way. I hope the visitor thought about that before deciding to go over there.”

Trav stopped walking and his eyes searched her face, understanding washing over him.

He blew out a breath of surrender. “But it didn’t. Frank is back where he needs to be. I thought you’d be happy about it.”

“I am. However, the ends don’t always justify the means.”

Trav’s flinch let her know that her words had come out louder than she intended. Luckily, the hallway was mostly empty except for a few nurses and they were probably out of earshot.

“Sonya, look, I—”

Sonya shook her head. “We should probably discuss this in private, Intern Travis.”

She needed to talk about this now and the anger bubbling up inside of her might boil over before they made it to her office on the other side of the floor. She glanced around, moved over to a door on their left, and ducked inside before shooting Trav a look that she hoped read asget your ass in here.

Unfortunately for both of them, this wasn’t going to be the tryst in a supply closet Dani suggested.

Once they were behind the locked door she dropped the professional tone. “What the hell, Trav?”

He folded his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the shelving. “Frank needed an extra push, so I gave him one. It’s not a big deal, especially since it worked.”

“This isn’t smuggling ice cream and making time to chat on your breaks. You went to see a patient without authorization, and I don’t even want to know how you got the address because if you used his records, that would be career-ending for you.”

His eyes widened and he shook his head. “I didn’t do that. I called some veterans organizations for the info on the halfway house he stays at.”

Sonya snorted. “Thank God you were actually thinking then.”

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