Page 50 of The Potter

“Ms. Belle?” The teenager cocks a brow, a fuck-all grin aimed in my direction as he exhales smoke onto my suit. “Is that what you call her?”

I narrow a gaze at the prick leaning back on two legs in a plastic chair. “What do you call her?”

He tsks. “That’s not how we play this game.”

I’m going to jail today, I can feel it. First, Halle pushes me with the whole tie thing. Then, Richard shits on my mood with a deposition date. Now, this fucking kid thinks he’s going to intimidate me with cryptic conversation. Yeah, not happening.

I take a step closer and tower over the boy, who, likely, is only a few inches shorter than me, and snatch the cigarette from his mouth.

“Hey!”

I kick the legs of his chair and toss the cigarette, grabbing him by the shirt and hauling him against the door before he even realizes what happened. “I better not even catch you thinking about the woman in that room, you little perv.”

“Ahh, I see.” His fucking grin pisses me off. “You’re—”

“Dr. Potter!”

I drop the teenager as if he were on fire and step back, his laughter filling the silence as I stare at Halle’s wide eyes and frown.

“What are you doing?”

She rushes over to the teenager, who waves her off, already putting another cigarette in his mouth.

“I’m fine.” The boy dusts himself off and flashes me a grin before addressing Halle, who is fretting over the plastic chair—that I broke. “Don’t worry about it, Hal. I’ll steal another one from next door.”

Hal?

That’s what he calls her? Hal.

I chance a look at Halle. Surely, she can’t like that ridiculous pet name.

“You sure?” She seems concerned more with the chair than she does with the ridiculous pet name.

“Positive. Go before you’re late for work.” He plucks the chair from her fingers and winks at me. Blood pounds in my ears, and I find myself stepping forward.

“What is wrong with you?” Halle appears through the haze of red and shoves me back a step. “He’s just a kid!”

Legally, he might be, but the hate-glare he shoots me tells me this kid has seen more than most adults have in a lifetime. This is a man in a teenager’s body. And he’s my employee’s neighbor.

“Let’s go.” I grab Halle by the arm and pull her to the car as she protests, spouting off some shit about being rude. I couldn’t care less how her hormonal neighbor feels about my manners. Frankly, I don’t care what she thinks, either. All I think about is getting the fuck out of here and drowning myself in a glass of bourbon for the next eight hours while seeing patients that I won’t treat and lying to my brothers that I’m resuming surgeries.

Life is fucking peachy.

“Get in the car, Ms. Belle, or I’ll show junior here how well you behave under my hands.”

She jerks to a halt, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t know what your fucking problem is this morning, Dr. Potter, but I hope you shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.”

She wounds me with her harsh insults.

“Get in the car.” I take a step forward. I’m done playing with her today.

Hell, I’m done with everything.

I made a mistake by bringing Halle back to my place. It’s not my fault she won’t take my offer and see another surgeon. I’m not responsible for what happens to her here while she waits on me to perform her surgery.

Which I won’t because there is no way I’m discharging her back to the fleabag hotel with a horny teenager to check on her.

She needs to go home.

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