Page 19 of Careless Whisper

“Eli, cariño.” She cupped my face and kissed me just as I entered her.

“You know”—Delaney pressed into me, her lips nearly touching my face—“Reggie acts like she’s better than the rest of us, but honestly? She’s overrated. I’ve been doing her cases for weeks with you, and it’s notthathard, not if you’re a good nurse.”

I stiffened, pulling away from her.

“Honestly,” she continued, swirling her drink, “I don’t know why everyone tiptoes around her like she’s so damn special.”

A voice cut through the noise. “You done?” Luther stood next to our booth, arms crossed over his massive chest, looking like someone who could take down a linebacker with a glare. Well, like he used to when he played for U Dub.

Delaney paled.

“You don’t talk about her like that,” he admonished. “Especially not behind her back.”

“I wasn’t?—”

“You got a problem with Reggie; you tell it to her face, got it? Don’t suck face with attendings and talk shit about a colleague.”

“She wasn’t sucking my face,” Zara interjected, I think, to add levity to a situation that was getting a bit too heated for fucking trivia night.

Delaney blinked fast. Her face crumpled just a little. She stood quickly, muttered about needing air, and walked out, leaving her drink next to mine.

Luther turned to me then, expression flat. “You”—there was no doubt he was talking to me—“are the reason Delaney is doing what she’s doing.”

“I—”

“Reggie’s one of the best surgical nurses I’ve ever worked with,” Luther spoke over me. “And she’s spent the last month getting your scraps because you’re still pissed about something you won’t even talk about. And neither will she.”

I didn’t respond because he wasn’t wrong.

“But the past is the past, yeah? She deserves better,” he continued. “From everyone. Especially you, as the head of our department.”

Then he turned and walked back to his booth.

I stared at my drink. It didn’t help. So, I drank some of it. That didn’t help much, either.

Somewhere along the line, I’d becomethatguy. The attending everyone despised; the one who buried nurses over ego and let personal history cloud professional judgment.

Reggie had done nothing but her job, and I was making her pay not for Boston, I realized now, but because I still wanted her.

Sanjay breathed out slowly and whistled softly. “Well, this was not the stress reliever we thought it would be.”

“Wait till trivia begins,” Zara tried to assure him and me.Mostlyme.

“Rain check.” I drained my drink, threw some billson the table to cover my tab, and left the bar. Delaney wasn’t the only one who needed some air.

When I got home, the night concierge gave me a sympathetic look as I stepped into the main lobby.

“There’s a woman waiting for you in the inside lobby,” he whispered carefully. “I didn’t let her upstairs—she’s not on your guest list.”

I frowned. “Who?—?

“A Dr. Maren Loring.”

“Fuck.” The epithet slipped out.

“You want me to send her away?” the concierge asked, concerned.

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine.”

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