Page 44 of Torched Spades
“You want to tell me what the fuck that was about?” I don’t get the chance to answer before he slams his hand above my head. “What the hell happened to doctor/patient confidentiality and innocent until proven guilty, Dr. Brennan? Or do the previously guilty forfeit that right in your world?”
“You’re right,” I admit, shame burning my cheeks. “Saying all that in front of your peers was out of line and unprofessional. But you make me so…”Crazy. Irrational. Tempted to color outside the lines and break all the rules.Exhaling, I sag against the wall. “Why are you lying to me?”
“Why do you care?”
“You’re my patient. I saw a red flag, and I followed it.”
I wait for another outburst. When I’m met with silence, I glance up to find his eyebrows drawn together, a deep vertical line slicing down the middle. His clenched jaw saws back and forth so hard I can hear his teeth grinding. It’s like he’s at war with something, and I don’t know whether to twist it to my advantage or brace for the storm.
“I had an altercation here a couple of weeks ago,” he says gruffly. “Let’s just say Owen showed up after our last appointment with an offer I wasn’t given the option to refuse. He had this idea in his head that switching me from third shift to first would keep me out of trouble.” His lips part in a vicious smile. “Because everyone knows nothing bad happens in daylight.”
Something buried in the bite of his tone makes me shiver.
“An altercation…” I repeat.
His smile fades. “A fight, Becca. One that could’ve ruined everything.
One statement slams us both into a concrete wall.
Johnny’s posture stiffens, the words like an arrow drawn against the bowed muscles in his neck. He’s right. A repeat violation could saddle him with stricter probation rules or potential jail time. However, it’s the bitter hate in his explanation that has me questioning the motivation behind it.
But not here.
While I don’t believe Johnny would hurt me, I’m also not foolish enough to spray gasoline on a lit match.
“Okay, so you didn’t get the ‘promotion’ until Wednesday,” I say, shifting the conversation back on track. “Then why all the secrecy and date shifting?”
“Stop looking for a magic bullet, Doc. Predating the letter was just Owen jerking his procedural hard-on by putting me on lockdown. So he went overboard on the damage control, big deal.”
Is he kidding me right now?Overboard would’ve been delivering the affidavit with balloons and a bouquet, not falsifying legal documents.
However, we’re spinning in circles, so I let it go…For now.
“What about you?” I ask, desperately grappling for the upper hand. Something that’d be much easier if we were on opposite sides of the room. “When you said you were late for work, I mentioned you worked third shift. You had every opportunity to tell me yourself.”
“Right,” he drawls, seeping the word in derision. “My first instinct was to tell the chiefof police’s daughter I beat the shit out of two guys while on probation. I’m not stupid, Doc.”
I wince. Johnny Malone may be a lot of things, but stupid is definitely not one of them. He’s one of the most dangerously intelligent men I’ve ever met. That’s why I’m not surprised about the lack of fanfare leading to this curtain drop. The way he casually snapped that blade open and held it right to my throat made much more of a statement.
He knows about me.
I was naive to think framing my secrets behind glass would contain them forever. Severing emotional and legal ties doesn’t sever reality. I could shred paper trails and scrub digital traces well into my golden years, and it’d never be enough.
Sin is a permanent stain.
“If you know who my father is, then you also know he’s not now, nor will he ever be a part of my life,” I say flatly. “The only thing in this world I’m proud of is my career, Mr. Malone. That being said, despite my actions today, I assure you I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it.”
“You never answered my question.”
Irritated, I fold my arms across my chest.Unbelievable.That’s it? He throws my darkest secret in my face, draws blood from my deepest scar, and then just fucking pivots? “Are you going to enlighten me, or am I supposed to guess?”
“Back in the warehouse… I asked if you stalked all your patients when they cancel appointments, or if I was just your favorite? After you stormed in here, blabbing my personal business, I think I deserve an answer.”
Johnny leans closer, and that’s when I notice his uniform.God, he looks good.The blue short-sleeve button-down shirt he’s wearing hugs every hard plane of his chest, dipping into valleys that lead to places I have no business following. The whole package makes him seem rugged—somehow looking heroic and dangerous at the same time.
Like a hero-laced devil.
“You have a strange look on your face, Doc.”
