Page 55 of Egotistical Jerk
No, I didn't think.
I knew.
Chapter 25
MIA
I woke to the sound of knocking. Not sure whether the pounding came from my head or somewhere else, I slowly cracked one eye open. The blurry silhouette of a desk filled my vision almost immediately.
I shut my eye before gingerly prying both open this time. My surroundings still weren't in focus, but I figured it had to do with the fact that my eyeballs felt like sandpaper. Licking my dry lips, I pressed the heel of my palms against my eyes as the awful memories of the afternoon came rushing back.
The ear-shattering alarm.
Mrs. DuBois's lifeless body.
Me doing CPR.
Sebastian ordering Dr. Sandeep to call time of death.
A sharp pain shot through my heart, so potent I had to touch the aching spot. I'd been there, seen it with my own eyes, and I still couldn't believe she was just gone. Sadness and guilt rushed through me. I couldn't help but feel like I should've done more, or at the very least been here.
Was she in pain when it happened?
Did she feel alone?
In the distance, the sound of muffled voices broke through the questions floating around in my head. Closing my eyes again, I tilted my head to hear better.
"Sebastian."
I was almost positive the voice saying his name belonged to Dr. Sheppard.
That was confirmed when I heard Sebastian's dry, "Diana."
His voice sounded scratchy and rough. Almost immediately, the image of tears rolling down his face slammed into me and with it sent another stabbing ache through my heart.
He lost her, too.
His heart was broken, too.
And yet, I had been his main concern.
They were talking again, so that's where I shifted my attention. "I heard about your patient," Dr. Sheppard said. "It's never easy."
"No, it's not," Sebastian agreed tersely. "Was there something you needed?"
There was a very long pause before Dr. Sheppard spoke again. "Mmm, I can see you're quite busy. You do realize the cat's out of the bag now, don't you?"
"Yes."
Another long stretch of silence followed. As much as I wanted to lift my head to see what the heck was going on, I forced my body to stay completely still.
"If that's all," Sebastian finally said. The iciness in his tone had my skin prickling with a deep sense of foreboding. Even my stomach felt hollow.
"I received an interesting phone call from Victoria Shaw this morning. Newlife made an offer toyourDr. Phillips." I didn't like the way she'd said my name, as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Can I assume you've told her she was ineligible for the position?"
What the hell is she talking about?
This time when the words left Sebastian's mouth, he sounded furious. "I hadn't had the chance yet, not that it's any of your business."
