Page 52 of Wreckage of Me
I finally fixate her with a serious stare, one that scared off plenty of enemies back in my club days.
“So what’s the deal with you and Devereaux?”
“Devereaux?” She sounds surprised and like she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. She’s a good actress, but the way her left I twitches just a bit is her tell that she’s lying, always has been.
“Don’t play stupid, Ma.” I feel better now that I sound more like my old self. “Who or what is Devereaux to you?”
She shrugs like what she’s about to tell me it’s the most natural thing in the world, leaving me and Sully speechless and staring at her with our jaws damn near the floor.
“He’s my lover.”
18
Becca
“Hey,”Emily’s shoes squeak on the flooring of the hospital as she runs after me. “Where were you this morning? I tried calling you.”
I missed my class today. After the whole debacle with Dylan last night, I just didn’t have the energy to get out of bed this morning. I would’ve skipped work too, but I didn’t think Morgan, the head nurse, would appreciate that, and I don’t need to get on her people to watch list. I’m positive she has one.
“I had a rough night,” I now tell my friend, all while trying to finish typing up my notes in the chart of the patient who I just saw. “I can’t believe Claire is back in,” I sigh in defeat.
Claire Peters is my favorite patient, who, unfortunately, is a regular on our floor. She is six, has leukemia and has to come in for treatments, but once in a while, she has to also spend the night in the hospital.
“I know, her mom said she kept on throwing up last night.” Emily’s voice sounds as sad as I feel about little Claire. “What happened to you?”
“What do you mean?” I am finally done with my chart, so I save it and log out.
“You said you had a rough night. Why?” Emily prods me. She’s like a dog with a bone when she feels something is off.
I let out a heavy breath and decide that I might as well tell her. “Dylan visited.”
“Wrecker?” her eyebrows go up and down, and she gives me a big smile, like she’s been expecting me to tell her this.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I stand up from my chair and walk around the desk I was using at the nurses’ station, pushing her playfully into the wall.
“I may have heard a thing or two,” she shrugs.
“And how could you have heard such a thing, Miss Prim and Proper?” I tease her. “Could it be from one certain criminal named Puck?” I can’t resist throwing in her face what she called him six months ago when she found out that Puck and Dylan were members of a motorcycle club gang thingie... Club.
I stop laughing when I see Emily’s face getting serious. All of a sudden, she looks like she’s trying to hold back tears.
“Are you okay? I’m, sorry, I was just teasing you…”
“No, it’s not you,” she waves me off and continues walking, looking straight ahead.
“Is it lunch time?” I finally break the tense walk we’re suddenly having. “I could use a snack.”
She nods in relief. “Yeah, let’s go to the cafeteria.”
Two long hallways and one elevator trip later, and we’re finally in the hospital cafeteria. I know that hospital food has a certain reputation, but ours is not too terrible. We have quite a few options for different restaurants set up in the large area, and all of them are of the healthy food variety. You can’t even buy a can of pop if you feel so inclined, which can be sort of annoying at times.
“I’ll have a veggie sub,” she points with her chin toward the place in question, and we get in line. We order the food and bottles of water, then find a quiet table where we can eat and talk in peace.
“What’s going on Em?” I finally ask her. Curiosity is killing me here.
At first, she shrugs and refuses to meet my eyes. And then she blows my mind. “I’m back together with Steve.”
“You’re what?” My voice goes up an octave or two, and a few people from the nearby tables eye us in amusement. I lean over the table and whisper, “Why? How?” Then a thought hits me out of nowhere. “Is he blackmailing you to do it?”
