Bending the Rules (10 page)

Chapter 17

Dana

The last thing I wanted to do was go over to Mrs. Delmaz's house to find this Larry character, but there was no way I was showing up at the hospital empty handed. Her throwing a fit wasn't necessarily my worry, but her not trusting me would mess up everything. She needed someone at the hospital that she was comfortable with while she was slowly losing her memories. I wanted to be that person for her.

I walked up to her home and knocked on the front door. Nothing. I waited a few more minutes and knocked again. The hospital wouldn't approve of me coming to a patient’s house, and they had her keys locked up with the other things they'd gathered from her when she was admitted by one of her neighbors. The poor woman had been walking around in her nightgown in her front yard at three in the afternoon, lost as to where she was or who she was.

"Really?" I groaned and lifted to my toes to see if maybe there was a key above the front door. I yelped and moved back as something sharp stung my hand. I pulled it down to find a splinter buried deep in my skin. "Great."

I moved back and glanced around, making sure no one was watching me. The neighborhood was extremely nice, but there was no security gate upon entering, which was a bit surprising. After pacing in front of the door for a few more seconds, I finally decided to go around back. I could check for a dog before going into the backyard and if there wasn't one, then maybe there was a key hidden in a pot somewhere. The fear that I might find a dead man in Thelma's living room was the only thing that kept me moving forward, that and not wanting to disappoint her. Maybe Tensely was right. Maybe my empathy for our patients was going to become more of a detriment than anything else.

"Anyone back here?" I pulled myself up on the side of the fence that surrounded her enormous backyard and looked around. Everything looked as if it had been manicured that morning. Maybe Larry was inside, but just asleep. Or maybe he was out running errands. I'd leave a note if nothing else.

I hoisted myself over the fence, almost breaking my neck as I landed and walked up toward the back door. Something was moving inside, but I couldn’t really make out what it was.

"Larry?" I pressed my hands to the glass at the top of the backdoor and leaned in, trying to catch a glimpse of this mystery man. "This is so fucking stupid. Just go back to the hospital and tell her that Larry is on his way. Just lie."

As much as I wanted to, there was no way I could force myself to do it. By the looks of things, whoever this guy was, he was living high on the hog while Thelma was in the hospital. Why would he not come check on her? Was he her son?

I lifted to my toes and used my other hand to check for a key. Something fell in front of me, and I screamed and jumped back as a golden key hit the ground.

"Yes!" I reached down and grabbed it. Hopefully Larry wasn't dangerous. I paused as the thought ran through my mind. No one knew where I was. How stupid was I being? I pulled out my phone and shot off a quick text to Jackie that I was over at Mrs. Delmaz's place, looking for her friend.

"There. At least if I don't make it back alive-" I forced myself to shut the hell up. I was being dramatic, which wasn't at all my style. I popped the key in the lock and let out a sigh of relief as the door handle turned in my hand. I pushed the door open a little and stuck my face in the crack. "Larry? Are you in there? I'm a friend of Thelma's."

I smirked at the situation. I couldn't make this shit up and yet to tell anyone would be insanely embarrassing. The things I did for my patients.

"I'm coming in, so don't be scared. I'm a nurse at the hospital and Thelma just misses you."

"Larry misses Thelma." A bird squawked from somewhere in the house. "Larry misses Thelma."

"Seriously?" I walked around the corner to find a parrot sitting on top of a large cage, his beady eyes watching me closely. "You're Larry?"

"Larry misses Thelma." He squawked again and turned his head to the side. "The mail is late. The mail is late." Another squawk. "Larry misses Thelma."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "All right, well, I need to take you up to the hospital, Larry. Just a quick visit to see Thelma before I figure out who can take care of you, all right?"

I glanced around, looking for the bird’s cage and finally founded it sitting in the corner. The little turd had done a number on the kitchen, but with him being alone for five days, it was no wonder the whole damn house wasn't torn up. Mrs. Delmaz had a bird for a best friend. Was it too much to consider?

"Nope," I mumbled, then I picked up the cage and set it down on the counter. After opening the door, I patted the front of the cage and tried my best to get the bird inside. Nothing. The bastard wouldn't budge.

I looked around the kitchen and found a few snacks that looked like they might belong to Larry.

"You want a treat? Come get it, boy." I slipped the treat through the back of the cage and wagged it around. The bird flew right to it and landed on a limb that looked like it was growing out of the floor of the cage. I slammed the door and yelped like a girl before shivering. Birds were beautiful from afar, but having one so close was creeping me the fuck out.

"All right, man. We're headed up to the hospital." I looked around and found a blanket to put over the top of the cage. I wasn't sure it would work, but I'd seen it in the movies or somewhere before.

Lucky for me, the bird didn't make a sound all the way back up to the hospital. I walked in and rode the elevator to the top floor before anyone stopped to ask if I was all right. I must have looked a little out of sorts.

"Hey. What's going on?" Jackie moved in front of me and reached out to grab my arms. "You look upset."

"Nope. I just found Larry at Mrs. Delmaz’s." I shook my head in disbelief.

"Oh shit. Was he dead?"

"No, he's a parrot."

"Wait. What?"

"Larry is a parrot. I have him in my car. I'm going to get Thelma to get in her chair and I'll wheel her outside for a little while to see him."

"Oh my God. Seriously? That's insane." She dropped her hands from me as a smile lifted her lips. "You seriously did all of that for some old woman that's losing her mind?"

"Yes. I did." I moved around her and walked toward Thelma's room.

"Well, I'm proud of you. You're a good person, Dana, and a great nurse."

I smiled at her compliment and stuck my head into Thelma's room. A shoe came flying at me, and I moved back, barely missing getting smacked in the face with it.

"Where is Larry? You promised you would ask him to come visit." There were tears in her voice.

"I have him downstairs. If you want to get in your wheelchair, and you promise not to tell anyone that I have him with me," I leaned into the room and wagged my eyebrows at her, "I'll take you to see him."

"Really?" Her face lit up like a child during the holidays. "Oh my God. You really went to get him?"

"I did. Get in the chair and I'll take you to him." I moved into the room as she pressed her face to her hands and began to weep. "Hey... it's okay. He's in great shape."

"Thank you so much. He's all I have left in the world." She brushed away her tears and glanced up at me. "He's the only thing I can remember."

*

I finished up my shift feeling like a million bucks. Working as a nurse wasn't just about helping to heal the human body, but offering occasional balm to the human spirit. Watching Thelma come alive for the hour that I let her sit in the courtyard with Larry was worth all the trouble of having to go get the damn bird, including the tetanus shot that Dr. Lewis made me get.

He wasn't excited about me stepping outside the boundaries of the hospital to risk going to someone’s private residence, but when I fully explained my reasoning behind it, he softened a little.

I should have gone home after my shift, but I wanted to see Kendal. I could make the trip about checking in with Nurse Barry on my new schedule and accidently being in the business building around his classroom if needed, but either way, I wanted to check in on him.

After circling the parking lot for what felt like forever, I finally squeezed into a compact car spot and made my way toward the center of campus. I smiled at the thought of telling Kendal how weird my day had been. He would think it was humorous as well, or at least I hoped he would. Knowing that there was a side of him that was all about following the rules, he might lecture me for an hour over how stupid it was to put myself in a situation where someone could have hurt me.

I pulled out my phone and texted Kendal to let him know that I was just down the hall. His reply was to swing by his office and he could chat for a minute, but no more. He had a lot on his plate after coming back from taking the weekend off.

After grabbing a Coke from the machine by the auditorium, I walked up the three flights of stairs that led to the accounting department offices and made my way down to where Kendal's name was posted on the door. I moved into the open doorway and watched him work for a few seconds before knocking on the doorframe.

"Hey there. How's your day going, Dr. Tarrington?"

"It's good. Come on in." His eyes lingered on me a little longer than would have been acceptable.

I sat down in the chair across from his desk and crossed my legs. "So I've decided that I'm going to drop my classes and transfer to Baylor for graduation. I might have to stay an extra semester, but it will all be worth it."

"What?" Confusion moved across his handsome face as he leaned back in his chair and pulled his glasses off. "You're not doing that, Dana. We worked all of this out. It's just eight months."

"And that's too long for me." I took a quick sip of my Coke and offered it to him.

He politely declined. "Then I'll talk with Damon about coming to work for him. You're not changing your future for me."

"You are my future." I leaned forward and pressed my free hand to my knee. "I've seen so many things in the hospital over the last six months. People come and go, some survive and some die there, but all of them want the same thing."

"Love?" His voice was soft and drew me in like a moth to the flame.

"Yes. I don't wanna wait another minute to experience what we experienced this weekend. I don't care if I graduate from UT or Baylor. I'm going to most likely drag you halfway across the country to join me while I'm in medical school anyway, or I hope I am."

"I'm fine with us going wherever you need to go to finish up your schooling, but you're not adding more time on the clock because of me." He got up and walked around the desk as I stood.

"Kendal." I lifted my hand and pressed it to his chest, hoping to warn him to keep his distance. The look in his eyes said he didn't give two fucks who came by.

"I'm blown away that you would seriously consider changing your life for me." He slid his hands into my hair and brushed his thumbs across my cheeks. "Let's get out of here for the night."

"I can't. I picked up another shift at the hospital tonight just to help out. I wasn't sure what your plans were, but I assumed that you were working late." I cupped my hand over his and turned my face to kiss the side of his palm. Someone walked by the hallway, and I pulled back as nerves raced through my belly. "I need to go."

"Yeah, but we're not done with this conversation."

"I know, but until we make our decision on who's doing what, I'm not interested in you being caught in a position that could make the decision for us." I moved back and pulled my bag back on my shoulder. "See you around?"

"You'll see me as soon as I can get away. Keep your phone with you." His eyes moved down the length of my body, sending me back to the long weekend we shared at Olivia's place. There wasn't a part of me he hadn't touched. He owned me and I was more than happy to flip the entire universe upside down if it meant we were going to be together sooner.

I winked and turned to walk down the hall, noticing the pretty woman with long red hair shaking her hips a little too much just in front of me. Was that Heather? The woman who was after my man?

She turned and walked into an office, leaving me curious.

I glanced toward the office as she lifted her phone toward me and smiled. "Friend of Kendal's?"

"Nope, just a student." I shrugged and walked down the hall to the exit. The look on her pretty face haunted me. She knew something and planned to use it against us. Or maybe I was just overthinking things.

And another thing... why hadn't Kendal mentioned that the bitch was a supermodel? That was an important piece of the puzzle he'd kept to himself. Why? To protect me or himself?

Chapter 18

Kendal

I had far too much work piled on my desk the night before to chase after Dana like I wanted to. Her coming to my office was a little too risky, and yet there was no way I was going to get onto her about it. The woman was willing to turn her world upside down to try and have me beside her as soon as humanly possible. It meant the world to me.

The only thing that could fuck things up for sure was Heather.

After shoving a piece of toast down my throat the next morning, I drove to the school in silence. I had to talk to Mark. He was the only one who could pull Heather off my back. I could do it myself, but it would be ugly as fuck, and I'd be cleaning up the remnants of that conversation for days.

I pressed the button to call Damon as I turned onto the freeway.

"Sup, buddy? You headed to the office?" He sounded far too chipper for six o'clock in the morning. Being with Bethany changed everything for him.

"Yeah. I'm going in to talk with Mark this morning. Heather is all up in my face trying to get me to bend her over the nearest piece of furniture. I'd never do it, but the bitch is crafty. She'll figure out a way to make it look like I did."

"And you think Mark is going to help you?"

"Why don't I like the way you just asked that question?"

"Because I was reading an article in the paper yesterday that was an interview of big daddy Turner. You know her fucking family is loaded."

"Of course I know."

"The bastard is pledging two million dollars to a new project at UT. I'm thinking Mark might know a little something-something about that."

"He does." I ran my fingers through my hair and pressed the gas, needing so badly to feel like I was in control of something. "He told me the other day that he wants Heather to be quite happy with her position in our department and it's my job to keep her there."

"Oh wow. This is seriously getting better by the minute."

"I have to go talk with him. I don't really have a choice Damon. He might be under pressure to make Heather's family pony up for whatever project they're interested in helping to build, but he's still got a fiduciary duty to the professors in the accounting department. Including me."

"That's true. We'll see if he abides by it." Damon snorted. "I would just record the cunt making demands of me and play it over the loud speakers during the first class period. That should shut her up."

I rolled my eyes. I had no clue how Bethany could deal with him. He was forever a child stuck in the body of a man.

"All right. Good talk, buddy. I'll check in later."

"Take care of yourself, Kendal. No one else is going to do it for you, man."

"Not even you?" I smiled.

"Oh yeah, I for sure will. Come work for me and I'll give you all the freedom you want, a plush corner office and more money than you'd know what to do with."

"Your offer just keeps getting more and more attractive. Too bad I hate Corporate America."

"Pick the lesser of two evils, my friend. You know what I'm saying."

"I can't give up just yet. I've worked too hard for it."

"You'll figure it out. You always do." Damon dropped the call and I let out a long sigh. He was right. I was fighting a battle for something that wasn't paying dividends. Where I loved teaching, it wasn't nearly as attractive as it had been when I was younger and still believed the world to be a relatively good place.

I pulled into my parking spot and sat there a few minutes until someone knocked on my window. Eliza.

After turning the car off, I got out and gave her a warm smile. "I'm glad to see you. We have a conversation that you owe me the other half of if I'm not mistaken."

"We do." She moved back as I grabbed my bag and joined her in our short walk to the business building.

"Tell me about the meeting with Daisy. Why did she leave?"

"Because she fell in love with her boss, and he didn't return the favor. She was nothing more than a nice warm body to snuggle up with when he grew tired of his pregnant wife." She glanced over at me with disgust on her face.

"Oh no." I shook my head as my heart fell. "That's horrible. Daisy was a great professor. So bright and friendly."

"And young and stupid." She took a deep breath as I opened the door to the business building and waited for her to walk inside. "You're being the same way."

"Young and stupid?" I moved up beside her, already knowing the answer to the question before I asked it.

"Yes." She stopped in the middle of the hall and turned to face me. "You need to take care of this before it ruins everything you've worked so damn hard for." She poked me in the chest and glared up at me. "I cared about Daisy, and I care about you. Fix this before it's not able to be fixed. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Eliza, but it's not like Mark doesn't have his fucking fingers in the pie. He wants me with Heather. There's not a whole lot he's going to be willing to do to help me out. It does him no favors to crucify her even though the bitch deserves it."

"Then you go above his head, Kendal. He's not the final voice in this organization. You go up as far as you have to go and you figure this out."

I ran my hand down my face as my stomach tightened. "I don't want any drama. I just want to teach my class and try to live my life."

"Well, tough. Your life is suddenly locked into the middle of a huge vat of shit and you can paddle to the side and take care of making sure that no one else ends up where you have because of slutty women with hidden agendas, or you can just stand still until you eventually sink underneath the muck and wonder what the hell happened." She poked me again. "You're smarter than this. It isn't going away. Fix it."

I watched her walk away, hating the part of myself that wanted to simply turn in my resignation and walk away forever. Mark wasn't going to be an ally in the fight I had against Heather. He was playing her part on the other side of the street and Daisy was me, just under very different circumstances.

"So... who was she?" Heather walked down the hall toward me, catching me off guard by her question.

"Sorry?" I muttered before walking to the elevator.

She got in beside him and pressed the button for the top floor before turning and moving to stand right in front of me.

Reaching out and wrapping my fingers around her perfectly pale throat sounded like the best choice at the moment, but it wasn't me anymore. My days of playing asshole alpha male were over. I hated that prick and promised myself I would never subjugate another woman to who I could be. No one. Not even Heather, though the bitch was begging for it.

"Who is she?" Heather extended her phone toward me.

It took a second for me to realize what I was looking at. Dana.

"Why the fuck?" I snatched Heather's phone and pushed at her chest as she moved in to snatch it back. "Why do you have a picture of her?"

"Because she's the girl you're dating... isn't she?" She muscled her way closer to me, and I snapped.

"It's none of your goddamn business who I'm dating." I gripped her throat tightly and pressed myself to the front of her as something inside me snapped. "If you think for one second that you're going to come into this school and push me around after all the shit I've been through to be here... You got another thing coming, bitch."

"Let go. Kendal. Let go." She clawed at my hands, and after watching her squirm for a minute I released her and walked out into the hallway.

Fuck her. Fuck Mark. I was going to the top. I'd go sit in the goddamn president's office all day long until I got his attention. Or better yet... I'd pick up Daisy and her and I could take a trip down to the local news station. I wasn't being pushed around anymore. Not by anyone.

"Kendal. I wasn't going to do anything about it. I just wanted to know who she is." Heather followed me to my office and stood like a wounded bird just inside the door as I set my stuff down and glared at her.

"She's the woman I'm going to marry one day. The one who's going to give me babies and hold me at night when I'm tired. She's everything you're not. Get the fuck outta my office. This shit ends here."

"Be careful." She brushed her hair back and lifted her phone to take a few pictures of herself. The angry fingerprints around her throat were incriminating, but I didn't care. If she wanted to ruin my career and the University let that happen after hearing my side of the story, then so be it.

I didn't belong there anyway.

*

She finally left my office after slinging a few more threats and promises to bring me to my knees again. Something about me bowing before her seemed to turn her on good. Funny. She was usually the one reaching up from the floor when we were together before.

I moved through the rest of the day like molasses, hating myself and wishing there were a safe way to tame the bastard inside of me back into his cage. I hadn't come face to face with the part of me that wanted to rule the world for a long time, and I didn't care to for the rest of my days, but here he was... out of the bag, unloosed.

"You all right?" Bethany walked into the auditorium a few minutes before my first class started and put her hands on her hips.

"I've been better." I wasn't going to lash out at anyone else around me, but that meant keeping to myself as best I could. "I'm just dealing with a few things here at work that are driving me toward rage."

"What can I do to help?" Her voice was soft and kind.

Dana. I needed to see Dana. To feel her against me. To remember why we were willing to fight for each other. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to see her, but fuck if I didn't want to. If she could take me when I was angry, then she could handle anything I could throw her way.

"Nothing," I mumbled and pulled a few folders out. "Just help me get ready for the day and we'll be good."

"You know I'm here for you, right?"

"Yeah. I'm glad you are. I just need to work through some shit and figure out where I need to poke the bear and where I need to break the stick and run for my life."

"Sounds... complicated."

"The things that matter most in life usually are." I winked at her and turned back to my notes. She and Dana would come to be good friends, I had no doubt. That being if Dana and I survived the shit storm that was headed my way.

Heather was a conniving bitch with a hard-on for fucking up my life and Mark was hungry for success. Things weren't looking too good, but like Eliza advised... I was being forced in a corner. I could crouch down like a little bitch and hope for the best, or I could come out with my claws drawn and expect a bloody mess.

Time to get dirty.