by Robin Nadler
Paul turned and looked at them. “I have every right to be here. Lila is my colleague.”
“What were you doing? Were you touching her?” David was furious as he walked to him and looked at Lila who was asleep.
“You don’t have a right to be here. I have earned the right to be with her and you aren’t going to stop me,” Paul said.
Susan walked in front of David and stared at Paul. “You are a resident, right?”
Paul looked at her, “Who are you?”
“The head nurse and someone you don’t want to piss off. It’s a good idea for you to respect those who came before you and to understand your place. And just for your future reference, women don’t take kindly to bullying and you don’t earn the right to be with someone, it is a mutual decision. Now excuse us while we take care of our patient. You are not welcome.”
Paul stared at her, but decided against saying anything. He glared at David before walking out.
“What a prick,” Susan said.
David was looking at Lila, praying Paul didn’t put his hands on her. “He is trouble.”
Lila opened her eyes and he smiled at her. “Hey, nice of you to join us.”
She smiled and then looked at Susan. “What’s the verdict?”
“We aren’t sure, but they are running more tests,” Susan said. “How do you feel?”
“I’ve felt better, but I can take it. When can I go home?”
David chuckled. “You aren’t going anywhere for a while. We need to figure out what is making you so sick.”
“What do you mean? Is this from something?”
“Lila, have you noticed anything different about your injections? Have you changed where you’ve gotten them from or anything about them?”
She was quiet while she thought about it. “No, I don’t think so. I had my new set of meds delivered and I had someone get them from me, but that’s all.”
David looked at her. “Who got them for you?”
She looked at them and her eyes were wide. “Paul.”
Chapter Thirty:
David sat with Lila while Susan went to make some calls. He held her hand and she was telling him how it wasn’t possible for Paul to be responsible.
“Lila, the guy is a creep. When we came in here, he was standing over you and I think he was touching you or something.”
“What? What was he doing?” She pulled her blanket up to her chin.
“I don’t know, but it wasn’t right. He is bad news and we need to make sure he stays away from you,” David looked at her vitals and sighed. “You need to try and calm down; your pressure is too high.”
“How am I supposed to calm down? Somebody might be poisoning me? David, I have enough problems with my health by itself without someone trying to hurt me. Besides, what would be his motivation?” she wiped her eyes.
David smiled. “You really have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”
She was taken aback by that. “What does that mean?”
“He is infatuated with you, Lila, and my guess is that he has been for awhile. You said he isn’t nice to some of your older patients, right?”
She nodded. “He isn’t very patient, and sometimes it takes a while for people to open up to me with such personal issues.”
“Right, so why would he be spending time in a specialty he doesn’t seem to enjoy?”
She looked at him. “I don’t know. I guess I never thought about it. I come across a lot of prejudice in this field, David. People look at me and wonder how I could possibly understand what my patients are going through. I just figured he was angry to be learning from a woman.”
“Has he ever asked you out?”
She shook her head. “I don’t date.”
He smiled. “That isn’t what I asked you.”
She was quiet for a minute. “He hasn’t been with me for very long, actually, I think I started working with him a couple weeks before I came to see you. But I made it pretty clear that I was unavailable. Once he found out I had MS, he seemed to stop working so closely.” She looked at her hands. “He used to be pretty inappropriate about my personal space.”
David felt the tips of his ears burn with hatred for this punk. “Did he ever touch you?”
She blinked and her eyes were wet. “Not really.”
“Lila, what does that mean?”
“Nothing, I’m tired and I would like to sleep.”
He was at a loss. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do,” she sighed. “He never touched me. He brushed across my backside a couple times and he reached across me in an intimate way once. He leaned in to try and kiss me and I told him I wasn’t interested. He didn’t do it again,” she said.
“Why didn’t you mention it before?”
“Why would I? He never did anything and once he found my files, he backed off.”
“He found your files?”
She started to cry. “Now that I’m telling you this I feel so stupid. I should have realized it was wrong.”
“Please don’t cry. We’re going to fix this, okay?” He wiped her eyes, wondering where Susan was.
“One evening when I was working on some research, Paul came into my office and he was angry. He tossed a copy of my MRI results in front of me and demanded to know why I never told him I had MS.”
“What? Are you serious? Why the hell would it have been any of his business? He went into your personal files?”
She shook her head. “Not really. A few days before my appointment with you, I was making sure everything was stable and had asked Charles to fax over my results before I left. Paul picked them up out of the fax machine before I could get there.”
“Nice. What a piece of shit. What happened?”
“He was angry that I hadn’t told him, but David, I didn’t think it was his business, you know?” She said passionately.
“And it wasn’t. You didn’t do anything wrong, Lila. You don’t owe him anything.” He hated how she felt the need to explain herself.
“He was different after that. He kept his distance, but he knew I was going to see you and suddenly I found things around my office.”
“What kinds of things?”
She shrugged. “Articles about how wrong it was for someone who had MS to have children.”
He stood up, livid. “How could you continue to work with him? How did you not report him?”
She cried. “I couldn’t prove it was him, David. I’m sorry you’re so mad. Can you let me just rest now?” She was pale and sweating.
He was at her side again and touched her face, which was burning. “Shit. I’m sorry, try to relax, okay?” He went and got a cool washcloth and came back, placing it on her forehead. “Don’t worry about any of this, okay? Just concentrate on getting better.”
She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I think I did everything wrong. I’m so stupid.”
He held her hand in his and kissed her fingers. “No you aren’t. You are amazing. Just sleep.”
He looked up as Susan walked in, her face full of anger. He knew she had news that wasn’t good.
*******
“We need to get Lila out of here,” Susan said.
“What? Why?”
“Paul is bad news, David. I don’t think any of this is random.”
“Tell me what you found out.”
“Paul’s last name is Strins. He started working with Lila when he heard she was going to see you for treatment.”
David was quiet. “He’s related to June?”
“Her brother.”
David felt sick to his stomach. “What does he want with Lila?”
“I don’t know, but when I asked around, it was apparent he is well entrenched in the hospital. Most of the nurses have seen him work in each department, but when I asked specific questions, they got quiet, like they were scared to say anything,” Susan looked at Lila. “I’m afraid for her safety here, David.”
He crossed his arms. “What can I d
o? Dr. Brinks isn’t going to let her just leave and we don’t know what drugs may be in her system.”
“I don’t know, but something tells me he has a plan and it won’t end well for Lila,” Susan said.
David looked at Lila, asleep in the bed and wiped his face. “I won’t let him get near her,” he vowed quietly. He would do whatever he had to do.
Chapter Thirty-One:
David paced in Lila’s room while he waited for Susan to come back. He had spoken to Carrie and was waiting for her to come there, too. Lila was asleep and hadn’t been awake for very long periods of time. He needed help to do what he felt was right and he hoped Carrie and Susan would help her agree.
“I need to get up,” Lila said suddenly, moving in the bed.
David turned and put his hand on hers. “What’s wrong? You’re okay here.”
She blinked and wiped her head. “I want to go home, David. I need to leave.”
He nodded. “I’m working on that right now.”
She was confused. “What day is it? What’s going on?”
Susan came in followed by Carrie. Lila sat up more and looked from one to the other.
“Someone needs to tell me what’s going on,” she said.
Carrie looked at Susan and nodded.
“David, come take a walk with me,” Susan said. “Carrie needs to talk to Lila.”
David looked at Lila and then nodded. He followed Susan out into the hall.
“Carrie, what’s going on?” Lila asked her, a little freaked out.
“Susan filled me in on this Paul creep, Lila. Why didn’t you tell me what an asshole he was to you?”
“I don’t know, I thought I just took care of it. Is he that bad?” Lila looked at her cousin.
“Apparently, Paul is June’s brother. I didn’t know what that meant, but Susan said she did something to David and he was going after you as revenge,” Carrie said.
Lila felt sick. “He is her brother? Oh my God, I had no idea.”
“Nobody did. He didn’t say anything and Susan was able to figure it out by checking into his files. We think he has been poisoning you to do something really bad Lila.” She looked at her best friend. “What did she do to David?”
Lila wiped her eyes, trying to wrap her mind around this. “She hurt him, badly. But Carrie, why me? I don’t understand what I have to do with any of this,” she said, rubbing her face. “I want to go home.”
“David is going to take you to a safe place,” Carrie said.
“What? No, I can take care of myself. I don’t want to go with him.”
Carrie sat down and looked at her. “Lila, he got to your meds. He could get to you again.”
David and Susan walked in and Lila looked at them.
“David, I didn’t know he was connected to her. I swear I didn’t know,” she said tearfully. “I would never have worked with him if I,” she stopped and was quiet.
“What is it? Are you okay?” David moved to the bed.
She looked at the women in the room and then at David. “Yes, I’m just trying to work this out.”
He nodded. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Paul didn’t make his connection known to anyone.”
“So will you let us take you out of here and keep you safe? We got your true prescription and I am having it filled at an out of area pharmacy where I trust they will be legit. I will pick them up and meet you at the address,” Susan said.
Lila looked at David. “I don’t want you to take care of me. You have a life to live and a job to do. I don’t want to be a burden.”
Carrie looked at her. “Lila, let him do this.”
“I want to help you, Lila, please,” David said.
She hated to admit it, but he made her feel safe and she needed that. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s right.” She looked into his eyes and saw his compassion. “Maybe just for a few days.”
Carrie smiled. “I’ll go to your house and pack a bag and bring it to you. I’ll also take care of Adam and Eve.”
Lila wiped her eyes. “Thank you so much.”
“Let’s get the ball rolling. Paul is off in a meeting all day, so we are free to move,” Susan said.
David looked at Lila. “Do you think you can get dressed while we get you checked out?” He put the bag of her clothes on the bed.
She nodded. “I’m good. Go do what you need to do.”
They walked out and Carrie hugged her. “You deserve this, Lila, let us help you.”
Lila nodded. “Okay,” she smiled a little as Carrie left. She stood up on shaky legs and grabbed her clothes. She pulled off her gown, moving slowly to pull on her shirt when she heard a voice.
“What are you doing? You aren’t well enough to be up,” Paul said as he walked into the room.
Lila turned around and held her shirt in front of her bare chest as she stared at him. “Get out of here, Paul.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Where are you going?”
She knew he didn’t know they were on to him, so she tried to keep that up. “I want to go home, so I’m going home. I want you to respect my privacy, so please leave me alone. I’m not wearing any clothes and this is completely inappropriate,” she began to panic as he moved closer.
“You have nothing to hide from me, Lila. Why don’t you let me help you with your shirt?”
“If you come near me I’ll scream,” she said and tried desperately to reach the panic button.
“I don’t know why you’re playing hard to get,” he said and walked to her, grabbing her by the upper arms and pulling her to him roughly. She tried to scream, but she was struggling to catch her breath.
“Paul, please let me go,” she said softly, pleading with his sense of humanity. “You don’t want to do this.”
“You’re wrong, but this isn’t the right time. I know you’re protesting now, but soon you won’t have a choice. I’ll have you and then he won’t want you,” Paul said, his fingers digging into her skin. “I will be the one who gives you what you want.”
David walked into the room and jumped at Paul. “Get your fucking hands off of her!” He grabbed Paul by his shirt and pulled him away from Lila who fell to the floor, smacking into the bed frame. She sucked in her breath and tried to cover herself.
David fought with Paul and Susan ran in with security, having heard the scuffle. Paul got loose and ran out and the security team followed him. Susan rushed after them and David turned to see Lila on the floor, half naked and shaking.
“Shit,” he said and grabbed a sheet to cover her. He wrapped it around her and held her face in his hands. “I’m so sorry. Did he hurt you?”
She was shaking and hugged the sheet around her, not saying anything.
“Can I help you up? I won’t hurt you,” he said gently.
“I’m okay,” she said tearfully. “I would like to put my clothes on.”
He handed her the shirt and turned away while she put it on. She pulled her yoga pants on and sat down on the bed.
“Okay.”
He turned and looked at her, hating himself for letting this happen. “Lila, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how he got in here.”
She stood up slowly and walked to him. “Can you just hold me for a minute? I just need to feel safe,” she looked at him, tears in her eyes.
He pulled her to him gently and she melted against him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried.
“We’re going to figure this out and you’re going to be okay,” he said softly as he held her. “I promise.”
She hugged him tightly and breathed in his scent. “Thank you.”
“I promise,” he repeated quietly.
Chapter Thirty-Two:
“You’re sure you understand what to do?” Susan asked David after they were settled in the private cabin Carrie had for them from a client. Lila was in the bathroom and Susan was going over the med schedule with David.
“You’re cute, but you seem to forget
that I am a doctor,” David smiled.
“Don’t get smart with me,” Susan grinned. “This is serious, David. They didn’t find Paul and he seems to have unlimited resources. You need to watch yourself.”