“No,” she growled in frustration. “I’m not.”
I didn’t even know what to say to her. There was nothing I even could say that would make this situation better.
“She can’t feed your kid without your consent while she has her,” I finally decided on. “That’s just… I can’t even believe they would suggest something so outrageous.”
“Then he says, ‘they used to have wet nurses in the old days. What’s so different about this?’ I’m pretty sure he’s contacting his attorney tomorrow.”
“He can try to bring this to court,” I said. “But he’ll be laughed right out of it. No judge is going to tell a father that it’s okay for his new wife to breastfeed his kid against the mother’s wishes, especially if she is not having milk production or delivery issues,” I told her. “It’s nice that he’s trying to think of ways to be more involved in the life of his kid, and let me assure you, it could be worse. But this is completely ridiculous. I mean, offering your new wife’s tits up to breastfeed so your kid can stay overnight with you? That’s just weird.”
“That’s what I started telling her the moment she brought up the asinine idea,” she snapped her fingers together. “What’s with that look on your face.”
I froze, trying to figure out what was on my face for her to demand an explanation.
“What look?” I raised a brow.
She sighed and started walking away from me, and I had a decision.
Either I stayed mad at her and continued on with my miserable day, or I talk to her and tell her that her words sucked ass and hurt.
“Stop,” I ordered, calling out to her.
She stopped and looked at me over her shoulder. “What?”
I walked over to the down room and unlocked it, urging her in with a sweep of my hand.
She looked at me skeptically, but nonetheless followed me into the room and turned once she was all the way inside.
“Yes?”
I locked the door securely behind me, and then turned so I could see all of her before starting.
“I don’t care if you want to keep this a secret,” I told her honestly. “You have a couple weeks left, and I completely understand that you would want to keep something like this a secret until you’ve graduated.”
“But…”
“But, the guys in my club, they’re trustworthy,” I promised her. “They’re all overprotective big brothers who would have my back no matter what I did, murder included.”
Her eyes sharpened. “Murder isn’t a good thing to have your back on,” she informed me, a lazy smile taking over her face.
“Murder is sometimes necessary…under special circumstances,” I teased her, my heart feeling light for the first time in a couple of days. “Although it can be messy and gross, it isn’t quite as gross as your ex’s woman offering to breastfeed your child.”
She locked her lips.
“I’m fucking over them.”
I could believe it.
They’d done enough to her to make her wary of talking to them. All of which I wasn’t even privy to completely yet, but I would be…someday.
Someday soon, maybe when I stopped acting like an ass and started appreciating Tally.
Though, it should be noted that I did appreciate her ass.
“You still mad at me?” she asked softly.
I shook my head.
No, I wasn’t. I understood, even though I didn’t like it.
“I want you to promise me that when we’re at my club or out of town with some of my fellow members, you won’t freak out and push me away.”
She nodded her head in promise.
“I was sorry I said it almost as fast as it came out of my mouth,” she admitted. “The only reason I left was because Hadley was there, and you definitely don’t want her there. She’s nosy, and she doesn’t care who she offends in the process of finding out whatever information it is that she wants.”
I hesitated to say what I had to say next.
“I don’t think she’s all that great of a friend,” I admitted. “The way she watches you sometimes is enough to make my hackles rise.”
Her mouth twitched.
“Your hackles are always raised,” she countered. “You’re just better at keeping it secret.”
Before I could refute her words, there was a sharp knock at the door.
“Ms. Slater, a word?”
Tally stiffened, and I wanted to groan.
Jesus Christ.
What was Lucia doing here?
Lucia, better known as Nurse Crotchet, who was one of Tally’s teachers as well as the head of the nursing department, wasn’t the nicest of people.
And I could see a million ways she could turn this around on Tally, even though nothing had gotten out of hand as of yet.
Knowing she had nothing to worry about, I opened the door and found myself face to face with the old bat.
“Yes?” I asked.
“I hear that Tally’s in here.” Nurse Crotchet accused, face pinched.
“She is,” I confirmed. “But she’s currently in a very bad state.”
Lucia’s face turned stony.
“Well let me see her.”
That was about the time my little actress turned on the waterworks, letting tears stream down her face in unending torrents.
The moment Lucia saw her, the old bat softened.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in concern, looking over at me accusingly.
“My ex-boyfriend, and father of my child, is harassing me,” Tally wailed.
I rolled my eyes and left the room, unable to deal with the fake show.
I knew that it wasn’t all a complete lie. Though the majority of the tears were likely only being produced to get her teacher on her side.
Something I had a feeling she accomplished as I made my way back into the nurses’ station to busy myself with signing discharge papers and writing out a few prescriptions.
“Can I speak with you?” Lucia asked a few minutes into my work.
I barely contained the urge to sigh.
“Yeah,” I grunted, turning to face her.
Lucia was a pretty woman once, I was sure. Now she just looked rundown and tired, and she could really use a makeover. Though, it was hard to look good when you worked seventy hours a week.
“You being in the same closed room as a student…that’s not a good idea.”
I knew that.
“Yes, I know. She was very worked up, though, and I wasn’t sure what to do.”
Not a total lie, I knew, but a partial one that would satisfy her.
“I had an anonymous tip today that you were being inappropriate with another student.” She finally got around to saying. “That’s why I was here…to investigate.”
My back stiffened, and I stared at her, making her take a step away.
“I would never cross that moral line,” I told her bluntly.
Lies! I was totally lying my ass off!
“I know, Thomas.” She patted my hand, making me feel like complete shit for lying to her instead of telling her the truth.
But I would never be admitting the truth about this, especially with Tally’s career on the line.
Even if this were to end completely between us, I would never wish her ill. Nor would I ever jeopardize her means of putting food in her little girl’s mouth.
“Do you have any leads on who this student was?”
Because I knew it was a fucking student, and I suspected I knew exactly which student.
Even if I didn’t want it to be true.