Peep (Brighten Sisters Book 2) (6 page)

“
L
isten
, man. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you have to use your fucking head. Fraternization is bad enough, but getting caught actually messing around in the hospital? That's grounds for more problems than you want right now.” Jacks eyes are wide and creases form on his brow.

“Jack, nothing was going on. I was helping out so she could get out of here.”

“She’s a student. She’s not on the clock. It doesn’t matter how long she’s here, it doesn’t affect us. You’re feeding me a line of bullshit.
Me
.”

“I just… Can we talk about this some other time? This isn’t the place,” I say frustrated, but he just continues.

“You have a great future as an amazing doctor. Don't ruin it for some chick.”

My vision goes red. “She's
not
just some chick. I'm in love with her, Jack.”

His eyes go wide. “You’ve lost your shit. She’s a glorified stripper on the weekends. Your father will freak the fuck out if you bring her home.”

I want to punch the son of a bitch. “It’s no one's business what she does on the weekends to pay her bills, and it’s not worth being a surgeon if I don't have her with me. That's just a fact.” I stab my finger into his chest. “I'd lose it all for her.”

“Well, you just might if you keep this shit up, man.” He shakes his head in resignation. “All I'm going to say is be more careful. Keep your side business at home. Because I

caught you this time, but next time it might be a superior, and you
will
lose it all.”

Without another word he walks away, leaving me to stew in my own thoughts. He’s right

whether I like it or not.

I sulk off toward the bunks. I need a few minutes to pull myself together. When I round the corner I see Stacia, the nurse Jack is always going on about. As soon as her eyes meet mine, she starts her strut walk. It’s ridiculous. I roll my eyes because, honestly, I can’t help it.

“Dr. Chaplin,” she purrs.

I keep walking. I have nothing to say to her. I’ve never even spoken to her.

“Dr. Chaplin, a word,” she calls to my back.

I turn around and eye her warily.

“I need help reaching some Band-Aids on the top shelf of supply closet B. Can you help me? I hear you’re pretty familiar with that specific closet.” She smirks.

I bristle at her comment. “Excuse me?”

“I need help getting some Band-Aids,” she asks again with a smile.

Did I imagine her second comment? Am I that fucked in the head?

“Um, yeah, sure. Just give me a minute and I’ll be there.” She smiles and saunters off.

I search for Jack everywhere without success, so I head for supply room B. When I reach the supply closet, nobody is there. I go to the Band-Aids and pull a box off the top shelf. The door shuts, and I turn around to see Stacia eyeing me hungrily.

“Stacia-uh, that’s your name right?”

She stalks forward like the predator she is. “Dr. Chaplin you know my name.
Everyone
knows
my
name,” she drones.

“Yes, well here are your Band-Aids,” I say lamely, holding them out to her.

She pushes my hand away, stepping into my personal space. “I didn’t really call you up here for Band-Aids.” Her lip tilts into a smug grin.

I back up but find myself flush with the cabinet. “I’m a resident, Stacia. This is highly inappropriate. You could lose your job for this.”

She shrugs. “My dad’s a pediatric surgeon. We have a lot in common you know.” She completely ignores what I’ve just said. “I don’t need to work. I’m just playing the role of a nurse until I meet the right doctor to take care of me.”

I cringe at the idea. “I’m sorry, Stacia, but I’m not interested in being that guy. I’m taken.”

I go to walk around her, but she throws herself at me, slamming her teeth into my lips. The feel is terrible and has me grabbing her hands in mine to ward her off. As if this situation couldn’t get any worse, the door flies open and in walks Dr. Chow. When the situation registers, his eyes go wide, and a look of utter disappointment can be seen clearly.

“Dr. Chow, it’s not what it looks like,” I say calmly as this is most certainly not my doing. He doesn’t look convinced and Stacia’s exultant expression doesn’t help.

“You two both need to report to my office immediately.” He walks out without another word.

I look to Stacia ready to light into her, but I can’t even form words for her. I turn and stalk out with her hot on my tail.

“Wait, Tom! Just because he walked in on us doesn’t mean it has to be over.” Bile rises to my throat when I realize we have an audience of nurses standing outside the closet, and she is feeding into it. Their eyes are large and whispers begin as they witness the scene. It takes all my willpower not to turn around and shake her, but it would only land me in more trouble. My father will know how to get me out of this.

I
got held
up on C helping John, one of the other nursing students, roll a patient to her side. I’m bone tired and ready to go home when I hear a commotion outside of the break room. I grab my purse and head toward the chattering.

“They found them in the closet,” a nurse says animatedly.

“What? You’ve got to be kidding?” another says not as enthusiastic.

“That girl has always been trouble, but I never took Dr. Chaplin as the type to fall for her flirtations.”

My blood runs cold at the mention of Tommy. “What’s going on?” I ask both of the nurses. They eye me up and down. Typically, the nurses pay little attention to students unless, of course, they want us to do their job, but nurse number one is more than happy to share the gossip.

“Stacia, the nurse from B, and Dr. Chaplin were found getting it on in a supply closet by Dr. Chow,” she squeaks as if this is the best news all year.

I grab my stomach as the bile rises to my throat. I must be pale or green or maybe a bit of both because the second nurse asks, “Are you okay?” I nod and run to the bathroom just in time to empty the contents of my stomach.

I will myself to take deep breaths and calm down. It can’t be. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions about something some nurses are gossiping about. I head to the sink, wipe my mouth and face with a damp napkin and count down from five just to control myself a little more. When I finally feel like I can walk on my two feet, I exit the bathroom.

I’ve got to get out of here and clear my head. I’ll ask Tommy about it tonight, and we’ll have a good laugh at the absurdity of these nurses. I’ve just convinced myself that all is well when I round the corner to see Stacia, the slutty nurse in question, outside of Dr. Chow’s office. She doesn’t look upset or nervous at all. I wouldn’t think anything of it if a very beaten down Dr. Chaplin didn’t come walking out of Dr. Chow’s office at that very second. He looks like shit.

Not a good sign.

Stacia jumps up at the sight of him and runs to him, but before she can make it there, Chow sticks his head out, and she halts in her tracks effectively scolded by the leveled look Dr. Chow throws her way. My heart plummets. It’s all true. It’s right here in black and white. Without another thought, I turn and run out of St. Luke’s. I need to get as far away from Tommy Chaplin as possible. I should have known. Men are evil, and we are simply pawns in their quest to conquer.

With a defeated heart, I get home and throw myself into bed. I drown in my tears until sleep consumes me. Even then I can’t escape the nightmare. All I see are images of Tommy and Stacia until I finally get up, take a sleeping pill and drift off into a dreamless sleep.

I
’ve been pounding
on Tiffany’s door for the past thirty minutes. She’s either not home, or she’s ignoring me. The fact that her neighbors haven’t called the police yet is a miracle. I’m just about to give up when I hear her door unlock and creep open. Half asleep, Tiffany pokes her head out.

“What? I’m trying to sleep in here,” she says drowsily.

“Baby, I need to talk to you.”

“Go away. I already know.” She tries to shut the door on me, but I put my arm out to block it.

“Whatever you heard was not true. You’ve got to believe me,” I plead desperately.

She seems to waken as she opens the door a little wider and crosses her arms. “Out with it,” she says stonily.

“Here? Can’t we talk inside?”

She frowns. “Anything you have to say you can say for the whole damn building to hear.”

I let out a deep breath and go into the entire scene tonight. I don’t leave anything out. At the end, she’s tapping her foot and looking me over. My shoulders are hunched in defeat, and I’m about to cry. Honestly, I don’t even care that I’ll look like a giant pansy. I feel broken.

“Come in,” she finally says, giving me a glimmer of hope.

She pushes the door open the rest of the way and walks in with me following. When we get to her sofa, she takes a seat, and I sit facing her.

“What are we going to do? She deserves to fall for this, not you.”

At her words, I drop to my knees in front of her. She has lifted fifty pounds of bricks off my chest with just that one sentence. “You believe me?” I ask anxiously.

“Yeah, Stacia is a major slut. Everyone knows it. You might be dumb, but you aren’t a complete moron. Besides, I know you love me.” She says it so off-handedly I almost laugh.

“You have no idea what that means to me, but Chow isn’t buying my side of things so easily. Stacia is a fucking nut job. I called my dad.”

“What did he say?” she asks fearfully.

“He’s got someone looking into Stacia, and he’s coming here to meet with Chow and me tomorrow. I’m fucking freaking out.”

She takes my hand in hers. “We’ll get through this. Just make sure your dad believes you and gets this taken care of. It’ll all work out.” She smiles reassuringly.

“I love you. So much.” I take her in my arms and kiss her in thanks. Thanks for believing me and thanks for believing
in
me.

“Let’s get some sleep. I’m quitting my other job tomorrow, and you’ve got your work cut out for you with your dad.” She leads me to the bedroom.

“You’re quitting for sure?” I question lightly.

“Yep, my man said he doesn’t like it, so I guess if I want to keep him, I should probably take him seriously.” She sticks her tongue out at me causing a grin to surface on my own face.

“You are something.”

“I’m
your
something.”

I smile. She’s not just my something, she’s my everything, and I plan to give her the world.

“Tommy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Since you put me through hell tonight, I think it’s only fair if
you
service
me
tonight.”

“And how would you like to be serviced?” I smirk.

She shoves my head right between her legs, which also happens to be one of my most favorite places in the world. “Life is good when you’re dining on pussy, eh?” She snorts at her own jokes.

She has no idea how right she is.

“
T
iff
, your sister just pulled in,” I yell up to my girl who’s frantically applying makeup, if

I had to guess. She just finished her last shift at the hospital and her entire family, as well as mine, are coming into town to celebrate.

After the whole Stacia debacle, Tiffany and I were forced to come out to everyone. In the end, dating her saved me. The fact that my father was able to uncover Stacia’s history of sexual misconduct at work helped greatly. The girl is a serial stalker so it would seem. Apparently, at the last hospital she worked at, a doctor filed a report that she was seen outside of his home lurking and would show up in places he was. She claimed they were all coincidences and resigned before formal action could be taken. Nurses gave testimonies of her making up stories that the doctor and her were having an affair.

At first, my father was livid that I’d been dating a student, but after he had realized that we weren’t on the same shift, and she was about to graduate, he was able to use those points to win my case with Chow. When my father met Tiffany, he couldn’t help but see why I loved her. His approval means the world to us both and we got his approval of our dating with flying colors.

This will be the first time Tiffany is meeting my mother. That’s a whole different story, but if she can win over Thomas Chaplin the II, Mom should be a breeze. The fact that her crazy sisters will be here too just makes it crazier.

Tiffany flies down the stairs, wild-eyed and frantic. “Quick, button this. Oh shit. Tommy, I’m so nervous.”

I help fasten her dress while trying to help calm her down. “Breathe. It will all work out. My mom’s going to love you.” I smile.

“I’m not nervous about her. I’m freaking out about my sisters. What if Court mentions that Sam is dating a porn star?” Her eyes bug out, and I laugh.

“Tiff, we don’t pick our families or who they end up with. Their choices aren’t yours. Relax.”

“But, I want you all to love them as much as I do,” she says sadly.

“We will. If they are anything like you, we’ll love them.” She finally smiles.

A knock on the door sounds. When I pull it open, I’m accosted by not one but two Brighten sisters.

“TOMMY!” they both scream in unison.

Holy Shit.

“Good grief, bitches, get your hands off my man.” Tiffany beams at her sisters.

They all rush each other, swooshing into a group hug that nobody would want to get in the middle of. It would be death by smashing.

“Tiff, you look ah-mazing. Your man isn’t looking too bad either.” She winks and they all giggle.

“Where are the boys?” Tiffany asks.

“Bringing in the bags.”

“You’re only here for one night. How many bags can you possibly have?” she questions.

The girls look back and forth at each other wide-eyed.

Come on girls just a little longer.

“Okay, everyone, let’s come away from the door and grab some drinks,” I say to get the conversation moved back into safe territory. They are all here at my request. It was presented as a way for our families to meet, but I have a different idea in mind.

“What can I get you, ladies?”

“Wine,” they all say in unison, yet again. And giggle, yet again.

I look over at Adam and Brian with a raised brow. Brian, Courtney’s fiancé just laughs.

“Welcome to the crazy that is the Brighten sisters.” Adam chuckles at this.

I hand them each a bottle of Sam Adams and we raise our beers in a toast to our common denominator. It’s a brotherhood forged in this moment. The Brighten sisters may be a little crazy, but they are ours and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

After everyone has arrived, and introductions have been made, we all sit down for a nice dinner together. I can already tell my mom is taken by Tiffany. She beams every time she looks at her. Maybe it’s because she knows what’s coming. Everyone in the room knows what’s about to happen. Tiffany is clueless, but that’s just how I wanted it. Everyone is in town to watch me ask Tiffany to be my wife. I’ve arranged for the girls to go away on a short trip to NYC to dress shop and just have some girl time afterward. Tiffany needs the break.

I don’t need to tell you how the rest of the evening went. If you know Tiffany, you know she jumped for joy and of course, said yes. After everything had settled down, she was whisked off by Samantha and Courtney for the royal treatment. The way she beamed at them as they jumped in the car proved that the day couldn’t have gone any better. Our families genuinely loved one another. I can’t lie. I’m pretty excited to have two sisters at the end of the day. The Brightens are one freaking cool family, but the best of the lot is going to be
my
wife.

I’m a lucky SOB.

T
he End