Aching for His Discretion (The Discretion Dynasty #1)

36. Teegan

Chapter thirty-six

Teegan

Two Months Later

“ Oh, my baby! I can’t believe you only have a few months until you graduate! I already started planning your graduation party! I’m so excited!”

My mama cried into the phone, and I sighed as I finished pulling on my socks for work.

“Mama, graduation isn’t for another six months,” I muttered, and she shushed me.

“Oh, hush. Let me be excited. My baby… a doctor. I’m can’t believe it!! ” she squealed, and I smiled as I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

As annoyed as I may have sounded, I was happy—happy to hear her voice, her excitement, her encouragement.

I stood up and bit my lip as she spoke her following words.

“Have you talked to Levi?” she asked, and I sighed, slipping on my shoes. I had told her a while back that Levi and I were on our break, and we still are… He kept minimal contact and texted me here and there but he respected my decision to put our mental health first before we continued our relationship.

The guys visited me frequently and often stayed for a few hours at a time, playing with Grayson, sniffing my many candles, or sleeping on the couch.

I knew it was Levi’s precaution against his father to keep me safe, but they seemed content with coming over. Especially when I cooked for them.

“No... not recently. But the guys tell me he’s doing okay,” I muttered, and she hummed in response.

She’d accidentally been introduced to Elliot, Micah, and Nico when she noticed them walking into my living room while we were on FaceTime once.

She was slightly concerned, but after hearing the brotherly dynamic of Elliot and Nico fighting over the remote and Micah asking me what was for dinner, she fell in love with them.

It was most likely the sibling bond we began to grow that she admired, much different from the bond I had with Declan and Dakota.

We stayed on the phone as I kissed Grayson goodbye and walked to the hospital. This became a bit of my routine if the boys wouldn’t take me, and I felt as though I’d gotten a bit used to it.

I was in the middle of my Pediatrics elective rotation, and soon, I would be doing another rotation in OB/GYN.

I wanted to focus on my application for residency, and I think the time away from Levi definitely helped. Though I hate to admit it, I missed him. I missed him a lot .

His touch, his words, his kisses, even his overbearing, protective nature—everything about him I missed greatly... But we needed this time apart. I needed time if I wanted to trust him again.

After arriving at the hospital, I had much of a normal shift. Nothing too crazy, as I assessed most of the children who were admitted to the hospital and talked to a few parents before charting for most of the morning.

I received a message, however, that soon brought my mood sour.

Declan: Get your little ass down to the emergency room. Your fucking boyfriend shot me.

Looking at the message, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I rubbed them a bit more, only for it to still say the same thing. The typing bubble came up, and he sent another message.

I don’t want to repeat myself, Teegan.

Placing my phone in my pocket, I sprinted to my attending physician to let her know I was in the middle of a family emergency. She quickly sent me away to take as much time as I needed, and I ran downstairs and entered the ER in a panic. As I arrived, I looked around frantically before hearing a familiar voice.

“Dr. Monroe?” Dr. Woods spoke, and I looked over to see the OB/GYN resident who helped me deliver my first baby in the OR and practically forced me to work with him because he couldn’t stand the other med students. He was most likely down here for a consult on a pregnant mother; however, I noticed he was talking to someone familiar.

“Dr. Woods? Dr. Gordon?” I questioned, noticing the doctor who also invited me to his anatomy lab around the same time and showed me the man Levi, unfortunately, killed with the help of my lidocaine suggestion.

And as if it wasn’t any more unfortunate timing, Dr. Wyatt, the doctor I worked with around the time I met Levi, made direct eye contact with me as he stepped out of one of his patients’ rooms. He was also the first man Levi threatened to kill for me.

I’ll talk to the nurses when I get some more pain meds and antibiotics… and if he’s mean to you again, I’ll kill him.

...Feels like it was just yesterday.

“What are you doing down here? Did you get called down for a Pediatric consult?” Dr. Gordon asked as I had kept him regularly updated about what I was doing in the hospital when I had to decline his invitation to examine cadavers...

All three men looked at me expectantly as I bit my lip and replied, “No... I, uh, have a bit of a family emergency—”

“They’re in room 212,” Dr. Wyatt said, and I nodded my head to him as a thank-you as I went over to the room.

Opening the curtain, I saw Dakota sitting in a chair by Declan, who lay in the bed with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Dakota stood up as I walked in, and Declan glared at me. “What the fuck took you so long?” he seethed, and I flinched slightly at his tone as I closed the curtain behind me.

“I-I’m sorry, I was busy trying to get down here... What happened?” I asked as I approached him.

Dakota sighed. “We were doing a job and Levi happened to show up around there. Declan opened up his mouth and said a few choice words about your relationship—”

“And Levi shot you because of it?” I asked in shock, and Declan rolled his eyes.

“Yes. And he said the only reason he didn’t kill me is because he was fucking working on himself and trying to do better for you. So he shot me in the leg and not the fucking head,” he seethed.

I walked a bit closer to his chart to see he had already been administered painkillers and that a doctor would be in shortly to extract the bullet or talk about the surgical options as well.

Trying to do better for me. So instead of killing my brother, he only attempted to cripple him…

He was still trying, though… It’s the thought that counts—

Teegan.

Placing the chart down, I bit my lip as I took a seat by his bed.

“Aren’t you going to fucking say anything?” Declan asked me as I remained silent.

Playing with my hands, I looked down at them. “What did you say about us that made him angry?” I whispered, and I felt his gaze harden on me.

“That you’re a little fucking girl that doesn’t know how to make decisions and how everyone around you is convinced otherwise. You don’t fucking belong with him, and you don’t even belong in this damn hospital. We told you to take your ass home to Illinois, and look where it’s brought us now, huh?” he seethed.

Tears came straight to my eyes as they always did with them.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d been crying recently until I noticed that for the last few months, all I did was cry—cry about Levi, cry about my brothers, school, Grayson, Alec, Beverly, Theo… All I did was cry.

You’re a little fucking girl that doesn’t know how to make decisions.

I made bad decisions with my friend and my partner… Was my decision about my career choice bad, too? Did I not deserve to be here? All that hard work… was it for nothing? Should I have just listened to them from the beginning? Were they right all along—

“And what gives you… the fucking right to dictate what she does with her life?” I heard someone chuckle from behind, and I noticed Dr. Woods enter as he pulled open the curtain, revealing Dr. Gordon and Dr. Wyatt beside him too.

This must’ve been a dream because my eyes were most likely deceiving me.

With a smile on his face, Dr. Woods crossed his arms. “You’re really… going to disrespect a woman who could potentially be the one to save you, or anyone for that matter, from death? You couldn’t even dodge a fucking bullet,” he laughed.

Declan sat up in the bed as he narrowed his eyes at Dr. Woods. “The fuck did you just say to me?”

“You want me to repeat it? Okay. You’re sitting in a hospital bed, drugged up with a bullet in your leg because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut. Belittling your sister isn’t going to help the fact that you’re bleeding out.”

My jaw wanted to practically drop to the floor as he defended me.

They could all potentially lose their jobs for not telling Dr. Woods to stop. Dr. Woods himself could’ve lost it the first sentence he’d spoken. But something told me they wouldn’t.

Dr. Gordon waved me over, and I bit my lip as I stood up. Declan glared over at me.

Dr. Woods spoke. “Say something to her, and I’ll discharge you just as you are.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” Declan asked, and Dr. Woods chuckled.

“Not at all. I’m sure three witnesses and a victim against two disruptive and mentally abusive men would be completely justified for refusing to treat you…”

Dakota shook his head as he spoke to Declan. “Now is not the time, Declan. Let her go,” he muttered as he looked over at me.

I gave Dr. Woods and Dr. Gordon a thank-you with my eyes as I stepped out of the room. Dr. Gordon closed the curtain, and only then did I realize Dr. Wyatt had disappeared.

Dr. Woods began speaking again, and deciding I’d heard enough, I walked over to the stairwell and took a seat at the bottom as there was pure silence. I did my best to calm my nerves and leaned my head against the wall as I closed my eyes.

I felt slightly better knowing I had people who would defend me, but I couldn’t help but feel defenseless. Trying to be a people-pleaser, a perfectionist… never knowing how to stand up to my older brothers… always afraid of what they would say or do. It was wrong to think their words were justified or reasonable, but I couldn’t help it.

It had to be about fifteen minutes while I sat at the bottom of the stairwell, pondering and overthinking everything, when the door in front of me opened.

“Teegan...” Dr. Wyatt said, and I sighed, trying to mentally prepare for the angry temper I was used to him having around me.