Aching for His Discretion (The Discretion Dynasty #1)

41. Teegan

Chapter forty-one

Teegan

Two Years Later

W alking out of the operating room, my coworker gave me a playful shove as the other threw their arm around my shoulder. Looking over at them, I rolled my eyes.

“Have you guys been waiting this entire time?” I asked, and they both nodded as one took a sip from an apple juice we give to mothers after they give birth.

“It’s been well over three hours. This is the busiest case today... and didn’t I assign both of you to the clinic to cover for me?!” I asked in shock as I had to be pulled out from the clinic to deal with a tough case, and thinking I could rely on Tweedle Dee and Dum, I asked them for help. Despite them being my beloved resident coworkers, they could often be rather annoying at times like these.

“Jacob went over! You know he’d do anything to make you happy,” Emma said suggestively, and I rolled my eyes as I snatched the apple juice from Abbie’s hand, causing her to gasp heavily.

“For the last time, Jacob is just a friend, and this, Dr. Scott, is for our mommas who have just given birth, not for the second-year resident who’s hiding from the clinic!” I scolded, and they both followed me as I went to our shared office space.

“Teegs, we just wanted to know if you wanted to get brunch with us.” Emma pouted, and I crossed my arms.

“Is that why you left Jacob to handle all of the patients? To get brunch?”

“We only left him with two!” Abbie defended, and as if on cue, the door opened, and in walked Jacob, who seemed mildly irritated as he handed Abbie the files and clipboard of all the patients he had seen in the past three hours. “Or six…” She whispered the last part, and I shook my head as Jacob sat at my desk and leaned his head back.

“Are you coming, though?” Emma asked, and I sighed as I nodded. I could go for some breakfast as I had to skip it and drink coffee in its place.

“Yeah, I’ll come.”

“Tweedle Dee and Dum, you’re buying my lunch,” Jacob said as his eyes remained closed, and I giggled softly as Emma scoffed.

“Who invited you?” Abbie asked genuinely, and Jacob shrugged.

“I invited myself. And Teegan gets to choose where we eat,” he said, standing, and I laughed as the girls said a few choice words as they grabbed their belongings.

Soon, we made our way out of the hospital and to a cute brunch cafe I loved nearby. Along the way, we made small talk and joked about all kinds of things.

Life... felt different. I had moved cities again and left behind the man of my dreams... and nightmares at times. It felt different . I missed him, but I was doing just fine without him. He had put me through so much but helped me grow and become a better person all at the same time. He taught me how to trust myself and not to be so trusting of the outside world. As much as I missed him, I felt liberated, free from the devilish grip he had on me. But alas... the devil has wings.

I played with the diamond on the necklace he’d given me around my neck as we sat at the table. It still felt like he had a hold on me… as if he still owned me, my heart, soul, body, and mind. Every time I tried to take the necklace off, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. He was still too present in my life even if he was no longer in it.

He stopped contacting me after our break-up, but I still kept in contact with my boys… They called almost every day and would either be by themselves or together. In comparison to my biological brothers who haven’t spoken to me since that dreaded day in the hospital, the guys were my true brothers, even though they called me “Mama,” “Little Mama,” “Mama Bear…” all of the mamas. But when we talked, they never really brought up Levi, and I didn’t either. It would’ve been too hard for me in the beginning, and they didn’t like to see me cry... Elliot especially, my grumpy carebear.

“I’ll have an old-fashioned breakfast, no substitutions, and she will have red velvet pancakes, a side of bacon, and a matcha latte. And we’ll remind you later, but a mango smoothie to go,” Jacob requested, and I narrowed my eyes at him as he had ordered for me while I was lost in my thoughts.

“I think what you’re trying to say is ‘ Thank you for placing my order. I’m happy you know what I like to eat,’” he said, trying to read my facial expression, and I shook my head.

“You don’t know anything about me, Jacob.”

“Hate to break it to you, Teegs, but you’re a fairly easy person to learn about and adapt to,” Emma commented, and I crossed my arms childishly as they laughed.

“Are you angry I didn’t get your order right?” Jacob asked with a knowing smile, and I rolled my eyes.

“No. I’m angry because you did,” I mumbled, and they laughed even harder as I did my best to hide my smile.

Thankfully, our shift at the hospital had ended, and it was only six PM. Walking over to my car, I heard a few footsteps followed by a voice.

“Teegan! Wait up!” I heard Jacob, and I looked over my shoulder as he came over to my car.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked curiously, and he cleared his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I just, uh—well, you know we’re friends— coworkers … and I know we don’t usually go anywhere without Emma and Abbie but I wanted to know if you’d be interested in going out, just the two of us,” he asked.

I felt taken aback slightly. I didn’t want to believe the girls as they’d told me about him liking me, but hearing him actually act on what they’d been saying caught me by surprise.

Subconsciously, I played with my necklace again and gulped softly. “Um, I’d have to get back to you on that. Been pretty busy, as you know, and we are friends, Jacob. Just friends, ” I said as nicely as I could.

He nodded, giving me a small smile. “Yeah, just friends,” he said and gave me a short wave as he went to leave.

Before he could get too far, my hand shot out to grab his. He looked down at our hands for a moment and back to my eyes. My heart felt shattered by the look in his eyes and I gulped softly.

“I-I’m sorry, Jacob,” I whispered, and he nodded slowly as he pulled away and walked over to his car.

Getting inside my own, I sighed heavily as I pushed my hair out of my face and started the ignition.

Upon making it to my apartment complex, I spotted my landlord by the door as he spoke to a maintenance man I’d never seen before. As I approached the two of them while I walked toward the complex, their eyes came over to me. I felt slightly uncomfortable as the maintenance man gave me a longer stare, and Mr. Rivera seemed to tense up slightly, noticing it as well.

“I’ll give Frank a call about it later… and I’ll make sure he comes out to deal with it himself,” he bitterly said to the maintenance guy, who simply grabbed his things and walked past me.

Mr. Frank was very nice and polite. He always did a good job of taking care of the complex himself, but he was often busy and sent some of his guys to jobs he couldn’t make it to.

“Come in, sweet pea. Gotta tell Frank to stop sending these fucking guys in here,” he muttered angrily, and I shook my head.

“Be nice, Mr. Rivera,” I scolded softly, and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m only nice to you because you pay your bill on time, you call me when things go wrong, and you give me cookies every once in a while,” he reasoned, and I sighed, defeated, as I grabbed my mail.

“On a serious note, is everything okay in the complex…? You look very stressed,” I asked, and he sighed as he shook his head.

“Heating system is a complete shitstorm after the pipe burst last week. I’m trying to get the place back to normal in the next day or two, but the damn thing decides when it wants to work by itself. I left two space heaters by your door just in case we lose heat…”

“You didn’t have to, Mr. Rivera,” I said, feeling bad, and he shook his head.

“But I did, sweet pea. Let me know if you need anything else… I got other shit to do,” he muttered angrily, and I bid him goodbye sadly as I walked up to my complex.

Upon opening the door, I was immediately met with my kitty, who jumped into my busy hands. I cooed at him softly as I dropped my many bags to the floor and closed the door behind me.

Smothering him in kisses, I walked over to my bedroom and opened my drawers. Pulling out some night clothes, I let my kitty down, and he meowed to me about his day as I walked into the bathroom.

Getting into the shower, I decided to wash my hair and have a self-care night as I felt exhausted. After a gruesome but relaxing forty-five minutes in the shower, I got dressed and sat in front of my floor mirror as I brushed my hair.

My kitty lay in my lap as I combed through my hair, and my eyes landed on the necklace around my neck. It felt heavy ... almost as if it were a part of me that I was still afraid to take off.

Putting my brush down, I shakily moved my hands to the back of my neck and unclasped the chain slowly. Pulling the necklace away from me, I no longer felt the chokehold or the weight on my shoulders. I felt… better. Almost like a sense of relief had washed over me.

After a moment, I placed it on the nightstand and stood up with my little kitty. Going over to the kitchen, I ate a small meal before settling on the couch to go over more work before tomorrow.