CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Paolo
I saw her around the hospital occasionally after that.
Sometimes I’d see her laughing with a group of nurses and doctors over lunch.
I’d stop and stare at how beautiful she was.
Sometimes she’d see me, and the laughter would die from her face, making me feel like a complete bastard.
Other times, I’d pass her in the hall. At first, I’d tried to say hello to her, but that had felt awkward.
I’d dropped it to a chin nod. Then finally to nothing. That’s what she seemed to prefer.
Still other times, I’d see her flirting with some guy.
I knew she’d date after we were through.
Of course I did. It’s just… I didn’t think I’d have to watch it happening.
I guess that’s stupid. Even though we’re in different departments, we still see each other at the cafeteria and various other common areas of the hospital.
Sometimes I watched her when no one was looking.
I know that sounds creepy as hell, but I missed her.
I didn’t think I’d ever been as happy as I was when she was with me.
I fucked it up so badly… and I couldn’t even tell her why.
She’d just want me to stand up to Gia. I was willing to risk that for me.
To call Gia’s bluff. But not Jelly. I wouldn’t risk letting Gia hurt her.
Still, I know I shouldn’t have let them be assholes to her at the dinner party.
Hell. I shouldn’t have let myself be an asshole to her. And why had I taken Gia out for drinks when I knew Jelly went home feeling bad? What a dick move! I should’ve gone straight home to Jelly and checked on her first. I should have insisted she come with us.
Of course, then Gia might have outed Jelly and me.
I winced thinking about what action the hospital might have taken against me if it leaked I was a member of the Salazar’s notorious gentleman’s clubs.
Especially Cayenne. But nothing would be worse than all of West Bay finding out where Jelly had worked through college.
It was shitty, but people forgave men for that kind of thing most of the time. But not women.
But there were some things I could’ve done. When she’d asked me where I’d been? I should’ve just come clean. Now she thought I was a liar in addition to being an asshole and a cheater.
Still, it didn’t matter. What’s done was done. Jelly’d made it clear. She wanted nothing to do with me. I couldn’t even blame her.
“Woolgathering?” Cleo snuck up on me.
“Yeah, I suppose. What does that expression even mean? Is it some ancient shepherding reference?”
“You know, I don’t know. I could look it up for you…”
“Not necessary.” I held up my hand.
“Are you excited about the hospital gala this weekend?”
“Define excited.”
She laughed. “I’m going to take that as a no, then.”
I smirked at her. “Good idea.”
“I can’t wait to see Jelly.”
“At the gala?” I was confused as to why.
“Of course, silly. She’s getting that big award, and she’s going with that handsome doctor. It’s so exciting.” She was practically vibrating she was so pumped up about it.
“What award?”
“I’m not totally sure, but I think she was chosen intern of the year. I heard something else about her getting a really high score on the PANCE exam.”
God. And I’d let her sit at my parents’ table and feel like she wasn’t good enough compared to Gia Santoro. Jelly was a fucking star.
But what I’d mainly heard Cleo say was that she was going to the gala with a handsome doctor.
“What handsome doctor?”
“Oh, it’s that Doctor Chadwick all the women are talking about. He’s in…”
“Obstetrics,” I groaned. I’d heard all about him. The women truly couldn’t shut up about him. It was ridiculous. He couldn’t possibly be that good looking, and if he was then he was probably someone who would cheat on her.
As soon as I had the thought, I remembered that I’d taken Gia out for drinks while thinking Jelly was sick back at her condo. That, in retrospect, absolutely seemed like cheating, even if I was trying to avoid receiving consequences from my blackmailer.
“Who will you take?”
“Gia Santoro.”
Cleo’s smile was faker than a three-dollar bill. “Oh, that’s nice.” Cleo and the rest of my office had the pleasure of meeting Gia a few times already. Because she wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone.
“You like her, huh?”
“Mmm-hmm. Well, I have to get going.” She hurried off down the hall, face flaming. Cleo couldn’t lie worth shit.
The only people who’d be happy I was taking Gia would be Gia herself, her parents, and my parents.
But I was caught between a rock and a hard place. So, I’d just have to show up with Gia on my arm and watch Jelly from afar.
How bad could it be?
***
The knock on the door surprised me. I set the glass of whiskey down on my coffee table and padded over to answer it, not caring that my feet were bare, my hair was standing straight up, or that I was wearing sweats.
I opened the door right as the knocking started up again.
“Nico,” I said. “You hear to tell me how much I suck, too?”
“You look like shit.” He moved passed me, walked over to the bar, and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Then he sat down.
“Make yourself at home.”
“I’m about to send you a video. You’ll know how to use it. After you do, you have to delete it. Are we understood?”
I blinked at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He sighed, pulled out his phone, and messed with it. “There. I air dropped it to you.”
I got an alert on my phone, accepted it, and pressed play.
It took a moment for my drunk mind to comprehend what I was seeing.
Then my eyebrows went straight to my hairline.
It was a video of Gia on the stage at Cayenne getting railed by some guy while she sucked off another one.
“Fuck. Has she been coming and doing this a lot?”
“Keep watching and look at the date stamp,” he said, sipping his whiskey casually.
I did, my mouth falling open. She appeared to be going there night after night, doing everything from fucking one or two guys, to letting groups of guys run a train on her.
“I have it on good authority that no matter what she said to you, if her parents saw this, she’d lose her trust fund for sure. And she’d also never work in law again. This is how you get the blackmail to stop.”
I stared at him. “How’d you hear she was blackmailing me?”
He looked slightly amused. “I’m a Salazar, man. What else do you need to know?”
“Y’all are scary as hell.” I was glad they were my friends. I sure wouldn’t want them as my enemies.
“No shit.” He tossed back his whiskey and stood up. “I was never here.”
And with that, he left, leaving me wondering exactly how to handle this sensitive information.