18. Jack
18
JACK
A shley darted from the kitchen, and I smirked at how her tits bounced as she hurried away. I scooped up her panties and brought them to my nose to enjoy the scent of her arousal one last time before shoving them in the pocket of my sweats and grabbing the T-shirt she'd been wearing. Then I wiped my face on the back of my hand as I walked toward the door.
There was no way to explain her car being in my driveway, nor was there any explanation for her in my home, but maybe it was time to come clean with Calvin, anyway. I'd already made up my mind that I cared about her, and after staking my claim with Dr. Gooding, chances were we had been outed at the hospital too. If we got into a sticky situation, I'd just confess to loving her. Probably not the best way to tell her that for the first time, but it was the truth. I'd figure out the messy vulnerability part later on.
I looked out the window next to the door and saw Calvin standing with his back to the house staring at Ashley's car in the driveway. For a second, I stood there rubbing my forehead, trying to decide what story to tell him about why his daughter was at my house before eight in the morning on a weekend. The man wasn't stupid. By now, he probably figured everything out and was waiting for us to come clean, but I wouldn’t put Ashley in that position if I didn't have to.
I reached for the door and opened it, and Calvin turned around with a scowl on his face and frustration in his eyes. "Jack.” He walked right past me, storming in as he looked around. "Where is she?" His tone was fierce, a fatherly, protective aura to it.
"She went to the bathroom. Calvin, let me explain?—"
"You know, Jack, I've?—"
The door to the bathroom shut and cut Calvin off. I watched as Ashley sauntered in, fully dressed, hair tied up into a bun. Her eyes were on a tablet in her hands as she scrolled. She looked so absorbed, she hardly even paid us notice until Calvin cleared his throat and she looked up in surprise.
"Dad?" she asked, and as if she were starring on Broadway, her act was magnificent. "Jack, you didn't tell me he was coming. I could’ve picked you up." She strolled over to us and kissed him on the cheek so naturally, I'd have thought she was expecting him.
"Well, I… We…” Calvin looked at me, confused, and sputtered around for a moment searching for words.
"I totally forgot tee time. Ashley found some things, and it was late last night, so I asked her to come over early. I made breakfast. There's enough for you too." My act wasn't quite as convincing as hers, but Calvin's furrowed brow relaxed a little. He did eye me suspiciously as I led them to the dining table nestled by the picture window in back. I hated lying to him, but before I said anything, I had to have very raw conversations with Ashley.
They sat and made themselves comfortable, and I headed to the stove and the plates of food there, now growing cold. The bulge of Ashley's panties in my pocket masked the still-swollen dick I felt rapidly deflating. Anxiety had a way of doing that to me anyway, but thankfully, it wasn't what Calvin looked at first. He sat hunched over the tablet as Ashley told him all about how she'd found a very strong connection to one of my team members, Dr. Farah Blake.
I listened to her spell out all the facts, vaguely remembering her telling me some of these things last night. I felt bad for being so drunk I couldn't take it seriously, and even worse for letting her lie there awake as I passed out curled around her. It was comforting to me, but she might have had a different perspective. I was coming undone with all my insecurities revolving around being cheated on again and her true motives and intentions.
"So you hacked into the hospital servers?" Calvin asked. It was the one thing I heard in crystal clear detail as I set all the plates out and then grabbed another table setting for him. That was a detail I didn't remember, either.
Ashley wasn't just putting her privacy on the line. She was risking her job and maybe her career. If the police found out she was nosing around, they'd do a full investigation into her too. I knew just how awful that felt after the past few months of what I’d been through. But if hospital administration knew she was hacking into their information, she'd be terminated immediately, and she might even be charged with something. I didn't even know she could hack.
"Well, not exactly. Some doctors and team leaders get access to all patient files and even employee files. I don't. I just get the patients I'm assigned to. But I needed more information. I needed access to them all, so I asked a friend." Her explanation was so nonchalant, I almost sailed right past it—almost.
My gut churned as I set Calvin's plate and silverware in front of him and then took my seat across the table, letting father and daughter sit next to each other. She was so new to Cambridge, she had no friends here. No friends except Sam Gooding, to whom I had already made it painfully clear that she was off limits.
Calvin might have already dismissed suspicion about me and Ashley having a fling, but my radar just went up again over her and Sam. I hated that I was like this—that hypervigilance had me on my toes all the time. I couldn't have a normal conversation about her speaking to a "friend" to get help doing something for me without freaking out and fearing she was going behind my back. It soured my stomach and I didn't even want to eat, not even as they heaped food on their plates and started eating.
"So you got the access to the servers and now you think you know who did it?" Calvin had a bite of eggs and chewed as he nodded. I put a meager helping of bacon on my plate and two cold pancakes. "I say you let the police handle that. You turn over what you know and how you know it."
“I can't do that," Ashley confessed, her shoulders drooping. "I can't get this person in trouble. And I don’t want to lose my job there. I like working for Jack." Her eyes met mine, and it should have been a heartwarming moment where I felt emotionally connected, but I felt gutted and lost. She'd said the bit about not getting her "friend" in trouble first before mentioning me. Why did that make me jealous again?
"This friend… is he willing to come clean to help shed light on the investigation?" Calvin had no clue the dynamic. He didn't know I'd slugged the man, assuming it was Sam, which I was willing to stake my career on it.
"Who is the friend so I can thank them personally?" I asked, but Ashley's calm demeanor turned quickly. She hid it from her father, but I saw the panic wash over her as she took a bite, then swallowed hard. She didn't want to upset me, or maybe she just didn't want an argument.
"Uh, Dr. Sam Gooding," she mumbled, and instead of seeing her wilt, I watched Calvin's face flush red. He looked at me and controlled his anger. I'd seen him do it a hundred times on the golf course. He was furious, but he was professional and tactful.
"It seems to me that there is some good in the man, after all." His stern reply was better than mine. At least Calvin and I agreed on one thing—we both hated Dr. Sam Gooding, and neither of us wanted Ashley to have anything to do with him.
For a father to be so upset about something as to have to stifle the outrage and hide it from his daughter meant the man had done something detestable. It confused me why Ashley would even consider going back to him, or even befriending him if he was so bad. But I didn't know what he'd done to her other than that he hurt her and they used to be together.
"Yes, Dad, well he helped and that's how I know these things. I just want to know what you think I should do about it." Ashley's tone changed now too, like she could read the room. It got cold and distant for a few minutes before Calvin advised her to stop snooping and tell the police her suspicions and why she had them without bringing Sam into it, or the hacking.
Then he changed the subject and started talking about golf, and Ashley excused herself to the toilet again. I vaguely heard the faint sound of her gagging and suddenly felt like a total jerk for not remembering she had a tummy bug when I made such a heavy breakfast.
Yet another thing to put on my list of things to work on—being more sensitive and perceptive. If we made it out of this thing without me flipping out on her over Sam, we had to talk seriously about what was going on between us. My heart was going to explode if I kept up this insecure rage yo-yo.