Chapter 11
Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott
“Damn, look at you sitting up in here flirting with the staff.”
Marvelous looked past me toward the door and smiled. “Man, mind your business.”
“I am minding mine. You my business until you get up out this hospital.”
The fine man I’d previously seen before walked farther into the room without taking his eyes off me right away, and it wasn’t until he got closer that I realized he had recognized me too.
I could see it in the way his eyes narrowed just a little before they moved over my face.
It only took him a second because the same knowing look that had crossed mine showed up in his and neither one of us said anything about it though, because what was there really to say?
We had passed each other in the hallway a few days ago. It wasn’t like we knew each other.
Marvelous looked between the two of us and instantly picked up on it. “Y’all know each other?”
“No,” I answered a little too quickly, and the man looked at me when I said it.
“I seen her downstairs before,” he explained, looking back toward Marvelous. “That’s all.”
Marvelous’s eyes settled on me again. “See, I told you I know faces. I ain’t the only one around here remembering shit. Aye nurse, this my cousin Lev. Lev this my nurse, Navy, with her fine ass.”
I ignored the little meaning behind that and reached for the tablet I had left sitting on the rolling table before I smiled at Lev telling him, “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” he replied without doing too much.
I focused back on Marv. “Well, since you have company now, I’m going to finish checking on my other patients. Your medication should be due in about twenty-five minutes, and I’ll be back before then.”
Marvelous frowned like I had told him I was leaving the hospital instead of stepping out of his room. “Damn, you can’t stay for a minute?”
“No, I cannot stay for a minute. I have a whole assignment outside of you.”
He looked over at Lev. “See how she talk to me?”
Lev’s eyes moved from Marvelous back to me. “Sound like you probably need somebody talking to you like that.”
“Man, fuck you.”
I shook my head and tried not to laugh again because the last thing I needed was both of them getting comfortable with me.
Marvelous was already too observant for somebody recovering from being shot and Lev had the kind of eyes that made me feel like he was taking in more than he let on.
Even standing there calm, there was something serious about him that made the whole room feel different from the second he walked in.
I turned toward the door, but Marvelous called my name before I could make it out. “Navy.”
I stopped and looked over my shoulder. “Yes?”
“You ain’t forget what I asked you, right?”
I frowned because for half a second my guilty conscience made me think he was talking about his belongings again. “What did you ask me?”
“To request you.”
I released lightly exhaled and gave him a look. “That is not how staffing works.”
“It should be.”
“Well, it isn’t.”
Marvelous smiled like he had already decided he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “We’ll see.”
I looked at Lev, mostly because I could feel him watching the entire exchange, and our eyes met again.
Up close, he looked even more familiar than he had in that hallway, but it wasn’t only because I’d seen him before.
Something about him reminded me of the man lying in the bed.
They didn’t look exactly alike, but they carried the same darkness in their eyes, which was the same way of watching people without making it obvious.
The difference was Marvelous had a playful energy even while laid up in ICU, and Lev looked like a man who didn’t waste too much time playing about shit.
“Excuse me,” I said, slipping past him.
He stepped to the side and opened the door wider without saying anything.
As I walked by, his cologne hit me all over again, and I hated that I noticed it because I had more important things to be worried about than how good some man smelled.
Especially a man connected to fifty thousand dollars that used to belong to the patient I had just left behind.
The door hadn’t fully closed before I heard Marvelous speak. “She fine as fuck ain’t she. She look like one of those sneaky females, but she fine though.”
I stopped walking for half a second, then forced myself to keep moving because standing outside his door listening would’ve looked guilty as hell.
I didn’t know what exactly Marvelous meant by that, but my mind immediately went to the worst possibility.
The nurse who had his money. The nurse who handled his clothes.
The nurse he remembered from the ER? What looked sneaky?
I made it to the nurses’ station and sat down hard on the chair, causing Kendra to glance over from the computer beside me. “Everything okay in 814?” she inquired.
“Yeah.” I unlocked the screen and tried to make myself look busy. “He’s fine. He has a visitor now.”
She smiled. “The handsome one?”
I looked at her. “Which one?”
Kendra laughed. “Please, you know exactly which one. The tall one with the waves who walks around here looking like he owns the building. He looks like he has big money and a big you know what.” She winked.
I tried to keep my face neutral, but she was looking at me like she had caught something. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Sure.” She smirked.
“I wasn’t.”
“Right” She turned back toward her computer. “Well, his name is E’Levyn. Everybody calls him Lev. That’s Marvelous’s cousin and he’s been here practically every day since they brought him in. If it’s not him, it’s the grandmother we call BJ.”
My fingers stopped over the keyboard for a brief second with something else clicking inside my head.
If Marvelous was carrying that amount of cash and Lev had been up here every day, there was a real possibility Lev already knew the money was missing.
I had no idea if the cash belonged to Marvelous alone or if it had something to do with the rest of them, but either way, I didn’t like how close the situation was getting to me.
I guess it was written all over my face because she questioned me again.
Kendra looked over again. “You sure you’re okay?”
I forced a small smile. “I’m good, just hungry.”
“Yep, that’ll do it. I get mean when I’m hungry.”
I chuckled and turned back toward the chart, but my eyes kept moving toward Room 814 even though I couldn’t see through the closed door.
I wondered what they were saying in there.
I wondered if Marvelous was telling him I had been the one who handled his belongings.
I wondered if Lev had walked in already knowing everything and that was why he looked at me the way he did.
My phone started vibrating beside my thigh, pulling me out of my thoughts.
Rome’s name flashed across the screen for the second time in less than ten minutes, and I silenced it again without answering.
After the scene at the mall and me taking his truck, he had gone from angry to apologetic to acting like none of it happened, which was typical.
He had shown up here with flowers and another lie and I let him talk.
I even let him think I forgave him, but I hadn’t spent one night in that house since my furniture had been delivered.
As far as Rome knew, I was staying with Lulu because I needed space.
The truth was I had been sleeping better than I had in years, alone in my own place with my doors locked and my phone on silent.
Another message came through right after the call.
Rome: Where you at?
I rolled my eyes because he knew exactly where I was. He had my schedule memorized better than I did sometimes, but Rome never asked a question because he needed an answer. He asked because he wanted to make sure my answer matched whatever he already believed.
Me: Work.
The bubbles appeared immediately.
Rome: What time you get off?
Me: Same time I always get off.
Rome: I’m coming to get you.
My stomach felt tight and I stared at the message for a few seconds before responding.
Me: No need, I have my car.
Rome: I didn’t ask if you had your car. You still my wife and I’m taking you to eat tonight.
I locked the phone and slid it into my pocket before my irritation showed all over my face.
Rome had been doing that more lately, popping up at my job, showing up at Lulu’s house without calling, sending food I didn’t ask for, and pretending it was love when really it was surveillance with a smile on it.
The closer I got to being free, the more he seemed to sense something changing, and that made him hold on tighter.
I had just finished reviewing my second patient’s labs when the door to Room 814 opened.
Lev stepped out alone and looked toward the nurses’ station before walking in my direction.
I kept my eyes on the computer even though every nerve in my body noticed him coming closer.
He stopped on the other side of the counter, and Kendra looked up first with a smile.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “He asking for something to drink besides water.”
Kendra chuckled. “He can ask all he wants. He’s still on clear liquids.”
“That’s what I told him.”
“Then you already know the answer.”
Lev nodded without a smile before his eyes moved toward me. “He said his medicine due soon.”
I looked at the time on the computer. “In about fifteen minutes.”
“Aight.”
He didn’t move right away, and I could feel Kendra looking between us, probably hoping one of us said something worth gossiping about later. I refused to give her the satisfaction and kept my attention on the screen.
Lev finally spoke again. “You was the nurse downstairs when they brought him in?”
I looked up slowly. “I was part of the trauma team.”
His face didn’t change. “He said you handled some of his belongings.”