Chapter 16 #2
I settle on the edge of a chair as Dr. Wemer says, “There’s been an incident.”
“Tell me you didn’t do something stupid,” Dr. Sear asks, his steely gaze on Xander who is sitting as well, as rigid as if a touch would shatter him into a thousand pieces.
“No, he didn’t,” Dr. Wemer asserts.
“Good. Tell me what happened.”
“Charlotte, go ahead,” Dr. Wemer orders.
Heat creeps up my neck. I’m not sure where to begin.
Xander scowls “I don’t know what happened today, but Damon has been harassing Charlotte. He’s upset she broke up with him.”
Dr. Sear cocks his head. “Charlotte, is this true?”
“Y-yes.”
“What is your role in this, Xander?” Dr. Sear asks Xander.
Xander doesn’t flinch. “I met Charlotte the weekend I came to interview for this position. She had broken up with him already, but he saw us together at a club.”
“You two knew each other?”
“Charlotte was visiting me in New York when we got into the accident that broke her foot and where I lost my memory.”
“He doesn’t remember me, and I didn’t know he was even in Chicago, so I didn’t know what to say when you introduced us the other day.” I try to keep emotion out of my voice and state the facts.
Dr. Sear and Dr. Wemer do their best not to appear shocked, but it’s clear they are.
“So, you two are dating?” Dr. Wemer asks.
“No,” I say, just as Xander states, “Yes.”
Xander’s jaw clenches, and he tips his face up, eyes blinking fast.
The room is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. It seems like forever, but Dr. Sear finally asks, “Charlotte, what happened today?”
This is so embarrassing. “I was working on my laptop in the lounge area of the locker room, and Damon came in and called me a whore. After I ignored him, he threw a pair of my underwear I must have left at his house at me. He told me he thought I would want them back, but maybe I didn’t wear them anymore because I’m such a whore. ”
Xander bolts off his chair and almost gets to the door, but Dr. Wemer cuts him off. “Go sit down.”
“Move,” he demands.
“Xander, sit your ass down now!” Dr. Sear hurls at him.
Xander’s shoulders flex, and he reluctantly returns to sit next to me.
“What happened when I was in the locker room?” Dr. Sear asks.
“He accused me of ‘playing in the sandbox’ when I came into the locker room with Xander.”
Xander pulls out his phone and shows Dr. Sear a picture. “This happened yesterday afternoon.”
“What happened then?” Dr. Sear asks.
“He called me a whore and accused me of cheating on him with Xander. But I didn’t,” I add, a little too quickly.
“No one is accusing you of anything, nor would it matter,” Dr. Sear assures.
“Why didn’t you two report this yesterday?” Dr. Wemer asks.
“Charlotte didn’t want to. She thought he would stop,” Xander grits out.
“I texted him last night, thinking he was just hurt and would stop, but it didn’t help.”
Xander’s head snaps toward me. “You texted him last night.”
I give a slow nod.
An expression I can’t understand crosses Xander’s face.
“Let me see the messages.” Dr. Sear holds out his hand.
I pull out my phone, bring up the text chain, and hand it to him. He scans it then passes it to Dr. Wemer. After Dr. Wemer reads it, he holds it out to me, but Xander snatches it.
Great. Add more fuel to the fire.
“Piece of shit,” Xander mumbles, then returns it to me.
“Is there anything else you want to disclose?” Dr. Sear asks.
“No.”
“We need to disclose this to HR since Xander is an employee of the hospital. I suspect our HR will talk to your HR department, Charlotte. Even though you and Damon aren’t employees of the hospital, you signed our agreement to follow all our rules.
There will be consequences, but for right now, I want you both to take the next two days off. ”
“That’s unnecessary,” I insist.
“Not negotiable, Charlotte. Until HR can handle this, you two don’t need to be anywhere near Damon. You are not to set foot on the hospital premises. Do I make myself clear?”
Xander and I nod.
Dr. Sear calls HR, and about an hour later, we can finally leave his office. Security escorts Xander and me to the locker room while Dr. Sear makes sure Damon is in his surgery and nowhere near the locker room.
When I get out of the hospital, Xander is right behind me.
“You don’t need to follow me.”
“I’m walking you to your car, and nothing you say will stop me.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine.”
We trudge to the car in silence. “I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” I tell Xander when we get there.
“Don’t you dare apologize to me. Damon did this, not you.”
I don’t respond. Part of me feels responsible for Damon’s bad actions.
Xander opens my door and kisses me on my cheek. His eyes are full of pain and frustration. “Have a good night, Charlotte.” His jaw tightens, and he looks away from me.
“Xander.”
He looks back at me.
“Get in. I’ll drive you home.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Get in.”
He lets out a big breath. “Okay.”
In the car, Xander fastens his seat belt. “Why didn’t you tell me you texted him last night?”
“What good would that have done?”
“We could have gone to HR this morning.”
“Right. Because that was super fun and not embarrassing.”
“Having your underwear thrown at you is more fun and less embarrassing?”
I jerk my head at him. “Seriously? You think I wanted that?”
“No. Of course, not. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“What exactly are you saying, Xander?” I sneer.
He lets out a big breath and runs his hands through his hair. “What I’m trying to say is you can’t let assholes like that get away with that kind of shit. We should have reported him yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of things we should or shouldn’t have done yesterday,” I hurl at him.
Pain moves across his face, and I have to turn away, once again, blinking back tears.
“You don’t know how awful I feel about what happened,” he quietly says.
“It is what it is. We just need to move on, Xander.”
“Move forward, not move on.”
I shake my head. “Nothing has changed. We shouldn’t have hung out last night. Let’s move on.”
“But it has changed.”
“You dreamed of fucking another woman. You swore to her she’s the only one you’ll ever love. I can’t even count the times you declared your love for her. In my bed.” All the anger and betrayal I’ve held inside the last six months pours out.
Xander cups my face in his hands. His eyes are glassy. “I know. I hate myself for it. But you don’t know the context. It was a missing piece I needed to make things clear.”
“So, you remember everything now?”
“No.”
I remove his hands from my face, start the car, reverse out of the parking space, and drive through the garage. “I’m not doing this anymore.”
“Charlotte.”
I slam on the brakes and turn to him. “I can’t do this, Xander. I’m sorry, but you have to get out.”
“Please, just hear me—”
I begin to cry. “Please, stop. This hurts too bad. I’ve been dying for six months. Dying.”
“I know—”
“No, you don’t know! And I can’t keep hoping you’ll regain your memory. I just can’t.”
Xander’s tears are streaming down his face just like mine, and he tries to pull me into him. “I’m sorry. Please let me—”
“No!” I sob. “Please. Get out. I’m sorry, but please go. I need to stop hurting.”
He wipes his tears away. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”
I drop my head onto my forearms the steering wheel. “It is.”
The door opens and shuts. I wait a few minutes, crying into the sleeve of my shirt. When I finally lift my face, Xander is gone.