22. Veronica
Who the hell does he think he is? Where does he get off assuming that I am fucking jealous! Does the thought of him having sex with Scarlet make me upset? Yes, only because of who she is and the information I know about her. It’s not jealousy. It’s fucking anger.
Anger, knowing that I’m not the only patient who will occupy his time from now on. Thoughts are tripping over one another in my head, and I am wondering what will happen when he starts sessions with this new patient.
I’m not worried about him laying his hands on her. He was hesitant with me, meaning there’s no way in hell he’d touch another patient.
Another issue I’m running into in my busy brain is that with this new patient, he won’t have all his time to focus on me. Get to know me. He is supposed to be falling in love with me.
If I’m being honest, that plan isn’t going how I thought it would. It’s proving to be more difficult than I would have liked. I’m going to have to do some recon later and come up with some ideas for myself to figure out how I can appear more vulnerable to him.
But like I said, later.
Right now, this anger inside me is festering, shifting into rage. I was going to explode back in his office, and I had to get away from him. He’s the last person I would like to take my anger out on.
Scarlet, on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind searching for her and smacking the bitch around, but she is most likely in her ward.
My footsteps almost echo down the hallway despite the patients lingering around. Hushed voices and hard stares watch me as I manically rush through the hall, shoving people out of my way as I head to the common room.
I don’t know who or what I am looking for. When I storm through the door, Eliza is working on the same puzzle as before. Actually, she is close to being done. She is off the list of getting the brunt of my anger.
Then I feel a presence. The same damn person who took over my chair, thinking she had the right to sit there. The audacity!
My head slowly swivels to the left, gazing over my shoulder as I see her sitting in the same spot I left her earlier. The heart in my chest races.
Harsh puffs of air retreat from my nose, and my head ticks slightly. With my eyes on hers, I can sense the other patient”s eyes on me. Women who were hanging out in the hall are now standing behind me in the doorway, waiting for me to lose my cool.
Lucky for them, the show is about to begin.
As if she can feel the lasers I am shooting into her skin, the newbie removes her attention from the book and focuses on me. If she is afraid, she doesn’t show it. Deep down, though, I know she is frightened, if only just a little.
She’s good at hiding it; I’ll give her that. I waste no more time standing here gawking at her sitting in what”s mine. I march over to her, standing directly in front of her. She closes her book softly while she continues to hold my gaze.
Until now, words haven’t been able to get through to her. Instead of opening my mouth to scream at her, I grab her by the short, faded green strands on her head and yank her as hard as I can, sending her flying to the floor.
She lands with a thud next to the coffee table, but before she can even think about getting up, I quickly straddle her body.
“I told you that was my chair!” I scream into her face as I pin her hands above her head.
She lifts her head off the ground to get closer to me. “And I told you I didn’t care.”
“You fucking bitch!” I release one of her wrists and bring my hand up, only to ball it into a fist and introduce it to her nose. The cracking sound booms loudly throughout the room.
Gasps surround me, but I don’t look up at the audience.
After the impact, she lets out a small laugh. “That all you got?”
What the hell is wrong with her?
I ram my fist into her face repeatedly until blood seeps out of her nose. If she were standing, that blood would gush like a waterfall.
There are cuts from my fist hitting her that open up on her face as she lies there, taking the beating. My knuckles become sore, so I give up and wrap my bloody hand around her throat.
“I take it your session with the hot doctor didn’t go well?” She laughs in my face as blood drips down her own.
“Shut up!” I pick her up by her neck just to slam her head back down onto the solid ground.
She winces at the pain, but that stupid smile is still on her face. “Hopefully, my session with him goes better. I see him tomorrow.”
Red.
That is all I’m seeing after she spoke those words. Of all the patients he could take on in the damn place, this is who he got? Picking her head up again, I crush it into the hardwood again, lowering my face to hers.
“I should fucking kill you,” I threaten through clenched teeth.
“Then... fucking... do it!” she stutters from lack of air.
Bringing my other hand down to her throat, it joins the other to create a necklace, and I completely choke her. I cut off her air supply so she can’t breathe.
At first, she stays calm, trying to act cool, but she panics after a little while without air. Her eyes gloss over from tears and fear because she didn’t think I had it in me.
I will kill her.
Her hands meet my wrists where she tries tapping out, and when that doesn’t seem to work for her, she claws at my skin. Her fingernails dig into my body hard enough to leave marks and draw blood, but I could not care less.
It only makes the hold I have on her tighten, and right before she is about to pass out, hands are gripping my shoulder and tearing me away from her.
“Get off of me!” I yell and flail my body to get away from whoever this is.
“Veronica, stop it!” Leo’s voice breaks the red I’m seeing. He whips me around to face him.
“Let go of me!” I demand, but he doesn’t listen. I attempt to push myself away, which doesn’t work well for me.
He releases my right arm and lifts his hand to my face, digging his fingers into my cheeks to force me to look at him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Like you fucking care!” I spit back.
“I’m your doctor, Veronica! Of course, I care!” His voice is full of anger.
“My doctor.” I laugh and nudge my head slightly to the girl on the ground. “And hers too, apparently.”
He lets go of my face and looks at the person lying on the ground. When I twist my head, I find a nurse now sitting with her, using a wet washcloth to clean up the blood.
From here, I can tell I broke her nose. I can see the bruises forming on her neck from my fingers. That makes me grin.
“What is going on here?” A loud voice echoes through the room, breaking my focus on the newbie. Dr. Bennett strides over to the scene and a lump forms in my throat. “Jesus Christ, Veronica!”
His eyes settle on me, but I immediately drop mine to the floor. Leo releases me while I stare at my slippers as if they are the most interesting thing in the room. I look up at him when I see his pristine, shiny black shoes enter my vision.
The look in his eyes isn’t anger.
It’s disappointment.
Which hurts way worse than it would if he were only angry with me. “Tell me what happened.”
“She was in my chair.” The words come out quietly.
“She was going to kill me!” The girl speaks from the floor, letting out a cough.
“Is this true, Veronica?” Dr. Bennett asks.
My eyes quickly dart down, and I stare at a button on his dress shirt when my breathing quickens. There is no way I can lie to him because he would never believe it.
Letting out a sigh, my eyes move back up to his. “Yes.”
“Veronica.” He exhales a long breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. “We have talked about this.”
“I know,” I state in understanding. “It won’t happen again.”
“Surely you know words aren’t enough,” he tells me, and my hands tap the side of my leg. I knew what was coming. “You’ll spend a week in solitary confinement for your actions.”
“No... wait, Dr. Bennett! Please…” I choke out my words, trying not to break down. “Don’t send me there again!” I beg as if my life were at stake, then turn towards Leo. “Le... Dr. Madden, please tell him I’m improving, and I- I won’t let it happen again. Please tell him I don’t need to go to solitary!”
There is no way in hell I’m going back there. It is the worst of the worst.
Trying to keep the tears from spilling out of me because I don’t want everyone to think of me as a weak little bitch, I keep my gaze on Leo, trying my best to plead with him through my eyes.
“This isn’t up to Dr. Madden. This is up to me.” Dr. Bennett pulls my attention.
“Fuck!” I curse and cup my hand over my mouth, muffling a sob.
“Dr. Madden?” Dr. Bennett turns to Leo. “Please help me escort Ms. Rollins downstairs.”
My eyes widen, and I spare a glance at Leo, who stands frozen in the moment. His eyes dance between his boss and me. Swallowing hard, he nods and takes my arm into his hand, leading me towards the door.
“Dr. Madden, please!” I beg again, attempting to tug my arm away from his grasp. “I’ll do better! I promise! I... I’ll keep my temper at bay!” My eyes stare at the back of Dr. Bennett’s head. “I’ll do whatever you say. Just please don’t make me go down there.”
The tears are spilling down my cheek now that we are away from the others. I try to pull my arm out of Leo’s grasp, but it is useless. He looks over at me, concern in his eyes. “Veronica, please. Don’t make this harder than it already is.”
Biting my bottom lip, I give up on the fight and walk willingly with him.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispers to me, making sure Dr. Bennett can’t hear us.
“No, it’s not, Leo.” I shake my head and whisper back. “You don’t know what it’s like down there.”
For a brief second, he looks over at me, now with worry etched in his expression, but diverts his stare as Dr. Bennett stops at a doorway to unlock it.
We descend the concrete stairs, the air becoming colder, making me wish I had worn a sweatshirt today. The lights that line the tops of the wall are dim, even more so than the lights upstairs.
It makes it harder to see.
From where we are standing, I can make out a guard at the end of the hall. Shivers filled my whole body as we continued our walk.
Passing steel doors with other patients shouting through the thick metal, begging to be let out. Guttural screams and cries are loud despite the thickness of the doors holding them in.
How long have they been down here? Are they losing their minds more than they already were?
My eyes shoot over to Leo, who keeps his eyes forward, trying to pretend he isn’t hearing the same things I am. He can act calm, but the fear is written all over his beautiful face. It shows itself in the way his jaw ticks with discomfort.
Lightly and briefly, his thumb brushes over my arm as if trying to comfort me. For a moment, a tiny amount of relief flushes through me but soon disappears when we reach an open door.
“Are you going to punish the other girl?” It’s a question I probably shouldn’t ask. The one that I already know the answer to.
“For almost being killed? No, I’m not,” Dr. Bennett answers me.
“Seriously?” Why must I continue to fight? “She started it!”
“Do I need to add another week to your sentence?” He looks me dead in the eyes, no emotion reading on his face.
“No, sir.” I finally shut up.
Leo lets go of me, and Dr. Bennett steps out of the doorway, allowing me to enter my home for seven days. I can’t move. My feet are stuck to the floor as I stare into the darkness I know what awaits me in there.
“We don’t have all day.” Dr. Bennett gestures for me to move.
I blink the tears away and enter the dark room. Crossing my arms over my chest, I peek out the door to find Leo standing there. His eyes take in the room.
The cement walls, the shitty bed in the corner, along with the ice-cold metal toilet for me to use. The dim light cascades over his face when he holds my gaze.
His hand meets the edge of the door, closing it while still keeping his eyes on mine until just before the door blocks our vision. Only then do his eyes fall to the ground.
Letting out a breath, I watch as he completely shuts the door, leaving me in complete darkness.