Society Girls: Matisse (10 page)

“I also spurned the advances of a young
woman who turned out to be the Chief of Staff’s daughter.”

“She hit on you here?”

“No. At the tattoo shop when I went to see
Matisse yesterday.”

“And Teesy didn’t kill her?”

I have to smile at that. “She climbed on my
lap and fed me a pastry, which apparently means she’s my
‘plaything.’”

“Who called her that?” Reina asks, her tone
and her eyes going arctic.

“The daughter did, just now in the
office.”

“Take me there, Kendrick.”

“I’m supposed to clear out my stuff,” I say,
just as the Chief turns the corner and sees me.

“What are you still doing here?” the bastard
asks me, not recognizing Reina, because she’s turned away from him.
He and his daughter are with the Chairman of the hospital board,
and if I thought things were ugly in that office, I know it’s
nothing compared to what’s about to go down. Reina is a force you
don’t want to reckon with.

“He’s speaking to me,” Reina tells him,
turning around.

“Reina,” the Chairman says. “What a pleasant
surprise.”

“Do you know how much money the Corrigan
family donates to this hospital?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then tell me why my Foundation doctor, who
keeps privileges here, and just helped save several lives, was
fired because he turned down the advances of some spoiled little
bitch who cried to her daddy?”

“You can’t call me names! My dad will take
care of you!”

“Take care of
me
?” Reina asks, moving
closer to her, as I fight the urge to hold her back. “He needs to
take care of
you
.
Hitting on a man who’s not interested, and then calling his
girlfriend—who’s one of my interns, by the way—a plaything because
she stood up to you? You need a reality check.”

“You don’t talk to my daughter like that,”
the idiot says, not realizing he should be keeping his mouth shut
right about now.

“I just did.”

“I’ll take care of you just like I took care
of him.”

“I’d love to see you try.”

“Your husband needs to keep you on a shorter
leash.”

“Excuse me?”

“People like you,
and
him,
need to
know your place,” he says, gesturing to me.

“What?” the Chairman asks, looking between
all of us. “You told me Kendrick was insubordinate to you.”

“I wasn’t,” I say.

“Of course you weren’t! You wouldn’t even
know how to be insubordinate,” Reina says.

“Reina, I’m sure we can work this out.”

“I think we’re way past working this out.
And the tattoo shop this girl got thrown out of? It’s owned by
Helen Wilson’s son.”

“Helen is a large donor,” he says,
swallowing hard. “I’ll call her.”

“Forget calling her. You have a bigger issue
to deal with here. How is this man allowed to make these decisions
without any investigation?”

“He’s not. There’s a process.”

“I was told security would be meeting me at
my locker while I cleaned it out,” I tell him.

“Please give me a chance to make this right,
Reina.”

“There’s only one thing right now that will
make this even remotely okay.”

He nods, and turns to the Chief. “You are
suspended without pay until an investigation can be completed.”

“You can’t suspend me!”

“Actually, I can. Security
will be meeting
you
at your office to retrieve your keys from you.” He then turns
to me, “Kendrick, you are not fired, and I hope you will choose to
stay on staff, as well as accept my apologies on behalf of the
hospital. I can assure you we will be taking this
seriously.”

“Yes, thank you. I will stay on.”

“Now that this is settled, Kendrick and I
need to head to the Corrigan building. I’ll be waiting to hear from
you about how all of this works out before we issue next month’s
check,” Reina tells him.

“Of course, Reina.”

We walk out of the hospital, parting as we
walk to our cars. I thank her, but my heart isn’t in it. I hate it
when those with power use it for their own good, and yet I just let
Reina save my job. What she did was in reaction to what the bastard
did, but does it make it any better? No, in my mind it doesn’t, and
now I have to figure out how to deal with it.

* * *

Matisse

I’m in Ainsley’s tech lair, getting some
extra practice in, when I see Kendrick on one of the cameras making
his way into the building. He had a shift at the hospital last
night, so he’s supposed to be at home sleeping. Something’s wrong
in the way he’s walking, and the look on his face is scaring me a
little.

I log out of my session, grab my bag, and
head to the hospital wing. When I get there, I greet Liz, who tells
me Kendrick’s in his office. I thank her and make my way down the
hall.

Opening the door without knocking, I find
him with his head on his desk. “Doc?”

“Do you not know how to knock, Matisse?” he
asks, raising his head to glare at me.

I force myself to hold my ground. “I wasn’t
aware I had to.”

“What if I had a patient in here with
me?”

“I saw you enter the building a few minutes
ago, and Liz told me where you were. I don’t know when you would’ve
have time for a patient to join you.”

“You were spying on me?” he asks, standing
up.

“No,” I tell him, turning to close the door
because this seems to be going downhill fast. “I was doing some
practice monitoring in the tech lair and I saw you. Since I know
you were supposed to be at home, I was worried.”

“Now you worry? Not when you climbed on my
lap in the tattoo shop, but now?”

“I don’t seem to remember you complaining
when I climbed onto your lap.”

“And that’s the problem. I don’t think
clearly when you’re around.”

“What’s going on, Kendrick?”

“I almost got fired today.”

“Reina almost fired you? Why?”

“Not Reina, the hospital.”

“What?”

“The girl from the shop is the Chief of
Staff’s daughter. She complained to him.”

“You weren’t in the hospital when that
happened.”

“He didn’t care.”

“He obviously came to his senses, since you
said you were almost fired.”

“No. Reina threatened to pull Corrigan
money, so he was suspended, and I still have my job.”

“Oh. That’s good.”

“Really? You think it’s good that Reina used
her money and power to keep my job for me?”

“Yes. You were being unfairly treated.”

“It’s not right, Matisse. Using power like
that—both of them were wrong.”

“So you’d rather be fired because some
little girl didn’t have her crush returned?”

“No, but I’d like to have been kept based on
my performance, not because of a power play.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say
here.”

“There’s nothing to say. I stay out of
relationships for a reason. I broke my rules, and look where it got
me.”

“You said you changed your rules,” I remind
him, fighting hard not to cry—or break something. He’s breaking up
with me right now. I feel it coming.

“That was a mistake.”

“So, what you’re saying is
that
I’m
a
mistake.” Not the first time I’ve been told that, but I vowed to
never let a man have that power over me again, and yet, here I
am.

“Yes. I’m afraid you are. I can’t risk my
job whenever you feel possessive.”

“Wow. I didn’t realize being with me was
such a burden on you.”

“If you can just tone down a little, just
try and act more…I don’t know.”

“Normal? Is that what you meant? I should
take out my Monroe piercing and cover my tattoos for you?”

“I’m trying to give us a chance. It’s the
only way, Matisse. I need you to just blend in. That’s part of your
training, isn’t it? Blending in?”

“Go fuck yourself, Kendrick. Or better yet,
find some ‘perfect’ woman who won’t embarrass you, and fuck
her.”

I open the door, and walk out before he can
insult me some more. I turn down a deserted hallway and crouch
down, trying to catch my breath and stop myself from crying. I’m
not normally a crier, but that man seems to bring it out in me. Why
do I do this? Why do I pick the absolute worst men to fall for?

“Matisse, are you okay?”

I look up to see Waverly in front of me.
“No.”

“What happened?”

“Your best friend is the biggest asshole on
the planet. Oh, and he just broke up with me.”

“What? He wouldn’t do that! He’s totally
into you.”

“Yeah well, apparently my piercing, tattoos,
and behavior are too abnormal for him.”

“He said that? He didn’t say that,” she
says, looking horrified. Join the club.

“Oh yes, he most definitely did. He wanted
me to use my training to, and I quote ‘blend in.’”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“You think I want him after that?”

“I think something has to be terribly wrong
for him to say those things. It’s not him. Not at all. I’m going to
find out what’s going on.”

“Good luck with that. I’m done. I didn’t
deserve what just happened in there, and I can’t imagine being with
him again after that.”

“No you didn’t, and I understand you feeling
that way. We’re still friends?” she asks, looking nervous now.

“Of course we are. I need to get back to
studying, but we’ll talk later, okay?”

“I’m sorry, Matisse.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

I put on some sunglasses and hug her. My
head is held high as I pass Liz, but since there’s no reason for me
to have these glasses on, I’m sure she knows something’s up. I just
need to make it out if this building and get my damn cry out before
my friends get home. Once I’m cried out, I’ll study, because I
won’t let Kendrick and his ugliness take that from me. I’ll pass
anatomy without his help, and show us both that I don’t need him
for anything.

Matisse

“Hey, Teesy,” Scott Griffin says, pointing
to his shoulder, where Zane is adding yet another tat to his
body.

“Clavicle,” I yell out with a laugh, moving
closer to look at the pens with an old school game controller
wrapped around them that’s going right across that bone.

Zane and the other tattoo artists have been
helping me with my anatomy studying, and I guess he told Scott
about it, too. I’m doing pretty good, and I feel ready for my test
in a couple of hours, but there’s no harm in keeping it all fresh
in my frontal lobe.

“I’d point at some other body parts, but my
friend here doesn’t like it when I move around.”

“You move around all you like, but don’t
bitch about your tat being a mess afterward,” Zane tells him.

“Thanks for the offer, Scott. I’ve got a
client coming in, so I’ll catch you later.”

My appointment is a simple quote, and I’m
done wrapping her talus bone in the flowing script in less than an
hour. I wander around, yelling out things like “humerus.” “ulna,”
“manubrium,” “pelvis,” “femur,” “patella,” C7,” “scapula,” and
“metacarpals” when prompted. These guys and girls are the best, and
I’m lucky to be here with them.

I say a quick goodbye to all of them, and
then I’m on my way. Knowing I can pass this test without Kendrick’s
help gives me a big boost of confidence. Sadness, because I’ve
missed him these past few days, but confidence, too. I don’t need a
man—even if he is smart, sexy, and sweet when he’s not being an
ass.

The test is grueling, and just as hard as I
expected, with Stella using a pointer and a skeleton as we silently
enter our answers onto our tablets. We still use pen and paper for
long answers or essays in some classes, but with tests like these,
we’ll see our score once we click to save the last answer.

I close my eyes as I tap that button, only
opening them as I hear my friends shouting around me. I look down
and realize I did it. I got the 100% I needed to pass. My yell
joins everyone else’s as I look around and see that we all passed.
Thank God.

We hug each other, Stella hugs us all, and
everyone else takes off for lunch. I’m heading to the airport after
this, so I hang out for a minute to talk to my mentor.

“I’m so proud of you, Teesy.”

“Thanks. I was worried for a little bit, but
we all helped each other, and everyone at Zane’s shop has been
quizzing me, too.”

“What about Kendrick?”

“What about him?” I ask, knowing exactly
what she means, but hoping she’ll let it go.

“I haven’t seen you two together these last
few days.”

“We’re not together anymore.” If we ever
really were.

“I would ask if we needed
to talk about it, but since you just aced your test, I won’t. If
you
want
to talk,
I’m here for you.”

“I know, and it definitely won’t affect my
performance. I learned my lesson.”

“Okay. I’ll stay out of it for now. Have a
great trip,” she says, hugging me again.

“I will. Thanks again. For everything.”

I grab my rolling bag from the back of the
room, and head for the elevator. When I get downstairs, I see
Zane’s wife, Quinn, waiting outside in her car for me. I wave and
walk faster, so she won’t have to wait longer.

I’m rushing so fast that I don’t even notice
the person who’s crossing paths with me until I crash into him.
Strong hands reach out to steady me, and I cringe as I recognize
them. I just ran into Kendrick.

“Are you okay?” he asks, concern in his
eyes.

“Yes. I’m sorry about that,” I tell him,
pulling away.

“Can we talk?”

“No. I have a plane to catch.”

“Plane? Where are you going?”

I turn back long enough to glare at him.
“That’s really none of your business anymore, is it?”