Loving the Doctor

Chapter 5 - The necklace

Chapter 5 – The Necklace

Damon King

POV

I walk out of my office doing my rounds. I wanted to check on Marla, I stop dead in my tracks when I see Jess hugging one of the nurse’s husband's, does she know his taken? Does she care? Where the hell is her husband when she is hugging other men.

I shake my head and walk away. It was not my business. It was none of my business yet, I wanted to know what it felt like to hug her now. Yet I wanted to know what it felt like to be in her arms now. Did she miss the way I used to hug her? Did she still think of me?

God, I sound like such a f*****g p***y. This was not me. I was not this guy, no not anymore. I was with Jess, but she did not want me.

"Dr King" I hear nurse Joy calling for me

I turn to her.

"Are you busy with a patient?" she asked

I shake my head. "No, I was just about to do my rounds before lunch why? What is up?" I ask her

Nurse Joy was a good nurse one of the few I knew by name. She was a damn good nurse; I would often be teamed with her on patients. She was one of the only nurses I trusted to give patients the proper medication. I would double check the other nurses before I allowed them to give patients anything. I do not trust easily I have been burnt before when a nurse gives a patient the wrong medication and I nearly lost my license for his negligence. He transferred to another hospital after I f*****g tried to kill him, it took Axe and Beck to get me off him. He moved to LA I think because a nurse at a small plastic surgery.

If only he had lost his f*****g job. A three-year-old died because he gave her medication, she was allergic to, and it was in her file. I told him right before he went to give her, her meds as well.

I shake those thoughts out of my head and focus on Joy.

"I need your help with a patient. I need help setting a cast. Dr Martin got called to the ER his patient crashed." she explained

I nod "Sure." I followed her as she walked ahead of me.

She walked in front of me, yet I had no desire to check her out. She was a brunette. I never go there. It was too close to Jess. I would compare her to Jess it was not fair to either woman. I was f****d up in more ways than one.

Maybe I didn't care to check her out because she was a forty-year-old woman. Joy did not look her age of course; she looked younger than I did.

She was lovely and her husband was the chief surgeon of this hospital, Johnathan her husband was one of the best surgeons in this hospital. I have had dinners over at their house multiple times, they had three daughters. Nurse Joy brought me lunch daily from home, so I got home cooked meals daily.

Just do not tell my momma. She was a jealous mother who thought all of her sons are still virgins waiting for marriage. My momma was Catholic, she believed s*x before marriage is sin. Axe does not help, because the asshole gives my father’s number to all of his conquests trying to give my momma a heart attack by having women named Destiny and Sparkles calling my father. And then he must please explain, because her baby can do no wrong.

Unlike my playboy brothers I was interested in marriage and children once upon a time. But life got in the way and ripped my happiness away from me. I had no idea why my brothers never tried to date or find the one, they went straight into sleeping in anything with a skirt. Axe was the worst, he never slept with the same girl twice, he does not even realize his partner is in love with him. Beck says he does not have time for a relationship, he worked more shifts than Axe and I did.

We walked into the room after Joy. My breath got knocked out of my throat.

The little girl whose mother has been haunting my thoughts lays in the bed talking to Nash.

"Hi, I'm Dr King..." I smile "What's your name?" I ask the little Jess.

"I'm Anna" she smiles brightly.

Nash walks out of the room, and I sit down beside her. I see Joy has everything set up already.

It was dead quiet. I wanted to know where his girl’s father was, she was in the hospital, I know Jess is here, so where is her husband? Where is the man this child belongs to.

"So how did you break your arm, Anna?" I ask her

She looks down "It's stupid" she whispers

I stop and lift her chin with the back of my hand. "It's not stupid. I promise if you tell me I'll tell you how I broke my arm when I was your age." I smile encouragingly at her

She smiles brightly and nods enthusiastically.

I could not help but smile. She was so much like Jess it was hard for me not to love this little girl no matter how hard I tried to not like her. not when she was a mirrored image of her mother when she was this age.

"I’m new at school so I don’t have any friends, and I was trying to impress these girls in my class they dared me to climb on the jungle gym and when I got to the top, my hands slipped, and I fell off..." she is looking down again.

I still for a second. All of my insides are fighting against each other. The need to protect this girl was high I wanted to protect her from the bullies in her class.

I calm my thoughts before I speak.

"Anna, I know I'm not in any position to tell you this, but you don't need to impress those girls. You are cool all on your own. And in time you will make friends real friends. Never let anyone dare you to do something that could harm you, Anna. You could have gotten really hurt today. A lot worse than breaking your arm. If you had gotten hurt, you would have made your mommy really sad. Your mom would be very hurt..." I try to explain.

I knew I was a f*****g sucker when it came to Jess. There was no f*****g denying it. I was a f*****g sucker when it came to her daughter as well, she was an extension of her mother and here I was trying to make her feel better, this wasn’t my job. She children come in all the time, we normally assess if the child is being abused at home, we check the child for other injuries, I did not even think of doing any of that, because I knew Jess… She would never hurt her daughter, and this happened at school she was not in her parents’ care. But somehow before hearing how it happened, I did not even think of that possibility it. I knew why. It was because I knew Jess, it does not matter how much time has passed, she would not have changed that much.

I knew there was a part of me that was not over her. f**k who was I kidding all of me was not over her. I could not f*****g c*m without thinking about her. f**k that pair of tight pants she was in today. f**k stop that, Damon!

"I'm sorry" she looks down again

Fuck I was bad at this parenting stuff. I had no idea what I was doing.

"No, no need to be sorry. You did not do anything wrong. Those girls who forced you to go on the jungle gym are in the wrong. Okay?" I say with a smile on my face.

She smiles excitedly "Really? You are not mad at me?" she asks

I shake my head. "How could I be mad at such a cutie as yourself?” I smile, causing her to giggle.

“I am not mad at you Anna. Did you fall directly on this arm?" I ask her

She nods watching my movements. She seemed really interested in what I was doing.

I turn to nurse Joy. "Did they do an X-ray? I remember I saw Mason in here earlier..." I ask

She nods. "Clean break." she mouths

I cringe. "Ouch." that must have been some fall. That must have hurt like a b***h. I remember when I broke my arm, I cried like a f*****g baby. How was this girl laughing and giggling did Mason give her the good stuff?

"Dr King. Come on you promised to tell me how you broke your arm" Anna says excitedly. Her eyes brighten the way her mother's would when she wanted something from me.

She was almost as impatient as her mother... She got a whole damn lot of her mother, everything about this little reminded me of her mother. Did she get anything from her father? Not that the asshole deserved it, he did steal what was mine… Jess was mine the second I laid eyes on her.

I laugh at the thought. I clear my throat. "So, I was ten at the time. And I wanted to impress this girl I liked. So, I climbed the three by her bedroom window. I threw stones at her window I put them in my jean pocket before climbing up. I sneaked into her room, and we spent time together until it was time for me to go home. I had to leave the way I came in. One problem I had not considered. Getting down. I tried going down slowly but I lost my footing and fell out of the tree and fell down breaking my arm and leg. I was in a cast for two months. I remember feeling so lucky because she gave me a kiss on the cheek and signed my cast. And I was the coolest kid on the block who got to stay out of school for a month and I got all my friends to sign my cast." what I do not tell her is that the girl was her mother.

She smiles brightly." That is so cool. Do you think once you are done you can sign my cast for me, please Dr King?" she practically begs me.

I nod. I did not mind signing it for her. Though I did not know why she wanted me to.

She goes quiet for a second. I look up at her she is holding a necklace in her hand. I pause, my eyes begin to tear up.

I know that f*****g thing from anywhere. Because I bought Jess that for her fourteenth birthday. She was obsessed with horses, and I bought her the necklace after working at the hardware store for six months. It was a silver pendant; it was a horse with cubic zirconia stones. I could not afford diamonds back then; I had worked my ass off just afford that damn necklace back then.

I only had one question how had she gotten it? Why would this little girl's father let her where something Jesse's ex bought her?

"Whe-where did you get that?" I point at the thing around her neck.

She smiles brightly showing me the thing I bought fifteen years ago.

"My mommy said I could have it as long as I kept it safe. She said someone special gave it to her." she smiles as she explains.

I nod. I could not speak no, not with the lump in my throat. Someone special? Does Jess still think of me? Who was I fooling she was married of course she did not think of me.

"Oh, mom you're here" Joy says brings me out of my dreadful thoughts.

I turn to the door to see Jess standing in the doorway. She smiles at her daughter and I. again the question is on the tip of my tongue where the father is.

I finish up Anna's arm and walk up to Jess. I glare at her before I pull her out of the room into the hallway.

"Why the hell would you give that thing to her? Why would you even think of giving it to another man's child? Or did you lie and tell him a girlfriend bought it for you?" I hiss at her

She crosses her arms. "What’s the big deal? The necklace meant the world to me. So, when my daughter asks if she could wear it, I let her. And no, I did not lie to her father. It is not his business and by the way It's not like he would care." she shrugs

"What the f**k is wrong with you?" I snap. "That necklace meant something, but it obviously meant nothing to you to just give it away... Unfuckingbelievable" I shake my head and walk away from her.

It is not his business? So, she did not tell him about me, of course she did not tell him about me. Like I did not mean anything to her. I was such a f*****g i***t, she was just a child when we dated, she moved on found someone she really loves, and it wasn’t me. I was a f*****g glutton for punishment. What the f**k was wrong with me?

"Da-Damon. Wait up. It is not what you think. Let me explain" she calls after me.

I do not stop but she pulls my arm forcing me to stop and face her. I stop, she takes her hand of me. She looks at me with those innocent brown eyes that used to make my knees weak.

"What? What do you want from me Jess?" I ask her.

I hated how much it hurt. I hated how that necklace meant nothing to her.

"Damon..." she sighs. "That necklace meant, means the world to me. It is the first thing you ever bought me... When we were moving, she spotted the necklace and she fell in love with it. I only let her have it because she promised to keep it safe. If it really meant nothing to me, I would not still have it Damon" she explained

"Why?" I ask narrowing my eyes at her.

"Why what?" her brown eyes look at me confused.

I glare at her "Why do you still have it?" I asked her.

She shrugs "I only saw it when we were packing up for the move." she says

I nod slowly "Awesome" I say backing up and walking away. But only this time she does not stop me.

Unbelievable I do not even know why I held onto hope that she might still love me. She was f*****g married with a child of course she didn't love me anymore. Out of sight out of mind as they say.

I am just one dumbass motherfucker.

I f*****g loved hurting myself. The only person capable of hurting me was her and she knew it. She wanted to hurt me. She stopped me to tell me she forgot about me. Why did she return to Chicago? I was doing just fine without her.

If I ever meet her husband, I will sucker punch the mother fucker for stealing my girl.