Sky did not. Instead, she leveled a hard stare at Noah, Kane, and Bella before walking out of the room.
Once they were out of earshot, Noah turned to Sky. “What the hell was that?”
“Something is not right, and you know it. That girl had bruises everywhere. How do we know that she fell off of a horse? What in God’s name would she have been doing on one that time of morning? It doesn’t make sense.”
“You don’t know her or her family. That could be the time they go horseback riding! This is unlike you to jump to unfounded conclusions! Don’t let our issues cloud your judgment. Charlies’ injuries are consistent with falling off of a horse, and if her parents say that’s what happened, then that’s what happened.”
Sky hissed. “Your ego is out of control. Charlie’s injuries are also consistent with abuse.”
“You’re going too far. I just told you, we can’t make assumptions like that if we don’t have any facts to back them up.”
“We don’t?” Sky was angry that he wasn’t connecting the dots. “Noah, those bruises were at least a couple of days old. Kane and Bella are both acting suspiciously. We have an obligation to our patient to contact children and family services. As attending physician, you should have done that the moment you examined her in the emergency room! They can investigate, and if they don’t find anything, we will have done what we were supposed to do.”
He grabbed her hard by the arm. “Are you crazy? That’s Bella Lord! Her PR team would be all over us.”
Sky snatched her arm out of his grip. “I don’t care who she is! I’m not turning a blind eye.”
“You can’t unilaterally call anyone. There is a protocol for high-profile-clients. You’ve got to discuss this with the Chief-of-Staff. He won’t approve it, and as the Assistant Chief-of-Staff, I won’t back you up. I’m not losing my career or reputation as a physician over your unfounded suspicions.”
“You spineless weasel! I can’t believe I ever thought . . .” Sky let her words fade.
“Call me whatever names you want. I’m not committing career suicide on a little girl who might not live through the next twenty-four hours.”
“You’re disgusting.” Horrified, Sky backed away from him shaking her head.
*****
Two hours later, Sky had taken a shower and a nap in her office. She typically didn’t leave the hospital for the first twenty-four hours after a procedure as complex as the one she had just performed. When she woke up, she checked on Charlie and then her other patients before coming back to her corner of the world to eat the Chinese food she ordered for dinner.
Sky sat at her desk with her chin resting on one hand and eating shrimp fried rice out of the box with a set of chopsticks. She had been surfing the internet looking for a rescue dog when her cell phone rang. She put down her food and sticks to answer it. “Hey, Nia.”
“Hey, you. How did the surgery go?”
“I won’t know for a little while.”
“I’m sure you did the best you could.”
“I did. I just hope it was enough.” She thought about mentioning her suspicions regarding Charlie to Nia but then changed her mind.
“Must be nice working side-by-side with Noah like that.”
“Not when you want to punch him in the face.”
“Whoa . . . for what? What did he do?”
“I got a not so surprising surprise.”
“Uh-oh. What?”
“Let’s just say stick a fork in us. We’re done.”
“Are you serious?” Nia wasn’t all that surprised. He’d lasted longer than most.
“Yep.”
Nia sighed. “Did he leave his shoes in the hallway instead of by the door?”
“Ha, ha. Very funny.” Sky held the phone between her ear and shoulder as she picked up the box of rice and started eating again. “Actually, I interrupted him about to have sex with another woman.”
Nia went silent before yelling into the phone. “Oh. My. Gaawd! I’m so sorry. What a pig? What did he say for himself?”
“What could he say? I. Saw. Him! I literally caught him minutes before we were supposed to go into surgery.”
“Did you beat her ass?”
Sky’s hand froze with the chop-sticks half-way to her mouth. “Why would I do that?”
“Because she was about to get it in with your man!”
“Did you beat up the woman who cheated with Steven?”
“I would have if I could have caught her. She ran out of the apartment too fast. I mean she literally left butt naked.” Nia laughed.
Sky didn’t see the humor, especially when it had only happened a couple of nights ago. She shook her head in disgust. Nia had obviously taken that slimeball back. She didn’t have to say it. Her jovial mood told the tale.
Nia reminded her. “Anyway, weren’t you all about doing memorable and lasting damage?” Nia reminded her.
Nia couldn’t see Sky, but she shrugged her shoulders. “True. But the difference in our situations was that you actually loved Steven. You two had years of shared history together. I just kind of liked Noah.
