Page 49 of Mask and the Magnolia
“It’s not the same, Maggie.” She snatches her hand away then holds it in front of her, flexing her fingers slowly, watching the cuts on her knuckles open and close. “I’m not chewing through my skin because I’m anxious and spacey.”
“No, you find other ways of dealing with those things that are extremely sketchy and would send your dad into outer space ifhe knew about them.” I roll my eyes as she scowls. ”I don’t want to get into this, Eve. I’m just tired, okay?”
My best friend gives me a look like I’m full of shit but doesn’t say anything else. She knows it won’t get her anywhere, and we’ll just go round and round until one of us storms out of here pissed off.
Something neither of us want right now since Camden is sticking his nose in my business all of the sudden and we can both be mad at him instead.
”How are things on Ward B going?”
Evie scoffs at my subject change then sighs. “Boring.”
”Really?” I giggle. “How is anything boring at the asylum?”
”For starters, they took Calix St. James and gave him to you guys. He was half the reason I agreed to Ward B. His many escapes kept everyone busy.”
Ignoring the blush I can feel staining my cheeks, I ask, “And there isn’t one single patient down there who comes close?”
”Not really. I mean, I can see how we’re helping people, I just thought there’d be more action.”
”There isn’t any on Ward C, either. It’s pretty quiet considering who’s up there.”And I wouldn’t notice anyway because I’m obsessed with four of them.I miss a lot because of that. “That nurse your brother dumped on us is a real piece of work, though.”
Evie gives an over exaggerated shudder and rolls her eyes. “Quimby Jones. The sadist from the south side.”
”Quimby?” I ask. “His first name is Quimby?”
”Yep.” She nods. “Carter wanted me to try dating him.”
”Really? When the hell was that?”
”The summer you went with Donovan and his clan to Vermont.” She finishes my coffee and sets the mug in the sink. “Byron allowed you to see if you matched with a Ridgeway, and Carter tried to get me to match with a cyborg.”
I snort and shake my head.
Nurse Jones definitely could pass for part robot. He has no personality, compassion, or understanding of what we’re doing on the top floor. He keeps referring to the residents asprisoners,dogsorpsychosdespite being corrected multiple times. He calls med timefeeding time. Almost all of the alphas on our staff are married and bonded, which is a huge part of keeping two omega doctors safe, but that doesn’t stop Jones from hitting on all of them constantly, and I’ve seen him corner a couple of the unmated ones when he didn’t think anyone was looking.
I was, and I called him on his shit.
Jones didn’t care for that but he must have instructions from Camden to listen to me to some extent. Either that or he knows I’m a key player in his master plan and won’t fuck with me because of it.
Either way, I’m glad he doesn’t snap back at me. I’m not sure what would happen if he did, especially in front of our residents.
It’s funny Evie thinks my father let me go on vacation with her uncle and his family to see if I matched anyone.
Then again, I never told her the full extent of what actually happened.
She’s my best friend and knows everything about me, but that was something I haven’t talked about because of how Eve would react.
My mother essentially sold my virginity with the option to force a bond. I was twenty at the time and hadn’t beenpurefor a few years but she didn’t know that. Since she assumed I had even less of a chance at finding someone who might actually want to be with me than my father—who contractually bound me to an asshat—I was up for grabs.
Apparently I went for thirty-five thousand dollars.
I had no idea what she was doing, or that she’d done it. Not until an alpha in his mid-fifties showed up to our house, wasgiven access to my bedroom, and attempted totake what he was owedright there on the floor because I fought back.
By some stroke of luck, Donovan’s oldest son, Zep, and his mate stopped by to pick up my parent’s donation for some fundraiser the Ridgeways were organizing and as soon as I heard the doorbell, I started screaming bloody murder.
They beat the shit out of the buyer then packed me up and took me to their place, then kept me almost the entire summer because my parents are horrible.
Donovan lost his shit on my father, who in turn lost his on my mother, and that’s when she found out about the Camden clause.
