“I’ll send someone right away,” Joe agrees. “And Maddie? You want protection for her, too?”
“Yes.” I run my fingers through my hair. She’ll probably fight me on it, but this isn’t something I’m willing to risk. Not when I know what’s at stake. “I don’t care what you have to do. Make sure she doesn’t know anything is off until I can talk to her about it tonight. Send Ernie and have him pose as a janitor or something.”
“Got it.” Joe is immediately on the phone to put our guys in place.
With Joe and Dante handling the administration stuff, that leaves me free to spend some time with the Chavos member I’ve got in lock up. As much as I want to drag this out, I can’t wait on answers any longer.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ilovecomingtowork.
Even though the job isn’t exactly what I pictured, I still look forward to it, but these past few weeks filling in with the trauma team have been even better. I feel like I’m in my element, finally getting a chance to prove myself and earn my spot here. That, coupled with how great things are going with Roman and Ty, and I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time.
There isn’t much that can dampen my mood, but when I sit down for a quick break and my phone rings, the high is spoiled.
My dad.
I let it ring for a second, trying to decide if I’m going to answer. I could ignore it, but I’ll have to call him back eventually. At least if I’m at work, I have an excuse to cut the conversation short if I need to. Reluctantly, I hit the accept button and press the phone to my ear.
“Hi dad!”
“Hi Mads.” He sounds oddly chipper today. “Hope I didn’t catch you in the middle of anything.”
I roll my eyes, sliding the mountain of paperwork in front of me to the side. “Not at all. How are you?”
“Good! Busy with the awards ceremony and party this weekend. You’re still coming, right?”
Oh shit.I slap my hand across my forehead. After Jake mentioned it, I put it to the back of my mind, and I forgot all about it. I usually need months to prepare myself to make a trip home, and I’ve left myself with about twenty-four hours before I need to be on a plane if I have any hope of getting there. As excruciating as flying home this weekend sounds, I know I’ll never hear the end of it if I miss it.
“Of course I am,” I answer, pulling up flights on the computer in front of me. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
“Fantastic!” he says. “Jake was telling us a bit about your new job. I’m interested to hear more about that. I can’t imagine you have much time for a second job with how busy St. Joe’s is.”
Technically, I don’t really even have a job anymore, but I’m not going to get into specifics with him. “Well, it’s not really traditional hours, so it all works out.”
“You know, if you needed more money, you could’ve asked your mom and I.”
I bite back a laugh. Ofcourse, I could have, but that would’ve meant accepting defeat, and it more than likely would’ve come with about a billion stipulations requiring me to move home and drop the trauma track entirely.
That’s what Iwantto tell him, but I don’t. There’s no point in starting an argument that I never have a chance at winning. Sometimes it feels like my dad wants me to fail, so it proves that he made the right decision and gave the spots in St. Louis to my brothers.
And I don’t dare mention that I’m having doubts about the whole thing because that would only be more proof for him that I’m not cut out for this.
“It’s not about the money, Dad. I’m learning a lot and any experience is good experience, right?” I hope he doesn’t hear the bitterness in my voice.
“That’s right,” he says. “Well, anyway, we’re looking forward to seeing you this weekend. Mom and I have dinner on Friday night. You’ll be okay taking a taxi from the airport, right?”
“Yes, I’ll figure it out. Bye Dad.”
“Bye Maddie.”
Ending the call, I let my phone fall onto the desk and rub my temples. I don’t know why I let him get to me that way, but it happens every time. Like I expect more from him, just to be disappointed. It’s stupid of me to keep setting myself up that way. I'm dreading this weekend; celebrating another of my father's achievements sounds worse than walking across hot coals. But like the dutiful daughter I am, I’ll go.
Too bad I can’t bring Roman with me as any sort of distraction. The only thing they’ll hate more than me not coming is me showing up with a boyfriend they’ve heard nothing about. Especially a single father with tattoos and a pre-existing axe to grind with them.
“Oh, Madison, I’m so glad I caught you. Do you have a second?”
I glance up to see Dr. Bauer in front of me. Yeah, so much for my good mood.
