"It's okay. I don't think anyone heard you."
"I'm still not used to it yet."
"It's fine. Just remind me later to buy some earphones or something for whenever I'm next in public and decide to talk to you."
I place my phone back on the table and pick up my sandwich, wanting to eat the rest of my lunch before I run out of time.
"How's things for you? Anything new with you and Nathan?" I ask, wanting to talk about something else to get my mind off of my own situation.
I listen to Christine talk about the renovations on their house that they've started doing since I left Ireland and when she starts describing how they're going to be decorating the nursery for the baby, I smile and fight back the tears that start to gather in my eyes.
Leaving Ireland and coming back to England was what was best for me if I wanted any sort of future but leaving Christine behind after she recently found out she's pregnant has absolutely devastated me.
I know that sooner or later, everything should be sorted out and I can come out of hiding and possibly return to Ireland, but neither of us know how long it's going to take.
"We have a scan booked in for next week and I'm honestly so excited!" she tells me, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"You better send me some pictures. I know I can't physically be there, but I still want to be a part of everything."
"Girl, I won't let you miss out on anything. I'll be filling up your phone with pictures of everything baby related," she says, smiling at me through the phone. "Besides, Killian's told Nathan that he should hopefully be able to sort something out within the next few months, so you'll probably be back here in no time."
I check the time and sigh when I realise I only have a minute or so left of my break.
"I've got to go Chrissie, but I'll call you after work, okay?"
"Call me whenever. You know I'll always answer."
I end the call and then hurriedly shove the rest of my sandwich into my mouth before walking out of the cafeteria and back into the staff room where I see Lola grabbing some things out of her locker.
"Hey!" she says excitedly. "How's things been so far?"
"They've been good."
"I heard that Jaylen has opened his eyes and shown some signs of improvement today."
I nod my head, busying myself with retying my hair as I watch her pull her coat on.
"You're real lucky to be assigned as his nurse, you know?"
"How come?" I ask, genuinely curious as to how I'm lucky to be looking after a Mafia member. In my opinion, it's terrifying because if anything was to go wrong, I'd undoubtedly get the blame and probably have a hit put out on me or something.
"Because you get to spend so much time with that beautiful hunk of a man. I know plenty of other nurses who would kill to be his nurse. You should've seen us all once it was announced that Rayna was going on maternity leave. We were all practically begging Markus to let us take over for her, but he denied us all and told us that he already had someone coming in to fill the position."
"Honestly, I'd happily swap with anyone that wanted the role. I don't like that I only have two patients to care for, especially when I've been told to mainly focus on Jaylen. Then finding out he's part of the King family… Well, I'd rather deal with people that aren't a part of such a feared organisation," I tell her.
"You don't know much about them, do you?" she asks, walking towards the door that leads out to the ward we work on.
"Not really, no. I only know what you've told me."
"Well, let me just say, they're nothing to be scared of. Obviously they're dangerous, but as long as you don't do anything to get on their bad side, you'll be safe. You honestly have nothing to worry about now that Alessandro's dead and Jericho's out of the picture. Since Dominic's been in charge, nothing's really happened. The King's are actually really nice. You'll learn that now that you're working here."
I follow her out of the locker room and once she's walked away, I release the scoff I was holding in.
The King's may be nice, but I highly doubt that I have nothing to worry about.
Chapter Five
Jaylen
