He Ruined Me—Now He Crawls Back Begging novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Public

By noon, there were two news vans on Peg's street.

By two, there were four.

Peg stood on her porch in her Bears sweatshirt and watered her dead lawn with a garden hose.

She did it very slowly, in a wide arc that kept getting closer to the reporters' shoes.

"Mrs. Mahoney! Did Wynn Talbot tell you she was driving?"

"I'm watering," Peg said.

"Is it true she's involved with a Colombian cartel figure?"

The hose swung. A reporter in a camel coat jumped back.

"Oops," said Peg.

Inside, the parrot screamed, "Get off my lawn!" over and over, because Peg had been saying it all morning.

I sat on the kitchen floor below the window and read what people were saying about me.

Crazy junkie sister.

Rich girl ran over a cartel boss and let her family clean it up.

Look at her face, she got what she deserved.

Somebody had found my old nursing school photo and put it next to a picture of the scar, side by side, with the words "Karma."

My phone buzzed with a number I didn't know.

"Ms. Talbot? This is the hospital's director of nursing. We'd like you to come in before your shift tonight. There are some questions about the press."

I went in at six.

The director of nursing was a thin woman in a gray suit who held her phone like it might bite her.

She was waiting for me in the staff break room, not her office.

That was a mistake, on her part.

The break room at seven is the busiest room in the hospital.

The night crew comes in to eat before the shift.

The day crew comes in to complain before they leave.

By the time she'd said, "We have some concerns," there were a dozen people in there with us.

The tech and the two night nurses were there, and the resident, holding a yogurt.

So were three day nurses I didn't know, a respiratory therapist and a janitor.

← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend