Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Quincy then proceeded to give us a very slap-dash description on the gangs, the big players involved, and what we could expect in the coming months.
“I’d like to say that this is all going to be swept under the rug.” Quincy pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with two fingers. “But what it’s looking like is that we’re about to see a huge uptick in activity, and the overflow is going to start spilling into the hospitals.”
“What do you want us to do if this does come here?” Felix asked.
Felix, as one of the main ER doctors, would be one of the first ones to see these individuals.
“That’s where I want to start suggesting that the hospital employs a couple extra off-duty police officers who are equipped to handle this kind of situation,” Quincy said.
“That’s not in the budget, Officer Carter,” the hospital director grumbled.
I winced.
Here we were, being put in danger, and he’s going to say that’s not in the budget?
“What wouldn’t be in the budget is a couple of your nurses or a doctor dying because you refused to shell out the money to pay for security,” Quincy quipped.
Exactly what I’d been thinking.
And based on everyone else I could see from my spot lounging against the back wall, others felt much the same way I did.
I took another bite of my getting colder by the second taco and listened as the staff argued amongst themselves, the hospital director shot down almost every one of their suggestions.
“So what I’m understanding,” Felix said, coming out of his lean against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. “Is that you couldn’t give one less of a fuck about our safety.”
I winced.
Murmurs followed his words.
But Felix only had eyes for the hospital director.
“I wish it was something as easy as just getting these guards in the door,” he countered. “But it’s not. We’re already facing extreme budget cuts. We’re short staffed. And since we’re a county hospital, we don’t get to decide who does and doesn’t come in the doors, which then means that some of those people don’t pay their bills like they should, making us more in debt. Does it suck? Yes. But it is what it is.”
“It is what it is.” Felix shook his head. “So what happens if one of us gets a bullet to the forehead? What will you do then?”
He didn’t have anything to say to that.
“Maybe what would suck more is your people not coming to work because they don’t feel safe,” Felix murmured. “Walk outs happen all the time.”
The hospital director stiffened.
I finished off my taco, loving how Felix was going to bat for us all.
I just hoped he wouldn’t get in trouble for it.
“Mr. Kent,” the hospital director mused, purposefully not using his title of ‘doctor.’ “I’ll talk to the board. But I can’t make any promises.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “Dr. Kent. And, then I guess we can’t make any promises either. But I do know that if my fiancée gets hurt because of something you could have prevented with a few extra security personnel, I’ll own this hospital.”
Shivers of excitement started to leech through me.
Goddamn my man was hot.
“Noted.”
Quincy, eyes sparkling, tucked his notes back into his pocket. “If y’all have any other questions, please feel free to reach out anytime. My number is on the DPD’s website.”
With that, he nodded at everyone and headed for the door.
Catching my hand with his free one, Felix followed Quincy out.
“Tell us how bad it really is,” Felix called as he caught up to Quincy.
Quincy looked at me, then at Felix, before saying, “If you can get those security personnel hired, I’d be happy.”
With that, Quincy left, leaving us to walk more sedately to the shuttle that was luckily there waiting for riders.
It took the bus three minutes to fill with people leaving the building, and soon we were exiting off, each with a taco in hand.
We made it out to Felix’s car just in time to see a man leaning on it.
Remembering what Quincy had just said inside, it had me tensing.
But then the man at Felix’s car turned, and I saw Woody’s face.
I couldn’t say that this was better, but at least I knew I wasn’t about to get stabbed or shot.
At least, I hoped not.
Woody had never shown violence as his poison of choice. But never say never with a man like him.
“What are you doing here, Woody?” Felix asked, finishing his taco as he waited for Woody to answer.
I could hear the exhaustion in his voice.
I was glad that I was with him, because the warmth of his hand made me want to hold on and never let go, but I also didn’t want Felix to have to hear the vitriol that Woody was about to spew.
“Dad left you money,” he snarled. “I want some of it.”