Chapter 7

 

After walking out of the flat, I’d driven around for hours, going through a mental list of people I could turn to for a place to stay. Funny how it took leaving Rufus to make me realise how many of my friends had drifted away over the past eighteen months. I had people from the hospital who would probably put me up for a night or two, but they were colleagues rather than friends and I didn’t like to impose. Out of options, I had slept in the back of my car and gone into work early so I could shower before starting my shift.

Rufus hadn’t called, and when I checked my phone on my break, the battery had died. My charger was back at the flat, one of the many things I’d forgotten to pack in my haste to get out of there. I hoped Mason wouldn’t show up again. I didn’t want to see him or listen to his pathetic excuses. I was done with men and relationships. There had to be good ones out there somewhere, but I was in no mood to go in search of them.

It was a busy day which turned out to be a good thing. Working flat out meant I had no time to think about the mess that was fast becoming my life. The patients were as bad tempered and surly as I was, so we were well matched at least. There was an hour of my shift left when the ward sister came up to me, her face stern.

“Can you come with me please, Eric?”

“Okay.” I fell in to step beside her, worried. Sister had never been my biggest fan, I suspected because she disapproved of my sexuality. She was one of those homosexuality-is-a-choice kind of people and, in her view, it was a bad choice. She was a good boss though and never allowed her beliefs to let her treat me any differently to anyone else on the ward. Her body language and sharp tone had me on edge. “Did I do something wrong?”

“There’s been a complaint.”

“One of the patients? Listen, I know I’ve been a bit off today, but I broke up with Rufus last night and–”

“I don’t want to hear it, Eric. Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Matron.”

I almost turned and ran the other way at that. As much as Sister disapproved of me, Matron actively hated me. Namely, due to the fact she had caught me in bed with her son a couple of years ago. I hadn’t known he was my Matron’s son. She hadn’t known her kid was bi. I’d heard he had a steady girlfriend these days, although I still saw him in Keane’s from time to time. Matron preferred to act as though the whole incident had never happened. We had an unspoken agreement that she would ignore me at work as much as was possible and I wouldn’t tell anyone I had slept with her precious son.

Matron waited for us in her office, her expression as grim as Sister’s. The silence was ominous as she gestured for me to take the chair across the desk from her. Sister walked around and sat, stiff-backed, in another chair next to Matron. I had a sudden feeling I was on trial and the two of them were judge, jury and executioner.

“Eric, do you know why I’ve called you in?” Matron asked. She avoided looking me in the eye, but maybe it still embarrassed her that she had seen me in all my naked glory.

“Sister said there something about a complaint,” I said. I looked to Sister for support, not surprised when there was none forthcoming. “I can’t think of anything I’ve done that might have offended anyone though.”

Matron opened a file that lay on the desk in front of her and pretended to read down the front page as if searching for details. It was all an act, designed to unnerve me. She knew exactly who had made the complaint and why. She wouldn’t have called me in until she had all the facts straight. She tapped a fingernail against a line on the page and looked up, again focusing on a point somewhere over my right shoulder. I bet Sister didn’t even notice that Matron could not look at me directly.

“We’ve received a complaint, Eric, from a…” She consulted the file again. “…a Mr Mason White.”

“Mason made a complaint against me? Why?”

Matron raised an eyebrow at my casual use of his first name, but he had been the one who insisted I call him Mason. None of this made any sense. Was Mason really that pissed off with me for running away from him? Maybe, despite his claims he wanted a normal life, his superstar ego couldn’t take rejection. Or perhaps he was attempting to cover his tracks so his boyfriend wouldn’t find out what he had been up to.

“Mr. White was a patient on your ward recently, isn’t that right?”

“You know he was,” I said impatiently. Whatever bullshit complaint Mason had made, I wished she would get to the point.

“Mr White alleges he awoke during the night to find you standing by his bed, watching him. He says you insisted on entering into conversation with him, thereby preventing him from going back to sleep.”

“That’s not how it happened!”

“You were seen at Mr White’s bedside by several of your colleagues, Eric.”

“Yes, I talked to him, but…”

“Mr White also alleges that you recognised him as a celebrity and have become somewhat infatuated.” From the doubtful tone of her voice, it was clear she had no clue who Mason actually was or what he was famous for. “This is an extremely serious situation, Eric. Mr White says that, yesterday, you broke into his home and cornered him in his bedroom while he was in a state of undress. If his partner hadn’t arrived home when he did, Mr White says he doesn’t know how far you would have gone.”

“I didn’t break in!” I protested. “Mason invited me.”

Matron tutted and jotted a note in the file. She glanced over to where Sister sat listening intently, and both women rolled their eyes.

“I was afraid you would say that,” Matron said. “According to Mr White, you believe you have some kind of relationship with him. Apparently, it’s a quite common delusion in someone who has become obsessed.”

“I am not deluded, obsessed or anything else!” I gripped the edges of my chair so tight my knuckles turned white. This was all so wrong. How could Mason say those things when he was the one who had pursued me? I’d done nothing wrong yet they were choosing to believe him over me. Why? Because Mason was rich and famous so he couldn’t possibly tell a lie? Or because neither Matron nor Sister liked me in the first place and finally saw a chance of getting rid of me? “If I’d really forced my way into his home, he would have called the police, but he didn’t, did he?”

“That’s because Mr. White doesn’t want the publicity.” Matron looked down her rather bulbous nose at me. “And neither does the hospital, which is why you are suspended from your duties with immediate effect.”

“Suspended,” I echoed, stunned. “For how long?”

“For as long as it takes for an investigation to take place, and most likely a disciplinary.” She handed a bundle of papers across the desk. “You’ll find everything you need in there, including contacts for the Royal College of Nurses should you need legal advice.”

“Legal advice?” I sounded like a fool, repeating everything she said, but I was in shock. I’d sat there telling myself this couldn’t be happening, but I saw now that I was kidding myself. Shit just got real, as Alex would say, and I was in serious trouble. “What if…I mean…if I could just talk to Mason…”

“I would advise you to stay away from Mr White,” Matron said. “I’m given to understand that Mr White’s legal team will be seeking an injunction to keep you from going anywhere near him.”

Twenty minutes later, I found myself – angry, upset and humiliated – escorted from the hospital by security. I had nowhere to go. My options had been limited enough to begin with, but who would take me in now that I had been labelled a stalker? Everybody seemed to think I was guilty, which proved they were not real friends. My true friends would never believe I was capable of stalking and forcing my way into a person’s home uninvited. That was the problem though, wasn’t it? I didn’t have any true friends. I only had Rufus and I’d ruined what I had with him on a whim. I’d let Mason get under my skin, convinced myself I wanted more than Rufus could offer. Only Mason had been playing some sort of sick little game and he’d thrown me under the bus to save himself.

I drove blindly, not realising where I was going until I pulled into a parking space outside Rufus’ building. It wasn’t that I wanted him to take me back – he wouldn’t anyway knowing Rufus – but seeing as I had ended up there, I may as well go inside and get some more of my stuff. My phone charger was a must, even if I had nowhere to plug it in for the foreseeable.

Rufus must have seen me coming because he opened the door before I had the chance to knock.

“You don’t live here anymore, remember?”

“I know, I just…I need some stuff…my phone charger…”

“Fine.” Rufus stepped back to allow me inside. “So, where are you staying anyway?”

“Nowhere…I don’t know...” Whether it was the sight of a familiar – if not entirely friendly – face I didn’t know, but I burst into sudden and uncontrollable tears. “I think I’m in real trouble, Rufus.”

For once, Rufus stepped up and took charge. He guided me over to the sofa and bade me sit, all the while murmuring soft reassurances. He took my phone, telling me he would plug it in to charge, and he came back from the kitchen a few minutes later carrying mugs of steaming, black coffee. It was a side of him I hadn’t seen before which made me blub all the more.

Rufus set the mugs down on the low table in front of the sofa and settled on the cushions beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and I went to him willingly, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Come on. Tell Uncle Rufie all about it.”

“I’ve been suspended from work,” I sniffed, wiping tears and snot on my sleeve like a little kid. “I think they’re going to sack me.”

“”What did you do?”

I hiccupped, a strange combination between a laugh and a sob. That was more like the Rufus I knew, never giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. He’d started off so well, but it wouldn’t be long before he became more concerned by how my predicament would affect his own life.

“I didn’t do anything. It was all his doing, but now he’s made a complaint and –”

“Wait a minute.” Rufus pushed me away, holding me at arms’ length as he studied my face. “Who is he exactly? I thought you said there wasn’t anybody else.”

“There wasn’t…there isn’t.” I avoided his gaze, not sure where to start and knowing, whatever I said, Rufus would think the worst. “You remember the guy from the bar?”

“I knew it!” Rufus leapt to his feet, furious. “How long has it been going on?”

“Rufus, nothing’s going on, I swear. He was in the hospital, on my ward, but it was only one night. We talked a bit and that was it. Then, yesterday, I missed my bus and he happened to be passing so he offered me a lift. But he didn’t bring me home, he took me back to his place.”

“Did you fuck him?”

“No! But now he’s saying I’m stalking him or something.”

“Are you?”

“Christ, Rufus…” I buried my face in my hands as a fresh wave of tears threatened.

I should have known better than to expect any support from him. He’d never put me first or considered my needs the whole time I’d known him. Whatever else happened, I should at least thank Mason for making me realise how one-sided my relationship had been.

There was a knock at the door and I was filled with a sudden sense of foreboding. “Don’t answer it.”

Rufus ignored me, of course. He opened the door to a tall, officious looking man in a grey suit.

“Eric Montgomery?”

“That’s me,” I said, crossing the room to stand next to Rufus.

The man held out an envelope. I took it with shaking hands.

“Mr Montgomery, I’m serving you with legal documents. Information regarding the case against you is contained within the paperwork itself, so if you have any questions, please contact the lawyers involved.”

I nodded, numb, fighting the ridiculous urge to thank him for his part in destroying my life.