Healing the Doctor (BWWM Interracial Romance) (11 page)

Despite what he had done, despite how he had rejected her and turned away from her, she felt tingles of arousal and longing tightening her limbs. She walked away from him with a glare and Greg smiled to himself at the heart-melting sight of her profile. She was so trusting, and so proud, and he ached to hold her in his arms and apologize until his mouth was too exhausted to move. Then he would tell her he loved her like he had never loved anyone on his life.

If only she would give him the chance.

***

Hailey’s father stood up as they walked toward him, and his gaze traveled from the top of Greg’s head to the tip of his brown boots, like Greg was an insect crawling on his garden.

His eyes met his daughter’s and Hailey knew instantly what he thought. He did not approve.

Greg reached out to shake his hand, and the tall man, who was still several inches shorter than Greg, took it in his grudgingly. Hailey gritted her teeth at his rudeness.

“Mr. Baster. It’s good to finally meet you.”

Her father grimaced and Hailey glowered at him like he had lost his mind. Surely he had manners?

“It seems like you’ve heard about me,” he said and Greg smiled politely.

“Yes, sir. Hailey talks about you a lot,” he replied.

Hailey stared at her feet. This was not going well.

“I wonder what she has to say about me,” her father mumbled. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name,” he said, his manners finally returning.

“Dr. Gregory Walt,” Greg replied.

Hailey saw her father squint, before looking Greg over again.

Hailey belatedly realized the reason for her father’s displeasure. Greg was dressed casually, in faded jeans and a well-worn shirt, and her father was one who owned nothing but expensive suits.

“You’re a doctor?” he asked skeptically

“I’m a neurosurgeon,” Greg said calmly and glanced at Hailey. “I see that Hailey hasn’t mentioned me. We’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now.”

“Have you now?” Jack said with a displeased look at his daughter. “I’m sure Hailey didn’t have time to mention that she had a boyfriend.”

Greg knew that Hailey’s relationship with her father was tumultuous, but he also knew that he was a father who would obviously be skeptical of anyone his daughter dated.

“Come on, Dad. Can’t you interview him after asking him to sit?” she said, and Jack had the decency to look ashamed.

“Please do sit, Dr. Walt,” he finally said.

“Please call me Greg, Mr. Baster,” Greg replied and saw a teenager as tall as him extend his hand toward him.

“I’m Isaiah, Hailey’s brother. Sorry for interrupting the conversation. I was afraid I might have to step in to referee,” he said, and Greg bit back a chuckle.

“Isaiah!” Hailey said through gritted teeth and Greg looked at her, amused. This was side of Hailey he hadn’t seen before, and he loved it.

All he wanted to do was pull Hailey to one side and tell her what he came to say, but it seemed as if he was going to be interviewed until he was too exhausted to move.

Mary soon came over and her eyes widened when Jack announced that Greg was Hailey’s boyfriend, and asked if Hailey had mentioned it. Mary laughed at her daughter’s expression and tactfully replied, “Of course she mentioned him, dear. So nice to meet you, Greg.”

***

An hour later, Greg had managed to veer the direction of the interrogation away from himself and toward Jack Baster. The man loved to boast of his accomplishments and Greg was happy that he didn’t have to answer any more questions.

Hailey watched him from her chair, saying nothing and twirling a strand of hair around her finger. Wearing an outfit that accentuated her curves and set off her skin, she looked like a teenager.

Isaiah kept the conversation interesting at the table and eventually Greg couldn’t wait anymore. “I think I should get going,” he said as he stood up. "Hailey? Can I talk to you for second, please?” he asked and Hailey nodded, trapped.

She didn’t want to talk to him and the whole farce of pretending to be his girlfriend had frayed her nerves to their breaking point. She walked away with him silently.

***

Hailey’s parents and brother watched them walk away. Isaiah finally broke the silence. “They look good together. Don’t they,Dad?” he asked.

Jack stared at the tall, beautiful couple walking away. ‘Yes,” he grudgingly replied and Mary’s eyes widened.

“Don’t tell me! For once in your life, you approve of Hailey’s choice?”

Jack refused to reply and his eyes stayed glued to the retreating couple. “He’s a neurosurgeon, and from what I gather from this meeting, I think he’s pretty successful. He’s a good match for Hailey.”

Mary scoffed and Isaiah chuckled. “Come on, Dad. They’re dating, not getting married. Don’t get carried away. You’ll piss off Hailey.”

Jack chuckled. “I always piss off Hailey,” he repeated. “I’m just saying. When he first walked in, I thought she had brought home a plumber or a blue collar worker.”

“Stop acting like a pompous idiot, Jack!” Mary cried. “Your grandfather was a laborer.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter, does it? My daughter has found herself a surgeon,” he announced proudly as if it was some form of personal accomplishment for him.

Isaiah chuckled as Mary rolled her eyes at her husband.

***

Hailey shoved Greg forcefully as soon as the trees hid them. Greg jumped back in surprise.

“Why did you come here? I don’t want to see you.”

“I…we need to talk,” he said tenderly, but Hailey was livid.

“No! I need to talk. And you need to be quiet!” she cried.

Greg was taken aback by her fury. She was always well contained and polite and now she seemed like a different person.

“Listen, Hailey, I…” he began.

“Stop!” she yelled, and to Greg’s complete shock tears sprung to her eyes. “Just leave. I don’t want to ever see you again. I need you to leave me alone, and I need you to stop doing this to me. You come to me, and then you run, and then you come to me again, and then you run. You are a coward, Greg!” she cried as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Greg took her face between his palms. She attempted to push him away but he pulled her face closer, kissing her cheek. His lips pressed to her tears and he touched the tip of his tongue to her teardrop gently.

Hailey’s breath was harsh as her traitorous body responded to his intimate touch. His lips soon traveled to her mouth.

He took her lips in a fervent kiss, and his breath was shaky as she trembled in his arms. Hailey grabbed his arms, her sense returning as she attempted to push him away. He was trying to seduce her, she thought, and she wouldn’t let him.

She pulled away but Greg held her face tightly, urging her lips apart with his own insistent ones. His tongue slid between her lips, urging them to let him inside. She resisted, and Greg finally understood the full gravity of her pain.

Kind, forgiving, loving Hailey was fighting him off. He felt like a monster. What had he done to her?

He pulled his mouth away and his eyes were pained when Hailey looked at him.

“Did I hurt you that badly?” he asked huskily and Hailey pursed her lips together as tears spilled from her eyes.

“Just go. Please,” she said, sobbing openly now.

“Hailey! Oh God. Hailey, don’t cry please!” he said, and despite her struggling to free herself, he pulled her into his arms. Her cheek was pressed against his chest as he hugged her tightly. “Please, sweetheart. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. You’re killing me.”

Hailey tensed in his embrace, love and unadulterated longing pouring through her veins. She wanted to escape, she wanted to run and never return to this heart-breaking moment.

In her heart she had let him go, but seeing him there, her senses were torturing her to forgive him, to just give him one more chance. Her subconscious screamed at her to push him away and tell him to go.

He had hurt her again and again, and she had constantly tried to make light of the situation, knowing that he had suffered unbearable losses. The day he had left her naked in bed after pouring a part of himself in her body, she had died inside.

“Please forgive me,” he whispered ferociously and Hailey finally managed to pull away from him. He stroked her face with his thumbs to wipe off her tears.

“You should go. You don’t need my forgiveness,” she said and Greg froze, pulling away from her.

He wasn’t angry, or hurt by her rejection. He was responsible for her feelings. She had tried so hard, she had stood by him, she had made him feel special and safe from all the pain in the world. He in turn had hurt the gentle girl so badly that she didn’t to see him again.

“Please, Hailey,” he whispered again, his heart clenching painfully at the realization that once again, the curse had struck.

Everyone he loved was wrenched away from his grasp, and this time it wasn’t an accident that had torn Hailey from him. It was him. He had refused to see what was right in front of him as he dwelled on the past.

Hailey turned around and wiped her face. She couldn’t bear to walk in front of her father again with her eyes swollen and her face puffy. She slipped behind the hedge, and walked along the back of the house to her room.

Greg watched her walking away, and waited in vain to see her turn and come back to him.

Pain was lashing at his chest like a million sharp knives. Breathing harshly, he turned away and walked out of the gate. He slipped behind the wheel of his car and sped off, thinking of the loneliness and his sterile, unwelcoming house. The haunted look on Hailey’s face was too painful to remember.

Chapter Eighteen

“Hailey?” Mary whispered as she entered her daughter’s bedroom discreetly.

“Mom!” Hailey cried, and reached for the only source of comfort she had available. Her mother sat beside her, rocking her daughter lovingly.

“I think it’s time to talk about it, sweetie. Is Greg the reason you came here?”

Hailey nodded, and sobbing, told her what she could about Greg. Her mother listened attentively, and stroked the back of Hailey’s head.

“You know, when you met him and later when you found out the truth about his family, you committed yourself to this.”

“What?” Hailey said, sitting up.

“Hailey, you’re sensitive and smart, and you made the man trust you. He thought you could deal with his shortcomings. That you could deal with it when he was in pain. And then one day, out of the blue, you bolted without a word to him. For all he knows the next time he does something weird you’re both over for good.”

“It’s not my fault he left me again and again, and I tried so hard every time.”

“But the first time he left, did you talk to him about it? Did you tell him that it hurt you, and did you give him a warning? Of course you didn’t. You played all loving and sweet because you wanted him, and after you slept with him, every grievance he committed was supposed to somehow be worse than the previous ones? The world doesn’t revolve around what you want Hailey. You have to consider other people’s thought processes too.”

Hailey watched her mother, stunned, and try as she might, she couldn’t see how this was her fault. Greg had slept with her; it had been a decision he had made. Surely he was ready to move on if he slept with her. If he weren’t, he should’ve kept things causal. She wouldn’t tolerate being discarded like that.

“Think about it, Hailey. You’re a smart girl. You know what I’m saying is right, but you’re denying it just to prove your stance.”

Hailey turned away from her mother when she heard Isaiah’s phone ringing on the bed. She picked it up, seeing Kate’s number.

Kate knew Hailey had been crying as soon as she heard her voice. “Hailey? Are you okay? Is Greg there right now?” she asked without waiting for the answers as was her usual habit.

“How did you know Greg would be here?” she demanded as Kate stayed silent on her end. Hailey felt raging anger spilling through her limbs. “Why would you do that Kate? Why would you send him here? You knew I didn’t want to see him. I don’t want to have anything to do with him. Now or ever.”

“Hailey, I don’t understand. What exactly happened?”

“It doesn’t matter Kate! What matters is that you backstabbed me. You should have just ignored him.”

“Hailey,” Kate began when she heard Hailey sobbing angrily, “Greg told me he loved you. I never would have told him where you were otherwise. He said he loved you and he wanted to tell you, to bring you back.”

Hailey felt her sobs cease, and disbelief flowed through her veins. “That not true, he doesn’t love me, and he never said he loved me.”

“That’s what he wanted to tell you, silly. What happened, did you ever talk to him?”