Abusing Her Heart

By Vaneecia

Twenty-four-year-old Lynette Jones has it all together. She’s the head RN at the hospital she works at, owns her own home, and has her own car. The only thing that seems to be missing is love… until Shawn steps in. Shawn is twenty-eight years old and has just transferred to the hospital Lynette works at as head oncologist. As soon as he touches down, he sets his sights on Lynette and will do anything to have and keep her. With a man this perfect in her sights, Lynette falls head over heels for him. The only problem is everything that glitters isn’t gold, and Shawn has a serious temper issue that threatens to tear Lynette apart.

Will Lynette leave Shawn’s side after everything that he puts her through?

Or will Shawn break down a once strong woman?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royalty Publishing House
• Release date: Apr 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781648402692

Book preview

1

Lynette

Shantell, this is the third time I have asked you to go check on Ms. Wilson. If I have to say it again, I will put you on bedpan duty, I fussed at one of the newest hires.

I hated to have to be like that, but this was a serious job that needed to be taken seriously. That was the problem with a lot of these new people. They had become nurses for all the wrong reasons, and now, they were learning that this wasn’t as simple as they thought. Like Shantell, for example—she had gotten the job for the money, and it drove me crazy ‘cause she didn’t take anything but the money seriously. Shantell huffed like I was agitating her but got up and went to check on Ms. Wilson. Sometimes, I thought that they didn’t take me seriously because of my looks, but I ran this place with an iron fist, despite that.

Since we were on the subject, I should probably explain why my looks affected that at all. My name was Lynette Russel, and I ran the nurses as the head RN at Mercy Hospital, in Saint Louis. I stood about five foot five with chocolate, brown skin. I had a pretty face with big, brown eyes, and I kept my hair in a shoulder-length bob. I was a slim girl, but I did have some ass and titties. I considered myself to be a beautiful woman, but a lot of people saw me as something to step over. Not in a bad way; they just didn’t think I had it in me to snap. But I took my job very seriously and would never allow for any nonsense during that part of my life. It had taken me a lot to get here at just twenty-four, so I refused to mess it up to be the cool boss.

Sitting down at my station, I took out some charts to log all of the patient info I had gathered for the day so that I could get out of here. For the first time in two months, I had a Saturday off, and I was going to enjoy it in my home with a bowl of popcorn and Scandal. I didn’t do all that going out or whatever. You never knew when you would be on call with this job. So a glass of wine and Netflix was all I needed.

Glancing up from my computer, I saw a few of the hospital administrators walking toward my desk. I had never really spoken to them outside of being asked to take on the duties of head RN, but I wasn’t worried. Hello, Ms. Russel, the leader of the group stated. I wanted to introduce you to Dr. Shawn O’Neil. He is taking over the oncology department.

I turned to look at the gentleman next to him and felt my stomach flip in a way it never had before. Shawn was gorgeous. He was about six feet two, with a complexion a shade darker than caramel. He had brown eyes, and his facial hair was neatly trimmed. I could tell that he worked out, and it had me ready to start drooling. I snapped out of my reverie of this man and stuck my hand out to shake his.

I’m Lynette Russel. It is nice to meet you, and I am sure I will see you around the hospital, seeing as I did specialize in oncology during school, I stated.

Actually, that was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, Ms. Russel. Seeing as you do have a specialty in oncology, I wanted to move you to that department more often. You will still be the head RN in general, but you will take on working in that department half of the week and all the others the other half with one day off, my boss said.

I was actually a little shocked. I had wanted to work in oncology when I first got to the hospital, but they needed me more in a general setting, and that was fine with me as well. I was good with splitting my time between the two departments and utilizing my specialty. That sounds excellent, sir. Just let me know when you want me to start there. I will continue with the day to day here as well—business as usual, I agreed before going back to my files.

I was now in a rush to get out of here because the new part of my job was definitely going to be stressful. Oh, one last thing, Ms. Russel. You will be working closely with Mr. O’Neil, so I expect you to help him get acquainted with the hospital and its inner workings.

I simply nodded before returning my attention back to my files and the schedule I had to remake to suit my new working habits. I politely said goodbye to everyone, hoping that there was nothing else, and they all started to leave. Shawn, however, stopped short before taking a pen and paper off my desk and writing his number on it. I decided to ignore it for the time being and look at it later. Don’t get me wrong, that man was fine, but I wasn’t about to entertain any thoughts of him. We were going to be working together, and I didn’t need to confuse myself or the situation at all. Plus, I was far too into building myself up to be in a relationship.

I mean, yes, I had needs, but it was nothing a toy or two couldn’t fix. I wasn’t a virgin or anything, but I wasn’t running around like crazy, looking for any man to complete me. Flipping over the file I had just finished inputting, I smiled. I was so ready to put my specialty in oncology to use. I had first decided to go into oncology because my mother had lost her life to breast cancer. Instead of letting it defeat me, I wanted to learn everything I could about the subject. Since I was already a nursing major, I went to the head of the department and asked was there any way to have a focus in oncology, and she put me on to the program.

I was doing everything I could to put all my skills to work, and here I was, able to do that at last.

I had finally finished all my files and the schedule and stood up to stretch while shutting down my computer. It seemed like every time I got myself into a groove, someone would stop me to ask me about something that they probably should already know. But that was the price I paid for running things. I tidied up before going down to the lockers to grab my stuff and go.

I was almost free when Shantell stepped into my path. The thing about Shantell was she wasn’t a nice person. Like, at all. We had both started working here at the same time, and she felt a sense of entitlement about everything in her life, including the position as head RN, but she didn’t do a damn thing. She popped her gum and filed her nails and got on my damn nerves.

Did you see the new head oncologist? Shantell asked, looking around like she was about to say something crazy to me.

Yes, he seems very nice. Or at least I hope he is, I stated, letting out a loud sigh.

I really didn’t want to talk to her or about this man and wanted to leave ASAP. I tapped my foot, impatiently waiting for her to get to the point. Well, he is fine, and I want him, so I’m calling dibs, Shantell explained.

I tried to hold back a snort, but I just couldn’t help it. She called dibs like we were children, and that man was a piece of candy. This isn’t grade school, Shantell, and he is grown. You can’t call ‘dibs’ and expect that to just work for you. But, whatever, you called ‘dibs.’ I am not interested like that anyway, and now I would like to leave, so goodbye.

I stepped around her ready to take my ass home. I wasn’t about to go back and forth with her about a man that neither one of us knew. Yeah, whatever. You just need to try not to flirt with him, Shantell huffed.

I rolled my eyes, bored of this entire situation. She was really acting crazy over a man that we had only seen once and met a few hours ago. Then, she wondered why people didn’t like her. But that wasn’t my problem, and I wasn’t about to deal with her nonsense.

Walking into the locker room, I went directly to my locker and grabbed up all my stuff, ready to just go home. I had gotten off an hour early, and I was ready to utilize that extra hour and just relax.

I turned around and left the locker room and slammed into someone. I’d hit the ground before I had time to process what had just happened, and everything I was holding scattered across the floor. I shook my head at my own clumsiness and went to scooping up all the papers. I glanced up to see who I had slammed into. It was Shawn. I took a big deep breath and went back to what I was doing.

Sorry about that. I was waiting to talk to you and didn’t realize how close I was standing to the door, Shawn explained, bending down to help me gather all of my things.

No, that’s not your fault. I really should pay attention to my surroundings, I reasoned, standing up and brushing myself off. What did you need to talk to me about?

I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go on a date with me? Shawn asked, flashing me a million-watt smile.

I stared at him for a minute. I was taking everything in, and I swore, this man looked like a snack. I had to take the time that I was staring at him to convince myself that I didn’t want to go on a date with him. I mean, just