James looks at me from his spot at the end of the surgical table.
“Zachary, everything good?”
“No. I need my scrub nurse.” She’s on his right, holding a tampon but doesn’t even bother to look at me.
“She didn’t tell you, did she?”
“No, and I’m not approving this. London, let’s go.”
She still doesn’t show any interest in my presence. Holly God, this woman is gonna make me kill someone.
“Zach...”
“Stay out of it, Sullivan. You are not getting my scrub nurse.”
“No, I am not. I just needed some assistance because Mary is out with a cold. London is with doctor Brogan now.”
She’s what? She transferred to Brogan? The Brogan?
All I can do is gape in her direction like a stupid Neanderthal.
“Zach?”
On second thought, I don’t care if she works for God himself. We. Are. Not. Done.
“London.” I say in a low voice and she flinches. “If you don’t come right now, I will carry you out.”
She looks around her, but no one is stupid enough to say a thing, except James, of course.
“Zach, damn it, I have my hands in someone’s brain. I can’t stop you from doing something stupid.”
Fuck him.
“London!” This time she looks at me, straight in my eyes, with pain and anger that makes my gut knot.
“Dr. Sullivan you think you can excuse me? I don’t think Dr. Ford will step back.” James let’s out a puff of air and shakes his head at me.
“Sure, go.”
Very slowly she gives the instruments to another staffer and walks by me.
“Let’s go.” She whispers but still avoids my sight.
Out in the hall, there’s dead silence and no one around so she stops in her tracks, turns, and crosses her arms at her chest.
“How do you want to do this, doctor? We stay here and you scream? We go somewhere else? A stairwell? A consult room?”
With her naked, that’s how I wanna do it. I wanna punish her body, stretch it to the limit until she cries out in pleasure and pain and stops playing with my head once and for all. But right now, I have to put a cap on it.
I was a jackass, and for what it’s worth I don’t feel good about my actions.
“How about we grab a coffee and go in the back yard to talk about this like adults.”
“Oh, this is rich. Now you wanna talk like adults?”
“London, don’t push it. Let’s go.”
She doesn’t protest anymore and we walk together, shoulder to shoulder without another word spoken. I walk to a coffee kiosk and pick up two cappuccinos, I don’t know what she likes, but this is a safe option. On our way out, Jessica walks by and says hi but I signal her to stay out of it, and to my surprise she actually listens for a change.
When we sit down, she’s the first to speak.
“You can scream now.”
“I’m not about to. What is this shit about you transferring to Brogan? It’s a joke, right?” She takes a sip of her coffee and shakes her head. “But why?”
“Are you serious? Dr. Ford, you have walked all over me from day one, you make fun of my name, you think I’m incompetent, and physically distress me.”
My mouth falls to the ground. Yes, you heard right, I have the audacity to be shocked. I know I’m an asshole, but she is the one who fucks me up, so she’s supposed to shut up and take it.
“I’m a tough boss, ok? Sorry, I like my staff to actually work and the name thing it’s our joke. Distress? I distress your body?”
“Yes. You kissed me and then the episode in the clothing store...and after that yesterday...” Her face turns all kinds of red. “Why do you want to work with a whore anyway? That’s what you think of me. ”
Oh, yeah, I said that. More than once.
“London, look, I know we had some conflicts, some words were thrown...”
“You threw words, I never said anything bad about you. Not even when you weren’t around. Not even when I asked HR to move me to another department. I told them cardio is too much for my ability.”
A knot forms in my throat.
“My point is that I can do better and so can you. Cardio is not too much for you, it’s where you should be. So let’s rethink this. I can talk to Brogan and HR; I can make it right.”
“How is you and me right? All we do is tear each other to pieces. Mostly you.”
“It just is, dammit!” My palm smashes into the plastic table.
“Why do you despise me so bad?” Here we go again with this.
“I don’t...You know what you do to me. What you do to every fucking man in this hospital. And Jessica.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
A shadow of a smile cracks the corner of my mouth. Yeah, she doesn’t. I’m the one who makes our sparks fly left and right.
“Look, Moscow, I was a jerk. I’m ready to acknowledge my mistake and even apologize for it. I did some things out of impulse because...this physical reaction we have. Stop with the bullshit, I don’t distress you. You were hungry for it, don’t try to take me for a fool. I can promise to play nice and we can start fresh. I’d still expect a hundred and ten percent from you at work, though.”
She looks at me in silence, reflecting on my words. I don’t know what’s to think about, really. We should be on our way to move her back to her place, that being next to me in the fucking OR . This is the girl that pays more attention to cases than the residents, sometimes more than me. She’ll get bored as fuck taking out appendices with Brogan all day long.
“You are right, I am attracted to you. And you are to me. You also do anything possible to keep me at bay and in my place.” She looked away from me, revealing a delicate profile. “I’m not coming back Dr. Ford.”
“London!”
“I’m serious. I am done. With walking on my tiptoes around you, with letting you make me come in dressing rooms, with you. I’m here to do my job and so are you.”
“Really? You just quit when it gets a little hard?”
I choose to totally dismiss her mentioning of our personal encounters. I don’t want her for her, I just want my scrub nurse back. I’m not chasing a warm body. London Boudreaux doesn’t have that power over me.
“I don’t quit, I’m just doing us a favor and walking away.”
And with this, she got up and left me there, gaping at her like an idiot.
Paris walks back to our table with mimosas and a bowl of fresh fruits, smiling.
“How did you find those in a bar?”
“I asked for a favor and the bartender was nice enough to help me.”
Of course, he was. I have a feeling Paris could ask for well-done beef steak and they’d get it for her.
“The guys at the bar are checking us out, London. Try smiling.”
I look over her shoulder and spot two very fine male specimens, sipping whiskey in their expensive suits and talking to each other.
“Of course, they are. You are a supermodel. What man would not check you out?” She giggles like a child.
“The one with blonde hair was looking at you, Isaw it. You could go for it.”