Right when I close the door behind the delivery boy, London shows up from my bedroom, her hair deliciously messed up, rosy cheeks, and wearing one of my med school hoodies. I almost drop the damn food on the floor. She looks like a Barbie doll came to life and joined a fraternity.
“Morning, Albuquerque. Did you sleep well?”
“We’re back to calling each other names? Because I think jackass suits you fine.”
Sassy.
“Yes, I did. I could have had a better waking up if you were in the bed. I had a plan.” Oh man, she had a plan. Why the fuck did I leave the bed?
“I thought you might get hungry. I like to think I worked you out to the point where you have an appetite.”
“I always have an appetite. What are we having?”
“Deep dish pizza.”
“Sounds good. And please don’t say things like working me out. It sounds disgusting, Zach.” I know, that’s why I like it.
“More disgusting then Oh, Zach, choke me with your big dick, please.” She doesn’t respond but looks at me with a sharp dagger in her eyes.
I walk to the couch and put everything on my coffee table and London is following behind, making herself comfortable between two pillow cushions . Her mile-long legs look amazing in the light of the late afternoon.
After laying everything on the table we start to eat. She didn’t lie about the appetite. I like a girl who can eat.
“What would you like to drink? White wine?”
“No, I don’t think I can handle alcohol after today. Water will do.”
I take a quick run to the kitchen and come back with a bottle of Fiji for her and a glass of Chardonnay for me, because I’m a basic bitch.
“I checked my emails while you were still asleep,” I say and get her attention. “Chief confirmed your reinstatement to your old position, so you’ll be working with me. Also, the hospital took a settlement with the family of the patient which explicitly showed their gratitude to you, and Brogan was asked to take a couple of weeks off. I think the board is gonna put him in some kind of retraining program. He will most probably not be held accountable for malpractice, but I don’t think Sadin will let that remark about women pass.”
She takes a sip of water and shakes her head.
“I’m glad I don’t have to put up with him, but I don’t think it’s fair he’s been let off that easily.”
“Babe, the man is in his eighties. I genuinely believe he didn’t see the cut because he is too good of a surgeon to miss something so obvious. The hospital is gonna let him come back, do a couple of novelty surgeries and retire in glory.”
“Yeah, ok...I just...he pissed me off so bad. Why do all of you treat nurses so poorly?” She throws a couple of fries in her mouth and shots me a dangerous look. I’m on risky terrain.
“I want to inform you I treat my nurses very nice and fair. Have you heard any of them complaining?”
“Half of them want to sleep with you so no one will say a bad word. And you treated me awful.”
I did, didn’t I?
“But I don’t wanna sleep with them, that’s the thing. When you walked in? Instant erection. What was I supposed to do? Messing with you seemed like the obvious choice. It’s a guy thing.”
It’s a guy thing? No, it’s really not. Never in my life I wanted to break a woman like I wanted to break her. But what am I supposed to say: You see, London, when I saw you I felt like you grabbed me by my balls and hung me from the ceiling, and I’ll never let any venomous bitch have that control over me, so my reaction was to make you feel like dirt, so maybe that way I could actually make myself believe you worth nothing and move on with my fucking life?
Nah, I better stick to the guy thing.
“Look at the bright side, Atlanta, we’re good now. Don’t you remember coming two times on my dick just a few hours ago?”
Her face got instantly red like a ripe tomato.
“I recall. I never heard your apology, though.”
Oh, no. This guilt game - the I’m always wrong game - is exactly the thing I’m never gonna play again. I’ve done it for years, trying to make the world stop running so Isabella’s precious sensibilities won’t be hurt. Once she sneezed and messed up her mascara and I apologized for keeping the AC on too much. It was mid-July and we didn’t even live together at that time. Never. Again.
“London, I’m not going to apologize because I don’t feel bad about it. Plus, you enjoyed the foreplay as much as I did.” I lean over, take her chin in my hand and kiss her stupid. There’s possessiveness in my touch but also a warning. She’s more than happy to welcome my tongue in her mouth. “We’re good now, babe, so let’s focus on this.”
“I can’t focus when you do that. Damn it, Zachary, how are we gonna work together after all this?” She shows the space between us. “Is this ethical? You are my boss and way above my position.”
“It’s...frowned upon. Sadin is never happy when her people mix working with other activities but this never stopped anybody. It’s like Sex and the City in that hospital.”
“Really?” Her eyes widen and she looks at me looking for a sign I’m joking. I may be exaggerating a bit.
“You never heard moaning coming from the on-call rooms?”
“I... don’t think so.”
“You might. It’s not like we work in a brothel, but most doctors and medical staff don’t have much life outside work. Affairs happen. I still expect you to call me Dr. Ford, you know, for professional reasons.”
“Sure.”
“And you need to learn to keep it down in case we ever get busy on the MRI machine.” Ok, now I’m just fooling with her. I have come to like her blushed cheeks.
“W-what?”
“Babe, you are a screamer.”
“I am not.”
“Come here and let me show you.”
People from South Side Chicago will hear her when I’m done.
The first day back on cardio was...
…. interesting. Zach paged me to bring him coffee, and I did. He yelled at me because it was too hot. At least I know he’s still the same jackass at work, but I’m ok with it because we established a strong set of rules. When we are in the hospital nothing changes. We scream, he criticizes my work, calls me weird city names. Everything is fair game. And we keep the having sex part under wraps. It’s the last thing I want people to chat about. I get enough looks as it is after the Brogan affair. God knows Helena shoots daggers at me every time I get called down to the ER. Now that I’m back to being Zach’s scrub nurse she was moved to her old post, far, far away from his dick. The woman hates me, and I can’t say I’m her fan either.
Anyways, the rules stayed in place for three hours or so, until I ran into Dr. Shaw.
“Well, look who just crossed my path, the sexiest girl in this hospital.”
“Hello, Dr. Shaw.”
He comes in front of me and flicks a lock of my hair. How about boundaries?
“Now, what did I say about names? It’s Emmy, we’re friends.”
“Emmy, sorry, I just got out of a bypass surgery and I’m a little distracted.”
“Great, that means you are free now. How about we grab a bite and you can tell me about this thing with doctor Brogan. I’m glad you’re back with us, but I can’t believe the bastard tried to dump the blame on you.”