“I don’t think it lasted long, anyway,” Mike continued. “Last I heard, something happened between them and that was the end of it. Barber started dating other people after that, at least as far as I know.”
“Something happened…?” I found myself repeating, suddenly remembering a scene I had witnessed one or two years ago. There had been an event at the club, and the room had been packed with both Patrons and Consorts...Rick Barber had been there as well, but not for long. I had no idea of what he had done, but I remember security escorting him out of the club that night. Had it been because of Alex?
Was Barber the reason Alex was shooting me down every chance he got?
“You okay?” Mike asked me, and I just nodded.
“I’m fine,” I said, setting my empty beer bottle on the counter. “Look after the girls, will ya? I have to get going now. And tell Sam I said hi.”
“Will do,” Mike said, escorting me toward the door. He was eyeing me suspiciously, but he didn’t say a word. I could tell he was already second-guessing the fact he had told me about Rick Barber.
“See ya, girls. Love ya,” I kissed Iris and Idina before leaving, and they replied with a well-timed, if not enthusiastic, ‘me too’. The moment I found myself outside Mike’s door, though, my mind started racing at a thousand miles per hour. I sucked in a deep breath and, raking one hand over my face, forced myself to think rationally.
Why was I so worried about what might have happened between Alex and Barber? Could that be related to Alex’s coyness? Maybe I should back off. One kiss wasn’t enough to go on a wild goose chase, was it? And yet, Alex felt real to me. He didn’t care about Dr. Macdonough, and whenever he talked to me I felt like he was addressing Neil, the man.
I couldn’t give up on that.
Not yet.
8
Alex
I hesitated before leaving the car.
Running one hand through my hair, I leaned back in my seat and exhaled sharply. My eyes were focused on the building right to the side of the parking lot, a set of big blue letters aligned on the expansive lawn announcing to whoever cared that Riverside Urology was just ahead.
I didn’t have time for a detour like this, not with all the errands I still had to run. But when Monsieur asked me for a personal favor, I didn’t find it in me to turn him down. And so there I was, sitting in my car as I tried to muster up enough courage to go and meet Neil. I had tried pushing him out of my mind, but the more I tried...the more I miserably failed at it. Neil Macdonough had taken up residence inside my mind, and there was no kicking him out.
At least not after that kiss.
“All right, let’s do this,” I said out loud, picking up the beige envelope from the passenger’s seat. I was curious about what was in it, but the only thing I knew was that Monsieur wanted its contents in Neil’s hands. I wondered if there was something wrong with Monsieur. Him wanting to hand me the reins of the club, this correspondence with Neil, a top urologist...could Monsieur be sick? And if so, how serious was it?
Don’t go there, I told myself, eyeing the envelope in my hands. If Monsieur hadn’t told me, then it was because he didn’t want me to know. As concerned as I was, I had to trust the man’s judgment.
Of course, whatever was inside the envelope, I didn’t doubt that Monsieur could’ve just mailed it out. But he saw an opportunity there to push me and Neil together, and he had grasped that opportunity without a moment’s hesitation. I knew Monsieur did it because he wanted the best for me, and that he saw in Neil someone who was as interested as he was worthy, but I had never liked being pushed toward something...or someone, for that matter.
Except this time, if I were to be honest with myself, I was actually enjoying it. Neil was persistent enough not to give up at the first sign of the trouble, but he also seemed like the kind of man that would respect my boundaries...if I chose to enforce them.
“I’m here to see Dr. Macdonough,” I told the petite brunette sitting behind the receptionist’s desk, right in the building’s lobby. She opened up into a smile, asked my name and if the doctor was waiting for me. “Not really,” I replied, “I’m just here to hand him this.” Holding Monsieur’s envelope in front of me, I realized I could just drop it on the receptionist’s desk and that would be it. I didn’t need to see Neil and go through the awkwardness of pretending our first kiss never happened.
“Well, he’s seeing someone right now,” the receptionist said, eyeing the envelope in my hands. “I could deliver that for you, Mr. Hughes.”
“Is he going to be long?” I found myself asking, no filter between my brain and my mouth.
“I, uh, don’t think so.”
“Then I’ll just wait, if that’s okay,” I said, and she just nodded at me, pointing toward a row of padded chairs in an adjacent room. I made my way there, envelope tucked under my arm, and took a seat. I didn’t have to wait long: about fifteen minutes later, one of the doors behind the receptionist’s desk swung open, and out came Neil. He was accompanied by a woman a few years older than I was, and there was a small girl of four or five holding her hand.
“When will I see you again?” the young girl mumbled, tugging on the tail of Neil’s white coat. He was saying something to whom I presumed to be the girl’s mother, but he immediately turned his attention to the girl, a smile on his face. Going down on one knee, he produced a lollipop from inside one of his pockets.
“Hopefully not for a long time, Anna,” Neil said. “Remember that little problem you had? It’s been fixed now, so you don’t have to come and visit the doctor as often as you used to.”
“But I liked coming here,” Anna protested, even though she snagged the lollipop from Neil’s fingers without hesitating.
“Tell you what,” he chuckled, “you can come and visit anytime you like. Deal?” The girl nodded vigorously at that, returning Neil’s smile, and only then did he continue his conversation with the mother. It had been such an insignificant exchange, and yet...it had been enough for my heart to skip a beat.
I knew Neil Macdonough was a charming man. I knew he was influential, if not powerful, and that money wasn’t a concern for him. He had all the right traits of a dominant man, one that knew exactly how to bend you to his will, but it was the gentleness I had just seen that finally broke through my resistance.
That was when I realized that I wanted him to be gentle with me. I wanted to have his smile, to feel his fingers running through my hair as the smoothness of his voice eased my worries. I wanted to close my eyes and surrender to him, to know that I would be safe in his presence.
“Alex!” Neil cried out the moment he saw me sitting in the waiting room. I sprang to my knees almost immediately, clutching the envelope in my hands. “Couldn’t stand being away from me?”
“You don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, do you?” I threw right back at him. As I closed the distance between the two of us, I immediately felt my whole body reacting to his proximity. My muscles tensed up, and I felt myself growing warmer and warmer…
“You didn’t say ‘no’ the last time I saw you,” he said while, at the same time, he stepped to the side and gestured me toward his office. I nodded briefly at the receptionist as I passed by her desk and then stepped inside Neil’s office. The place was exactly as I had imagined it: spacious and minimalist, it fit Neil’s role as one of the most prominent urology surgeons in the country. The sun streamed in through the large windows overlooking the garden outside, just to the side of the parking lot, a view that momentarily made me forget I was in a clinic.