“Get out of there and quit being a nagging hen.”
“I’m not nagging. I’m just a little shocked that It’s the total opposite of my kitchen. Food and especially protein, are the foundation to my diet in order to keep my body in pristine shape.” I know all too well what shape his body is in with those layers after layers of muscles. God, this man.
“Okay, so forget about me going to finish my work, I’ll just do it after you leave. It’s nice outside. Let’s go out and sit on the patio and have the conversation we need to have so I can take you home.” I slide the large glass door open and feel the warm air hit my face with just a slight chill brisking the water up from the pool.
“Alright.” There is hesitation in his voice. It’s awkward but necessary. “This backyard is great. I love your pool.”
“Thanks, I’ve actually only been in it a couple of times. I bought the house on a steal price that one of my patients found and mentioned it to me, and I actually purchased it unseen because, with the circumstances at the time, I needed to move spur of the moment.”
“What happened to make you move so suddenly?” With a shake of my head, I deflect and get back on topic.
“It’s not necessary to go into that.”
“Not necessary? Why not?”
“Because after this little talk, I will drive you home, say goodbye, and we will never see each other again.”
“You think so, huh?”
“Yes, Grant. Okay, here's the thing. I’m a very busy woman, and I do not have time for all of this.” I wave my hand between us, signaling that I mean him and I. “Yeah, our night together was great and the best orgasms I have ever had, but when Bryce crashed our little fantasy that next morning, it snapped me back into reality.”
“The reason it was so great is because I took control, and you willingly gave it to me. You trusted me to give you the pleasure that you desired and desperately needed. The day-to-day operations that go on in your world cause you to be the big boss and run a tight ship with all that you do every day or every minute. You didn’t know that giving someone else enough trust for just a blip of a moment in life would bring you so much bliss.” His words are like a punch to my gut with how accurate they are.
My raspy voice tries to choke out the words and not cry. “I still don’t have time for you or pleasantries, Grant.”
“I’m not going to beg you for anything. All I will say is that I will be on the same boat you walked off of a few days ago, and when you want to feel freedom from your own self again, I will be happy to help. The only rule is that when you are with me in my bed, I am in total control.” The serious look in his eyes tells me he is dead set on this and there will be no debate. “Take me home, Mazie, or I can call the car service. Which do you prefer?”
“I’ll take you.” He gets up as I follow suit. I really should let him call for the car and have him wait on the curb out-front just so this will be all over. But no, I must be a masochist, because I want to be with him as long as I can to memorize him in my house, in my car, in my world for my own selfish use. One day these memories will fade and be gone. For now, though, I will take all I can get. “My car is parked in the garage, right through this door... Oh! Ouch!” Spearing pain stabs my abdomen, and I double over in agony, frozen on the spot.
“What? Mazie, what’s wrong?”
“Oh my God!” I scream as another feeling of a hot blade ricochets from my head to my toes.
“Let’s go. I’m taking you to the emergency room. Where are your keys?” Grant commands.
“No, no... Oh, ouch! I’m fine.”
“You are clearly not fine.”
I grit the words out and try to sound convincing, “Grant, I am a doctor, and I know what I’m talking about. I. Am. Fine... Oh God!” Another wave of pain hits me hard, and I fall to the floor.
“No, Mazie, you are not, and I’m either driving you right now or calling the ambulance.”
“All right. My keys are hanging on the hook by the... OUCH!!!” Grant suddenly scoops me up like I’m a feather and runs with me down the hall, snags the keys from the hook, and we are driving race car speed in the direction of the hospital.
Chapter 11
Grant
My heart is pumping so hard it may burst. I’m in great shape, yet I don’t think it’s ever worked this hard. I have to get Mazie to the hospital as fast as possible, laws be damn. The police can get on the train and follow me there to give me all the traffic violations. I don’t give a fuck. I’d happily pay a fortune in traffic fines just to make sure Mazie is okay. Seeing her in pain broke something in me that I don’t have time right now to analyze and try to understand. I just know that her being hurt made me have uncontrollable anger towards whatever is causing her the pain, and fear set in of her not being okay and not making it.
The concern is wild in her eyes. That can’t be a good sign because if she’s a doctor and frightened of what’s to come, this won’t just magically disappear and be all better and totally healed in the blink of an eye or wiggle of the nose.
The white with red lettering emergency signs alert me to pull in the drive, and I let them guide me right up to the canopy to unload patients. What feels like hours was actually only minutes before we reach the hospital where I throw the car in park and run around to the other side to lift her out of her seat. Before I have a chance, there’s already a man in scrubs bringing out a wheelchair. Then it instantly turned into a scene out of a foreign film with all kinds of terms and words coming out of Mazie and the nurse’s mouths. Whatever she told the nurse has him high tailing her out of the ambulance unloading area and rushing her through the automatic doors that slide open as they’re approaching. The metal-on-metal grating sound of the doors closing behind them seems to represent closing Mazie out of my life forever. With a million questions unanswered, I don’t know how long I stay there staring at the doors until a woman in scrubs comes out and asks me to move my car.
I do as she says, and when I’m parked in the parking lot, I just sit there, head against the wheel, wondering how the hell it all came to this. I don’t even know if she’s going to live or die, for fuck’s sake, but she pushed me out when I didn’t want to leave. And that’s the thing I hate the most. The fact that the one time when she needed me to step up and take care of her, I couldn’t. Not because I didn’t want to but because she didn’t let me. Truthfully, I don’t know if she ever will.
A part of me wants to run as far away from this place and her as possible, yet another part of me doesn’t want to leave her side, even though she won’t know I’m here. At least I’d be under the same roof as her.
What is it about this chick that has me questioning and second-guessing myself at every turn? Hell, we’ve only met less than a handful of times. Granted, the way she feels in my arms and under my body has me questioning my entire life’s plan.
My feet act without a signal from my brain as I climb back out and race inside, knowing that whatever it is about Mazie that’s got me all messed up, I need more of it.
I reach the hospital’s front counter where a sweet looking elderly lady sits, probably a volunteer. That’s nice, but I hope she can tell me where they took Mazie. “Hello, ma’am. Can you please tell me what waiting room I should wait in for my girlfriend who just came into the ER? Her name is Mazie Hard?” Girlfriend? Yeah, that came out of nowhere and just flowed out of my mouth.