CHAPTER 10 ALEX
I wheel the cart down the hallway towards the closet, my aching feet reminding me what a long day it has been. I see Ferdinand closing the door of the closet, grumbling to himself. I give him a nod as he approaches, and to my surprise, he pauses to talk to me.
“Heads up, there’s a girl in here,” he says. “Some doctor, just sitting on the floor.”
My heart races in my chest, but I do my best to keep my expression emotionless. “Really? Just sitting on the floor?”
“Yep. Says all the on-call rooms are taken, and she just needed a minute. Can you believe it?” he scoffs. “She better not touch anything. She promised not to, but you never know.”
My heart skips a beat as I remember the last words she said to me: a promise to meet up again. Keeping my composure has become a Herculean task.
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be respectful of the space. After all, without us, this place would turn on its head.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Ferdinand agrees. “The shit we do for them, and most of them don’t even realize it.”
“Preach, brother.”
“I’m not your brother,” Ferdinand gripes. “No preaching from me.”
“Sorry!” I throw my hands up in mock surrender. “Anyway, have a good night, man.”
Ferdinand grunts an unintelligible response and shuffles off down the hall. I turn my focus back toward the closet door. If I’m right, I know exactly who is behind that door.
I close the distance quickly, my pulse roaring in my ears. Moment of truth. I take a deep breath and swing the door open. There she is, sitting there on the floor, her shoulders slumped slightly. She glances up at me, and her whole face lights up.
“Hey,” I manage to croak out.
“Hey yourself,” she replies, scrambling to her feet. “I’ve been looking for you!”
“Oh, have you?”
“Yeah. I figured I should probably get your phone number, that way if we ever want to meet up, or even just grab a coffee, it’s way easier to plan than having to chase each other around the damn hospital. I don’t want either of us to pass out from fatigue trying to seek the other out.”
“That’s a good idea,” I agree, pulling out my phone. “What’s your number?”
We quickly exchange numbers, then glance at each other. The silence is palpable. I want to ask what she’s doing tonight or take her in my arms and ravage her body right here, right now. But is that too soon? Is it too much? Dammit. I’m second-guessing every move right now. Thankfully, I don’t have to guess much longer.
“I’m off of work now, do you have some time?”
“I was about to clock out. For you, I have all the time in the world.” Damn, was that too cheesy? No. The smile that spreads across her face tells me it was just right. Phew .
“Perfect. You want to grab a bite to eat?”
What I want to say is, ‘no, I’d like to bend you over right now and rail you,’ but what comes out of my mouth is, “Absolutely. Let me clock out quick and we can decide where we’re going to go. What are you in the mood for?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I’m sure it will come to me in a few minutes once it hits me how hungry I actually am,” Mina laughs.
“That’s totally fair. We’ll figure it out. Do you work tomorrow?”
“No, I’ve got the day off, thankfully. Then four in a row on. So I’m going to take every opportunity to enjoy tomorrow.”
“I’m off tomorrow too,” I reply. “I’m usually off on Thursdays. It’s nice having a predictable day off.”
“I bet it is! Hopefully soon I get to that place, where I have enough seniority to have a set day off. Just a few more years!”
“It’ll come before you know it.”
“I can’t wait. Alright. I’m gonna head to the lounge and get changed. Meet you over there?”
“Sure. Sounds good.”
She skips out the door past me and pauses, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. “See you soon!”
I watch her skip down the hallway and around the corner before a realization crashes over me. I don’t have a change of clothes. Fuck.
True to my word, I meet Mina right outside the lounge where I first saw her. My cock throbs slightly at the memory, but I will it to calm down. There will be plenty of time for that later, I hope. I don’t have to wait long.
“Hey you!” She gives me another peck on the cheek. “You ready?”
“Yeah. Do you mind if we swing by my place first? I want to change out of this super fashionable uniform before we go anywhere.”
She doesn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, that’s totally fine! I don’t blame you. While you make the jumpsuit look super sexy, it’s probably not what you want to wear out on the town.”
“Perfect. Where did you park?”
“I actually take a ride service to work,” she admits. “When you’re working the hours I do, I find it’s best not to get behind the wheel of the car right after work. Maybe after I’ve been doing it for a few years I’ll be more comfortable with it, but since I live all the way East of town, I’d rather get home without having to worry about the drive.”
“That makes sense. I’ll drive then. I live right up the road.”
“Lead the way!” She loops her arm in mine and gestures down the hall.
I chuckle slightly and tug her in the opposite direction. “My car is actually this way.”
She giggles and repeats her hand motion, this time in the right direction. “Lead the way!”
The whole ride to my place is quiet, but in a peaceful kind of way. She looks out the window, presumably making note of her surroundings. When we pull up to my apartment, I move to get out of the car.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Alright, cool.”
“You want to come inside for a second while I change? Or you can wait here, either is totally fine.”
“I’ll come up.” She undoes her seatbelt and pops out of the car.
I smile and chuckle to myself. This girl has no fear.
She pauses and types something on her phone quickly, then looks at me. “Just in case you’re actually a serial killer or something, I sent my location to my best friend. If anything happens to me, you’re a dead man.”
“Excellent,” I laugh. “I’d expect nothing less.”
“Good,” she giggles. “Now take me inside.”
“As you command,” I bow and gesture to the apartment building. “Right this way.”
I lead her up the stairs and to my front door. I pause, glancing down at her, waiting patiently for me to open the door. “Do you trust me?”
She looks up at me, her eyes meeting mine without hesitation. “Would I be here if I didn’t?”
With that I open the door. My apartment isn’t large, and the furniture is all very basic. All in all, it’s pretty average, but it’s clean. It’s home. She walks inside and I can see her taking it all in.
“Not what you were expecting?”
“Honestly, no. I was expecting it to be super messy or something,” she laughs. “I guess my judgement was clouded by the fact that you’re a bachelor working a busy schedule.”
“I keep things clean for a living, silly!”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you keep your home clean,” she retorts. “But I’m glad that you do.”
I bite back another laugh. She’s a feisty one. “There’s not much to see, but let me give you a tour.”