11. Zaire
Before either of us could see to our patients, we had to give Dr. Patton a more in-depth report of the incident with Nala’s patient, provide a written statement that would be filed away in case there was any litigation or complications later, and then a promise for Nala to review safety protocol with Raheem. Then we started our day with a long gaze before separating to see our patients.
We were tasked with keeping it all together and were still required to attend the conference in Denver at Dr. Patton’s insistence.
The days after the assault made most of the clinicians feel on edge at the clinic which was expressed in shifting eyes and the cancelling of evening appointments. Sheila’s husband even began picking her up from work instead of allowing her to walk to the busway to catch the P1 Bus to get to her car at the Park N’ ride in Wilkinsburg. Behaviors shifted out of fear and while I understood it, I didn’t like it at all because you could see the fear and suspicion rising in the clinicians at their patients as if they were our enemies instead of the people we served. Sure, we all know the possibility of our patients assaulting us was present, but the incidence of that was rarer than the general public might think. People who suffer from mental instabilities were more often the victim of crime, than the perpetrators. But this time, this was not the case and that was enough to instill fear.
We had refresher courses on safety, most especially entering and exiting the building, which Raheem was around for. The entire time he looked at me with disgust because I guess I had made his life harder by not following advised protocol which meant his lazy ass had to do something. I was apologetic for sure but him needing to provide safety tips and updating our training module was something he should have been doing anyway. Hello!
Besides, if I was Raheem, I would tread lightly. This morning, the woman with her bodyguard came by the center. Both Zaire and I were pretending we hadn’t been just fondling each other and kissing in his car when we crossed paths with her and her bodyguard. I moved aside to let her and the big man walk by but before I could look to Zaire to say, “See I told you she had a bodyguard,” I heard a voice.
“You the doctor he came after?”
I didn’t bother acting confused. Her large brown eyes and light cocoa-brown skin made her mesmerizing. Who could lie to this woman?
“Yeah, I mean yes,” I croaked out. Woman up, Nala!
“I’m happy you weren’t hurt.”
She looked to Zaire who stood watching the bodyguard who hadn’t spoken a word but looked ready to handle us both if we so much as flinched.
“You saved her.”
Zaire lifted his head like he was a soldier receiving commendations from a general. “Yeah.”
“Good shit.”
She started walking toward Dr. Patton’s office before stopping and turning to look at us.
“That shit won’t happen again. I can promise you that.”
We were left standing there frozen in place until they disappeared around the corner. Then Zaire pulled me into his office to gossip.
Days later, Raheem was doing more rounds around the building and standing up straighter than before. Not only that, he looked in on me multiple times a day between patients. I don’t know what the woman said to Raheem, but it worked. In addition, there was a black car with black tinted windows parked in the garage at all times. You could never make out who was in the car but their presence was undeniable.
“Are you two ready for the conference?”
Dr. Patton had asked both Zaire and me to stop by at five that evening. We were leaving on the same flight the next morning at her insistence. Insisting was what she had been doing a lot of lately, I noted, but as my employer, it was her right up to the point of crossing any lines, which she had yet to do.
If I were being truthful, however, the idea of being with Zaire more than the few days we had over the weekend, didn’t entirely piss me off the way it had last week when we were notified, we’d be going. Maybe that had to do with the sex we’d been having in the early hours of the morning when I should have been getting my beauty sleep. Maybe it was because I genuinely liked him. Who knew? He was cool and beautiful. And his open mind and caring vibe came with his dominating masculine energy. He was a man’s man, make no mistake, but he didn’t seem pressed to prove that to anyone and that was intoxicating. So intoxicating, we’d been kissing in the supply closest a lot more and knew we needed to stop or risk getting caught.
“Why do your lips taste so much better in here?”
He asked me after snatching one more taste.
“I’ve asked myself the same thing. But Zaire…”
“Hmmm,” he moaned into my mouth. The distraction of his touch turned my brain to mush for a staggard moment until I was finally able to break my lips free.
“We have to stop this. We’ll get caught and probably kicked out.”
The glazed look he had and the fact that he couldn’t stop looking at my lips told me he hadn’t heard a word I said. When his hands ended up in my hair and his lips back on mine, I knew I’d been right. After a few more presses against my willingly open lips, I sighed but stayed close to his face.
“I know but I can’t stop. Do you know how sweet you taste? Damn.”
His nose was in my neck, my spot, teasing it until I had no choice but to surrender and my hand started for his zipper. The sound of voices out in the hall had us both rushing to fix our clothes and find something to explain us both being in there.
By the time Peter opened the door, Zaire was scribbling some gibberish on a half-crinkled piece of paper, and I was pretending to read it.
I pretended to just notice the door was opened and turned to find a suspicious-looking Peter watching us.
“Your glasses are in your hair.”
I looked at him with confusion.
“You’re straining to see the lines on that crumpled paper, right? Your glasses are in your hair.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Peter nodded and reached in to grab a stack of pamphlets on the self to the right of us before he shook his head and left.
Zaire and I stared at each other as the door closed.
“Will he tell?”
“He didn’t see anything, Nala.”
“I’m sure he knows.”
“And?”
“And nothing. We have to stop this shit, Zaire.”
It aggravated me to no end that he could be so casual about this. The first time in the closet was one thing but now, this was something else. I did not need the rumor mill to be focused on me especially when I was relatively new.
“It’ll be okay, Nala.” For you everything is okay.
“Dr. Jackson.”
I was bypassing him, almost knocking him down to get out of there. I heard him call out, “Wait.” But I was halfway down the hallway and ignoring him and the shame I felt at being caught.