Chapter 16
Iwaited until Elena fell asleep before picking up her discarded clothing and setting it on the chair.
I knew it’s what she would do if she was well enough to do it for herself.
Left to my own devices, I’d leave a trail of abandoned garments wherever I took them off, but things mattered to Elena, and whatever we were to each other, she mattered to me.
I dug around under my sink in the connected bathroom for something to set beside the bed in case she needed to be sick again.
I found a small trash can Anna left under the sink to hold my used washcloths and emptied it into the larger hamper in my closet.
Things didn’t always end up where they were supposed to, but my housekeeper Anna set things up in a way that gave me the best chance of making the system work for me.
I set the can beside the bed, pausing for a moment to watch Elena sleep.
She looked younger—still beautiful—but vulnerable.
Seeing her like that felt a bit like taking advantage, and I forced myself to turn to go.
Pulling the door partway closed behind me, I grabbed my phone and called Mark.
I needed a house call, and I knew he’d come if I asked.
I didn’t have any reason to believe Elena had anything more serious than food poisoning or a twenty-four-hour virus, but given how quickly she’d gotten sick, I didn’t want to take any chances.
I’d cleaned up myself and my floor while Elena had been glued to the toilet. I found reasons every day to be perpetually grateful to Anna, but knowing my bathroom was actually clean and finding the wet mop filled and ready to go topped today’s list.
While I waited for Mark to arrive, I did a quick search through my pantry and refrigerator to see what I might have—again, thanks to Anna—that a sick person could keep down.
The answer was not much, which was exactly why online grocery ordering and delivery existed.
I placed an order for bread to make toast, ginger ale, already cooked rice in those little bags I couldn’t burn, a half dozen kinds of tea, and every upset stomach and flu medicine I could find.
Then I ordered chicken soup from the market down the road and two roast beef subs with pepperoncini and provolone—one for me and one for Mark—along with a six-pack of stout.
As soon as I hit Enter, I changed my mind and added a turkey sub for Elena in the unlikely event that she was hungry anytime soon and felt well enough to eat.
I had no idea if she even liked turkey or if she was allergic to anything.
We’d never eaten together or been out on a date. The magnitude of it suddenly hit me.
We’d never seen each other outside of my place.
In the beginning, it was supposed to just be sex with no complications or strings.
I’m not sure why she’d chosen my place instead of hers, but it suited me, and I’d been too selfish to question it.
It must have suited her too. I had no doubt that if our arrangement didn’t work for Elena, she’d change it.
I might not know her favorite foods or how she took her coffee.
Hell, she might prefer tea. But I knew she wouldn’t hold onto something that wasn’t working.
I knew it was important to her to make the world around her better.
She’d been doing that to my world since we met.
Some little things like the bathroom towels and new sheets, and some bigger ones like the couch and trusting me to explore her fantasies with her.
I stood in the middle of my loft, surrounded by the scent of lemon cleaner, with a woman I’d fucked but never dated asleep in my bed, and realized somewhere along the way things had changed for me.
Before my unresolved feelings dragged me further down a path I hadn’t intended to walk, the doorbell chimed. I hurried to answer before the sound woke Elena.
“I’m pretty sure I heard you say you’ve got a sick woman in your bed,” said Mark as soon as I opened the door. “Is that some kind of code?”
“What kind of code?” I asked, trying to puzzle out what he meant.
“Like does ‘sick woman’ actually stand for something weird? Never mind.” Mark moved past me and into the room. “Who is she and what’s wrong with her?”
“Her name’s Elena. She’s my…” I paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer the question.
“Friend.” It didn’t feel quite right, but Mark didn’t need to know more about my complicated/not a relationship with Elena or my even more complicated feelings.
“Come on. She’s asleep, but I’ll take you back to her. ”
He followed me down the hallway and into my darkened room.
I’d left the door cracked so I could hear her if she woke up and needed me, but it would be better if I could set up my home system to work like a baby monitor, but less creepy.
Elena lay curled into a ball under the comforter, still asleep but visibly restless.
Her damp hair clung to her forehead, and she looked paler than I’d ever seen her.
“Elena, I’m Dr. Waterson.” Mark settled himself on the edge of the bed beside her, placing his bag on the floor. “I’m going to turn on the light for a few minutes.”
At the sound of his voice, she opened her eyes, blinking as if the dim glow from the bedside lamp hurt. Mascara made dark smudges on her cheeks, and she looked delicate to the point of frail.
“Who?” She struggled to sit up, and I hurried to stand in front of her, hoping seeing me might help her get her bearings.
“Don’t get up, sweetheart. Dr. Waterson is here to make sure you’re okay and to help you feel better.” I placed a hand on her shoulder, gently urging her back down on the bed.
Mark shot me a look at the endearment, but he didn’t say anything. For now, at least.
“Are you in any pain?” He pulled a thermometer out of his bag and rolled it across Elena’s forehead.
“My head hurts a lot.” She held her hand over her eyes to shield them from the light.
“I’m not surprised. That’s quite some fever you’ve got. One hundred and three.” Mark put an oxygen meter on her finger and took her blood pressure and pulse. “Did you eat anything unusual today or do anything out of the ordinary?”
“No, I had lunch at my desk. A power bar and an iced oat milk mocha. The same as every day.”
“When did you start feeling bad?” Mark tucked the blood pressure cuff and the rest of the things into his bag.
“Mid-morning, I think. I assumed it was nerves because of this afternoon. My stomach was unsettled all day.” She snuggled back into the bed, as if staying awake required too much energy.
“What was going on this afternoon?” Mark asked.
“I was coming here,” she said, her voice soft as she let her eyes drift closed.
Mark pinned me with a look that promised he’d be asking questions I didn’t want to answer later.
“I think you just picked up a nasty bug. You go ahead and rest now. I’ll tell Jake what to do to take care of you. You should feel better in a day or two, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Jake knows how to get a hold of me if something changes.” He gave her hand a squeeze and stood.
Elena mumbled a thank-you from inside her nest of covers.
“I’ll be right outside if you need me.” I wanted to kiss her on the forehead or do something to reassure her—and myself—that she’d be okay, but not with Mark watching.
I left the door cracked and followed my friend down the hallway, bracing for the questions I knew were coming. But before the interrogation started, the doorbell chimed again. I left him doing something on his phone and went to get my delivery.
Both the groceries and the takeout showed up at the same time. I set everything on the counter to deal with later, grabbed the roast beef subs and two bottles of stout and headed to the living room to face Mark and find out what I needed to do for Elena.
Handing him a waxed paper-wrapped sub and a beer, I took the other sandwich and went to sit on the chair opposite.
The chair that held Elena’s bag of sex toys.
I’d dropped the bag there after I’d cleaned up and some of the contents lay strewn across the seat.
I knew from our earlier texting what was in the bag, but in all the excitement, I hadn’t had a chance to look at the toys.
If his expression was any indication, Mark had seen more than enough of them. I shoved a silver butt plug and a clump of delicate chains and clamps into the bag and pushed the whole thing behind me on the chair in a vain attempt to avoid that particular discussion.
“Is she going to be okay?” I knew she would. He wouldn’t be sitting here unwrapping his sub if there was anything seriously wrong. I hoped the change of subject might distract him enough to keep from asking awkward questions. I didn’t believe it would, but it was worth a try.
“It’s too soon to tell if it’s food poisoning or a virus.
The treatment is the same either way.” He smoothed out the waxed paper and picked up half the sub.
“I called in a prescription for anti-nausea medicine if she’s not better by morning, but regardless, you need to let whatever it is run its course.
The danger is dehydration, so when she’s awake, make sure she drinks something.
Small sips or you’ll end up wearing it. Call if you’re worried or if she’s not better in a day or two. ”
“Thanks, man.” I hadn’t wanted to overreact when she got sick, but it was still reassuring to have him confirm I needn’t worry.
“I assume she’s your friends with benefits and not part of some secret harem you’ve got going. And that…” He motioned in the direction of the bag tucked behind me, a smirk tugging the corner of his mouth. “Was part of the afternoon’s intended play that made her mistake nerves for a stomach bug.”
“Fuck off.” There was no sting to my words, but I didn’t want to talk about the bag’s contents. Elena picked the toys that excited her most. I was going to make sure her choices stayed private.
“Hey, I’m just saying.” He took a healthy bite of his sandwich. When he finished chewing, he added, “Safe, sane, and consensual is all that matters.”
I started on my own sub. The vinegary bite of the peppers with the roast beef and cheese made the perfect combination. If I didn’t have a housekeeper to round out my meal choices, I’d live on deli meat and power bars. Hopefully, the food was enough to distract my friend from any more questions.
“That implies a level of intimacy.” Beer in one hand and sandwich in the other, he motioned to the bag again. Clearly not distracted. “Which makes things easier for me.”
“What things?” I asked, certain I didn’t want to know.
“Jules got the table she was after for the Hope and Help gala. We have to fill eight seats. With the two of us and you and your friend.” The way he said friend made it clear he thought Elena and I were more. “That just leaves four more people to rope into this thing.”
“Can’t I just write you a check?” I hated those kinds of events with a white-hot passion. It meant uncomfortable clothes, too much noise, even more small talk, and a bunch of social cues I inevitably got wrong. I’d spend the night counting the minutes until I could go home.
“Nope. I’ve got to have bodies in chairs.” He took a swallow of beer, looking too smug for my comfort.
“What if I got you some bodies? They sell those, don’t they?
” They used cadavers in medical school. There had to be a way to procure them.
The ridiculous thought led me to imagine the grave robbers who used to dig up bodies back in the nineteenth century and use the new railroads to ship them to medical schools.
He grimaced and leaned away from me. “You are not seriously suggesting propping dead people up at the dinner table.”
Not seriously, but now that I had the thought, I wanted to find out about grave robbers. And maybe the ones who stole mummies. The kind the caused all those legends of curses.
“Stop it.” Mark put a little force behind his words. We’d been friends—good friends—long enough for him to know how easily my thoughts could get hijacked. “Listen, you don’t have to come if you really don’t want to.”
I exhaled and reached for my beer.
“But you’re going to have to explain it to Jules. She gave me a task and it’s not worth my skin to fail her.”
Just like that, relief slipped from my grasp.
I’d known Julianna almost as long as I’d known Mark.
She was five and a half feet of tenacity, exactly the kind of person you asked if you wanted to get something done.
There wasn’t an excuse short of bleeding or being on fire that would get me off the hook with her.
“I don’t know if Elena would be interested in something like that.
” Elena would know exactly what to wear and how to act.
I had no doubt she could slip seamlessly into any situation, which wasn’t a comfort.
Pairing her poise with my awkwardness would only make me look worse by comparison.
“We don’t do that kind of thing,” I said, grasping at straws.
“We’ve never even been out on a real date. ”
“Damn.” Mark arched an eyebrow, his attention going back to the bag tucked behind me.
“Not even dinner? You got a woman to agree to wear a butt plug for you, and you’ve never even taken her out?
” His gaze snapped back to mine, his eyes widening.
“Wait. The plug’s not for you, is it? Never mind. Don’t tell me.”
“Shut up, asshole.” I glanced down the hallway toward where I hoped Elena still slept. I didn’t want her to think I’d share what we did together with anyone else.
“Well, then you’re past due for a real date,” he said, unfazed by my insult. “Ask her. If she says no, you’ve got ten days to find someone else to bring.”
I bit into my sub, wishing I’d toughed it out instead of calling him. He wouldn’t charge me for the house call, but it would still cost me.