Never Be the Same

by A. Aubry

  Dressing in close proximity thanks to my bedroom not being as massive as Jameson’s, our eyes burned the memories of one another’s bodies into our minds. I loved seeing Jameson all dressed up in his suits to look professional for work, but I loved to see him naked as well. The man was built like a fucking god. Even though he had scars marring his chest now, that didn’t make him look any less chiseled than he did before the attack. We kissed a few more times before we walked back down to where his driver was waiting for us. My car was still in the parking garage of his building and there wasn’t enough time to go and get it. Oh well, arriving in style at work didn’t hurt too bad.

  The drive almost seemed too quick to be normal on a Monday morning, but Jameson assured me that Christopher knew some short cuts and roundabout ways to avoid the traffic. Soon we were pulling up in front of the hospital and I could feel myself deflate.

  “I’ll see you after work, okay? You have Christopher’s number to come and pick you up when you’re finished.”

  “You won’t be with him to pick me up…will you?” I questioned quietly.

  Jameson turned towards me as I unbuckled my seatbelt, putting his hand on my cheek, “Not this time, baby. I would if I could but after the long weekend away, I need to spend a little extra time at work.”

  My face leaned into his touch and my eyes closed as my hand came up to touch his, “Okay. I guess I will just see you later then.”

  I felt him move closer to me before his lips touched mine gently, “Only you, Bri.”

  Opening my eyes, I took another long look at the man in front of me, “Only you, Jay.”

  We kissed one more time before I climbed out of the car. I watched it drive away, not knowing why it was so difficult to leave his side. It could have been because I loved him more than anything, it could have been because Melody was an apparently psycho that wanted my boyfriend. Whatever it was, I knew that I had to put on my best act while I was at work. All I had to do was keep memories of my little trip with Jameson at the forefront of my brain so that I had something that would make me really smile.

  The town car pulled up in front of me as I waited on the curb outside of the hospital. It had been a grueling day in surgery today and I didn’t know if that was because I was gone for several days and just felt out of my routine or what. Luckily, we had our full staff on hand so I wasn’t doing two people’s work like I had done the previous week. If that were the case, I think I would have died.

  I hopped into the backseat, sad to see that it was just me back there. I knew that Jameson wasn’t going to be there to pick me up but that didn’t make it any easier. Christopher smiled at me from the front seat, holding up an iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts for me. The man had known me for all of a month since Jameson had come to Chicago and yet he still knew the exact thing that I would probably ask for after a long day at work. Usually it was Jameson who handed me my drink, but Christopher was obviously trying to keep up the routine.

  “Thank you, Christopher. This is exactly what I need right now,” I smiled as I graciously took my drink, taking a long sip.

  “You’re welcome, Bri. Would you like to go straight home? Or would you like to stop somewhere to pick up dinner?”

  I mulled it over in my head. While I wouldn’t have minded to stop somewhere to grab dinner because the cafeteria lunch that I had wasn’t as appetizing as Jameson’s meals, and because I didn’t have really any groceries at my apartment since I had been living with Jameson at his, I wanted to see Jameson. The club would have been picking up right about now because I did have to work a ten-hour day.

  “Actually, can we go by the club? I haven’t heard from Jameson all day and I would really like to see him sooner rather than later.” I gave my sweetest smile because I knew that Jameson had probably told him to take me straight home.

  “Okay, we can do that,” Christopher caved and turned back around in his seat.

  I buckled myself into my seat and sat back with my drink. While I never strived for being carted around by a personal driver in a nice ass town car, it was actually a pretty good luxury. I hated driving into the city if I needed to, usually opting for the metro in some form. But who was I to argue with a driver who went and bought you your favorite iced coffee when your boyfriend was busy working? We pulled up in front of the club, The Green Room, and I let myself out before Christopher could get to my door. There was a sense of urgency to see Jameson after being apart all day. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for someone to open my door.

  Still in my scrubs, I walked up to the large, muscular bouncer that towered over me. Benson, while he looked like a guy who could kick your ass, and probably would if you crossed him, I learned was a pretty big softie. His signature frown at the crowd turned into a bright smile when I walked up to the front of the line.

  “Did I miss the Halloween costume memo?” He chuckled as he opened up the velvet rope for me.

  “Nope, just came from work to see Jameson,” I giggled as I crossed in front of him and went through the door to his left.

  Heading straight for the bar, I sought out the club’s manager, Kelly. She would know where Jameson was for sure rather than making a fool of myself and walking around aimlessly looking for him. I had to push my way past large groups of people who were standing around and chatting. At one point, I thought someone grabbed my ass, but I couldn’t have been sure of it because it happened so quickly. When I finally reached the bar, Kelly leaned across the top and hugged me. She had a very bubbly personality and I could see why Jameson wanted her as the manager of this place. It also didn’t hurt that her girlfriend was one of the best bartenders in town and gave Jameson rave reviews about her.

  “Come for Jay?” She hollered over the music.

  “You know me too well!” I joked as she waved away a customer.

  She pointed to a doorway that sat next to the bar, “He’s in the office crunching numbers! I haven’t seen much of him today.”

  I rolled my eyes, “The man can be a workaholic if you don’t interrupt him.”

  Kelly laughed and I waved my goodbye before weaving my way back through the crowd towards the side door. It opened into a long hallway with many doors on either side. As soon as the door shut behind me, the silence was almost more deafening than the music in the club. I slowly made my way down the hallway, reading every sign on the door until I came to the one that was labeled ‘office’. I knocked loudly, not wanting to just walk right in.

  “Kelly, I said we’d have a conversation about the liquor order later!” Jameson growled.

  That was not the tone of voice that I wanted to interrupt, but I also knew that that was Jameson being overly stressed. If Kelly hadn’t seen him very much today then that had meant he probably hadn’t left the office at all. I opened the door a crack and peeked my head in.

  “Surprise,” I said softly.

  Jameson’s head shot up and whatever snarl was on his face instantly disappeared, “What are you doing here, baby?”

  Finally knowing that it was safe to enter his workspace, I came into the room and closed the door carefully behind me, “I wanted to see you. Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s just that the club still hasn’t improved much since I’ve been here. It seems like no matter what I do, the number stays the same.”

  I walked over to his desk and sat up on an open space, “You do know that staring at those numbers all day isn’t going to make them change…right?”

  “You are really sassy,” Jameson chuckled as he put his elbows on the desk before putting his hands over his face.

  “Hey, I’m just stating the obvious. Kelly said she hasn’t seen much of you so that means that you have been sitting here at your gigantic desk all day working on paperwork and staring at past numbers,” I pointed out, leaning over and kissing the top of his head.

  “We should’ve just stayed in bed all day,” Jameson grumbled into his hands.

  “And we both know that that would never work with
our jobs. Here, tell me what’s going on and maybe I can help you find a solution.”

  Jameson moved his hands away from his face and folded his arms on top of the desk, “I don’t think you can. But thank you for trying, baby.”

  Scooting a little closer to him, I placed my hand on top of his arms, “You have to give me a chance to try, Jay. I’ve been known to have a few good ideas now and then.”

  He thought about it for a moment before nodding his head, “Okay. Well, we had a ladies’ night like the one that you went to at Club Roma. It did peak the numbers a little, but it didn’t do as well as the one out in California. Besides that, we have a few bands come in every now and again and you know the resident DJ.”

  “Have you thought about other theme nights besides having a ladies’ night?”

  “What do you mean?”

  I took a deep breath, preparing to get my ideas shot down right away, “Like other themes? You could do an eighties or nineties night, damn I would love a nineties night because that was my childhood. You could do millennium or—oh! What about masquerade? All mysterious and sexy.”

  Jameson’s head tipped to the side as he mulled over what I was saying. The longer that he made me wait for an answer, the more I was regretting putting in my two cents. Those were theme nights that I would enjoy going to…but they probably sounded dumb and girly to him.

  “You know what? Those are actually great ideas.”

  “Wait, are you serious?”

  Jameson laughed and moved his chair in between my legs as his arms circled around my waist, “Yes, I’m serious. You have to find different things to draw in different crowds.”

  I clapped my hands together a few times, “See, I told you I have some great ideas.”

  He pulled me closer to the edge of his desk before resting his head against the top of one of my thighs, “I have no idea what I would do without you.”

  Running my fingers through his hair, I smiled down at him, “You’d be stuck in this office for the rest of the night wondering what in the world you were going to do.”

  I could feel his smile against my leg, “You’re right, I’d be very stressed to the point I’d probably start drinking some of our liquor inventory.”

  “Well it’s a good thing that I was here to save you from that.”

  “Definitely, because now I want a taste of something else.”

  “Dinner? Yeah, I could use some of that too.”

  Jameson sat up in his chair before standing up in between my legs, “Not exactly.”

  It took me all of two seconds to realize what exactly he was referring to. In those two seconds he laid me back on his desk and rid me of my blue scrub pants and white lace panties.

  “Oh…me…” I stuttered as I watched him spread my legs open and take a seat back in his large leather chair.

  “Yes, you,” he smirked before leaning forward and covering my clit with his mouth.

  “Jameson!” I cried out, my hands moving about his desk in search of something to grab onto.

  Normally when he did this type of thing we were somewhere that I could latch onto bedsheets or cushions of some sort. Never had we done anything like this in any of his offices. Not even the ones that he had in any of his homes. Giving up, my hands reached behind my head onto the edge of the desk. Jameson groaned as he moved my legs open further and plunged his tongue into me. For some reason, I couldn’t even let out the moans that were begging to come out. My mouth was hanging open in ecstasy but there were no noises willing to escape.

  “I love how wet you get for me,” Jameson mumbled against my hot, wet skin.

  “Please, don’t stop,” I begged as my back arched up off the desk.

  A sudden knocking caused me to sit up quickly, but Jameson refused to move from between my legs. When it stopped, I thought it was safe to assume that whomever was knocking had finally left. That was until it started up again.

  “A little fucking busy in here!” Jameson yelled.

  “Boss, I just need you to sign off on a few things,” Kelly called back through the door.

  “Fine, come in,” he replied.

  I tried to jump off his desk but he held me in place. My eyes got wide as I heard the door open.

  “Oh, I really am interrupting something,” Kelly laughed as she walked up behind me and slid some papers across the desk.

  “Hey, Kel,” I said softly.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t be more than a few seconds,” she teased.

  I pursed my lips and looked down at my hands in my lap. If I thought that being caught making out by his drivers or being felt up in front of his best friend was awkward…this scenario definitely took the cake. Jameson scanned over the forms, his chin glistening slightly with my arousal. Nope, just got more awkward for me. He picked up his fountain pen off the desk and signed by the x’s before sliding the papers back to Kelly.

  “Thanks, Jameson. I’ll let you get back to it. Enjoy.” She chuckled and left the room.

  “Now, where were we?” Jameson licked his lips.

  “That was so embarrassing, Jay!” I scolded him, lightly hitting his shoulder.

  “What? It’s my office, I can do as I please with whomever I please.”

  “That better be narrowed down to me,” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Only you. Only ever you.” He stood up and kissed my lips, “Besides, it’s not like I haven’t accidently walked in on her and Kiera going at it in both her office and the liquor storage at least twice since I’ve been here.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Okay, well, now I think it’s time you finished what you started.”

  Jameson smiled wide, “I always finish what I start.”

  Oh fuck, this release was going to be a good one.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It had been a long ass week. Of course, I was over the whole jet lag, time change crap by now. But that didn’t mean that I really enjoyed separating myself from Jameson. The weekends were amazing because I didn’t have to work and if Jameson had to go to the club, I would go along with him. Office sex had been a very familiar thing over the last week, mostly because Jameson was logging more and more hours at the club. He was actually planning the first of many different theme nights—nineties night—with the help of yours truly.

  His appointments with Melody had gotten a little more awkward since the whole scene she had made to his security back when we were in Barcelona. Since then, we had gone back to spending our nights at his place and our routine had gone back to exactly how it had been before Barcelona. My day was winding down in the surgical unit and I knew that Jameson was somewhere on the other side of the hospital with Melody for his appointment. I couldn’t thank the gods above any more that his doctor here had cleared him to stop physical therapy and all he had to do was finish up his last three appointments. One was today, so one down…two more to go.

  My office phone rang for what felt like the millionth time today. I had been on and off the phone with a few patients who had questions regarding their surgeries that they would be having and it felt like a never-ending cycle. Sometimes it was just better not to know what the hell that the doctor was going to do to you. I wouldn’t want to know the nitty gritty details if it were me.

  I took a deep breath to calm my annoyance as I picked up the phone, “Surgery, this is Briella.”

  “Hey, Bri. It’s Tina. Guess who is standing here at my desk waiting to see you.”

  Oh, thank god.

  Looking at the clock over my shoulder, I saw that I was just a few minutes away from clocking out, “Thanks, Tina. Tell him that I’ll be right there.”

  “Will do, see you soon.”

  We hung up and I logged out of my computer. I went over to the timeclock and scanned my badge, officially clocking out for the day. After a quick stop at my locker, I had my lunchbox, purse, and sweater all with me as I made my way to reception. Just seeing Jameson, even from afar, made me smile wider than I had all day. The moment that I got closer,
I could tell that something was wrong. Jameson looked at me with a worried expression and my heart sank.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked quickly once I was by his side.

  “Can I talk to you about something?” He side-eyed Tina before stepping away from her desk.

  “Of course, Jay.” I led him over to a bank of couches that were surprisingly vacant, “What’s going on?”

  He took my hands and laced our fingers together, “Is there any way that I could change physical therapists…even if I only have two appointments left?”

  I gave his hands a squeeze, “I’m sure you can. What happened with Melody today?”

  He pursed his lips momentarily and lowered his eyes to our clasped hands, “She was just saying things that were making me uncomfortable. I knew that she had checked out my club several times since I’ve started being her patient but she told me that she would ask the bartender where I was so that we could talk and Kiera always told her that I was busy doing paperwork. Then she was talking about how she would be better for me than you. I cut her off before she could go into specifics as to how and why but I just don’t feel comfortable going back to her.”

  I couldn’t hold back the smile that was pulling at my mouth. No, I wasn’t smiling at the fact that his physical therapist was putting me down to him and seeking out my boyfriend at his club. I was smiling because he was confiding in me about something that he had brushed off numerous times before.

  “What the hell are you smiling about, Bri?”

  “You. Normally you just tell me that you can deal with this sort of thing. But now you are being open with me and telling me that you feel uncomfortable.”

  Jameson rolled his eyes and shook his head, but a smirk was evident on his lips, “You are so weird. What should I do?”