by J. L. Drake
“My shift is over, Major. Is there something I can get for you?”
“Please, something that wasn’t made inside a sweat factory.” He pushed his beef and gravy away. “I’ve eaten worse, but I can’t handle it anymore. Not when I can see a Marie Callender’s from my window. That’s kind of mean, don’t you think?”
I laughed before I opened my bag and pulled out my shepherd’s pie. “Here.”
His eyes lit up as he peeked under the lid. “Well, fuck me sideways.” I had to look away when he grinned. The feeling he gave me was different than I was used to. “Did you make this?” I gave a quick nod before I closed my bag and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Why?”
“I’m tired.”
“But I’m bored.” I saw his playful grin when I turned around and crossed my arms. “I have gossip. Girls like that, right?”
“I haven’t been here long enough to know who most of the nurses even are.”
His face scrunched, and I could see he was going to try another angle. “I heard you like to read.”
This threw me. “How did you—” I closed my eyes. “Why are you and Molly talking about me?”
“I wanted to know what you liked.”
“Why?”
He ignored my question as he tossed the lid of the shepherd’s pie container on his lap then grabbed a plastic spoon from his tray and dug in.
“Mia.” Dr. Evans stuck his head in the door, then stopped and looked at both of us. “You heading out?”
I wanted to sigh, but I held it back. I noticed Mark was watching me carefully.
“No, I think I’m going to go home.”
“Case in point.” He shrugged as he closed the door. I know, I know, I’m a loner.
With a fake smile, I turned to Mark. “I should get going. See you later.” Just as I gripped the door handle, he spoke up.
“Thanks for the dinner. It’s really delicious. A definite improvement on the beef.”
“No problem.”
I headed down the hallway and hoped no one would spot me. I just wanted to go home.
***
Knock knock. My fist met the door of my downstairs neighbor, who greeted me with his normal gummy smile.
“Shift?”
“Long, but good.”
He leaned his shoulder into the doorway. “You look different.” His eyes narrowed in on me. “You’re not telling me something.”
I held out my hand. He whistled, and a moment later Butters, our Siberian husky, came running toward me, jumped up on my chest, and nearly knocked me down. He was a massive dog and weighed just a little less than I did. A while back, our neighbor who had lived in the building for over twenty years passed away. Somehow the dog was left with all of us, so we took turns looking after him. Butters seemed to have a small attachment to me. His giant pink tongue licked the entire length of my face.
“I just need sleep.” I called for Butters to follow. “See you later, Ed.”
The heavy elevator door shut, and I soon stepped into my art-studio style apartment. Kyle, my best friend, and I rented this place. He finally convinced me to move here two months ago. He received word one month ago that he won a spot at a major art gallery to show off his work. To say I was heartbroken when he left was an understatement.
Now I had this massive apartment, floor to ceiling windows about thirty feet tall, and no one to share it with.
I grabbed last night’s pizza, dropped it on a plate, hooked a bottle of water from the fridge, and headed to the couch. Butters followed and settled in next to me. Normally, I’d cook, but these shifts were getting to me. I didn’t take a break when I was supposed to, and I also volunteered at the local medical center. Bad mistake. I dropped my Chucks to the floor, drew my knees up, and clicked on the TV.
I wasn’t sure what time I headed to bed. It was dark, and the moon shone enough that I didn’t need to use a light. Once I was tucked in between the blankets, I patted the bed, and Butters slammed himself to my front. My arm slid around his chest, and I buried my head next to his.
“Love you, boy.” I kissed his head and closed my eyes.
***
Manuel
Four aces rested between my fingers, so my chances were pretty good. Big Joe, who had been cleaning up, sat next to me, looking like he might keel over at any time from a heart attack. I wished I had sat across from him so I could read his face, but no such luck. Instead, I needed to bluff my hand.
My neck was itchy with sweat that had been steadily running down my back. I needed to win this hand or Noah was going to cave in my face again.
“Fold,” the skinny guy across from me said and tossed his cards into the center of the table.
The light bulb that hung from the ceiling on a single wire flickered and made us all look up. The warehouse was a meat market and stunk of flesh, even here, way in the back where they held these tournaments.
My chair squeaked as I shifted, trying to wait out the next man’s move.
“Fold.” He sighed before he got up and headed for the bar.
The blonde woman who I’d seen around a few times flipped a red chip over and over between her fingers as she thought.
“I raise a thousand.” She slid a black chip into the pile.
Without hesitating, I placed my chips. “I see your thousand and raise you two thousand.”
“Call.” Big Joe followed with his chips and waited to see what would happen next.
***
The ice felt good on my forehead, but bed sounded even better.
“What the hell happened to you?” One of the girls from the booking department stuck her head in my cubicle.
“Wrong place, wrong time,” I lied and pushed the images of his fist smashing into my head as far away as I could. I could still conjure up the sound of the pipe cracking my skull. Memories of the card game were fuzzy.
“You may want to get that looked at. Jeez, are you going to press charges?”
I nearly laughed. My life was so fucked up right now that the last thing I needed was more people in my shit.
“Nah, not worth the paperwork.”
I waited until she left before I opened my email. Nothing. Are you fucking kidding me?
***
Mark
It had been two days since I’d seen Mia. They stuck with me Nurse Alvin and some other lady who had the personality of a doorknob. Boredom was not something I did well. Cole and Abigail wanted to visit, but I told them to stay home. There was nothing they could do, and they were needed at the house.
With a quick jerk of the IV, I freed myself from the goddamn bed. I didn’t like being told when to eat, when to sleep, when to take my meds. I was a grown-ass man, and I needed to get back to my routine.
“Ahh,” I moaned as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. With my feet planted on the ground, I eased myself to a standing position. Pushing back the dull ache, I moved toward the door. Right before I headed out, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. There was my bare ass hanging out for the world to see. Huh.
The hallway was busy, lots going on. This was perfect. My feet felt like lead as I moved to an open chair across from my room. Tucking my ridiculous gown under my legs, I sat back and watched as people buzzed by me.
My freedom lasted an hour and a half before Nurse Vikki Taylor found me.
Her arms were folded over her large chest, her scrubs were a bright lime green, and her—yup—Crocs had little decals through the toes. No comment.
“Mr. Lopez,” her eyes narrowed in on me, “what on earth are you doing out of bed?”
“I wanted to see you again.” I flashed her a killer smile. “Do you feel that?”
“What?” she asked.
“That.” I carefully reached for her hand and saw her blush as she glanced at the other ladies watching. “The connection we have.” She rolled her eyes, but I could tell I had her. “Oh, Nurse Taylor, what is g
oing on inside that beautiful head of yours?”
“Mr. Lopez.” She scowled but didn’t remove her hand from mine.
“Are you thinking inappropriate thoughts about me?”
“No!” Her voice went up, but she loved this.
“You are a dirty little nurse, aren’t you?” I rose to my unsteady feet. “Look, now you’re making the other ladies blush.” I laughed, but then I saw Mia walking next to Dr. Evans, who waved goodbye before she spotted me.
“Mr. Lopez, bed, now!” Nurse Taylor flicked her wrist toward my door. “Move it along.”
“Okay, okay.” I raised my hand then turned and heard them gasp at my bare ass. “Just something to remember me by, ladies.”
Someone laughed. “Oh, he’s terrible!”
“I’d bite it!” someone else chimed in.
I waved over my shoulder and shut the door to the cell behind me.
Nurse Taylor came in and put my IV back in, and the whole time she laughed and blushed. She pushed a painkiller into the needle and warned me not to leave again.
Needless to say, I fell asleep pretty quickly after my journey out in the hallway. Plus, the medication didn’t take long to kick in.
***
I hated school; I didn’t fit in. Fighting was how I kept the bullies at bay. Kids were mean, and they picked on me for having a drunk for a mother, where I lived, what I wore. I didn’t fit in anywhere, it seemed. Tears only made the situation worse, and fear seemed to be the only trick that worked with them.
“Oh, look, I wonder if there is some booze in that bag for his mom. No wonder he doesn’t have a father. He probably killed himself to get away from his drunk old lady!” It was that little shit Tommy, who loved to make my life a living hell.
“Screw off.” I had way too much of a mouth for a seven-year-old.
Four more boys appeared out of nowhere, and Tommy’s smirk grew wider. I dropped my book bag and got into position to get my ass kicked.
“Let’s just get this over with.” My fists came up to protect my face.
The biggest kid stepped forward and tossed a punch, but I ducked and flew around him. I would never throw the first punch. I did have some morals.
Before I knew it, all the boys formed a circle around me, and they started chanting.
“Trailer trash, drunken trash…let’s all kick him in the ass.”
Someone turned one of the boys around and kicked him in the balls. Huh? A punch to my stomach brought me back to reality. I swung, kneed, and kicked blindly, doing whatever it took to get these jerks off my back.
Once the kids got their asses kicked, I leaned over to catch my breath. My bloody nose dripped onto my shirt. The kid who helped me came over and patted my shoulder.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“I’m Cole.”
“Mark.”
“I know.” He nodded and wiped his bloody brow. “You met my nanny Abigail the other night.”
I bit down on my lip and wished I could have beaten him up. I was so embarrassed that he knew I begged at his house.
“You hungry?” He handed me my backpack like he didn’t care about it.
“Yeah, I could eat,” I answered after some hesitation. We started down the road. “Thanks for that.”
“Sure, they’re assholes.”
I laughed. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who cursed like a sailor.
We almost made it to Cole’s road when I saw the green pickup truck plowing down the road toward us. I knew it was his truck.
Shit.
Cole sensed my mood change and suggested we take a shortcut. We made it a few yards into the woods before the truck slowed and its window rolled down. Cole pulled me behind a rock to hide ourselves.
“Who’s that?”
***
I shot forward, gulping in a huge breath. I was drenched in sweat and felt as though I was about to burst if I didn’t get out of there.
“Get out, get out!” I smacked the side of my temple.
With another yank, I freed myself and stumbled over to the closet. Dropping my bag at my feet, I bent and twisted as I pulled my clothes on, which hurt like hell, but I hardly noticed.
My jeans were on, and I fumbled with the buttons when the door opened and Mia stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes dropped to my bare stomach, then my open jeans.
“What are you doing?” She tossed her chart on the table.
“I need to get out of here.” I tried to raise my arms over my head, but it wasn’t happening.
“No, Mark.” She placed her hands on my shoulders to stop me. “What happened?”
My mind was spinning. “I need to leave.”
“No, you can’t leave.” Her hand moved to my chest over my wild heartbeat. “You are going a mile a minute, here, Mark. Please take a moment and calm down.”
Her green eyes held mine as if to challenge, and I tuned into the coolness that came from her palm. We were skin to skin. She twitched and began to remove it, but to my surprise, my hand landed on top of hers.
“Not yet,” I whispered.
Her eyes never broke contact. “Okay.”
There were two feet between us, but her fresh vanilla smell found me and helped calm the storm inside. I mentally lit a match to chase the memories away. If I wasn’t aggressive with them, they’d return and haunt me again within the hour.
I stepped away and dropped my head. It had been a long time since that thought surfaced.
“No more pain meds, okay? It seems to kinda mess with my head some.” I tried for a smile and got a small one back.
“A few more days and you’ll be sprung from here and you can go home.” She turned away and grabbed her chart. “I’ll get the doctor to come in and see what we can change. Some people have different reactions to—”
“No, no more, please, Mia. I’d rather do my trippin’ on my own two feet, not in my head.”
“Okay.” She smiled. “I get it, but put some clothes on before I get Alvin to wash that sweat off you. I have rounds to do.” I reached to give her a swat, but she laughed and batted my hand away.
“Behave yourself.” She left the room, chuckling.
I returned to the bed, reassured by Mia’s visit.
I woke when something soft touched my face. I was too tired to care. I had spent most of the night staring at the wall, not wanting to go back to sleep. Again, it brushed over my cheek. My eyes fluttered open, and there was Keith grinning at me.
Great…
“Morning, sunshine.”
“Who let you in here?” I pushed the button on the bed so I could sit upright.
He snorted. “Aww, someone is cranky. They not feeding you enough?”
“Speaking of which, tell me you came to bring me something—” Keith held up a Wendy’s bag. “Wendy’s?” I grunted. I usually hated fast food, but at this point I could eat the gum under his chair, I was so hungry. “Gimme!” I snatched the bag from his hand and pulled out two burgers and an extra-large fries.
“How’s the tear to your muscle?” Keith kicked his feet up on my bed as he took a huge bite of his burger.
“Better than the knife to the knee.”
“Or the glass in the ear.”
“Ohhh, yeah!” I cringed. “That was a rough few weeks.”
The door swung open, and in walked Dr. Evans and Mia.
“I see you have your appetite back.” Dr. Evans made a face in disgust.
“It never left.” I jammed more of the burger into my mouth. Keith laughed at my true statement.
“A greasy burger wouldn’t be my first food of choice after I’d been shot.” Dr. Evans thought for a moment, then looked purposefully at Mia. “I would want a filet mignon, rare, with asparagus and baked potato.” Mia rolled her eyes when he turned away. Huh. That made me smirk.
“Tell ya what, Doc, when you get shot, we’ll see if a burger sounds good to you or not.” Dr. Evans gave me a strange look before he started writing on his chart.
“Looks like you’re cleared to go home tomorrow.”
“Well, a certain little lady will be happy.” Keith balled up his trash and started in on his second burger. “Livy is sure getting naughty.”
“She is part Savi.” I grinned. I missed my little sidekick. Savannah didn’t get a whole lot of time with Cole, so Keith and I tried to help out wherever we could.
“When can I get cleared for work, Doc?”
“A few more weeks—”
“We’re needed in the field.” I cut him off and glanced at Keith.
“Gonna be an epic trip.” Keith’s level of excitement had my skin amped up.
“Mark, you were shot—”
“Where’s Dr. Flynn?” I hated that I sounded like a dick, but knew he would clear me early. I healed quickly and dealt with pain better than the average person. I would not miss this trip.
The doctor’s lips curled over his teeth; he didn’t like me over-stepping him. However, I could see he was weighing his decision carefully.
“Fine, if this is how it works with you men. I guess I have no choice but to clear you.”
Mia’s gaze snapped up to his. “Dr. Evans, I don’t think that’s a—”
“Not looking for a second opinion, Mia.” With a huff, he left the room while Mia stood there with a strange expression on her face.
Keith pulled out his phone and started to text. Probably Cole.
Mia sank into the open chair next to Keith. “Mark, if you tear your internal stitches, it can go really bad, really quick.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse.”
“It is really worth it?”
I pushed my trash away. “Worth it to take down someone who has kidnapped and tortured children for sport? Yeah, it is.”
Keith’s head snapped up, no doubt because I was just very open with her. Yes, they signed an NDA, but still.
She leaned over, grabbed a fry, and started to nibble on the end. Keith grinned at the both of us.
“The last girl who stole food from Mark had to bake him cookies.”