Slippery When Wet

by N. S. Johnson

  And I did just that. I took them to the ground floor and showed them where we did intake for new patients. I told them about the new system we’d put in to triage patients and keep track of them. As we made the rounds, many of the nurses’ smiles were stiff; a few of the doctors’ were, too. The patients stared at the women in habits.

  The patients stared because it was not typical to see a nun in a habit nowadays, even though they’d once been a fixture in charitable hospitals. The doctors and nurses stared because they worried over what it would mean to mix religious doctrine with the care of their patients. Catholic health care followed ethical directives that put a bull’s-eye on women’s reproductive health.

  As our tour of the ER was coming to a close, we came across a nurse trying to calm an irate patient.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” said the nurse. “But Medicare won’t cover that.”

  “I’ve worked for forty years of my life.” The patient’s voice was gravely. His eyes were glassy, and he rubbed at his nose as he spoke. “I’ve paid the government at every pay check, and now you won’t keep your end of the promise.”

  The nurse stood her ground. There was nothing much that she could do. We’d all been in her same position, and we had to take the same stance.

  Beside me, I felt Sister Ruth tense. She stepped out of the congregation and approached the patient. Sister Mary Helena reached out to her, but her hand was beyond the younger woman’s habit. Sister Ruth spoke quietly with the patient. His eyes lightened as he listened to her. Once she was finished speaking, Sister Ruth turned back to the nurse.

  “The church will cover the cost of this man’s bill,” she said.

  “God bless you,” said the patient as he returned to the nurse.

  When Sister Ruth rejoined us, she received a look of reproach from Sister Mary Helena. The men, however, puffed up their chests as though they’d done something, but not a single one of them had come out of their pockets to help. Sister Ruth caught my gaze.

  “That man is a junkie,” I said to her quietly. “He’s been in here every week, and he’ll be back.”

  Sister Ruth nodded slowly. “It’s not my place to judge someone’s failings, only to heal their injuries.”

  I couldn’t resist. “All injuries?”

  She turned those crystal blue eyes on me. They caught me up short for a second. They looked otherworldly, like she was an angel walking the earth.

  “We had a woman in here with an ectopic pregnancy a few days ago,” I said. “She needed an emergency abortion or she would’ve died. Would we have been able to heal her injury under the church’s judgment?”

  Sister Ruth folded her hands in front of her habit. “Christ inspires all of his followers to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. We reveal God’s love for all through compassionate service.”

  “Would you have let that woman die for your beliefs?”

  Sister Ruth faced me. “My belief has nothing to do with it. My duty, as a child of God and as a nurse, is to ensure the best quality of life for my patients.”

  It wasn’t exactly a yes, but neither was it exactly a no. I was even more intrigued at the fire in those blue depths. I wondered what lengths this woman would go to if she were pushed hard enough. I didn’t have the chance to find out.

  Sister Ruth bowed her head and joined the others. With the tour nearly over, I headed to the elevators to return them to the executive suite. But one elevator was down today and there was a line of people waiting including two patients on gurneys.

  “We could take the stairs,” I suggested. “It’s only two flights.”

  The group followed me to the service stairwell. When I got to the door, I was pulled up short. There was high-pitched, feminine moaning bouncing off the walls of the stairwell. I looked through the glass pane and I saw a woman on her knees. The scrubs hanging off her ass told me she was a nurse. A thick, brown dick thrust in and out of her mouth.

  I looked up at the clothed man’s body. I knew the face I’d see there before my gaze met his chin.

  “Nurse Cleo, let us pass,” said Dr. Page.

  I turned my back to the door, using my body to cover the glass pane that would allow them to see through. “Why don’t we go back and wait for the elevator?”

  I didn’t know what I was thinking? Why didn’t I let them see? That was Nurse Charity on her knees in the stairwell. This would certainly knock her out of the running for the promotion, leaving me to get exactly what I needed to take care of me and my family.

  “The stairs will be quicker,” said Page.

  I hesitated for one second. When he reached around me, I stepped out of his way. As the door opened wider, Charity’s voice carried up the stairwell.

  “Give me that cock.”

  “I don’t feel right about this, Nurse Charity,” came Eagle’s dispassionate voice. “What if we get caught?”

  “Oh, I want to get caught,” she said. “That turns me on. I’m a naughty, naughty, little nurse.”

  “I just wanted you to take care of my brother,” said Eagle. His tone was surprisingly even for someone who was being jerked off. “We can’t pay the bill.”

  “Oh baby, don’t worry. When you stick that thick, cock in my tiny little pussy that is going to be my payment. I’m going to take care of both you and your brother.”

  One by one I heard each member of the congregation and hospital staff gasp. It was a sight. A large, black man with his cock shoved down the throat of a petite, white woman. But Eagle’s hands were behind his back, grasping the bars of the staircase. Charity’s hands were all over him and herself. She looked like she was taking total advantage of the poor man.

  At the sound of the gasps, Charity scrambled up, which was difficult with her pants down around her ankles. She fell back, and her ass hit the cold concrete. Her knees fell open giving every one a clear view of that tiny, little pussy.

  Above her, Eagle calmly tucked himself back inside his pants. His hazel eyes traveled up and found mine. And then he winked at me.

  Chapter Ten

  The nurse’s station was still atwitter with Charity’s lewd performance and quick dismissal. The nurses and doctors alike buzzed about how she took advantage of a patient’s brother and had her way with the poor, helpless, cash-strapped man. There was talk of charges, but the patient and his family declined to press any.

  I sat swiveling in my rolling chair. Eagle hadn’t batted an eye when he’d seen the monetary charges accruing on Crow’s bill. I’d expected him to pay in cash, but he handed over a black AMEX. He was no poor, helpless victim. But he was strapped all right. In more ways than one.

  The sight of his thick cock on Charity’s tongue had made my own mouth water. Part of me wanted to direct him to shove his dick down her throat until she choked on it. The other part of me wanted a taste for myself.

  I didn’t suck a lot of dick. Not as a rule. Not because I wasn’t good at it. I just didn’t meet a lot of guys whose dicks I had an interest in allowing inside my body. I much preferred to be the one dicking them. But Eagle’s dick…

  Unfortunately, it had been tainted with Charity’s grime. My mind kept racing back to Eagle asking how he could repay me. Although Crow’s bill was settled, Eagle continued to act as though he owed me something.

  I knew sex was exactly what he’d had in mind as a payment plan. Had he tried to make the same deal with Charity? I didn’t think so. When he’d pulled his dick out of her mouth, he’d winked at me. Had he gotten caught with her on purpose?

  I’d told him the night before that that stairwell got a lot of traffic. He knew I wanted that promotion. He heard Page invite me on the tour. He knew that Charity was my competition. It all added up.

  I bolted out of my seat and headed to his brother’s room. There was only one person in the room; the patient. Crow’s room had always been filled with people. It was the first time I’d seen him by himself without having to clear the room first.

  Crow slept peacefully, he looked childlik
e in his unguarded sleep. He looked childlike when he was awake, too. It was just that when he was awake, he looked like a little devil.

  I swallowed my disappointment and got down to work. I checked his vitals, turning on the sound of the machines to make sure they were functioning. I pulled the clipboard from the bottom of his bed. The metal of the board clanged against the metal of the hospital bed. I went to his head and fluffed his pillows, then fluffed again. Finally, he stirred.

  “Oh, did I wake you?” I said.

  Crow’s grin was lazy as it spread across his waking face. The man had a panty-melting smile. He wasn’t aiming it purposefully at me. I had to assume that smile was just always loaded.

  “I thought you were Mary Katherine,” he mumbled in a bedroom voice. “I sent her home an hour ago to get some proper sleep. Do you know what?”

  He crooked his finger for me to lean in. I couldn’t help myself, his grin was infectious. I leaned in.

  “I’m going to marry her.” Crow’s grin reminded me of a schoolboy with a new toy.

  I grinned back. I knew there were some drugs in his system, but the thought of his fiancé made Crow’s eyes go hazy. He shifted his head in the cocoon of over-fluffed pillows and turned to me. His eyes cleared and sharpened.

  “Are you looking for Eagle?” he said. “Or are you hiding from him?”

  I turned back to the machine, which showed his vital signs were strong. I made a show of adjusting the knobs. “I was checking on my patient.”

  “I heard the last nurse who did that got more than she bargained for,” he chuckled. “I didn’t like her. She pulled the covers too tight. I’m glad he got rid of her.”

  My hands fell away from the knobs and landed on the bars of his bed. “So, he did do it on purpose.”

  Crow blinked slowly. Intelligence beamed through the charm of his gaze. He didn’t respond.

  I inhaled and let out a gush of air. “I didn’t ask him to do that.”

  Crow shrugged. “My brother can be intense when he latches onto something.”

  “Eagle hasn’t latched onto me.”

  Crow closed his eyes and smiled. He didn’t look young now that he was awake and his eyes were pinched closed. He looked older than his age, and tired. He took a deep breath and blew it out.

  “He blames himself for this.” Crow swept his hand down his injured body.

  “I thought it was an accident.”

  He shrugged again, opening his eyes. But his focus was far off, likely back on the racetrack. “I had that curve. Then that jackass bumped me.”

  “How’s that Eagle’s fault?”

  “Eagle and Roman, that’s the other driver, they got into an argument before the race. Roman called E the N-word. Had some choice words for my other brothers, too. E thinks Roman took it out on me on the track.”

  I’d seen my fair share of brawls between men. They hurled creative insults at each other. They might use their fists. But cars? I shuddered at the thought. “Can’t you report it?”

  “The track ruled that it was an intentional bump.”

  “So that asshole’s going to jail?”

  “No, he’s been fined and he’ll sit out a race.”

  “That’s bullshit.” I forced the words out through gritted teeth. “I wish it was illegal to be a racist piece of shit.” If it were, there would be a large number of people from my past in jail.

  “It is, actually. Eagle’s older brother is in the FBI Hate Crimes Division. He came down the other day to investigate.” Crow looked up at me thoughtfully. “Eagle has a high sense of right and wrong and justice. His mom’s a judge and his dad’s a rocket scientist.”

  My mouth formed an O.

  “E builds engines and races cars. The finish line is black and white with a set of sequential steps to get to it. He doesn’t like to lose control. He’s been feeling out of control since I hit that wall. He’s looking for a distraction; something or someone he can tinker with and gain mastery over.”

  I felt a tingling in my long, underserved clit. I pressed my thighs together to temporarily quench that thirst. “He looks like the kind of guy who can get any girl he wants. I’m not interested.”

  “Don’t let him know that,” Crow grinned and closed his eyes. “E likes a challenge. He has the other girls figured out. You’re a puzzle for him to solve. He’ll become obsessed with making you come. Ellie says that’s his love language.”

  I waited for Crow to say more, but all that came from him was a soft snore. I pulled the covers over his chest and then loosened them. I turned off the sound of the machines, straightened the clipboard at the edge of his bed, and quietly left the room.

  My shift was nearly over. I would be heading home soon. On time for once. I gathered my things from my locker and headed to the exit. When I came through the glass doors, sitting outside lounging on a bench, was Eagle.

  His gaze latched onto mine. Then it swept over my body. I felt heated every place his gaze landed. I pressed my thighs together again, but the friction only made it worse.

  “You get what you wanted?” he asked.

  “Probably,” I said, sitting down beside him. I knew he was talking about the promotion. “It feels kind of hollow, though. I wanted to win it because I’m better than her.”

  “Victory doesn’t always work that way. People cheat. Sometimes the bad guy pulls into the lead.”

  His eyes looked far away like Crow’s had. I knew he was thinking about the race. I decided to distract him.

  “How do you know I’m not a bad guy?”

  His smile returned. Just an uptick at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, Nurse Cleo, I suspect you’re a very, very bad girl.”

  He looked at me. Locked me in place with those hazel eyes. I stared back. He needed to know I wasn’t some chit to be easily swayed.

  “You ready to get off?” he asked.

  I shifted my hips in the seat. Crow had said he’d be relentless in trying to get in my pants and make me come. Why was that a bad thing?

  “You’ve been here all day,” Eagle said. “You should be getting off soon.”

  “Yeah, my shift is over.”

  “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

  My gaze snapped to his. My eyebrows narrowed into a low V at the directive.

  The other side of his mouth kicked up. His head dipped along with his gaze and his tone. “May I escort you home, Nurse Cleo?”

  The ‘may I’ made my panties moist. I hesitated, pulling my arms across my chest and my bag in my lap. They were poor protections against this man. “I was going to call an Uber.”

  “You were going to let a stranger drive you home?”

  “You’re a stranger.”

  “No, I’m not,” he said simply.

  I dropped the bag and my arms and turned to face him head on. “I’m not going to have sex with you. I’m taking a break from men.”

  Eagle nodded. Completely un-put off. “Lucky for you I got serviced this morning. I’ll get you home safe.”

  There was command in his voice, but he was holding back. Still, that note of authority was a loaded weapon on his hip just waiting to be unholstered and cocked. If he kept pointing it at me I wouldn’t be able to resist pointing my own loaded weapon at him.

  “I saved your friend,” I said. “You got me a promotion. Are we even now?”

  “I didn’t realize we were keeping score.”

  “I think we are. I’d rather not be in your debt. Seems dangerous.”

  He laughed. “It is.”

  “I want us to be even.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “Make me.”

  I inhaled. The air sizzled between us. My fingers shook, itching to reach for something to clamp his nipples with. “What are you doing? You’re a Dom. I’m not a sub.”

  “I can see that.”

  “Then what are you doing? I’m not going to submit to you.”

  “Maybe I want to be friends.”

  Now, I laugh
ed.

  “And yes,” he said, “I want to fuck you. Not because I want to break you or bend you to my will. Because it looks like you need a good fuck and that’s what friends do for each other. At least in my world.”

  I stared at him, weighing my options, my desires, my needs. It was nice to do that, to not have to worry about another person’s feelings for a moment.

  “I’m going to let you take me home,” I said. “But I’m not going to let you fuck me.”

  “Sounds fair.”

  He didn’t say for now. But it was implied, loud and clear.

  Chapter Eleven

  The drive across town was in mostly silence. Eagle seemed to know that I craved a moment of peace. He even put on classical music. It wasn’t my jam, but the haunting strings soothed me.

  “Who is this?” I asked.

  “That’s my brother Hawk’s baby sister.”

  “She’s a violinist?”

  “A cellist.” He grinned with a fond look in his eyes. His big body relaxed into the driver’s seat. “Gabby’s been playing ever since she was a kid. The instrument is still bigger than her. She’s good, yeah?”

  The question didn’t need an answer. The notes nearly lulled me into sleep. But then the sounds of a growling motor pulled me awake. I felt Eagle’s tension before I opened my eyes.

  Outside the car window four white guys in a dark car surrounded us. A bright swastika was painted on their hood. I recognized the driver as the one who’d walked out of the ER when Crow was wheeled in. Recognition didn’t light his blue eyes. They narrowed in disgust as they took in both Eagle and me.

  “Hey, black bird,” shouted the man in the passenger seat. He had dark tattoos on his milky skin. The tattoos were mostly water colored; it was their content that was dark. “Too bad about last weekend’s loss.”

  “It’s not a loss when the opponent cheats,” said Eagle.

  Tattoo guy smirked. “Yeah, tell that shit to your little brother. Is little Tweety Bird okay?”

  Eagle gripped the wheel. The blood drained from his fingertips as he held on. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to hold on to his temper or if he was bracing himself for a fight.