But, with Jake on my heels, distractions were inevitable. I could watch the recorded lectures from home and submit papers through email, but it wasn’t the same as going to class. Eventually, I would have to sit for tests and meet with my advisor. I couldn’t hide forever.
It was kind of Dr. Malone to let me hang out in his office, but I still felt completely embarrassed about asking him to play the role of my husband. When he offered to give me a ride home, he kind of glossed over that part. I hoped that he took my request as the ramblings of a desperate woman and would ignore the part where I asked way too much of him. If I was lucky, he would just forget all about it.
After debating for an hour, I decided to call my mom. I felt bad about bothering her, because I knew she was busy with work, but I was scared and didn’t know where else to turn.
She divorced my father when I was a little kid and raised me all by herself. I never really saw much of my father when I was growing up, but she was more than enough for me. We never had enough money, but we got along just fine.
My upbringing was one of the reasons I wanted to get my MBA. I wanted to have a family of my own one day, and I didn’t want to have to worry about how I was going to feed my child. I wanted to have a good career established before having kids so they would never have to go without. My mom worked hard, so I couldn’t blame her, but things were tough. When I moved out to go to college, she sold the tiny house we shared and moved into a studio apartment. Part of the money from the house went toward my tuition. One day, I wanted to pay her back for that.
“Hi, Mom,” I said when she answered the phone. I tried to keep my voice as normal sounding as possible.
“What’s wrong?” she asked instantly, apparently hearing my voice on the verge of breaking. With my epilepsy, my mom had spent a lot of time worrying about me. I hated bothering her with one more thing.
“Nothing,” I lied. “I heard from Jake—the guy from Ohio State, you know?”
“What?” she screeched. “Is he writing you letters again? You make sure you keep them in case something happens. I think it’s time we find a lawyer for you.”
“I can’t afford that,” I said. I didn’t want to correct her about how Jake was contacting me. If she was this freaked out about the prospect of him merely writing letters, then hearing that he was tracking my every move would send her into an absolute frenzy.
“Do you want to stay with me for a little while?” she asked. “I know I don’t live close to the campus, but you’re always welcome to bring an air mattress over.”
“And where would I put it? The kitchen? No, I can’t do that to you.”
“I’d feel better knowing that you were safe. Why don’t you ask a classmate if you can stay over for a few days? Maybe you’ll even get more studying done that way.”
“Okay,” I replied softly, not wanting to tell her that there was no one to take in a stranger for a week-long study party. “I’ll do that.”
“Good. If you need to come to stay with me, you’re always welcome.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, feeling the tears coming back. I wanted to hang up the phone before she heard my voice break. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I hung up the phone, feeling no better than I did before. My little list of lies that I told my mother to keep her worry-free was growing. There was nothing I could do, though—I was afraid the truth would ruin her sanity.
My mom, as kind as she was, wasn’t well equipped to handle my problems. She didn’t have the money or connections that I could use in a situation like this. It was better to keep her in the dark. Otherwise, she would feel bad about not being able to protect her daughter.
I couldn’t tell her about the time I told the police that Jake tried to kidnap me. I tried to file a report with campus security, but they told me that they couldn’t prove that it happened. Apparently, there were no working cameras outside of the library on the night he tried to yank me toward his car. It was the day before spring break, so he wasn’t available to interrogate and the campus police lost my report the following week when he returned.
The second time he tried to lure me away, I was packing up my apartment a few nights before graduation. He called me and sounded drunk. He begged me to get back together with him. Of course, I told him that we were never together and that he needed to leave me alone.
That’s when he threatened to kill himself if I didn’t come over and just talk with him. For a second, I thought about going to his place, just because I would feel terrible if I were responsible for his death. Luckily, I talked myself out of it. He had never shown suicidal tendencies before. Even if he was serious, I couldn’t put myself in danger just in case he wasn’t bluffing.
Instead, I called the police and told them what Jake told me. Apparently, they showed up at his place and he denied everything. He said that I was his crazy ex-girlfriend and I was trying to get him in trouble. He assured them that everything was fine and even mentioned getting a restraining order against me so I couldn’t do that sort of thing again.
To make matters worse, I was nearly charged with false reporting. But, I pitched such a fit that the police decided to drop the whole thing. Unfortunately, that meant that he got away scot-free.
If the city police and the campus police had merged their records or worked together, they would have realized that Jake Morin was up to no good. However, this never happened, and I got the reputation for being a vindictive ex. I couldn’t get out of that place soon enough.
When I told my mom I wanted to go to grad school at Berkeley, she was happy because it was closer to where she lived. I didn’t mention it was because I needed to get away from Jake Morin.
Later that afternoon, Dr. Malone came back to talk to me. I felt like I hadn’t seen him all day. In fact, I was so happy that he returned to check up on me that I almost forgot that I had nowhere to go when his office closed.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Fine,” I replied. “I talked to my mom. It’s not going to work out for me to stay with her. She lives in a studio apartment and there’s just not any room for me. I think I’m just going to go back to my apartment.”
He grimaced. “Oh. I just came in here to tell you that I spoke to a security guard. Apparently, that Jake guy tried to come in and asked if you were here. He said that he was your boyfriend and he needed to pick you up after your appointment.”
“Seriously?” I asked, dropping my head in my hands.
“The guard took care of it,” he said in his calm voice. “He told him that you were not here and that he would call the police if he continued to trespass on private property.”
“When did this happen?”
“Just now,” Dr. Malone frowned. “Is his car still at the back of the lot?”
We both went over to the window to look. At that moment, Jake was pulling out of the parking lot.
“Good riddance,” he said, taking a step back from the window.
I stayed in my lookout spot. I knew better than to take my eyes off him until he was gone.
Sure enough, he only drove from the very edge of the parking lot to the other side of the street. Technically, he was no longer on private property. Jake knew exactly what he was doing.
“He’s not gone,” I said, pointing at his parked car. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew it had a smug smirk on it.
“That bastard!” Dr. Malone exclaimed. “That’s it. If he’s going to do this sort of thing, you’re not leaving my practice alone.”
His face was red and he had lost his composure. I had never seen him anything other than cool and collected. Dr. Malone had the confidence of a man who knew that he was the best at what he did. Now, the man across the street was about to challenge him.
“Hold tight,” he said, his hands visibly shaking. “I just need to see one more patient and then we’re leaving.”
“Where will we go?” I asked. “He’s just going to see me in your car and he’ll follow you back to my pla
ce.”
“Then let’s not go to your place,” he said, picking up his charts. “You’re going to stay with me tonight. Is that alright with you?”
I was too flustered to speak. This was the thing I wanted all along, but now that it was really happening, I was nervous.
He didn’t wait for an answer before he left to finish out his work day.
I couldn’t believe it. I was about to spend the night with the hot doctor that I had a major crush on. I knew that I would probably be staying in a spare bedroom, far away from his, but it still felt like a sleepover. What would we do from early evening until bedtime? As much as I enjoyed being with him, our relationship only ever existed within the confines of his medical clinic. He knew everything about my body, and minor details about my personal life, but that was all. I knew relatively nothing about him besides the fact that he had a private practice at the age of thirty.
By the time he returned, I was incredibly nervous to go home with him. I tried to play it cool when he came back in the room with his car keys in hand, ready to escort me outside.
“My car is in the back of the building,” he said as we walked down the stairs. “We’ll go through the back exit so he won’t see you.”
“Won’t you have to drive past him to get out?”
He thought for a moment. “I suppose I will. But, if I’m supposed to be your husband, then it only makes sense that I would be driving us home.”
He smiled at me and I managed to smile back at him, even though I was screaming on the inside. I was scared, nervous, but also, a little excited.
When we got outside, I jogged to his car and slid into the passenger’s seat. He drove a nice car that still had the new car smell. It wasn’t outrageously flashy, it was surprisingly sensible for a man who dressed in designer suits and was clearly worth a lot of money.
When we drove toward the road, I slid down in my seat so Jake couldn’t see me. I wasn’t brave enough to show my face yet.
“He can’t see us now,” Dr. Malone said softly when we were out of sight. I slowly scooted back up to an upright position and smoothed my hair.
“Thanks, Dr. Malone,” I said again. “You really didn’t have to do this.”
“It’s nothing,” he said. “And if you’re going to be staying with me for a while, call me Daniel.”
Chapter Five
Daniel
As we drove back to my place, I tried not to look over at her too much. I could tell she was pretty rattled and I didn’t want to freak her out more than she already was. But, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was excited to finally have her with me, outside of my practice. In fact, this was far more exciting than any of the lame fantasies I created in my mind.
I mean, it wasn’t ideal for her to be in danger, but going into hiding at my house was much more exciting than asking her out on a coffee date and hoping that she’d want to go back to my place.
Seeing how upset she was, I wanted to put her at ease in any way that I could. She needed a friend, and I would have to put my feelings aside and be there for her. She was vulnerable and in a bad place. This was no time for me to take advantage of the situation. I would have to be on my best behavior, no matter what my brain told me.
Besides, I had experienced a few particularly lonely years myself. Of the few friends of mine that still lived in the area, most were married and had kids of their own. Wild nights out had turned into the occasional backyard barbeque where everyone brought their kids and left early. Everyone was at a different stage in their life.
Even though I was bringing a woman home, I kind of felt like I was having a night out with a buddy. It just so happened that this friend was one of my patients.
“Is this your house?” she asked as I pulled into my driveway.
“Yeah. Is everything okay?”
“I guess I didn’t think it was going to be this big,” she said.
I chuckled. “I get that a lot,” I said under my breath. Luckily, she didn’t seem to hear me.
“I have to warn you,” I said, before getting out of the car. “I have a little guesthouse in the back. I would let you stay there, but my dad has temporarily moved in. He usually just stays out there so he won’t bother you.”
“I don’t mind,” she said. “I’d like to meet him.”
I pursed my lips. She must have made the incorrect assumption that my dad is remotely like me.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Even though he’s staying with me, we’re not that close anymore. But he had to get rid of his house, so I feel obligated to take care of him.”
“I know what you mean,” Ariana said. “I’m kind of going through that too.”
“Then you understand,” I said. “I’m much more like my mom, anyway. She’s someone you would want to meet.”
I got out of the car and walked toward my front door while thinking about Ariana meeting my mom. I had no doubt that my mom would love her. She always wanted me to end up with a nice girl. Ariana was the type of girl that every mother wanted her son to marry.
Once inside, I tossed my car keys on the counter and loosened my tie. My usual routine was to strip down and flop on the couch and watch TV for a few hours, but since I had a guest, I changed my routine.
“I’m going to change my clothes really quick,” I said, going down the hall toward my bedroom. Make yourself comfortable.”
I exchanged my suit and tie for a t-shirt and jeans and jogged back into the living room. When I returned, she was in the exact same place that she was standing when I left.
“Sit down,” I laughed, pointing to a couch. “You really should be relaxing. You’ve endured enough stress today.”
“Yes, Doctor,” she said, raising her eyebrows. She stretched her long legs out on the couch.
“What did I tell you about calling me ‘doctor’?” I smirked. “I’m going to order a pizza. What do you like?”
“Everything,” she replied.
“Okay,” I said picking up my phone. “Then I’ll just order one of everything.”
After I made the order, I sat down on the opposite side of the couch and faced her.
“I hate to bring this up again,” I said, “but is there anything I need to know about this Jake guy? Like, can I expect him to show up here with a machete or something?”
Ariana sighed. “I don’t think so. As far as I know, he’s not much of a fighter. He’s tall, but he’s not very muscular or athletic. Someone like you could easily overpower him.”
I smiled at her comparison. It felt good that she appreciated my body type. After seeing her stalker, it wasn’t hard to be bigger than him, but it still felt nice.
“So, what are you looking for from a husband?” I asked.
“Excuse me?” she squeaked, sitting up a little straighter.
“You’re the one who needed a pretend husband,” I clarified. “What exactly would you like me to do? I’ve already committed to the task, so I want to go all in and do this thing right. So, how can I help you out?”
“Oh,” she said, relaxing a little in her seat. “I think, for now, I just don’t want to be alone in my apartment. Obviously, he knows that I live in that apartment and I have to take the bus to campus. He’s probably looked up my class schedule by now.”
“You can stay here as long as you need to. Besides, this house is too big for one person. I want you to make yourself at home. Take whatever you want from the fridge and watch whatever you want on TV. You’re my guest.”
She looked at the floor. “Thanks. Your place is amazing.”
“Some people go on expensive vacations or buy a bunch of fancy cars. I put all my money into my practice and into my house. It helps that I got scholarships for medical school.”
“Meanwhile, I can hardly afford rent for my apartment,” she grumbled.
“Don’t forget, I’m a few years older than you. Besides, once you have your degree, you’ll be running some big business.”
“I hope so. Maybe then I could
afford a place that has better security.”
If I could, I would put her up in a nice apartment with guards at every door. Unfortunately, I also have bills to pay. The best I could do was offer her one of my spare bedrooms.
When the food arrived, we grabbed plates and went back to the couch. I tossed her the remote and told her to find a movie to watch.
“I haven’t seen this one yet,” she said, the cursor hovering over the title of some award-winning drama that I had never heard of. I didn’t watch a lot of movies.
“Sounds good to me,” I replied and settled in.
From what I remember about the movie, it was pretty good. The plot had something to do with spies who were sent out on a secret mission together but ended up falling in love. But, it was one of those movies you wouldn’t want to watch with your parents, which meant that I had a hard time keeping Ariana out of my mind.
I thought I could keep my cool, but it was hard to watch a love scene without having my imagination run wild. I could practically feel the blood coursing through my veins a little faster.
These scenes left little to the imagination, which made it all too easy for me to become aroused. I was sitting an arm’s length away from Ariana, too. I could smell her perfume, she was so close.
This was straight out of my office fantasies. I would have her alone and we wouldn’t be able to keep our hands off each other. No one was around to see the forbidden thing we were doing. We could do whatever we wanted.
I so desperately wished she would slide over just a little. I wanted to touch her, even if it just meant that we were holding hands. My body craved contact.
Forbidden Prescription 4: A Stepbrother Fake Marriage Medical Romance (Forbidden Medicine) Page 3