Date Doctor (The Date Doctor Book 1)

by Stori Summers

  The Date Doctor

  Spicy Romantic Novella

  Stori Summers

  Edited by

  KM Krick

  Copyright © 2018 by Stori Summers

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  This one is for the survivors of this world who do what they must to be there for those who depend upon them.

  Also by Stori Summers

  Southern Born Billionaire Stand Alone Series:

  Incognito

  Sweet Summer Romance Novellas:

  Finding Grace

  Spicy Summer Romance Novellas:

  The Date Doctor

  Maturity Rating

  This book is intended for readers who are 18 years or older due to adult language, situations, and sexual content.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Stori Summers offers a peek at: Finding Grace

  Sneak Peak at: Southern Born Billionaires: Incognito

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  I found the front door unlocked. It wasn’t uncommon for my husband Bryan to forget to do things. He forgot most things in fact, not because he had memory problems, it was simply that Bryan Jackson was a careless man.

  Locking the front door behind me, I hung up my raincoat. Starved after a long day of teaching expert dancing technique to a bunch of New Orleans most promising teenagers, I was also exhausted. The debit card bounced when I tried to get lunch so I was really ready for dinner.

  I paused when I saw a note with Savvy, the nickname Bryan calls me, scrawled on the front and propped up on the entry side table. Closing my eyes, I debated with myself whether or not I should read it. The fact that he’d bothered to write me a note, told me it was going to be bad news.

  What now, Bryan? Fired again? A new sexual harassment charge to add to the last?

  “You know what? I’ll just open it. Get it over with.”

  Lifting the yellow paper with blue lines torn from a legal pad, I unfolded the single page and recognized his messy penmanship.

  Hey Savvy,

  I bet you already know this is a Dear John letter. You always were the smart one in our daring duo. I figure we been done a while now and I think you hung on because of your pride. You do hate to be wrong, don’t you?

  Me. I stayed because you are easy to love. Only, I met someone. Savvy, she’s a dancer and I think in a way you led me to her. We’re in love. No use dragging all this out. You can have everything I left behind and sell what you want. I went ahead and withdrew the ready cash so I could get out of your way.

  Good luck, Savvy. I’ll always love you,

  Bryan

  P.S. If anybody comes looking for me just tell them I ran off on you. Might not hurt to move, Savvy. Go back to Ashurst, your maiden name suits you better anyhow.

  “What the hell?”

  I reread the letter probably at least six or seven times before it really sunk in. Digging into my purse, I pulled out my mobile phone and called Bryan’s number.

  The phone rang three times. “Hello, Savvy, you home yet?”

  “You askin’ if I got your bullshit letter, Bryan? Yeah, I got it. Listen, you sorry son of a––”

  “Now don’t start getting ugly with me, Savvy. We’ve always been able to maintain a friendship even when we couldn’t keep the fires burning, right?”

  I could hear a woman’s voice in the background, high pitched with a breathy quality to it that was a dead giveaway of a very low IQ. No doubt a Marylin Monroe wannabe.

  Classy, Bryan.

  “That was before you cheated on me for the second time and left me holding the bag.”

  “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I wish it could be different. Really though, you should tell whoever comes looking for me that you don’t know where I am.”

  “Who’s coming to look for you, Bryan?”

  He laughed a sound that I knew meant he didn’t want to tell me the truth. It was his buying time chuckle that I’d come to really hate.

  I cut him off before he could get started. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Bryan. You know I can’t move, Dallas needs me.”

  “It’s just a few friends I owe some money. They’re kinda scary looking but if you make sure to look pretty I don’t think they’ll get gruff with you.”

  “Bryan Lee Jackson, get your ass back here and deal with your mess like a man.”

  He didn’t respond. I looked at the screen on my phone to see that he ended the call. I tried his number again but it went straight to voicemail.

  Anger. That emotion registered right away. I knew I’d be feeling a lot more and waited for it to hit me, but aside from disappointment, I just felt tired. So very tired.

  I wasn’t hungry anymore.

  A shower topped my to-do list, knocking food to the bottom. I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t cry because I did cry in the shower. I cried about Bryan leaving me like he did, but mostly I cried because I was so disappointed in myself.

  Okay, Mom. You were right.

  She’d told me from the start that Bryan Jackson wasn’t the man for me. She told me again when I gave up my shot at dancing professionally so that Bryan could finish college. Yes, I made more mistakes after that, all of them my choices and therefore my mistakes.

  In the bathroom mirror, my blue eyes looked swollen and bloodshot. The glass was all fogged up from the steam of the shower and even after I wiped away the condensation my blue eyes still looked swollen.

  “Everything is going to be okay.” I told my reflection. My wet, black hair clung to the fair skin of my face, neck, and shoulders. Even though my breathing was a little shaky, I knew that I was better off without Bryan Jackson.

  With him gone, I’d be supporting myself and my brother Dallas, instead of myself, Dallas, Bryan, and his betting habit. I had a great job––thanks to my parents––and I had some very nice friends.

  “I’m blessed.” I assured myself as I cinched my robe closed and tied a bow at my waist. After towel drying my long dark hair, I crawled into the bed I’d been sleeping in alone for the past six months.

  To myself, I admitted that Bryan was right. We were done a long time ago. Him leaving was doing me a favor.

  Setting my alarms for the next day, I settled down under my blankets. “Good riddance, Bryan Jackson.” I mumbled near the time I fell asleep and the thought “Tomorrow will be better than today” ran through my head, a mantra my mom often used. Surely with how hellish my day was, it would apply to me.

  Chapter Two

  “That’s Bryan’s old lady?” I heard the question, but I was sure I was dreaming. It was dark, and I didn’t recognize the voice. It was just a stress dream.

  Rolling over, I reached for a blanket that wasn’t there. A chill in the air crept over my naked legs and I blinked away the sleepiness. Raising up my head, I recognized that there were two shadows in my room.

  The lights came on right then, blinding me.

  “You sure we got the right place, Crawford? She looks too damn fine for a guy like Bryan.”

  “This is his place,” the second guy, Crawford I was guessing, said. “Where is Lyin’ Bryan?”

  My dad’s
gun is in the safe. Shit, why is it in the safe? I can’t get past them to get to the safe.

  “She must have trouble hearing,” Crawford said, with a smile that was anything but kind. “Danny, slap some hearing into her, why don’t you?”

  “I can hear you just fine,” I said pointing at the big guy that was drawing up his arm like he was going to backhand me. “Bryan left me. The note is on the kitchen table.”

  Danny snorted at me. “Bullshit.”

  “You need to tell us where he is, pretty lady. You do want to stay pretty, don’t you?”

  Friends my ass, Bryan.

  “He left me for another woman. If I knew where he was, I’d tell you, and I’d come with you to watch the show.”

  The two men laughed but didn’t move. It wasn’t good enough, they weren’t leaving.

  “She’s feisty, isn’t she?” Danny tilted his head with his gaze on the V of my robe. I’m not above using the gifts the good Lord gave me to my advantage, but I didn’t think Danny was the kind to be teased and then told no.

  I fixed my robe so that it showed less skin. “He’s gone. He’s not coming back. I called him and he told me as much.”

  “Danny, go get the note,” Crawford said with a sniff. Danny smiled a creepy Uncle Fester kind of smile at me until he was no longer within my eyeshot. “I hope you’re wrong, pretty lady.” Crawford sighed.

  “I’m not. You’ll have to track him down if you want your money,” I said sliding off the bed and standing up.

  Crawford noticed and he drew closer to me. “That’s one way of doing things but I’m a busy man. Easy works for me best.” He smelled like he’d just spent the day on the casino floor. Stale cigar smoke, liquor, and copper stained the air.

  “Got it,” Danny said, still wearing the same creepy-ass smile as he handed the note to Crawford.

  Crawford read it, scratching his stubble filled chin. “Why didn’t you run?”

  I cringed remembering that Bryan had listed my maiden name on his damn letter. “I have my reasons. For one, it’s not me that owes the money.”

  Danny laughed like I’d just told a hilarious joke.

  “You shoulda listened to Bryan,” Crawford said.

  The mean glint in Crawford’s eyes couldn’t be over a measly couple hundred bucks. “How much does he owe you?”

  “That is the first intelligent thing you said tonight.” Crawford patted my cheek with enough of a sting to let me know it wouldn’t be long before things were going to get physical. “Fifty grand.”

  Fifty thousand dollars? What kind of an idiot would let someone like Bryan rack up that much debt?

  “Crawford, why are we talking to this bitch? She said she doesn’t know where he is and isn’t gonna know. We should use her to send a message.” Danny grinned, and his over large square teeth had a yellow tinge to them. His beefy fingers unsheathed a knife that was at his belt.

  “You could be right, Danny. Thing is, she’s seen our faces. Cutting up her pretty face is only gonna get us a pair of cuffs.” Crawford’s hand slid down my face, his fingers curled around my neck.

  Panic soared through my veins adding to the adrenaline. When I’d first realized two men were in my room looking for Bryan, I thought the worst that could happen would be I’d get roughed up and possibly raped, which would have been scarring enough. But getting murdered had never entered the equation.

  Striking him with the heel of my palm, I knocked his hand away from my neck without even thinking about it. The sound of the hit was loud. Crawford’s dark brown eyes rounded at me with a look of disbelief.

  I imagined my own expression matched his in that tenth of a second.

  Anger would come next, he’d strike back or just kill me. I jumped up onto my bed, standing near the center of the mattress. “Wait. Listen to me. I am not about to die for Bryan. Let’s talk alternatives.”

  “She just hit you?” Danny asked, a mocking tone in his voice.

  Crawford’s face began to deepen a shade of pink that did not bode well for me. “I’m gonna have fun making you scream before it’s over, bitch.”

  “I can get you the money,” I said picking up the lamp from the nightstand on the other side of the bed.

  Crawford was starting to reach for me, and I was prepared to fight to the death if I had to, but I knew it would be my death in the end, not theirs. He wasn’t listening to me. I had to make him listen.

  “We’re supposed to believe you got money? This place is barely furnished,” Danny said.

  Always so full of fun facts, aren’t you, Danny?

  “I said I can get it.”

  “She’ll just run.” Danny piped in again.

  I couldn’t keep from glaring at him. He was really great at turning up the temperature on the pot of simmering water I was already sitting in. “I won’t run. I won’t. I don’t know anywhere but here. All right? You’d find me––”

  “Shut up.” Crawford barked at me. He scratched his chin again. “You got some good faith money?”

  Dammit, Bryan!

  “He cleaned out our accounts.”

  Crawford’s hand snaked forward so fast I yelped in surprise when he yanked me forward by my left hand. I was about to crown him with the lamp when I realized he was studying my wedding rings.

  He tried sliding them off, but when they got stuck he yanked at them and took them right from my finger. “Not like you’re gonna need these anymore.”

  My hand was released so I stepped back on the bed and watched him grin at my engagement ring and wedding band. I took a breath. “Okay, so now you’ve got something for good faith.”

  Crawford nodded and started walking toward my bedroom door.

  “Aren’t we gonna warn her about going to the cops?” Danny asked dropping that beefy hand of his down to his side. At least he’d put away his knife.

  Crawford shrugged. “I’m not warning her. Know why?” he asked Danny. “Because the Woodards have their ears perked up already looking for Bryan. Everybody knows the Woodard family has ears everywhere. Especially in the police department. She squeals about us, and she’ll be dead before she can give a description.”

  I’d heard the name Woodard connected enough times with power to know he was right. I didn’t know Bryan was in debt to them, and I couldn’t exactly go check either.

  Crawford laughed as he looked up at me still standing on the bed. “She won’t say a word.” Then pointing at me with my rings on his pinky he said, “We’ll see you soon. Real soon.”

  Chapter Three

  I am so screwed. Where am I gonna get that kind of money? Do loan sharks allow payment plans? Like maybe a thousand dollars a month for the next fifty months?

  Ready to whimper, I closed my eyes.

  A hand closed around my shoulder and I whirled around with a yelp, catching Scott Vance––the director of instrumental music, music theory teacher, track coach, and my friend––in the nose with my elbow. “Uh oh, Scott. I’m so sorry.” I snatched the box of tissues off the countertop in the faculty room. Ignoring the looks I was receiving from the rest of the staff that were present. I handed him the box.

  “It’s okay, I’m all right.” He took a tissue and discovered as I already had that his nose was bleeding. Scott rolled up one end of the tissue and stuffed it up the nostril that was bleeding and smiled at me like he didn’t have a wad of tissue sticking out of his nose.

  “Scott, you … look fantastic,” I said trying to keep a straight face.

  He nodded while laughing at my discomfort. “Jumpy today?”

  “I guess so. It’s one of those days.”

  “You’re very distracted too. Is everything okay?” His dark blond hair had no product in it, and yet it still remained in place. His suit, a navy pinstripe, looked like something from GQ magazine and the smile he was giving me, even with the tissue hanging out of his nose, was sexy and handsome as hell.

  I didn’t know how he did it, always looking so well put together under every circumstance.
Clearly, I wasn’t. “Just got a lot going on, but I’m fine.”

  “You aren’t wearing your wedding rings,” he said, his dark blue eyes on my hand. “Miss Struthers noticed.” He added when I didn’t respond.

  “Right. Bryan and I are getting a divorce.”

  Scott’s smile melted before my eyes as his blue eyes got big and completely adorable. If I wasn’t married and he wasn’t in a serious relationship, I’d tell him I was very into him.

  Oh right, I’m getting divorced. Too bad he’s not breaking up with his woman.

  Scott wrapped his arms around me. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m fine. Really,” I said patting his back. “Do you know if the headmaster is back from Italy?” I asked.

  I could really use a raise.

  “Do you need to ask for some time off?”

  “No,” I said probably a little too quickly.

  Scott loosened his arms around me and moved to my side, keeping one of his arms draped across my shoulders. “Is there anything I can do? I’m a great listener.”

  “You still interested in buying a car? I need to sell mine.”

  His blue eyes narrowed a little. “Do you need money?”

  I would have said yes, I really would have but every head in that room popped up, their ears flappin’ and straining to hear my answer.

  “Just wanted to give you first dibs,” I said. “I’m sorry about your nose.”

  I gave him my best effort at a smile and left the faculty lounge. He followed me. “Hey, wait up. Savannah, you really look shook up. Let me take you out for drinks after work.”

  “No, I can’t. Dallas expects me every Thursday, ya know? I can’t let him down. He’s a man on a very strict routine. Besides, your girlfriend wouldn’t like it. She’s not a big fan of mine.”