by Chloe Maddox
Alex sighed deeply. “I’ll admit it started out like that, but—”
“But what? You saw the error of your ways? You repented and saw the light?’ I asked, sarcastically as I crossed my arms over my chest, careful not to aggravate my swollen hand.
“No, it wasn’t quite that dramatic. I just realized that I genuinely didn’t want him to say those things about you, and I thought I could help,” Alex argued.
“Well, I genuinely don’t like being used as a means to an end.”
“I already said I was sorry.”
“Actually, you didn’t.”
“Well, I am okay. Just please forget about it, okay?” Alex, pleaded.
“We’ll see.” I turned my head and picked up the first thing next to me, swiftly ending the conversation. Unfortunately for me, it was a magazine about couples, and how to make a relationship work.
Not exactly the best reading material given the current situation, but it was what it was.
“Ms. Stevens? Ms. Sandra Stevens?” A voice called out. I stood up, abruptly and so did Alex after a momentary pause. “The doctor is ready for you now. Down the hall and to your right.”
I nodded in thanks and strode down the corridor past nurses and other patients with Alex following closely behind. He didn’t say anything, but I could feel the weight of his gaze on me.
I finally turned right, and ran smack dab into my doctor who immediately righted me. I stared up into a pair of wide and warm green eyes, and muscular arms that helped me regain my balance.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized, profusely.
“That’s alright. We all have clumsy movements.” He waved my protest away as he held the door open for both Alex and I.
I hopped onto the examination table and listlessly let my eyes wander over the surroundings. It was a quaint office with nude painted walls, some comfy looking chairs for the guests, and posters from the golden era of Hollywood hanging sporadically on the walls.
My favorite had to be the one of breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The doctor buttoned up his coat, and I took a quick peek at his name tag which read Sam Lowe. He was jotted something down on his keyboard when he finally looked up at me and smiled.
“So, what seems to be the problem today, Ms. Stevens?”
“Well, Doctor, you see, I punched a guy in the face because he was being a jackass,” I said, honestly.
The doctor choked back a laugh as he snorted. He took one look at my face, and the smile wavered for a second before it blossomed into a full out grin.
“Seriously?”
He sounded impressed, and in awe.
“Seriously,” I boasted, feeling a little proud of myself. I mean, it wasn’t rocket science or anything, but today I wasn’t the damsel in distress.
That was worth something.
“Well, I must say I’m quite impressed,” Sam complimented as he began to examine my finger, giving me a few basic instructions like to tighten my grip then release and turn it around a couple of times.
He picked up his keyboard and drew his bottom lip between his teeth as he wrote something down. Alex was quiet through all of this, an inscrutable expression on his face.
Sam gave him a puzzled look before he turned his attention back to me. “The good news is, it isn’t broken.”
“What’s the bad news?” I asked, grimly.
“It’s a hairline fracture. It’s a small crack or a severe bruise in the bone. In this case, it’s your wrist. I don’t how on Earth you punched him that hard, but yeah, it did leave a mark.”
“How do I take care of it?” I asked, brusquely.
“Just take it easy for a few weeks. I’m going to prescribe some pain meds, and I’ll wrap it up for you right now,” Sam informed me.
“Thanks doc,” I said, warmly. “I can’t use my hand regularly, right?”
Sam shook his head as he opened and closed some cupboards. He emerged a few seconds later with the necessary equipment in order to take care of it. “It’s better not to because if you sprain it too much, it’ll become worse.”
I sighed. “Okay, looks like I have no choice.”
“Well, you don’t have to sound so grim about it. It’ll be right as rain in two weeks,” Sam said, cheerfully.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that, doc. I’m a waitress. It’ll be hard to manage without both hands,” I mumbled as I tried to keep myself completely still.
It was hard not to fidget in a doctor’s office.
At least for me.
I could be perfectly content sitting still and not doing anything, but then suddenly once the doctor told me not to do something, that becomes the only thing I want to do.
It was maddeningly infuriating and wildly laughable at the same time.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sam offered sympathetically. “I’m just going to file these papers with the nurse, and I’ll be right back.”
He gave me a quick smile before he opened the door, and it closed with a quiet click behind him. I began to swing my legs back and forth like a child as I whistled under my breath.
“I’m sorry.” Alex breathed, speaking the first words he’d said since we walked into the doctor’s office. After our rather abrupt conversation, I was convinced he was sulking, and thus left him to his own advices.
It wasn’t my fault he had a fragile ego.
“What for?” I asked as I swung my neck around to look at him, confusion written all over my face.
“This.” He gestured between the two of us and especially at my hand.
“It’s not like you were being a provocative asshole who kept trying to goad me.” I shrugged as I gave him an awkward smile.
Okay, I wasn’t sure where the change of heart was coming from, and I didn’t know how to react to it.
“Yes, but if I had just calmed down initially, he wouldn’t have felt the need to goad either of us, and you wouldn’t have had to punch him,” Alex reasoned. “Thank you for doing that for me.”
I raised an eyebrow and snorted. “I didn’t do that for you. I did it for me.”
Alex smirked. “There’s no need for us to lie to each other, Sandra. You can admit it.”
“There’s nothing to admit,” I insisted.
“Alright,” he acquiesced, far too easily as his smirk grew larger, and his eyes sparkled mischievously.
“Stop that,” I warned as I waggled a finger at him.
“Stop what?” he asked, innocently as he spread his arms out in a gesture of peace and solidarity.
“Stop acting like you believe me when you clearly don’t.” I scowled, darkly. “As you said, there’s no need to lie to each other.”
A brief laugh escaped Alex’s lips. “Yes, but I believe that you believe yourself, and isn’t that the most important thing?”
“That sounds patronizing,” I countered.
“There’s no winning with you, is there?” Alex threw his hands up in the air in surrender and gave me an exasperated look.
“No, I’m not like that,” I said, defensively.
“Do I have to be an ‘Oh shucks’ doctor to please you?” he said, sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and ran his hands through his hair.
“Excuse me? Do you have to be a what now?” My eyebrows climbed to my hairline.
I was seriously confused.
What the hell was he blathering on about?
Dr. Sam had been nothing but nice and accommodating, so why he was choosing to make fun of him?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was jealous, but the mere notion of the idea was preposterous. One, because he had nothing to be jealous of. Sam was attractive, but he didn’t hold a candle to Alex. Two because I wasn’t drawn to Sam the same way I was drawn to Alex although they were both ridiculously attractive.
And third, and probably the most important reason is because we weren’t dating. We’d only had two conversations, one of which he spent ogling my ass. How did that mean he was entitled to his feelings?
<
br /> “Never mind,” he grumbled.
“No, go ahead and say it,” I dared him as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Make fun of the doctor who’s done nothing but try to do his job and be helpful because of something that escalated since you couldn’t keep your temper in check.”
Alex’s eyes darkened. “I couldn’t keep my temper in check? You’re the one who went outside alone.”
“I wasn’t aware that was grounds for molestation now,” I countered, hotly as my voice rose slightly in pitch. I drew in a ragged breath and told myself to calm down before we attracted unwanted attention which was the last thing either of us seemed to want.
“It’s not, but honestly when you do something as stupid as go out by yourself when you saw how that bunch was acting—”
“Are you calling me stupid now?” I interrupted as I bristled with barely concealed rage. How dare he?!
He had no right whatsoever to call me that.
I wasn’t going to live my life in fear because men couldn’t grasp the basic concept of the word ‘no’.
“I didn’t call you stupid. I said your actions are stupid,” he corrected, his voice condescending.
“Oh, you mean like picking a man up by the scruff of his neck and dropping him to the ground when he was threatening to sue?”
“That was done in the heat of the moment,” Alex argued, his face turning slightly red with embarrassment.
I had him there.
He knew he was acting unprofessionally, and he didn’t want to be called out on it.
Well, tough.
Because with the way I was feeling, I was going for blood.
“That doesn’t make it any less stupid,” I half whispered, half yelled as I kept my eye on the door, hoping that Dr. Sam didn’t just walk in all of a sudden and witness this.
Whatever this was.
I wasn’t even sure why we were arguing.
Emotions were clearly running high, and we’d both said and done stupid things. What was the point of pointing fingers when it would neither change the outcome, nor make either of us feel better?
If anything, it was going to make things worse.
Alex had taken a step forward at that point, and he was only centimeters away as his chest rose and fell unevenly. My own breathing came out in short hollow gasps due to the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Suddenly, a whiff of his cologne hit my nostrils, the crisp spicy smell of him, and I felt my heart skip a beat.
Damn it, Sandy. Get it together.
You aren’t going to come undone and go weak in the knees when the man was acting a prehistoric Neanderthal.
“You didn’t have to punch him,” Alex pointed out, stubbornly, refusing to let the argument go.
I groaned as I placed my head in my good hand and began massaging my temples. “Okay, we both clearly need to take a beat because we’re snapping at each other when there’s no reason to be. Neither of us stand to gain anything by doing this.”
I was staring at a spot on the floor as I tried to get my wits about me. I heard Alex shudder as he took a deep breath and released it. His entire body sagged under the weight, and relief began to course through me.
If he calmed down, there was a higher chance that I was going to calm down too because he was the one who’d started it, and my response was a knee jerk reaction.
It was a bad impulse, but he was able to get under my skin entirely too quickly for a man I’d just met.
I didn’t like that one bit.
That feeling that someone might challenge the tightly exercised control I kept.
It was unnerving to say the least.
And I didn’t plan on letting it continue.
“You’re right,” Alex admitted, quietly as he ran his hands through his hair. I peeked up at him through my fingers, and I lifted my head up to look at him.
“It’s been a long night. We’re both on edge understandably.”
“You have right to be. I, on the other hand, am completely out of line, and for that I am sorry,” he apologized, his expression boring into mine. “I couldn’t not help though.”
“I’m not some helpless damsel in distress, Alex. I can handle myself,” I reminded him, gently.
The vulnerable expression on his face was making me uncomfortable.
“Yeah, you’ve more than proved that. Especially with that punch.” Alex smiled. “That’s the only good part about not being able to beat the shit out of him.”
“How are you a lawyer again?” I asked, playfully. “Aren’t you supposed to be in complete control when it comes to things like this otherwise you lose it in court, and you might get disbarred?”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “I see someone knows their law jargon.”
“Nah, I just watch a lot of crime shows. CSI, Suits, and more recently How to get away with murder.”
“No, maybe, and arguably the best one on that list. Out of all of them, the most compelling though also the least accurate is the last one. It’s an addiction though,” Alex confessed. “Though you can’t tell anyone that I’m a Shonda Rhimes fan. They would never let me live it down.”
“There goes my letter to the association. Dear members of the committee, it is in your best interest to know that one Alex Coldwell secretly lives in Shondaland,” I began as he pretended to squirm, and he ducked his head.
I liked this side of Alex.
It pained me to admit it because he was probably not this nice in real life. I probably wouldn’t even have liked him if I’d met him under a different set of circumstances, but here we were.
“I’ll have to play dumb then. It’s my word against yours,” Alex joked, a smile playing on the edge of his lips.
“I’m a common everyday person. I’m far more relatable than the attractive hotshot lawyer with far too much charisma to be honest,” I blurted out.
My eyes widened in surprise as I realized what I said. The words were out of my mouth before I’d even realized it.
Alex’s face broke out into a sexy grin as he crossed his arms over his chest, drawing attention to his muscles in the process. “So, you think I’m hot, huh?”
“I said attractive, not hot,” I corrected as my face burned red with shame.
Yeah, now I suddenly wanted the doctor to come back.
What was taking him so bloody long?
It wasn’t like he was waiting for paint to dry. I wanted to get out of her as fast as I could and never look at Alex Coldwell again for the remainder of my days. Well, maybe not look was an exaggeration. I wasn’t going to deny myself that simply pleasure.
I could refrain from talking to him though.
Checking out his ass and his pecs didn’t require me to open my mouth and say anything.
That was a definite perk which was fine by me. Then I can avoid the verbal diarrhea that just transpired.
“You say potato, I say potato,” he said, highlighting the difference between the American and British pronunciations.
“No, it’s not even close,” I hissed as I felt the blush creep up my neck as my eyes snapped to meet his. My own hazel eyes were wide and embarrassed whereas his baby blue ones were confident and curious.
“It’s what I heard,” Alex intoned.
“Then you have selective hearing,” I muttered as my eyes stayed glued on his. For some reason, I was unable to break our gaze, and I knew I needed to do especially when he took a step closer, and we were suddenly chest to chest.
So close, I could see the hair on his forearms, and every individual fleck of color in his eyes.
I gulped visibly as I told myself to lean backwards. My traitorous body wasn’t responding though. It just stayed rooted to the spot, determined to soak up as much of this as possible before I dragged it back.
“That’s okay. I can live with that,” Alex murmured, softly as his hands dropped to his side. One hand slowly rose up to cup my face, and he brushed the pad of his thumb ever so softly against my skin.
My body’s
reaction to his was not normal. I leaned forward and melted into his touch.
“What are you doing?” I mouthed.
“I just wanted to touch you,” he whispered, softly as his thumb continued to skim over my features. “Sandra I—”
The door swung open, and I hastily jumped back as if we’d been caught doing something we shouldn’t do.
Which wasn’t true.
We were both consenting adults, and there was nothing wrong with touching.
My body hummed with suppressed energy, the current of his touch swarming through me as Dr. Sam looked up from his clipboard and smiled.
“Alrighty, sorry that took a while, but you are ready to go as soon as I hand over those prescriptions.”
He jotted down the information and ripped the paper from the clipboard. I hopped off the chair and held out my hand.
“Thank you, Doc,” I said, gratefully.
“You’re most welcome. You’ll need to come back in two weeks, so I can make sure everything is okay, but yeah, you’re free to go.” He stepped aside and held the door wide open.
I nodded and passed through it. On his way out, Alex and Sam shared a look that I couldn’t quite decipher.
Chapter 4
The car ride home was spent in silence.
Tension was so thick you could cut through it with a knife. As soon as I got into Alex’s posh BMW, I sunk into the leather seats and sighed.
It was a nice car, and I was going to enjoy riding in it for as long as possible. It even smelled expensive. Like leather seats and expensive cologne.
Alex got into the car and asked me for my address without ever looking at my face. I bit my lip as I gave him the address and pressed my head against the door and stared out the window.
I knew why I was quiet, but why was Alex quiet?
Did he regret what happened back there?
Did I?
I wanted to say that his touch didn’t affect me, but it did. And it made no sense especially considering what I’d been through earlier in the night. I would’ve thought it would traumatize me for a while, turn me off till I was able to get over it.
Yet, that didn’t seem to be the case.
I wasn’t sure if this was something I should be worried about considering this wasn’t a normal reaction. Though, if I was being honest I had to speculate over whether it wasn’t normal because society said so, or because I genuinely believed that.
