by Nicole Casey
Room 316 was just around the corner but as soon as I entered the hallway I saw a group of other nurses all huddled close to the door.
“What are you three doing here?” I asked as I approached them.
Mikaela looked at me and pointed towards Room 316. “You won’t believe who’s checked in.”
“Are you checking him out?” Jennifer asked me. She had those ridiculous earrings on again. I thought Robert already scolded her about wearing jewelry while on the job? “Please let us check him out. I only got to talk to him once and that was just to follow up on his chart.”
Karen pinched Jennifer’s arm and shook her head before she faced me and said, “No. I should be the one to check him out because I’m the one who checked him in.”
“You guys have gone completely nuts,” I said and ignored all three. I walked into the room and instantly, I understood why they were going bonkers over this one patient.
He was every woman’s fantasy come to life.
He was the embodiment of the saying “tall, dark and handsome” and even had a big, muscular body to support his dashing looks.
When I walked in, he was busy talking to someone on the phone. He didn’t even notice I was there.
“Huh? No, I don’t care about the expenses,” he told the person on the other end of the call. “I can pay for it all. Yes, I got this.”
I didn’t want to wait that long, however, and walked to his bed so he could see I was there. He just continued blabbering on the phone and it wasn’t until a few moments more that he noticed me standing there.
“Sure, we can assess that when I get to the office and…” he trailed off the moment he saw me. I watched as his devilish blue eyes studied me from head to toe.
Wait, was he checking me out? I could feel the flames begin to rage inside me when I realized he was staring at my legs and my chest. When I opened my mouth to say something he just gave me a wink and a smile.
“I’ll call you back,” he ended his call and then looked at me with a big smile on his face. “What can I do for you, baby?”
Did he just call me baby? My jaw dropped and I just stared at him, appalled at just how much arrogance and pride could be stuffed into one human being.
“Yeah, I know I’m hot,” he finally said and snapped me back to reality. “However, I do see you holding papers. Does this mean I can go? I have an important meeting to attend. Unless, you know, you got plans to keep me here and let me stare at you for a day or two.”
I couldn’t even believe the balls on this guy. I raised an eyebrow and shoved the papers to his face. With a sarcastic tone and my eyes shut, I said, “Here’s your billing and check out papers. Please go over them and sign them so we can help you out.”
“I don’t think I’m fit enough to leave,” he replied as he looked at me one more time. I could feel his gaze undressing me.
That made me wonder why he got admitted into the hospital in the first place. I checked his documents and saw he only sprained a wrist while moving boxes. I rolled my eyes and said, “Mr. Preston Maxwell, you’re fine. A sprained wrist is a million miles away from a dying kidney. Doc Rubens already cleared you out.”
For a moment I thought I got him, but to my surprise, he just chuckled and looked at me and said, “Snarky. I like a woman who’s got some fire in her.”
“Oh, for the love of God!” I exclaimed – maybe a little too loudly. I quickly gathered back my composure, grit my teeth to calm down and then once more handed him his discharge papers. “Please, Mr. Maxwell, just look this over so I can go. I’ve got other patients to attend to.”
Luckily, he didn’t try to fool around much longer and he did sign the papers. I took them back and walked my way to the door. At the last moment, maybe due to a gut feeling or because I did want to get one more look at him, I turned around… and he was looking right back at me.
“See ya around,” he said with a wink and nod. His gaze wasn’t on my face but on my ass. I didn’t know if I should’ve been flattered or enraged. His stare did painfully remind me that I was wearing a really tight uniform.
“Ugh, you’re impossible,” I said, mostly to myself than to Preston. I waved farewell and walked out the door.
As soon as I closed the door my co-nurses flocked to me and started asking questions. Did I find where he hangs out? Did he ask me out? Is he still single? What kind of girl does he like?
I tried my best to avoid their constant bugging and soon enough I pushed Preston Maxwell out of my mind. The hospital was a busy place and I had so many other patients to attend to.
2
Preston
“Thank you sir,” I told the old, retiring CEO of Emerald Corner as I shook his hand. I winced when he gripped a little too tight. My wrist was still a little paining but I at least could still move around to sign papers and all.
“No, thank you,” he replied as we all stood up and began to leave the conference room. Around fourteen other people – Emerald Corner’s board of directors and a few of my own people – began filing out the door. “If it wasn’t for you I’d have to lay off a lot of people.”
I grinned back and acknowledged that sentiment. “We’ll have to do a little shuffling but I assure you we won’t be firing anyone.”
He let out a sigh of relief, and once he was walking down the hallway, I bid farewell to my employees and took the next elevator back down. It wasn’t a solitary trip, however, as I found myself accompanied by a stunning young woman in a short pencil skirt.
Damn, she’s got really nice legs. I couldn’t help but stare. Who cares if she spotted me? She looked like someone who could appreciate a good-looking man like me.
“Hey there darling,” I spoke up and she turned around. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw her almost immediately biting down on her lip when she recognized me. She had the most delightful pair of green eyes and long blonde hair too. It was like someone took a perfect beauty model and stuffed her in an office elevator just for me. It was like Christmas in June.
“O-oh, hi there sir,” she purred like a kitten and never took her eyes off me. “You’re Mr. Maxwell, right?”
I gave a nod and gestured with my finger for her to move in closer. She did.
“Oh my,” she said with exaggeration. She pushed her hair back, allowing me to get a better view of her neck and her cleavage. It was like she was begging for me to take her, right there in the elevator. “I guess with you acquiring our company, you’re going to be my new boss soon.”
Purely by instinct, I took a step forward and gave her a long, passionate kiss. I could feel her body tense when I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in closer. Her lips parted and our tongues clashed as I deepened my kiss further… and then I backed away, just a second before the elevator rang and the doors opened.
“I’ll see you around,” I teased with a smile and wink. I walked out of the elevator as she got busy fixing herself, tugging on her blouse and skirt before she would walk out and get back to work. When I looked back one more time, she had a gigantic smile on her face and that alone was worth the effort.
Once I got into my car and back on the road, I realized how early it was. I couldn’t believe I managed to hurt my hand, get stuck in a hospital and go back to work all before rush hour in the afternoon.
Thinking about the hospital made me think of that nurse. Damn, she was a snarky little bitch but she was really cute and petite too. Petite girls were always the best ones; they were always so wild and so fucking tight. I could already imagine how that nurse’s tight pussy would squeeze my dick when I get the chance to fuck her.
Fuck, that thought was turning me on.
Buzz!
I slowed down as I reached for my phone. It was my friend, Trevor. Somehow all my buddies found out I just acquired Emerald Corner and were inviting me to celebrate. Well, I could use a few drinks and maybe a dance with a few random babes.
With a big smile I took a left turn at the next intersection and headed for Trevor�
�s bar and restaurant, Mercury Wild.
“Here’s to your success,” Trevor raised his glass of wine.
I looked around as the men seated at the table. I smiled and then raised my glass and said, “Here’s to your success too. Here’s to your fiancée and here’s to the success of Mercury Wild.”
“Cheers!” everyone cried out and drank.
I was really thankful to be here. Marcus was here; he worked at a bank. Dylan was one of our closest friends and he was a big deal real estate broker. Seated beside me was Damon, an actual professional football player. I only just recently got to know him but so far he’s turned out to be a really chill guy. Then there was Daxter. He used to be a firefighter but one day he saved a woman who turned out to be an agent for a modeling company. She figured he was hot – I guess he should be since girls were always flocking to him – and he became a model.
Out of our whole group, Trevor was the one with the biggest success. Sure, he wasn’t as financially successful as Dylan or Damon but his fiancée, Jasmine, made all the difference. Ever since she came into his life, things turned up for the better.
Mercury Wild really grew in popularity and it was all her doing. Just a few months back it was down in the gutter and the owner, Trevor Wild, had to wipe tables and serve customers himself because he only had a handful of workers. Then Jasmine came. She worked for a business consultancy agency and it was her ideas that made his business bloom.
“Hey, where’s Jasmine?” I asked Trevor as soon as I finished my drink.
“She’s doing some QA work with the bookkeeper. You know, you ought to get a girl like her, man.”
“We all wish we had a girl like yours,” Marcus commented and everyone agreed.
Right now, I didn’t need a girl like Jasmine. I just wanted someone like that goddamn nurse. Even now I could picture her in my head… I could still see her jet-black hair, milky white skin and that tight, firm body wrapped in that kinky nurse uniform.
But fuck it. She may look like my type but she was also a freaking uptight bitch. She had a sarcastic mouth and she seemed a little too prim and proper. She reminded me of those know-it-all church girls who lose their virginity at forty-five. That nurse needed a proper fucking.
“Hey, Pres,” Dylan nudged me with an elbow. “You okay? You look pretty down, dude. You should be celebrating.”
“Oh, yeah man, I’m fine,” I excused myself. “There’s just a lot on my mind.”
3
Lyla
TWO MONTHS LATER
What was that incessant ringing? My eyes fluttered open as my mind tried to process the annoying sound echoing in my room. I turned to the bedside table and saw my phone lighting up. Someone was calling.
“H-hello?” I greeted as I answered the call. It was six in the morning on my day-off. There better be a damn good reason for waking me up like this. I just hoped it wasn’t the credit collectors; I still owed like over two grand in credit debt and I still owed my landlady two months of rent.
“Hello Lyla, it’s Robert,” his familiar deep voice echoed on the other line. It sounded like he was at work in the hospital.
Almost immediately, I sat up. Anytime my boss called me during my day-off, it either meant someone screwed up and I had to go to work or because someone was absent and I had to go to work. In the end, it just meant I had to give up my day off and work. I could already feel a groan growing inside me.
“Oh, good morning sir,” I tried to sound as calm as possible. “How can I help you?”
“I need you to come in later,” he told me. That one line hit me like an egg slamming against a speeding truck.
“What time sir?” I asked. I needed some time to get my uniform cleaned.
Then he hit me with a surprise. “Anytime during the day but it has to be today. I just need to talk to you and sign some papers.”
“Oh,” was all I could reply. “Uhh, sure sir, I’ll be there by eight.”
“Okay, thanks,” and he then ended the call, leaving me in silence and confusion.
What the heck was that about? That question pervaded my mind all throughout the morning. As I had my breakfast, showered and prepared to leave, all I could think about was Robert’s intentions. Was I getting promoted? Was he changing my shift? Was I getting demoted or something?
I didn’t want to waste time any further and drove my way to work, stopping only at a gas station to fill up my rackety old car and get a cup of coffee. When I did get to the hospital, I noticed some of the other nurses were looking at me strangely.
Was there something wrong with my face? Did they know something I didn’t?
I knocked at Robert’s house and he immediately opened it for me and welcomed me to sit by his desk.
“Good morning sir,” I greeted.
“Morning, Ms. Bishop,” he replied and took out a few sheets of paper from his desk drawer. He then handed them to me and continued on, “This hospital is going through some changes. I assume you’ve seen us start bringing in new equipment and altering the Southeast Wing to be a brand new recuperation center for patients undergoing chemotherapy.”
“Y-yes sir,” I answered blankly as I began to go through these papers. There were a lot of legal terms in here, but there was one line that really shot me in the head: severance pay and final bonuses.
“That being said, we cannot afford to upgrade the hospital and keep everyone around,” he said with a heavy tone. Despite that I didn’t see an inch of melancholy on his face. “We basically have to let go of some of our employees and sadly, that includes you. You’ve done your best and you’re honestly one of our leading nurses but the fact is, we cannot afford you.”
Tears burned in my eyes but I grit my teeth and refused to cry in front of him. “W-what happens next, sir?”
“You’ll get your final salary as well as severance bonuses. This should give you enough until you’re able to find a new job.” Robert looked at me and forced a smile. “You’re what, twenty-four? You’re still really young, you’re smart and you’re a certified nurse. Any hospital, especially the bigger ones, will quickly pick you up. I’m sure about that.”
At least they were paying me for letting me go.
I shook his hand, thanked him for the opportunity and the three years of work. I departed and just sat in my car, stuck in the parking lot as I tried to process everything that just took place.
“This has got to be some kind of sick joke,” I whispered to myself, finally allowing the streams of tears to flow down my face. I had debts to pay, my rent was piling up on me and now I had no job to stay afloat a while longer. What the fuck was I going to do?
Dad might have a way to rescue me. He always had a backup plan.
Not wanting to waste time, I started the car and drove over to my dad’s house, located just in the outskirts of town. He was a retired veteran who spent most of his days at home so I didn’t even bother calling him to let him know I was coming.
When I got there, I found him on the porch, resting in his rocking chair playing video games on an iPad. That put a big smile on my face. At least my dad always had a sense of adventure and fun even in his old age.
“Hey,” I greeted as soon as I got out of the car and up the porch. I gave him a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek and sat down on a nearby stool.
“Oh, hey,” he greeted with a big smile. “Don’t you have work today, sweetie?”
“I don’t have a job anymore, dad,” I told him straight. “They called me in today to tell me I’ve been laid off. They’re cutting costs and they can’t afford me.”
He looked at me with those big, sad puppy eyes but even then he managed to smile and melt me inside. He reached forward and gave me a nice warm hug. “Don’t worry, baby. I can help you out if you need some money. You can always stay here if you can’t keep up with your apartment rent.”
I shook my head and pointed to his house, “Dad, I don’t want to be a burden on you.”
“You’re not,” he answered, eve
n though we both knew he was financially struggling too. He never had to admit it, but one glance at his house and I knew he was cutting costs, too. It looked even emptier than before; he had been living all alone since my mom died ten years ago. He did hire a helper to clean and attend to his needs. Now he couldn’t even afford to keep her. Both our lives were going down the drain.
I decided to let him have this one, “Okay, daddy. I promise to go straight to you if things get over my head… but you got to let me try and handle this by myself. I can go out there and find a new job. There are a lot of medical centers and hospitals. I’m sure I can land a spot somewhere.”
That seemed satisfactory enough for him. We both weren’t really convinced though, knowing how hard the economy had fallen in recent years, but I was a nurse after all. It shouldn’t be that impossible to get a job.
Content with the plan in mind, we headed inside for some snacks and to catch up with each other.
4
Preston
Trevor Wild was becoming a serious player in the field.
Here I was, back at the Mercury Wild, seated at a VIP corner. I had nothing left to do for the whole month – I had my executive assistants and staff do my job – and I spent most of my free time here, getting drunk and flirting with girls left and right.
It was during these lazy days that I learned Trevor was a force of nature that shouldn’t be toyed with. In just two months he and his girl have climbed the social ladder, befriending many of the elites and working their way into the upper circles. Everyone knew who he was now.
As for me, I was just happy to be his friend. He reminded me of myself, in one way or another –
