Filthy Boss

by Amy Brent

  Colton settled for sitting on a bench across from the class to wait. It was Thursday, so campus had been a little less crowded and there were fewer witnesses to the debacle on the grass. That was going to cause some talk, but Colton thought that they might be lucky, and people might not have overheard. It could be hockey. Thursday also meant that this class was longer than it would be had it been one of the other days.

  Fifteen minutes felt like hours as he fidgeted in his seat and he soon noticed the door opening and students pouring out into the hall. The crowd thinned, and he waited for her as he stared at the red peeling paint of the heavy wood. He stood as it opened again and Amy walked out with her eyes on the ground as she looked like she was ready to start crying right then and there. “Amy,” Colton spoke as she lifted her head to stare at him. “What’s going on?”

  “He found you,” She spoke more than questioned Colton and let out a resigned sigh. “Let’s go to yours. We need to talk alone.”

  They walked side by side to the building that housed their dorms, and he stole glances at her along the way. She dressed in some bright leggings and a black tunic that brushed the tops of her thighs with some high boots. Her face was clean of makeup, but she looked beautiful as he stared at her.

  Colton could feel the eyes on them as he opened the door and led her to his room at the end of the hallway. He hated rumors but at the moment he was dealing with something bigger than that. Colton closed out the world as he watched her go and sit on the bed as she looked up at him. “Do you hate me?”

  “For what?” Colton asked as surprise crossed her face.

  She turned her head slowly before she rested her head in her hands. “I…he didn’t tell you. I can’t believe it.” She took a deep breath and lifted her eyes again, filled with tears. “I’m pregnant, Colton. Just a few weeks but I have seen…it. I know it’s there, and I’m appalled at myself. I was never the girl that would have had two possible baby daddies. Never.”

  “Two?” Colton asked as his heart started to break apart inside of him.

  “I had a plan. I followed Trey here, and I was going to get my degree and live my life. It was so obvious that we might not make it, but I am a smart girl. I have a lot going for me until suddenly I don’t.” Amy spoke as if she was in a daze and he dropped to the floor in front of her. “I was with you both. You were so much more and so much better, but sometimes he’d just get to me and we…” Amy shook her head. “I think that there’s a better chance that it is yours since we did a few times without anything and even Trey wasn’t stupid enough to do that. But still…I don’t know.”

  Chapter 211

  “Amy…I want to be with you through this.” Colton found himself saying as he took her hands and stared into her confused face. “I love you. I denied it even as it was happening to me along the way. I know I did, but I do. I love you.”

  “What if this baby isn’t yours?” She asked as tears slid down her cheeks.

  “I don’t know. I guess we see, but I want to try with you. I don’t want you going through this alone and I sure as fuck don’t want anybody else. I haven’t for a long time now.”

  “I am already a size sixteen. I am going to blow up like a whale.” The tears were falling harder as she sniffled and he slipped his arms over her legs. “I am going to be a bitch and emotional and hate myself for what I did to both of you. I am going to agonize over the next few months until I can see this baby and know…I want it to be yours so bad.” Amy’s voice shook with need, and he pressed his head into her chest and breathed her in.

  “I do too. I just know that I want to be with you right here and right now. I can’t think past this moment.” Colton told her as they both moved close together and kissed each other hungrily. “How far along are you?” He kissed her again.

  “About eight weeks,” Amy replied against his lips as he cupped her face in his hands.

  “I hear that women are horny when they’re pregnant.”

  “Fuck, yes.” Amy breathed as he scooted her back onto the bed and carefully pressed her against the pillows. “I have been getting myself off the last few weeks.”

  “Jesus,” Colton muttered as he found her lips and slid his hands up her shirt. He knew that they didn’t have to be quiet now. Colton also knew that there would be a lot to clear up in the next few days, but right now he was where he wanted to be as he tasted her sweet kiss again and felt her smooth skin. “I love you.”

  “I love you. I have never loved anybody the way that I do you,” Amy whispered as he claimed her lips in a hard kiss.

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Amy and Colton couldn’t wait for the baby to arrive to know the truth. All three took the steps to set up a paternity test within a couple of months and Colton threw the papers in the air when he saw that it was his baby. He still felt bad for Trey and the fact that he and Amy had betrayed him. That would always bother him, but he and Trey had moved past it and worked together on the ice just fine.

  They were both spotlighted by the scouts along with a couple of other guys. Trey went to Washington and Colton was pleased to find out that he would be staying here in town and playing with the team that he had dinner with so long ago. He smiled through the draft as he glanced around at all of the up and coming players, excited about his future and not just this aspect of it.

  Amy was home in their condo with her mother as she grew close to her due date with their daughter. She claimed to be fat and ugly, but he had never found her so beautiful in his life than when she was heavy with his baby. He was also protective and spoiled her every chance that he got, and Amy told him that is why she fell more in love with him by the day.

  They hadn’t discussed marriage too seriously yet, but Colton knew the day was coming where he would propose. Hell, he might do it in the hospital room.

  When he went to meet his new coach and collect his shirt, Colton held it against him and grinned as cheers filled the room. He could feel her in the room with him as he watched the cameras flash and shook hands with the men around him.

  The future was going to be amazing.

  THE END

  Play Me

  Dr. Sharise Johnson was having a slow night in the emergency room of the West Woodbury Memorial Hospital. She'd been there for almost eight hours, and so far all she'd had to deal with was a man who'd cut himself with a kitchen knife was slicing vegetables at a local restaurant, an elderly woman brought in for dehydration and dizziness, and a pair of paranoid new parents who'd brought their newborn in for what had turned out to be a simple rash. She'd stitched up the first man's cut without any problems, gotten the old woman onto an IV drip to get some fluids into her, and then given the last patients some cream and an informational pamphlet on common infant health concerns, so they hopefully wouldn't overreact next time their child had a simple medical issue that they could handle at home.

  She was sitting in the back room and chatting with a couple of the nurses. They were all Game of Thrones fans, though Sharise was the only one who had actually read the books. She had been trying to convince the others to pick up the books for years, but so far, she had never had any luck. Over the last few seasons of the show, she'd had to bite her tongue on more than one occasion to avoid revealing spoilers to her friends. Though since the new season was starting before the next book came out, the tables were about to be turned.

  “I'm not even going to watch it,” Sharise said as she went over a few patient charts. “I need to read the book first. I'll wait to catch up on the show until after the book comes out.”

  “But aren't those books like, a thousand pages long?” Linda asked. She was one of the younger nurses, fresh out of school. “I've never read anything that long in my life.”

  “You read Harry Potter, didn't you?” Sharise asked. “Add all of those together and it's over a thousand pages. Probably two of them together is the same as one of Martin's books.” She had never approved of people being lazy when it came to reading. A good bo
ok deserved the time and attention that a person devoted to it. Her mama had taught her that when she was young. Mama would read to her almost every night, and it was a big part of why she'd developed into someone who cared about learning. Sharise knew she wouldn't have gotten through medical school without that sort of dedication.

  “I don't know,” Linda said, shrugging. “I don't see why you'd read the books when you can just watch the show.”

  Sharise rolled her eyes. They'd had variations of this conversation on more than one occasion. Sometimes Sharise didn't know why she bothered trying to convince Linda to broaden her horizons. But she didn't get the chance to argue the point further, because just then, the doors to the ER opened and two men came rushing in, carrying a third man between them.

  “Help!” one of them called out. “We need help. I think his leg is broken.”

  Sharise and her staff dropped what they were doing and rushed into action. Linda and another nurse rolled a gurney out, and they helped the men deposit their friend onto it.

  “What happened?” Sharise asked. She checked the man's pulse and did a quick visual examination. His left leg was bloody, and he was clearly in a lot of pain. The patient was the athletic type, with a good physique and muscular legs. He was also covered in mud.

  “We're Mudders,” one of the men said. “He slipped on the trail and took a bad fall.”

  “Mudders?” Sharise asked.

  “Tough Mudders. Runners. Ten mile outdoor obstacle course.”

  That told Sharise enough. They started pushing the gurney back into the operating area. “Does he have any allergies to any medication? Any medical conditions we should be aware of?”

  “Umm.” The two men exchanged a panic look. Both of them looked pale and sweaty. The first man shook his head. “I...I don't think so. Not that I know of.”

  “Okay, you'll have to wait here. We'll take care of him.”

  Sharise left the two men in the waiting area, where one of the receptionists started getting more information from them. Sharise and her staff focused their efforts on the patient. They cut off his pants to get easier access to his wounded leg. It was purple and swollen, and Sharise didn't need an x-ray to determine that it was definitely broken.

  They gave the man something for the pain before getting to work. His eyes started to glaze over. Just before the medication knocked him out, he looked up at Sharise and said, “I'm in good hands, right Doc? Don't tell me I won't be running again.”

  “You're going to be just fine,” Sharise said. She pressed a hand over his forehead and smiled at him. He was an attractive man, underneath all of that mud. “Just relax, and we're going to take good care of you.”

  The man gave her a grateful nod, then laid his head back. Within a few moments, the medication knocked him out.

  Hours later, the man started to wake up while Sharise was standing by his bed. Fixing up his leg had been a fairly straightforward procedure, as such things went. Fortunately for him, he was in good shape, and the break hadn't been a bad one. His leg was in a cast and hanging from a sling attached to a metal pole that hung over the bed. The nurses had cleaned all of the mud off of him, revealing a number of other scrapes and bruises, though none had been particularly bad. The rest of his scrapes had been treated with antibiotic ointment and bandaged up, and would heal in no time.

  He opened his eyes and look up at Sharise, his eyes a bit droopy. The medication he was on would keep him groggy for a bit longer. She gave him an encouraging smile while she made a few notes on his chart. She still hadn't had a chance to introduce herself yet, but his friends had identified him as Benjamin Caldwell.

  “Mr. Caldwell,” Sharise said. “How are you feeling?”

  He looked around a bit woozily, taking notice of the cast on his leg. “Not bad, I guess. There's a dull ache.”

  “You can thank the medication for that,” she said. “And lucky for you, it was a clean break. It could have been a lot worse.”

  “How long until I'm back on my feet?” he asked.

  “You'll be on crutches for a few weeks,” Sharise said. “But after that, you can switch to a medical boot you can walk in and take off at night.”

  “A few weeks?” He sat up in the bed, shaking his head. “No. No way. Sorry, Doc, I've got a big race coming up. I've got to be in shape.”

  Sharise held Ben's chart at her waist and gave him her most stern look. “Mr. Caldwell, you need to give your leg time to heal. If you push yourself too hard, it could fracture again, and be even worse next time. If that happens, you might never run again. I'm sure you don't want that.”

  He leaned back in the bed, looking her over. There was something in his eyes that was different from what she was used to seeing in her patients. Like he was admiring the way she stood up to him. The look threw her off balance, and she felt the hints of a blush start rising into her cheeks. “Well, no offense, Doc, but I think I'll have my regular physician give me a second opinion. This isn't the first time I've been hurt. I can't afford to be out of this race.”

  Sharise shook her head and hung Ben's chart back up on the wall. “You're free to do as you like, Mr. Caldwell. But I recommend taking it easy. I'm sure this race is important to you, but it's not worth permanently crippling yourself over.”

  He smirked at her. “We'll see. And please, call be Ben.”

  She turned to leave, but stopped when he caught her eye. They shared a look for a moment, and his gaze was so steady, so sure of himself, that for a moment, she couldn't look away. Her face heated up and she cleared her throat. “Well, Ben, try to get some rest. You'll be discharged in the morning. If you need anything, just buzz the nurse.”

  “Thanks. Oh, and Doc?”

  Sharise paused in the door and turned back towards him. He looked deep into her eyes again, a confident grin on his lips.

  “I never got the name of the lovely lady who saved my leg.”

  Her face heated up again. It wasn't often people called her “lovely.” She didn't exactly have the kind of tall, thin figure that the media portrayed as the standard of beauty these days. “My name's Sharise,” she said. “Or Dr. Johnson, if you prefer.”

  A mischievous smile spread on his lips. “Oh, I definitely prefer Sharise. It has a lot more character.”

  He held her gaze for another long moment. She tried to think of something to say, but the tone in his voice and the look in his eyes had her flustered. Finally, she cleared her throat and said, “Good night, Mr. Caldwell. Ben.”

  “Goodnight, Sharise.”

  She left his room, then put in her final reports so she could go home for the night. She had been at the hospital for more than twelve hours, but that was how it went sometimes. Though now she was ready to go home, take a nice long shower, and try to get some rest before she had to be back for another long and grueling shift. One of the downsides to being an emergency room doctor was that sometimes she worked such long shifts that she never seemed to get enough rest.

  Sharise didn't see Ben again for several weeks. She hadn't really expected to run into him again at all. As an emergency room doctor, she was used to seeing patients once, usually when they were having a particularly bad day, then never seeing them again. Sometimes she had thought about switching her profession to family practice, in order to build bigger bonds with her patients. But she knew she did good work, and she was glad to have the job she had.

  Fortunately, Sharise's next encounter with Ben wasn't an emergency. It came after a chat she had with Linda one day while they were on their lunch break. Sharise still hadn't forgotten about her encounter with Ben, and while she sat with Linda over lunch, she brought up a question that had been bugging her since that day.

  “Hey,” Sharise said. “Have you ever heard of this 'Tough Mudder' thing?”

  “Oh!” Linda clapped her hands together, a big grin on her face. “Yes, I have. One of my cousins does it. It's completely nuts.”

  “What is it, exactly?” Sharise asked. All she knew was what B
en's friends had said about it being some kind of outdoor obstacle course racing. She had never been much of a sports person, and she didn't really know the difference between this kind of race and any other.

  “Well, they do some of the most extreme racing out there. It's all about endurance and psychological strength.”

  “Psychological?” Sharise asked with a frown. “For a race?” She didn't understand how psychology had anything to do with running a race. It didn't make much sense to her.

  “Well, it's based on military training courses, taken to an extreme.” Linda pulled out her phone and booted up a website about it, then showed it to Sharise. “They have to do crazy stuff like swimming through ice water, crawling under electrified wires, running through mud, climbing a huge wall, squeezing through narrow pipes, and all sorts of other stuff. It's hard, it's super scary, and it takes an immense amount of training. Some of the racers don't make it through not because they can't handle it physically, but because they don't have the guts to face some of the challenges.”

  Sharise scrolled through the descriptions on the website, looking at some of the pictures of people running through the crazy obstacle courses. She couldn't begin to imagine participating in that sort of thing. She had never been a particularly athletic sort, though she at least tried to keep herself in decent shape. She had some extra pounds packed onto her graceful ebony curves, but she was a healthy girl. The idea of running through this sort of obstacle course made her feel out of breath just thinking about it.

  “You should come out and watch sometime,” Linda said. “My cousin is competing in a race next week. He's been training for months. This is the first time he's going to an official event. It's a lot of fun to watch.”

  “I don't know,” Sharise said. “I'm not sure if that's my sort of thing.” She didn't even like going to football games or that sort of thing. An extreme race like this sounded like more than she could handle.