Under The Covers

by Weston Parker

  "What happened with her and Nolan, Terrance? Come on, man. She hates my fucking guts, and she doesn't even know me."

  He smiled. "Maybe she doesn't like your kind."

  "White guys with good teeth and great hair?" I gave him a toothy grin and ran my fingers through my hair. "I don't want to fuck things up with her any more than I already have. Tell my why she divorced the big guy. It's obvious that they still have feelings for each other."

  "Feelings is a strong word." He took another sip of his coffee before glancing around. "I don't know the true reason. None of us do, but word on the street is that she wanted kids and he didn't, so he fucked it up for her."

  "Fucked it up how?"

  He gave me a look like I'd already borrowed his car and fucked his sister for the night. "Really?"

  "Yes, really. I want the scoop. I need this woman to like me. At least in a platonic work way. She hates me, and I did nothing. I don't want that shit getting back to Aiden. He'll be pissed at me or think she's bat-shit crazy. Neither option works in my book. Help a brother out."

  He rolled his eyes. "I think he got a vasectomy and didn't tell her. She wanted kids, man. She's like thirty-five now."

  "And?" I picked up my coffee and leaned back as something inside of me loosened a little. She was hurting, and it wasn't about me. Thank God. It had everything to do with what she felt like she missed out on. What a crock of shit. "Women have kids in their fifties. She's in amazing shape. She can still have kids."

  "She's not married anymore, Parks. She'd have to find someone and fall in love. That shit takes time."

  "She doesn't need a man." I took a long drink of my coffee. "She needs sperm."

  "Dude. Don't suggest that shit."

  "So why do you think she has this hate Parks thing going on?"

  "Because you are young and vital? Maybe she feels like it's not fair because you fuck around and if she were given the chance to be your age again, she would do things differently? Maybe you represent what she can't have."

  I leaned across the table and lowered my voice. "She could have me any night of the week. Hear me? Hook me up."

  "What? No. Not a chance in hell." He stood up. "I love you like a brother, but my family ain't that close. Figure that shit out on your own, and I'm telling you that if this was me, and I was you, I'd leave it alone. Do what you came to do and get the fuck outta here. She's in a lot of pain and not at all the woman I started working with five years ago."

  I stood up too and glanced toward the back of the cafeteria to see her walk in. Her head was down as if she were studying something on the floor while she walked. My heart ached to figure out a way to heal her, but why? Because she was Aiden's sister. That was the only reason I was putting up with her shit. Fear of being fired or reprimanded wasn't something that kept me up at night.

  Fucking things up with Aiden, who I respected and cared about? Absolutely.

  "Alright. Thanks, man." I patted his shoulder and walked toward her.

  "Don't do it, Parks."

  I lifted my hand and waved. I did what I wanted to do. Everyone who knew me knew that all too well. "Thanks for the advice."

  She turned and lifted her chin a little as I walked toward her.

  "Morning, Doctor Parks." She averted her eyes and turned back to the packaged muffins she seemed to be interested in all of a sudden. Something was off, but what?

  "Morning." I moved up beside her and took a long drink of my coffee. "I wanted to apologize."

  "For what?" She glanced my way but quickly turned back to her breakfast choices. Had something happened last night? Did she and Aiden talk about me?

  That I cared was fucked up enough. Combine that with the fact that my dick was twitching and thickening because of her nearness, and I was fucked before I even got started.

  "For being in your space yesterday." I wanted to reach out and touch her, but I forced myself not to. We didn't know each other, and no matter how much I thought I wanted to change that, it was for the better that I didn't. I wasn't looking for a relationship, but instead a long night of hearing her scream my name.

  "Apology not accepted." She picked up a muffin and turned, walking to the register. My eyes moved down the sensual curve of her ass. How beautiful she must have been bare and spread out on a bed. I couldn't imagine the things Nolan had done to her, the way he'd made her come a million times. Jealousy raged through me, which shocked me a little.

  Oh hell no. It was time to tuck tail and run like a scalded little bitch.

  "Come on, Ans. Don't be so hard on me, hm?" I moved up beside her and offered the cashier a warm smile. "I'm here to help."

  "Good, then get up to the residence welcome on the fourth floor. You should have already been there." She walked away from me, and I should have let it go, but I couldn't.

  I moved in front of her and pressed my fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up at me. "What's going on with you? This can't be about me."

  "Get your hands off of me and back up."

  "Step back, and my hands won't be on you." I lowered my chin a little, looking into her eyes and trying to find the real her. There was something beautiful behind the hurt. I wanted access to it. "What are you doing right now? Did something happen last night?"

  "Resident's welcome. Now, Jacob." She narrowed her eyes. She knew I didn't want to be called by my first name, and yet she did it anyway. If she knew the scars it pressed against; she might be alive enough not to hurt me so badly. I was a stranger, and yet the high level of emotion flowing between us had me believing that I wouldn't be for long if she would let her guard down.

  It was better that she didn't. Neither of us would have survived the love affair we might could have had.

  "It's Parks, but you knew that." I moved back and slipped my hand into my pocket. "I want my procedure reviewed from the surgery today. Let me know when it's done." I turned and walked toward the elevator, a torrent of various indecisions tearing me up inside.

  She needed a friend, but that couldn't be me. I wanted more, and I didn't even know the woman.

  Maybe it was time to call Aiden and figure out what the fuck was happening. Maybe he could shed some light on the situation.

  Soon. Not yet. I'd use him as a last resort and nothing else.

  I wasn't a teenage boy with my dick caught in a window. I was a grown ass man with the respect of my peers and the brightest career of anyone I knew. Whatever was going on with Ansley Crawford was none of my fucking business.

  Too bad I didn't believe a bit of that bullshit.

  10

  Ansley

  The tension between me and Parks was almost worse than it was between me and Nolan. I felt like I was living in the middle of a goddamn soap opera. It wasn't me at all, and just a few days since Parks had gotten there, I was growing weary.

  "You look like hell." Aiden smiled from my computer screen as I sat down with a cup of coffee and turned up the volume. We Skyped from time to time, just to stay in touch. Neither of us could seem to get away for a day to meet up. It was sad, but it was our lives.

  "Thanks." I ran my fingers through my hair and got them stuck in the tangles. He chuckled as I grumbled and worked out the tangles. "It's your fault."

  "Doubtful, but tell me why you believe that lie to be true." He lifted a perfect eyebrow, and I wished we were closer in proximity. He was my best friend outside of Gwen. It was weird to know that all I had was family, but maybe one day that would change. It just felt a little too scary to consider opening up to someone who wasn't.

  "You sent the hottest, most obnoxious surgeon I've ever met up here for a month. Why? What have I done to deserve this?" My voice was loud and dramatic, but I winked at the end to let him know that I hadn't completely gone off my rocker.

  "Ahhh... only four days and he's already under your skin." Aiden smiled and shook his head. "Just make sure he doesn't know that he has you where he wants you."

  "Where he wants me?" I lifted an eyebrow.

&nbs
p; "He wants all women to unravel around him." He shrugged. "If you were a guy, you'd know this trick well, but you're not."

  "Thank you, Captain Obvious." I reached for my coffee and blew on it as I watched my brother. "And he wants me unraveled because he likes knowing that he has an effect on us weak-willed women?"

  "Not at all. He wants to see you emotional so he can move in and save the day."

  I laughed. "He's the one fucking up the day!"

  "That's irrelevant."

  "So is me not showing him that he's got me pinned against a wall. I'm already a bit of a wreck having to work side by side with Nolan. Throwing Parks in the mix hasn't done me any favors."

  "That's your choice, Ansley. I told you that I could make a spot here for you at St. Marks. You always have choices. You're never stuck. You know this." His voice had shifted to sound like my father. Where I would bristle at his advice in my twenties, I rather welcomed it now.

  "I know." I took a sip of my coffee and sat it down. "I don't want Parks to unravel me, but it's not a hard feat nowadays. Nolan and I had another screaming match over me finally getting my name change back."

  "Nolan is hoping you're going to grow weary and give up the fight."

  "He might get his wish. I just want to have one day where I don't feel the need to rip someone's head off."

  "Then make that day today." He tilted his head a little to the side as if he were trying to diagnose my brand of crazy. Good luck to you.

  "How are things going down there?"

  "Great, but that's because I let things that don't matter slide off my chest."

  "I have tits. Things get stuck." I gave him a toothy grin.

  "Way more than I needed to know, but thank you for that. I might actually barf if you keep it up."

  "Now, that would make my day." I leaned back and let out a long sigh. "Show me the new surgeries that you have coming up, and I'll give my opinion as always. I have my files here for when you're done."

  "Excellent. Gwen would call us nerds if she knew we did this." He smiled and pulled up a file.

  "Let's never tell her. It's just our secret."

  "Like that cave you found near the coast when we were kids?" He glanced back at the screen as mischief filled his eyes.

  "You remember that?" I snorted and laughed as memories washed over me. Aiden and I had tons of secrets as kids, secrets from everyone else, but not each other. We protected one another, shared life and found adventures. He was my rock, my best friend, my brother.

  Now if I could find a good man like him to be my husband. Then life would be right.

  "Impossible." I glanced sideways at Parks as we stood outside the OR in the wash room, scrubbing in side by side for surgery.

  "No, it's not. I've done this surgery in two hours plenty of times." His smirk was insanely sexy.

  "Forgive me for being a doubter, Doctor Parks, but there's no way." I turned, and Nancy helped me into gloves and handed me my goggles and mask. "Nancy, have you ever heard of anyone doing this surgery in under four hours?"

  "Nope and four hours is fast from my experience." She leaned around me. "I think you're full of it, Doctor."

  Parks chuckled and moved up beside the both of us, sticking his hands out. It was nice not to be tense with him. The need to be etched away at me, but talking with Aiden had helped me calm down a little earlier that morning. Maybe I was taking out my angst on Parks because it was easier than being nice to the cocky bastard.

  "How about this," he paused and smiled over at me, "I do this one, and I do it in two hours."

  "Why does it sound like there's more to that statement?" Nancy asked, laughing before she left the two of us alone.

  "And what?" I turned to face him as excitement ran through my chest. Was he really capable of wrapping up the surgery in two hours? It would be a new record for our hospital. The very idea of seeing something so miraculous had my pulse spiked. Or maybe it was the handsome man with more tats and piercings than should have been allowed in the OR.

  He was a complete rebel, and some part of me yearned to be one too, but much like the time for kids had passed, so had the time for pipe dreams and acting youthful.

  "And if I wrap it up in two hours or under, you go out with me." He licked the side of his mouth, and fuck if my stomach didn't contract with a rush of tingles.

  "No." I turned and walked into the operating room to find our staff prepped and ready to go. "Not a chance."

  "You know you want to see this, Ans." He moved to the other side, and Henry lifted the scalpel.

  It was hard to breathe all of a sudden as I stood there in the middle of indecision. I wanted to go out with him, to have dinner and hear his story. Aiden loved him like a brother. Why? What was it about Parks that had my brother willing to bend over backward for him? That wasn't Aiden at all. There had to be more to this guy than I thought.

  "Who's performing the surgery?" Henry asked as he glanced between me and Parks.

  "It's just dinner." Parks smiled, and I knew I was in trouble. Fighting almost felt safer.

  "And if you don't do it under two hours?" I wanted to challenge the fuck out of him. A passion rolled through me that I couldn't remember feeling before.

  "Then I'll pack up my shit and leave." He winked at me.

  "Fine. Whatever. It's not going to happen anyway. This is impossible." I glanced over at Henry. "Let Doctor Parks take this one and wow us all as he's promised to do. It might just be the last time we have to put up with him."

  He ignored my jab. "To defeat the impossible, you have to first believe that it's possible, Ans." Parks took the scalpel and moved into place.

  I wanted to correct him, but I was lost to how delicious he looked in his scrubs, leaning over the patient, taking full charge in complete confidence that he was about to school us all.

  A huge part of me hoped he did.

  I moved in closer and watched, handing him instruments and supporting him alongside Henry until we were done. I glanced over my shoulder to see that he'd wrapped it up in just under two hours. My body flushed with a flurry of warmth, and I had no doubt that my cheeks and neck were stained pink.

  "Done." He moved back and smiled. "Let the heavens cry. This one isn't coming home today."

  "I like that." Nancy glanced over at me. "Just under two hours."

  "So it is." I moved in to inspect his work. It was impeccable as if Aiden were standing across the table from me. The scar would almost be unnoticeable once the woman's hair grew back along the base of her skull. "It's perfect."

  "I'll take that as a compliment." Parks turned and walked from the room, closing the door behind him.

  I nodded for Nancy to follow after and helped him wash up. Henry moved up on the other side of the table and leaned over to inspect the young doctor’s work as well.

  "I have to say, your brother has taught him well, Doctor Crawford."

  "Yes. He has." I glanced up and smiled. "Make sure not to compliment the cocky bastard too much, okay?"

  Henry laughed. "Anyone who is cocky at his age is being as such for a reason. He's thirty-one, Ansley, not twenty-one. He might look youthful, but he's not a boy. If he's still holding out the cocky card, then I would reckon that it's due to him protecting himself. Women only like cocky for a night."

  "Oh no. Not you too." My smile grew wider. "You've fallen for him."

  Henry moved back and laughed again. "I haven't, but I do believe you might."

  "He paid you, didn't he?" I finished my review and walked to the door as Henry gave me a few words of advice.

  "Ansley."

  I glanced over my shoulder. "Yes, old friend?"

  "When a doctor performs heart surgery, how many days is it before we force the patient to get up and walk, though it hurts so incredibly bad?" He pursed his lips.

  "As soon as they wake up and get through the first twenty-four hours."

  "Right. When something is broken and gets fixed, you don't wait for a complete healing to occur. You move
forward, and in the movement, the healing begins. Hear me?"

  Tears blurred my vision. I was so broken from my divorce, and the loss I believed would always be mine that I'd stopped breathing, stopped living for the last year. I nodded and turned to walk out.

  "Ha! I told you that I-" Parks bounced on his feet, but his expression softened as he caught a glimpse of me. "Ans. What's wrong?"

  "Nothing." I turned my face and wiped my tears on the sleeve of my scrubs. "Just a memory shared between me and Henry. I'm fine. Great job. You won."

  "You sure?" Nancy moved up beside me and helped me remove my gloves and other garb. "You need to talk?"

  "Nope." I grabbed some paper towels and wiped my eyes before turning to see Nolan walk into the room. Fucking great.

  "Doctor Parks. It's come to my attention that you've just broken a record." Nolan's voice boomed in the small room.

  I glanced back to see a new nurse standing on the other side of the glass, her smile so big it looked like it might crack her pretty face. She had been an extra in the surgery. It would seem she was trying to get Parks on her side. Too funny. Did she not know that he was a fuck 'em once and leave ‘em kind of guy? Doctor Feelgood didn't hang around for seconds.

  My nasty thoughts helped to push away my sensitivities thankfully.

  "Thanks so much. I have Aiden to thank for that. He pushes so hard that you make it or break in half trying," Parks responded.

  I started for the door, not wanting to partake in the ass-kissing ceremony. Nolan stopped me.

  "Doctor Crawford. Did you congratulate your brother's protégé? You might have a few things you could learn from him."

  Stopping, I turned and forced a smile on my face. "Of course I congratulated him. He did an incredible job." I glanced over at Parks, who funny enough, looked like he might be sick. "Feel free to teach me your wickedly talented ways anytime."

  "Ansley," Nolan started.

  I turned and walked out into the hallway, close to unraveling again.