12.

Caitlin

 

My biker bodyguard drives us to Jade’s preschool where he opts to stay in the car and wait because some screamo song he likes, by some artist I’ll never listen to and therefore, never remember the name of, comes on the satellite radio station he’d picked.

If he thinks I’m listening to that all day, he’s got another thing coming.

Per her usual, Jade beats me inside the building but stops at the check-in desk.

“Hi Miss Jenny.” I hear my daughter greet her.

“Jade, sweetie, you’re back. How are you feeling?” Miss Jenny asks.

“Good. Duke’s gonna pick me up by six.”

That’s when I reach them, and Jenny greets me. “Hey Dr. Brennan, Duke?” Then she cuts Jade a curious glance. “Just a moment,” I say. Holding my finger up. “Jade, go put your stuff in your cubby, baby. Then come back and give me a hug.” My daughter runs off to do as I asked.

“Duke?” Miss Jenny asks a second time.

“Yes, where do I sign him up?”

She walks to a file cabinet next to the check-in desk and rifles through the second drawer until she finds a paper in a file folder and hands it to me to fill out. I take one of the pens from the pen can sitting on the desk, bend over to place the form on the desktop for a solid place to write, and begin to scribble down my answers, careful to use my best penmanship because doctors have notoriously bad penmanship.

As I write, I explain the situation to Jenny. “His name is Duke Ellis,” I tell her as I write it out. Address. Phone number. Driver’s license. All things I had Duke give to me before I left. He knows he has to present it when he comes to pick her up. It’s policy. “Of Ellis Auto & Towing.” I finish. “We’re seeing each other. It’s sort of serious.”

“Really? Serious, huh?” Jenny asks.

“Well, I’m letting him pick up my daughter, and we’re staying with him while we have some work done on our house.”

“Wow.” Jenny’s excitement makes me excited. Wow is right. “Good for you.” Good for me is right.

“Thanks.” I smile at her.

“We’re getting a new girl, so you know. Come in one day this week to meet her. She’s training afternoons because Em’s going on maternity leave soon.”

“Sounds good.” I agree as Jade skids to a stop, hugging but pushing me toward the exit at the same time.

“Go Mama, if you don’t go, Duke won’t pick me up.”

“I guess she likes him, too.” Jenny chuckles as I move away from her.

“He calls her Peaches,” I give as my answer. Which any woman who knows anything about single mothers knows what it means when a man gives her child a special nickname. Miss Jenny not only knows about single mothers, she is one. A good one.

The glass door swings shut behind me, and I scurry to the truck. Jesse starts it while I climb in. “I have to stop by the office so I can pick up my box of toys and my files, so I know who we’re visiting today.”

He shifts into drive and turns out of the parking lot. Five minutes after we turn into the parking lot of mine. Well, mine—I’m in family medicine—A pediatrician, and a chiropractor. All of our offices are in a strip not too far from the center of town.

Once again, he waits while I go in to meet Shirley, my office manager who’s been keeping me from hitting a paperwork backup the time I’ve been off. She and my RN, Carol, who has been funneling appointments and transferring priority cases to the other guy, have kept this place afloat. My staff is amazing.

“Dr. Brennan? Glad your back,” Shirley greets me. “How’s our girl?”

“Better. Much better. I’m going to be out all day today, tomorrow and probably Wednesday, making house calls. You can start making office appointments for Thursday.”

Then I walk to my personal office in the back of the office and pass Carol along the way. “Hey, Carol. Who did we send to Dr. Dimwit?” I stop her.

She laughs. “Willow’s mom called about strep. Mrs. Grady, Tom Heinlein and Grace Stanley all needed to be seen. I can get you the complete list.”

“Okay, have it here by Thursday. I’m going to be out.”

“House calls?” She asks.

On a firm head nod, we part. I gather my roller cart of toys and pile my folders on top, then wheel the whole thing out to the truck. Jesse gets out to heft the cart into the truck bed, the files come up front with me.

Then we take off to visit my first patient.

***

After visit number four, which means five hours later—there’s a lot of drive time with house calls—we stop for lunch, grabbing a couple of messy Everything burgers from the Whippy Dip and a couple orders of onion rings, which we eat in transit.

My phone rings. I pull it and answer. Elise. I assume she’s calling to find out how my first day back is fairing. “Hey lady. What’s up?”

“He followed me into the bathroom.” She speaks low into the phone.

I shift mine on my ear to keep Jesse from hearing. “What? Who?”

“Houdini,” she says. Well more like hisses. I know it’s her fear talking.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yes. I’m with Blue at the grocery store. Gun needed a change, so we walked to the women’s. Blue stood right outside the door. I don’t understand. I don’t know how—”

“Calm down, sweetie. Are you safe now?”

“I think so. I set the diaper bag on the pulldown changer. Then Gun and I popped into a stall to grab some toilet paper. I like to wipe those changers down with toilet paper before I use the wipes. I didn’t hear anyone come in. But in that couple of seconds, he came in. There’s a silver baby rattle sitting on the diaper bag. A piece of torn paper says H. That’s all it says, just H.”

“Elise, listen to me. You need to tell Blue and then you need to call your husband.”

“I will,” she replies. But the ways she says it, I don’t know that I believe her.

“I’m serious. You don’t, I will.”

“You can’t, you promised.” She’s right. I did. Though, I promised when she only thought he was watching. The situation has escalated. Still…

“I’ll give you time to tell him. But not much. I’m scared for you, Elise.”

We ring off. I shove my phone back inside my jacket pocket. Then I turn to Jesse. “I promised Elise I wouldn’t say anything. But since you overheard my side of the conversation, maybe you should call Duke.”

Jesse nods, then fishes his phone. A second later I’m in the clear. “Prez,” he says, and I can breathe again.

***

Five hours after lunch, we pass through the gate of the compound, and Jesse parks the truck.

“No offense, but glad the day’s over. That kind of sucked.”

“It wouldn’t suck if you were inside helping patients. But yes, I’m sure it sucked sitting out in the truck waiting on me all day.”

“That, and not knowing what the hell is going on with Houdini. Tell Duke to call me, but I’m heading inside for a beer and maybe a blowjob.”

“Wow, TMI Jesse.” I laugh while I watch him walk toward the clubhouse. Houdini found my friend in a grocery store, yet I still find something to laugh about. I guess that’s life.

Then I head inside the house through the utility room. Duke and Jade sit on the sofa together, well, she sits on his lap as they watch a movie. I set my purse and the files on the island, then bend to slip my shoes off my feet, stand straight, remove my lab coat to toss into a bin in the laundry and rub a kink in the back of my neck.

“Hey Doc.” Duke stands, sets Jade down and walks over to me. “You look tired. Have a seat.” He makes no mention of the Jesse call.

“Jade needs to go to bed.”

“I’ll get her down. You sit your ass on the sofa and put your feet up.”

Who am I to argue? I wouldn’t mind being comfortable before discussing Houdini, but first I walk over to drop down next to my girl and slide her onto my lap to cover her in kisses. “You and Duke have a good time?”

“He made me chicken noodow soup for dinnew. And biscuits. He makes weally good soup.” I don’t remember seeing any cans of soup in the cupboard. I guess its fine, not like she can’t breathe from the preservatives. Some light sniffles and watery eyes won’t kill her. I’m thankful for his help.

“Alright Peaches, let’s get you ready for bed, yeah?”

“Okay,” she sing-songs, bobbing her head as she skips to her room.

Before he leaves to get her sorted, he bends down to kiss me. “Honey, why don’t you get comfortable. Go change into your pajamas or whatever, then I’ll feed you.”

Instead of answering, I hold my hands out to him so he can help me up. I peck a kiss to his cheek, pat his bottom and move down the hallway. Last night, I wore my satin nightie in honor of our first night here because I knew we’d end up doing what we did. Although I had no idea it would be as mind blowing, as life altering as he made it. Tonight I opt for comfort over sexy and pick my pink nightshirt that hangs to just above the knee. It’s T-shirt material, though it’s fitted and has a slightly deep V-neck. So I guess there’s a hint of sexy. After I drop my clothes into the hamper, pull my hair from the bun and wipe the makeup from my face, I head back out to the sofa, stopping first at Jade’s room to kiss her goodnight.

Half her bedroom from our house is in her room. Her toys. Her comforter. Her pink, princess flat screen and DVD player. “Is this what you and Duke did today?” I ask her.

My half-asleep daughter yawns. “Yeah. He said I needed my stuff to make me feew at home.” I bend down, push her hair back then place a kiss to her forehead, each cheek, her nose, and finally, her lips. Our usual bedtime routine.

“Night baby.”

“Night Mama.”

Duke is at the stove ladling out big bowls of soup. From a big pot. There’s a folded fleece throw on the sofa now, too. I walk over, shake it out, then sit down and tuck the throw around me. And my man, bless his beautiful heart, walks over with a tray for me. On it is that big bowl of soup, a hot buttered yeast roll, not a biscuit as Jade had suggested, and a Guinness.

Egg noodles. Rounds of carrot. Dices of celery. Kale. And large chunks of chicken. “She said you made her soup. You made her soup.” I inform him of something he clearly realizes, because he made soup.

“Eat honey,” he orders. Then he turns to me. “Got some shit to discuss before we settle in. Know Elise called you. Smart not sitting on that, honey. Not sure what was in Elise’s head not calling Blue in right away. Anyway, debriefed him. Says no man went into that toilet. Only a woman. He don’t remember much about her, wasn’t guarding against a woman. So now we know he’s getting others to harass her for us.”

“What does that mean, then?”

“Nothing for you to worry about right now. Stay diligent. Stay with Jesse. And do not ever fucking hesitate to call me or tell Jesse about any potential threat, yeah?”

Immediately I answer. “Yes.”

“Good.” He sifts his hands through my hair until it reaches the back of my head. He grips it to pull me forward, and kisses my forehead. A quick kiss. Then he drops his hand. “Eat.” He orders me again, which means the Houdini talk is over.

I take a bite and almost orgasm while he watches.

“Shit, woman. You keep making faces like that, you won’t get the chance to eat because I’m gonna fuck you on the sofa.”

That idea has merit. After the day I’ve had, the day we’ve had, I’d welcome his fucking. But we need sustenance first.

Duke walks back into the kitchen, ladles his soup, grabs his beer and rolls, then walks back in to sit next to me, placing his beer and saucer with two rolls onto my tray. He flips the throw up, settles beside me and flips the throw back over the both of us. Though, he doesn’t eat right away, pressing the remote to find another movie. A thriller new to pay-per-view that I’d been wanting to see, but with no one to watch Jade for me, I never got to see when it was in the theaters.

Only after he hits buy and the opening credits start, does he tuck the remote between us and begin to eat. When we’re both finished—he’d gone back for seconds for the both of us because his soup was that good, and he’d grabbed us a couple fresh cold ones, too—when we’re both finished stuffing our faces, Duke sets the tray on the coffee table and shifts us so we lay on the sofa, my back tucked against his front, under the throw. His arm draped around my waist, our heads share his other arm as our pillow.

The movie is incredibly scary, but I’m ready for him to fuck my day away. So I shift around on the sofa to face him and kiss my man. Slow and long. Slow enough and long enough for me to feel him harden.

“On your back,” I order him, for once.

Then I stand and shimmy out of my panties. My nightshirt, I whip over my head so I stand buck naked in front of him. He rolls on his back. While I unbuckle his belt, unbutton and unzip his jeans, he rips off his Tee, then together, we shrug him out of his jeans so he’s lying on the sofa buck naked in front of me.

Thank goodness he’s hard, and has been pressing himself against me the whole time we’ve been watching the movie. Thank goodness women come with a self-lubricating function, because I don’t have any foreplay in me tonight. So I mount him, holding myself above his straining cock, gently grab hold to position him and glide down, taking him to the root.

We both groan. I have to take a moment before I move because he’s just so big. Only after my moment do I ride him, rocking front to back. Sliding up and down. Not fast tonight. Though, with every downglide, I grind hard.

Oh lord, he feels great. And he makes me feel greater when he digs his fingertips brutishly into my hips, stinging the flesh there from the pressure. Pain and pleasure. The man has mastered the art of pain and pleasure. I bite my bottom lip to keep from crying out too loud, so as not to wake Jade.

My muscles tense. The first orgasm of the night hits on one of my downward glides. He growls, digs his fingernails in harder and thrusts upward to impale me as he throbs inside me. I guess we’re going rough tonight. And I’m plenty okay with that. My head falls back. I close my eyes. My body begins to shiver from his raw power.

Duke inside me is totally consuming, all encompassing. Every sense in my body becomes overwhelmed by all that’s him. He won’t let me come down, drawing out one climax into the next to the point that even that teeters on painful. Right when I feel close again, he flips us so my back is to the sofa. My calves rest against his shoulders, and he goes at me with such ferocity, I swear he moves the sofa with every thrust.

The shivers turn to shaking, and the shaking intensifies. I know it’s going to happen. Soon. Now. The hardest. My muscles don’t tense this time, but seize up completely, all while he keeps up the thrusting. I open my mouth to scream his name, but no sound leaves. And I break apart.

Still high off my orgasm, he keeps slamming into me until I feel his neck, shoulders, back and abdomen pull taut and he buries his face against my throat, exploding inside me. He slows way down, stroking in and out a few more times before he stops moving to kiss me, sweet.

“Woman, I think you’re gonna be the death of me,” he says, looking in my eyes.

“No. I’m as good a doctor as I am a cook,” I reply.

He chuckles, and it’s such a new sensation because he’s still inside me, so through our connection, I feel his laugh. I’ve never had that with another lover, not that I’ve had many of those.

This man, my man, might be a sexual demigod. And as he’s managed to fuck the last of my energy out of me, or maybe I did that to me seeing as I started it, he scoops me up in his arms the way a groom would carry his bride on their wedding day, and walks us back to the master. He sets me down inside the bathroom to take care of business and is waiting when I open the door to exit. Back in his arms, he carries me to sit on the bed, folds back the blankets, scoots me over the sheets, then flips the blankets back.

After helping, he leaves the room only to come back a few minutes later carrying all our discarded clothing.

“Didn’t wanna chance her waking up before us and seeing our clothes in a heap by the sofa. Hard to explain away a pair of panties.”

I’ve never had a man take care of me, not since I became an adult and left home.

Even in the dark, the man carries himself with such power and confidence. I watch the patch tattooed on his back shift as he moves. It’s the same flaming devil head as on his cut. The symbol of their brotherhood. The ideals they hold most dear. But unlike on his cut, the flames on his back seem to flicker and dance as he walks to my side of the bed to hang my nightshirt over the headboard, then tosses my panties and his clothes in the hamper before crawling back in the bed next to me.

Both still naked, he lays flat on his back and rolls me to tuck against his side with my head on his chest, arm slung over his middle and my bent knee resting on his thigh. Lying in the dark next to Duke, this is where I’m most comfortable. This is when I feel safest. And he deserves to know it, despite how tired I am.

“Thank you, Chief.”

He gives his is arm around my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “For what?”

In the following silence, listening to him breathe, I can almost forget about the evils of the world outside the compound.

“For taking care of me,” I say, finally settling on an answer. “I’ve not had a man take care of me since my father when I was a girl.”

“Not even Peaches’ father?”

“Especially not him.”

His arm squeezes me again, but this time tight. It feels more out of surprise. “Explain,” he orders.

The last thing I want is for Duke to learn how foolish I’d been when I was younger, but he deserves to know about the woman he’s sharing his bed with.

I suck in a lungful of air, let it out slowly, and explain. “We met when I was in medical school. He was going for his Ph.D. in research virology. So a few of our science classes overlapped, in the sense that he was the one teaching the classes on virology.

“I thought he was smart, funny and charming, those qualities made him handsome in my eyes. Plus, he was from Ireland, grew up only a county over from where I spent my summers growing up…”

Duke bends down to kiss the top of my head. A sweet gesture to let me know he’s listening and once again, that it’s safe to go on.

“We had a fling for the last semester he was in our country. He told me if I found myself in the old country, to look him up. Well a couple years later, my grandmother got sick and I arranged to do my residency program over there, so I could take care of her, too.

“I looked him up. And we fell back in to how we’d been pretty quickly. But this time, my schedule kept me from being the doting girlfriend I’d been when I was a new med student. Apparently he wanted a doting girlfriend, someone who took care of him. I guess the two-way street concept was foreign to him. I could be on a twenty-four hour rotation and get bitched at because I didn’t have dinner on the table for him and he had no clean socks.”

“Doc.”

Whatever he’s about to say, I cut him off because it feels too good to get this off my chest. “Forget about when I was pregnant. They had me working nights in the ER at a class-one trauma center and I was sicker than I’d ever been in my life. I couldn’t keep food down, and survived on PediaSure.

“The smell of food kicked in my gag reflex and I’d get home dragging, and have to make him breakfast before I went to sleep. He seemed to love Jade, though, when she was born. He doted on her. Right up until the day he told me he just wasn’t ready for domesticity. He needed Aiden time. He needed someone to give all her attention to him. And that he’d met that woman online, and he was moving to Australia.

“Oh, I forgot to add, my grandmother had taken a turn for the worse and passed away two days before he left us.” I laugh, though none of this is funny.

“Jesus, Doc. Good thing he lives in Australia because I’d kill that motherfucker for treating you the way he did. But then I’d give thanks over his dead body because he was stupid and threw away the best thing to ever happen to him, and I got Peaches down the hall and you in my bed. Jesus,” he repeats himself, then bends to kiss my head again.

I’m so overcome by his words, and at too high a risk of blurting out something neither he nor I am ready for me to say, that I force myself to change the subject completely. “Will you take me on your bike?”

“Honey, this weekend. You and me are going on the bike.”

“What about Jade?”

“I’ll figure something. And Caitlin, don’t you worry.”

Don’t worry. If it were only that easy.