Chapter 11

Jake

I was up early in the morning already when they called me. I had been thinking about Brooke, aimlessly rolling from one side of my bed to the other. But when my phone rang, I jumped out of bed.

It was a hospital nurse calling me in, “We’ve got a seven-year-old little girl who needs emergency surgery—she was in a car accident.”

“I’ll be right there,” I said.

I raced to the closet, through on some clothes and was out of there.

The little girl was a mess. Just a glance at the wreckage of her face was enough to make my stomach turn. There were some things in this profession that you just didn’t get used to, no matter how many times you saw them.

The whole surgical suite was buzzing with life as I worked. Nurses threaded in and out, another doctor stopped by to watch. I was hyper-concentrated on what I was doing—stitching and cutting and sewing. It was in this trance-like state that I spent the night fixing the face of this little girl—Alisha.

Once I was done, I stepped back. One nurse congratulated me, while another shook my hand. I hardly noticed, however. My gaze was on the little brown-haired little girl whose face I had just mended. Her auburn curls were still in pigtails, held in place by two pink scrunchies, while her slumbering face looked peaceful. When she woke up, her face wouldn’t be exactly the way she remembered it; there would be a small scar running along the side of her cheek. But she wouldn’t be a monster. She wouldn’t have to fear going out in public, or face ridicule from other children. She would be spared all of that—because of me. It made my heart swell just to look at her adorable stitched-up face.

The longer I looked, the more I realized I felt a greater tenderness than normal for this little girl. With her dark hair, and the stoic expression on her little lips, she reminded me of Brooke. She’d had reconstructive surgery too, and had been as brave as this little girl would have to be.

Back at the office, the workday was already done; I’d barely noticed that I had spent all of it at the hospital. I’d expected to find our practice space empty, but Brooke and Mark were sitting there in the office, side by side, so close that their legs were touching, chatting away.

“And I’m saying, you should be nicer to Deidre,” Brooke was saying, “She really does work hard, even if she is a little incompetent.”

“A little incompetent?” Mark asked incredulously, “Were you not there this morning, when she had actually booked me a consultation with four patients at once? Where, after two of them outright refused to reschedule, I was forced to have a group consultation, which resulted in the two patients talking over each other arguing about who had the greater need for liposuction?”

“Okay, so she may need to work on her scheduling skills, I’ll give you that. But what about those coffees and pastries she brings us? Anyway, you better be nicer to her or—”

Mark flicked her on the arm.

“Or what? What exactly will you do, Miss Brooke?”

Brooke smiled evilly.

“You’d be surprised. I can be merciless when I want to.”

Mark took her chin in his hands.

“Oh, I’ll just bet you can.”

His gaze flicked over her shoulder and he let go of her.

“Hey Jake.”

Brooke turned, and visibly brightened at the sight of me, while I could hardly keep the smile off my face.

“Hey.”

“Must’ve been a long day for you at the hospital,” Brooke said, sympathetically, “This is the first we’ve seen of you—and it’s, what,” she glanced at the metal clock on the wall, “oh gosh, it’s 5:30 already.”

Her and Mark exchanged a smile, while my stomach flip-flopped. So, they’d been basically sitting in the office, chatting for over an hour.

“Yeah, it was a long day,” I said, “But definitely worth it. They called me in for reconstructive surgery on a little girl.”

Interest sparkled in Brooke’s hazel eyes.

“Really?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. It was pretty terrible at first, half her face was all destroyed from a car accident. But I fixed it up pretty nicely; she’ll only have to deal with a slight scar on the side of her face after she heals.”

Mark looked borderline bored, while Brooke’s face was shining at my words.

“Wow, that must have been something,” she breathed.

“Yeah, I—well it’s my favorite part of what I do. How you feel when you look at this little girl whose face you saved—and knowing it was so much more than that. Maybe even her happiness—there’s no feeling in the world like that.”

“That’s incredible,” Brooke burst out.

She rose, and for a minute, I thought she was going to hug me.

“You must have been really brave for going through all that,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said, tears coming to her eyes, “It wasn’t easy, especially those first few weeks. But my mom was there for me every step of the way.”

Mark cleared his throat.

“Brooke and I were going to get drinks.”

Brooke turned to me with a guilty look in her eye.

“Actually, we’ve sat here so long, I’m feeling a bit tired. Raincheck?”

Mark paused.

“I could always carry you there, if that would help.”

“Really, sorry,” Brooke said, with an awkward smile, making her way to the door.

“I’ll see you boys tomorrow.”

“Brooke,” I said, putting my hand on her arm to stop her.

“Yes?”

“Next time I get a call for a job like that, I’ll take you with me, if you want.”

The biggest smile I’d ever seen broke out on her face.

“I’d love that.”

“Great,” I said.

“Great,” she said, “See ya.”

Then she left. She didn’t close the door behind her, and yet it still felt stuffy in the room with Mark and me eyeing each other.

I felt weird. The feeling of happiness I’d experienced when Brook had beamed at what I’d told her, the way I’d invited her to join me next time, it all was odd to me. It wasn’t just the simple pleasure of having a friend or colleague’s approval. I wanted Brooke to approve of me, to like me—just as much as I liked her, and better than she liked Mark. When I’d seen the way Mark was laying his hands on her I felt sick.

“So,” Mark said, “Fancy meeting you here.”

He’d probably intended it as a joke, but there was still a testy tone to his voice.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here still,” I said, “Figured I’d just finish up some paperwork before heading home.”

“Well, don’t let me stop you,” Mark said, rising.

Our gazes locked, but I didn’t move.

“You two must have been talking quite a while,” I commented blithely, “for you to stay over an hour past quitting time.”

Mark shrugged.

“Brooke’s a fun woman to talk too—hot too, but you know that already.”

His narrowed eyes scanned my face.

“What’s it to you, anyway?”

“I don’t know.”

My dejected gaze fell. Mark was right. He had slept with her first, and he was my best friend. I was the one who had made that whole speech about us staying friends no matter what, after all. I needed to lay off. But still, when I caught Brooke’s happy hazel eyes…

“I don’t know, man,” I said, “I just think it’s a dangerous game, getting involved with an employee, hurting a good girl like that.”

A dark knowing laugh tumbled out of Mark’s lips.

“Oh Jake, if you really knew Brooke—you’d know that she wasn’t good at all.”

I inhaled sharply, every muscle in my body tensing. That fucking bastard.

“Still,” I said tightly, “she doesn’t deserve to be fucked over like your other ex-girlfriends, okay? I’ve seen the way you leave some of these girls.”

“Just because some of them go calling on you for sympathy, doesn’t mean that I treated them poorly, okay? I never make claims that I don’t follow through on. If these girls aren’t getting what they wanted, it’s because they had unrealistic expectations in the first place.”

“And Brooke—what kind of expectations does she have? Do you really think this can end well?”

Mark’s clenched fist spread into an open palm on the black wood desk.

“You know what, Jake? I honestly hadn’t really thought of it. It seems to me that she just wants to have some fun—just like me.”

“Really?” I challenged him, striding up so we were face-to-face, “That’s all you want with her? Sure doesn’t seem like that to me, not the way you’ve been stalking her on social media.”

Rage flared through Mark’s eyes.

“What the fuck—you’ve been going through my Facebook?”

“You were using my phone when yours died Monday. I thought it was signed in to my account and, when I tried searching for Brooke, I found she’d already been searched—fifteen times that day alone. Anyway, I logged you off right after that.”

“Whatever,” Mark snapped, “So what if I might actually like Brooke? You having a crush on her, isn’t my problem. If you’re so bothered by it why don’t you just fuck her yourself— if she’ll have you, that is.”

“Because, Mark—unlike you, I think of the bigger picture for things like this—such as our work situation and even Brooke herself.”

Mark shoved himself past me. At the door, he paused.

“You know, I’m not so sure that Brooke is the one you’re worried about getting hurt, he said with a sneer.

“Oh yeah?” I said, “And what if I did fuck her, Mark. Would you really be okay with that?”

Mark’s whole body went rigid. His glare shot to me like he was going to hit me or yell. But instead, he turned on his heel and left, slamming the door behind him.

I stared at the closed door for a minute. Clearly, I had my answer. Mark wouldn’t be okay with it, and, if I wanted to be loyal to him, the best thing would be not to pursue Brooke. The question was, would I be able to hold myself to it?

That evening, I went about my usual errands. I shopped at Whole Foods, and got the greenest greens and most organic meat I could find. I cooked myself a meal recommended from some TV cooking show I taped. I even found a nice new Jenna Haze video to jerk off to.

But as I stroked myself, watching Jenna get fucked by a guy who coincidentally also looked like me, I found I wasn’t thinking of her at all. I was wondering how Brooke’s curves looked when they weren’t squeezed into her professional office attire. I was imagining me finding out for myself, peeling her layers—one after another. I was imagining myself ripping off her soft blouse, sending little blue buttons rocketing across the room, then tearing down her skirt—the neat gray suede ripping along the sides. I was shoving her to her knees and taking my throbbing cock out, rubbing my bulk all over her face. She was looking at me with hungry eyes while she gulped me down, groaning as if she was the one getting sucked off. She was swirling her tongue and hands around me with such expertise that I couldn’t think straight. As she gulped me fully down her willing little throat, I let loose the ecstatic stream bubbling in me. I saw her taking it, slurping it, pumping and sucking out every last drop. And then I saw her holding onto my leg, asking for more. The more that I gave her, one hard cock at time. Her blue satin panties slid to the floor as I took her by her legs, put her feet over my shoulders and fucked her deep. She groaned and screamed, as orgasm after orgasm overtook her body. But I wasn’t finished yet. Now, I fucked her throat, ramming my hardness against the back of her throat, until she was gagging and I was cumming hotly as she choked on my dick, looking at me with such adoration, that afterwards, I sank to my knees and kissed her.

When I came to, I realized the Jenna Haze video had ended several minutes ago, while I’d cum all over the Kleenex I’d put over my dick. Gazing at its gooey contents, a strange sense of loss came over me. Like something was missing.

That sense followed me as I brushed my teeth that night, and even as I crawled into bed. It was weird and ridiculous, yet undeniable. Something was missing, and that something was Brooke.