Mina
Finding a moment alone wasn’t hard to do between the hours of ten and twelve. Those were the hours Lev disappeared to workout. He always left at ten and he was always back by twelve, if not twelve on the dot. I did not know what he did during his workout. I do know, whatever the activity, he came back dripping with sweat.
I made myself clear on more than one occasion that I found Lev attractive. He was, by far, the most handsome man I had ever seen. With his golden eyes, harsh angles of his face, dark hair worn styled, and his tall, built frame, I found myself wondering what it would be like to be bare under that body, naked and sweating from a different type of workout.
Whenever Lev came home, his sweatpants and tee damp and sticking to him, my tongue would swell and I’d barely contain my panting.
Lev was sexy, plain and simple.
With our changed sleeping arrangement now becoming a permanent thing, it didn’t escape my notice that I woke with a long, thick erection pressed up against my butt, or thigh, or wherever it happened to be pressed in the mornings.
We both played it cool, not bringing attention to it, but we both knew it was there. It was obvious, painfully so.
This morning went a little different, however. Having barely woken with that hard cock pressed into the crack of my ass for the third day in a row, I acted unconsciously in my sleepy state, arching my back and letting out a sigh of ecstasy as the solid length rubbed me in a most delicious way.
For a moment there, I thought Lev was a dream.
I was (obviously) wrong.
My body, acting of it’s own accord, ground back into him one more wonderful time, and Lev let out a soft growl of approval. The hidden cleft between my legs pulsed gently, and suddenly I was hot all over. A want spread through me, and before I knew it, that want had increased to a desperate need.
I needed more. I was desperate for contact. I wanted that hard cock inside me, filling me, stretching me.
That was the moment Lev gently extracted himself, and a second later, I heard the bathroom door close behind him. The shower started, and that was when I woke fully, realizing what had just happened.
My neck itched with heat and my face flamed.
I had dry-humped Lev in my sleep.
That wasn’t very polite, Mina.
I thought about apologizing, but knew that would be as awkward as the situation itself. So I did the next best thing, the thing Lev and I did well.
Feigning sleep, I pretended it never happened, breathing as heavily and evenly as possible as Lev exited the bathroom.
The shuffle of clothing sounded, the bedroom door was unlocked, and I found myself alone in a bed built for two.
I turned to lay on my back and sighed. My hand glanced my breast over my pajamas, slid down over my stomach, and my fingers slipped under the elastic of my panties to where I needed them most. Closing my eyes, I thought about Lev’s long fingers, his full lips, and his taut butt as I brought myself to release. But it was hollow.
The satisfaction I craved never surfaced.
I waited for the sound of the back door to close before I arose. I showered quickly, opened the bedroom curtains, and sat in the center of the rumpled bed, legs crossed. My phone in front of me, I stared down at the business card and thought hard about making the call.
My stomach turned as I picked up my phone and dialed. It rang twice before he answered with a swift hello.
“It’s Mina,” I began. I bit the inside of my lip and told him what I needed. “You know that contact you have? I’m ready to see them.”
Silence followed, then he told me where I needed to go.
“Okay.” I wanted to smile, but couldn’t because my heart was caught in my throat. “Thanks, Pox.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, I called Nas and asked her a favor.
I needed a ride.
The clinic was small but clean, and a small woman dressed in scrubs saw me to an empty room. I didn’t want to go alone. Nas sat in one of the chairs, going through her phone.
I swallowed hard. “Hey,” I called, my tongue sticking to the roof of my dry mouth. “You coming?”
She blinked at me, searching my face a moment before seeing the fear in my eyes. She stood, and I breathed a sigh of relief as she followed me into the exam room.
We waited in complete silence. A few minutes later, a willowy woman with a messy bun and pink scrubs walked in, smiling. “Mina?” She looked from Nas to me, unsure of which woman was her patient.
“I’m Mina,” I said, sitting up straight and raising my hand like a schoolgirl.
Her smile widened as she sat. “Hi, Mina. I’m Dr. Henley. My brother called ahead. Told me you needed an IUD.” She paused then asked, “May I ask why you’ve chosen the IUD over the implant?”
Wait…Pox was her brother?
They looked nothing alike.
I wrung my hands together in nervousness and told her, “Lasts longer.”
She nodded in understanding then started to type on the open computer screen. “We don’t have them on hand, of course.” My face fell, but she went on. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I’ll hand you a script and send you next door. The pharmacist always has a ton of them.” She sighed lightly. “I have to tell you, Mina. I don’t like doing these rush jobs. In a normal scenario, we’d do an internal exam, a pap smear, and test for STDs before we inserted an IUD.” She glanced at me kindly and asked, “I don’t suppose you’d come back in a week?”
My voice weak, I spoke quietly. “I’d prefer not to. Doctors make me nervous.”
She nodded in sympathy. “Okay then.” Her face compassionate, she spoke gently as she told me. “I can’t do much without doing an internal first.”
I knew it was coming. Of course she’d have to look down there. It was where the darn thing was going.
Dr. Henley led me behind a curtained area, instructing me to remove my jeans and panties before pulling the sheet over my lower half. I did as ordered and found it easier knowing that Nas was only a yell away.
The exam was short and relatively painless and, satisfied with the results, Dr. Henley let me dress, leaving a glass of water and two painkillers on the tray table. I swallowed them down, stepped out, and she scribbled on a piece of paper before handing it to me. “Go on next door and ask for Marianne. She’ll have the order filled in a few minutes.”
Marianne was a stout woman who looked as though she didn’t smile a whole lot. As Dr. Henley advised, my order was filled within minutes, and soon after that, I was back on the exam table, my lower half naked and covered with a sheet.
Nas stayed on the other side of the curtain. Dr. Henley and I were soon joined by Jane, the nurse who originally showed me to the exam room. Jane held my hand tight and told me to breathe deep as I was opened up with a lubed plastic speculum. Dr. Henley warned me when my cervix would clench on its own, causing my stomach to cramp painfully. She was honest and open, and it seemed as though she knew what she was talking about. The pain didn’t last long. In fact, the birth control device was inserted in less than five minutes, and as soon as the speculum was removed, the pain receded to nothing.
“That’s it?” I asked, stunned at how good I felt after having something inserted into my uterus.
Dr. Henley pulled the sheet down to cover me. “That’s it,” she stated. “Don’t be fooled. You’ll get some wicked cramps later on as the device settles. I’d advise you to take ibuprofen every four hours, even if you think you won’t need it. It’ll help the inflammation.”
She and Jane left me to dress, giving me a pad to wear. I dressed quickly and stepped out to join the others.
Nas looked up. “You all suited up, sunshine? You know what they say. No glove, no love.”
I glowered at her. “Shut up, Nas.”
She grinned. “Oh, hush now. You love me.”
I did love Nas. She was fast becoming my best friend. It didn’t matter that she was my only female friend. She was supportive and funny and listened to me. I was thankful for her friendship.
Dr. Henley warned, “You’ve got the glove, but no love for a week though, okay? Not without a condom.”
My face turned beet red. “I don’t even have a boyfriend. There will be no love.” I turned to Nas. “There will be no love.”
Dr. Henley smiled. “I’ll have the results of you pap smear and STD test by Monday. I’ll have Jane call. Also, I’ll have you booked in for a follow up in five weeks. I expect you to keep a diary in that time of how often you’re spotting.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she must have seen it coming, because she raised a hand and cut me off. “It’s standard. I have to make sure the device has settled well.” She threw a fear tactic out there. “If it doesn’t settle well, it can become embedded in your uterus and you’ll have to get it cut out. Come to the checkup, Mina.”
Her fear tactic worked, damn her. I agreed to the appointment.
From the moment Nas and I left the clinic, I felt better than I had in a long time, and something told me things would only get better.
I should have listened to Dr. Henley, but being the badass I was, I didn’t.
Her advice not followed came back to haunt me as I almost doubled over from pain, a sharp stabbing sensation throbbing throughout my belly. I thought I was going to be ill from the pain alone.
Holding onto the railing of the stairs, I made my way down slowly, one stair at a time. I found Lev in the kitchen. The second he saw me, he dropped the newspaper he was reading and shot up out of his chair. “Mina, what’s wrong?”
I groaned, clutching my stomach. “I need painkillers. Ibuprofen.”
He helped me sit before searching through the medicine cabinet. “I only have acetaminophen,” he said as he brought it over with a glass of water.
I shook my head. “No. Ibuprofen. It needs to be anti-inflammatory.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked again, but I ignored him.
“Call Nas.” I grimaced as another cramp took hold, causing me to grit my teeth.
He did, and she arrived soon after holding a white box of tablets in her hands. She shook her head at me. “Didn’t listen to the doc, huh?”
“What doc?” asked Lev.
I moaned in agony, my forehead beginning to bead with sweat, doubling over. “Do you have the meds or not?”
She sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I got ‘em right here.” She placed the box down. I opened it with shaking hands and threw two into my mouth, swallowing them dry. Nas clicked her tongue at me. “Look at you? You didn’t listen, and now you’re useless. You’re not working tonight. Go to bed.”
But Lev was stuck on, “What doc?”
Nas took pity on me and lied to her brother. “It’s Mina’s time of the month. I took her to a clinic to see if they could do anything about the cramping.”
I was hoping he’d shy away like most men. I didn’t like lying to him. Instead, he knelt by my side and placed a hand on my knee. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“It’s embarrassing,” I croaked, massaging my temples in a slow, firm circular motion like my mom used to whenever I had a headache. It never felt the same after she’d gone. It only felt better when someone else did it to you.
He shook his head, frowning at me. “No, it isn’t. You’re a woman, Mina. You can’t help menstruating. It’s what women do.” Then he shocked me further. “Do you need me to go to the store for you?”
He was willing to go to the store and buy me feminine hygiene products like it was no big deal.
Lev Leokov was the definition of the word man. He’d earned it. He certainly acted like one. Not like those pussy boys who shied away from the word ‘period.’
The thing was, I had used the only pad I’d been given and I needed more, as the spotting had been quite heavy. I looked to Nas. “Do you have any pads?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, doll. I’m a tampon girl.”
Miserable, I turned to Lev and nodded. “I need pads.”
His eyes softened. “Okay.” If I didn’t know better, he seemed pleased that I let him be of some help to me. “Tell me what you need.”
I prattled off the single item I needed and Lev helped me to bed before leaving. He returned a half-hour later with the box of pads. He didn’t seem squeamish by the situation. Rather, knowing what I needed, he lay next to me, holding my hand until I fell asleep.
Later that night, I woke for a single moment, long enough to feel Lev’s warm body slide in next to me. He worked gently to pull me in close and tuck me into the space that was made for me and me alone. He rested his chin atop my head and sighed softly.
No longer in pain, and in the place I felt most at home, I found my smile before sleep took me once more.