Somebody To Live For: Book II

Spilling Secrets

"Jess... can I call you that?" Malik asked, still unsure of where their friendship stood.

She shook her head, kicking off her shoes, pulling her knees to her chest, finding some sort of comfort in this position.

He poured a glass of cranberry juice from his small office fridge. Handing her the cool glass, she gladly accepted it. Giving him a gentle smile as a thank you.

"What's going on? You look..."

"Terrible? I know..."

"I've never seen you like this"

"I need a vacation..."

"That can be arranged. You need a break, you have accumulated many vacation days that you always refused to use"

"Because the more I worked, the more I escaped what was going on at home"

"But it seems that those things are now catching up to you" he said and she nodded, sipping the cool juice that made her warm flesh cool down.

"I feel like I'm always trying to out run my problems, instead of facing them head on"

"Well use this vacation time to get yourself in order, I don't need one of our top doctors going crazy" He leaned against his desk smiling at her.

"Yeah you're right, I'll take like three days"

"Three days? You have about six weeks worth of vacation time"

"Oh, well I'll use two weeks"

"I'll speak to Symone to have those dates set in the calendar for you"

The sound of her name made Jess rolled her eyes and hissed her teeth.

"Can I communicate everything through you instead?"

"If that's what you want, then sure" he nodded in agreement.

"I'll pack my stuff and take the rest of the day off"

"Yeah, you go do that. Between Nyla and I, we'll cover your patients. We got you"

"Thank you", she got up, embracing him in a warm hug. She just needed to be held by someone and he was the closest person. He rubbed her back, inhaling the scent from her hair.

McKinley opened the door without knocking and Mason followed behind. Still not pulling away from one another, Malik looked up at his sister and shook his head as a sign to not bother them. He and her needed this moment. Their relationship had been strained after the entire ordeal of not wanting to take things further. They never had a real conversation.

Mason cleared his throat, trying to gain some dominance in the room. This made Jess turn around, eventually pulling away from Malik, keeping her head down.

"Dr. Jones will be taking a few weeks of leave, I'll put it in the books for her. I'll walk her down and we can deal with the paperwork when I return" Malik spoke to Mason and his sister and they both nodded in agreement. Neither of them challenging him, especially after seeing the state Jess was in and him being her confidant.

Walking past both of them, she could feel Masons eyes piercing through her skin. Especially when Malik placed his hand on her lower back, which made her body tense but relaxed once they got to the elevator doors and headed down to the parking lot.

Symone was no longer at her post which was best because Jess might've dragged her over the counter and ran her over.

Malik handed her the keys and she smiled, taking it and pulling him in for one more hug.