Erik felt like a well-used car. Every 50,000 miles or so, the tire tread would ware down and need switching out. That was the way he looked at surgery after having so many of them.
Dr. Charles, though old and irritating with his hypervigilance, was a saint. For the last couple of years, he'd been patching Erik's wounds and regenerating him after gunshots, stabbings, even torture. He could make Erik feel brand new, like he could last another 50,000 miles. Each time, he never asked how the situation occurred only how could he help. The man had done more for Erik in the years than anyone else ever had and for that, he was grateful. However. He refused to lay in a hospital bed when he could be up and out. He needed to move. He wanted to leave.
You're restless. You need to be still for your body to rest.
He could hear Dr. Charles' thick accent in his mind fussing, directing him to stay in the bed, but as the voice said, he was restless. He sat up and looked down at the white tiled floor, moving his good foot to touch down first. Unfortunately he'd been in a leg cast before. His bum leg and half of the attached foot was wrapped with dressing and casted. He moved it with his hands carefully to the floor, careful to keep weight off of it.. despite the doctor's warning in his head to rest it in order to control the inflammation. Then, with all his weight on his good foot he hopped up and to the door of the room in search of crutches. They'd left him with none. He looked around at the faces of everyone around, quickly committing them to memory.
"Aye," he hopped carefully to a young black nurse standing at the desk in light blue scrubs, hair pulled back. She blinked, batting her large lashes as she looked him up and down. He stood and waited a for her to focus on his face but she kept looking down his body. "Yo.." He wasn't in the mood. He had on a hospital robe, what could possibly be sexy about that?
"Yo," she smirked.
"Yeah.. You got-"
"Let me get you some crutches," she pointed before walking off. Erik braced himself against the desk to wait, still subtly assessing his surroundings. He saw nurses, doctors, visitors walking through the halls and then within three minutes the woman returned with no crutches in hand. "I'm sorry," she frowned with a shrug, "I've actually been informed that we aren't to give you any crutches, but we can wheel you in one of our wheelchairs if that's something you're interested in. I'd be more than happy to-"
"Informed by who? My insurance say I'm entitled to crutches, this the shit I pay for and that's what the fuck I asked you for."
"....Informed by the chief nurse. Now, you can speak with her if you need to, but I'm not the one controlling your service here."
He sighed. "Yeah, get her."
Erik watched as she called and when the Chief Nurse arrived, she too was a black woman but older. Senegalese, Erik guessed. It was at that moment he truly experienced the extent of Dr. Charles' widespread influence. He demanded crutches and threatened to turn the place over, but the CN refused citing Dr. Charles as the reason.
"Young man, Dr. Charles strongly suggests you REST and that we keep an eye on you," she said with a thick accent. "You WILL rest and we WILL keep an eye on your blood pressure, your heart rate, and your temperature for at least another 48 hours."
"What happened to 24 hours?" This wasn't his first time in this situation and he knew his body. He could take a lot of damage and still heal fast.
"Apparently, YOU need more supervision than most. He says you're a special case? I believe. I say make it a week!"
Erik glared at her, saying nothing but thinking of how he would react. She was an entire foot shorter. He had about maybe 90 lbs on her, he could flex her.. but she reminded him of his strict grandmother, Ms. Betty. Between her and Dr. Charles, he sighed. They were as stubborn as him. Even more so since this was their area of expertise. And Dr. Charles.. He knew Erik's entire medical history like it was his own. Erik didn't have a chance. Eyeing her, he backed down almost immediately, seeing that the CN would not change her mind. He respected the connection. He respected Dr. Charles.
"Fine," he conceded hopping back to his room. Though annoyed, he put himself back into the bed with his hurt leg lowering slowly and gingerly on the pillow that laid at the foot. "Swear that old man think he somebody daddy," he muttered crossing his arms over his chest like crossbones to comfort himself as he laid back. Stangely, he felt a little safer. Almost instantly he began to fall asleep.
"Nope." He forced his lids open and picked up his phone again punching in the passcode. Holding it with one hand, he went to the gallery to flip through, stopping on one of his favorite pictures.
It was an off-guard he'd snapped at the Reunion Tower, Y/N enjoying herself on their lil day date. She looked damn good, he remembered. It was clear in his mind. She wore the black red bottom heels she'd gotten with his black card and a mid-thigh length red kimono dress that put her thick thighs and smooth thick brown legs on display. Her hair was picked out. It reminded him of Kathleen Cleaver. Her nose was cute as a button. He touched it briefly with the pad of his thumb. Still, the best thing about the photo was the pure wonder illuminating her face as she looked at the colorful lights which shined bright as if it were Christmas.
How much brighter would her eyes get once December rolled around? What if he decorated the house with lights, inside and outside? He'd never tried it, but it wouldn't be difficult to set up. How would she react waking up to a Christmas tree and presents? He hadn't had much of that growing up, but it was something he'd wanted. In his mind, she was grinning from ear to ear. She'd probably hug him and then he'd put his arms around her waist and rock her to the sound of some old Christmas track.
He sighed. Every time he looked at this photo, it took him to a different place. He thought back to simpler times, back when he was a youngin. Back before anything bad had ever happened. There was peace.
The gleeful innocence of the moment captured on her face would always cause him to stop and think.
And then the screen darkened after he'd stared long enough. His eyelids were heavy.
Without a fight, he let the nurse who entered the room record his blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate as he'd agreed and he asked for a bottle water which she brought. He took a long drink.
Awakening his phone, he scrolled further through captured photos of Y/N, smiling at all the times he'd taken her picture without her noticing. He'd started a lil collection. There was one with her mouth open a little bit, her head back, and she was snoring. There was one with her fro smashed in in the back from leaning against a headrest. There was one of her in the mirror brushing her teeth. There was one of her chewing her food with chipmunk cheeks. He had to laugh at that one Her cheeks were already cute and fat, but that was too much. Putting the phone away, he laid back again and closed his eyes.
She can't see me like this. Not with my leg busted in a cast.
It was his pride, but it was also the fact that she'd ask. What happened, how, when, who? He ain't have the explanations for her. Nothing but the truth that she couldn't handle. From experience, he knew it would take at least a month to heal and then maybe more since the rod implanted down in the inner aspect of the bone in his leg (thanks to the open reduction and internal fixation surgery) was temporary. It was there to stabilize and repair the fracture while the painkillers got him through the discomfort.
If he wanted to speed up the healing process, the best way to do it was to monitor his stitches keeping them clean and dry, and keep his leg protected as it currently was. In essence, he had to heed Dr. Charles' medical orders and stay put. It was irritating, but it was true.
---
"I've tried logging onto the database but it's down," Debra mutters in her atrocious northern accent. With all of those short vowels and her nasally voice, you really want to hang up and have her email instead.
"I'll take a look," you say pulling it up and it seems to let you in just fine.
"Debra, the database seems to be working fine at the moment. Walk me through the steps of what you're doing, will you? Start from the beginning."
"I logged onto my computer, I put in the pin. I clicked on the database and typed in my login and password--ooh.. dear, the caps lock was on. Hold on. Let me--yeah. Yep, that was it. I'm in."
"Alrighty," you hang up rolling your eyes. Minutes later the phone rings again and you sigh picking it up to give your professional greeting.
"Y/N." It's Tanner. You roll your eyes even harder and move the phone briefly away from your ear to prepare yourself for whatever idiotic thing is to come. "-printer is jammed again," you hear. "I could use your expert hands. I know I ought to know how to do this by now, haha."
"Or.. just stop jamming the printer.."
"Oh, but if I did that, I'd never see your pretty face," he jests.
Heading to the copy room, you clear the jam, showing him step by step what to do as you pull the papers and free the machine like you've done what feels like a million times before while he gawks at you like a complete lost cause.
"Does that make sense?" It's a simple process, it had better make sense. "Tanner?" Now he's zoned out. "Lord.. Tanner," you repeat a little louder.
"Huh? Oh. I'm sorry, what is it you were saying?"
"Why do I bother." Without another word, you start to walk off.
"Wait! Y/N, I meant to ask you.. How are you doing? I heard you were out for a while, it's not like you. Are you feeling okay?"
You can feel the question mark forming on your face. Who told him?
"Um.. yeah? I'm fine... Thanks.."
"That's great. Uh, I know a great noodle place if you like ramen. I mean, I like ramen.. when I'm not feeling well. It's actually not that far, I could drive and we could.. hang out? Go for lunch?"
"Eh..," you hesitate. You're lonely but are you really that lonely to hang with Tanner the white boy wonder?
"Um.. I-" No. "Sure," you shrug. It already feels like a mistake, but you said yes so now you have to go. He looks excited. Why is he excited?
"Great! I'll... meet you down in the lobby? What time do you wanna go?"
"Um, noon."
"Great. I'll seen you then," he smiles and you head out going back to your desk catching another dumb call.
When noon comes, you meet Tanner down in the lobby like arranged and follow him out to the street and to the parking garage, walking over to a black Acura to get into the passenger side, strapping in. He checks his mirrors and pulls out driving down into the street and making a left turn at the corner.
"You're going to pay for parking twice today? We could've just walked somewhere."
"But then you wouldn't have been able to try the soup and that's the whole point. It's really good for you."
"Or a lot of sodium, but who's on a diet?Not me."
"So, have you heard of Pho Station?"
"I have not." You look around wondering where it's tucked.
"It's off 8th and there's very little parking but leave it to me."
As soon as he turns on the music, you you hear the familiar intro and recognize the song as Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. Another two grunge rock songs follow but it's a short trip, a little over ten minutes and there's a little restaurant and there's only street parking so the two of you have to walk a block.
"You doing okay," he smiles looking over as you keep up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's not that far..."
On arrival, he opens the door and leads you to a table to sit. Instantly menus are brought over along with a glass of water for each of you. You decide on the chicken pho.
"That's all you want? You know I'm paying."
"Yeah, that's all. I don't always eat a lot, I just eat the wrong things at times."
"Oh," he waves dismissively before stilling himself. "I'll have to ask you to excuse me, I tend to stick my foot in my mouth."
"It's fine.."
"No, I'm saying things and they're not coming out the way I think them. For some reason I like to embarrass myself around you."
"Mm. So what do you think of Black Lives Matter?"
"I support it. Black people are discriminated against.. murdered.. and that's wrong, it needs to stop."
"Do you educate our other.. white peers on this view."
"I do," he says quickly. So quickly you wonder how long he's been preparing for a question like that. The food comes and it's a huge bowl of pho. His bowl is the same size. "Bon appetit," he smiles.
You dig in and it slaps. You've had pho, but you've never had it here and it tastes fresh. The place is clean too.
"I've been trying to get you to come out with me for the longest.. Thank you for coming."
"Thanks for showing me this place, I'll definitely come back."
Lunch consists of comfortable silence and lots of slurping. When you both finish, he drives back to the office and you both head in making your way to the elevator.
"It wasn't bad. It was nice. You're a little different than I thought you were. I thought you were-"
"Racist?"
"That too," you chuckle. "No.. incompetent."
"Fuuck," he blinks and you get the feeling you've offended him. "No, I just.. am terrible at communicating and I like calling on you."
"Makes my job very busy," you deadpan. He laughs as the doors open.
"Wait.. I don't mean to make your life hard, but maybe we should.. be lunch buddies. It'd give me a reason to see you.. other than calling you for paper jams."
"Sure. If it'll stop all of that, yes."
"So tomorrow," his blue eyes widen and honestly.. he looks like Henry Cavill.
"Yeah, tomorrow," you wave turning to walk off to your desk. This is something new. You don't want to call it too early, but something tells you there are worse people to hang out with than Tanner.
When you reach your desk, you call Erik and it goes to voicemail so you send him a selfie, a simple peace sign.
Thirty minutes later he responds.
Erik: Who's this cutie?
Y/N: The one and only, duh
Erik: Tell her I'm tryna slide
Y/N: She said come get it
Erik: 👀 Send nudes
Y/N: I'm at work, nigga
Erik: Just go to the bathroom and do it
Y/N: Nah. I don't feel like it, I'm busy.
It's a lie of course. You have every intention of sending him a nude.
Y/N: Just wanted to check on you and it seems you're doing juuust fine.
Sneakily hiding your smirk you glance up to make sure no one's watching you through your glass door.
Erik: I'm not fine 🥺
Y/N: Lol you stupid
He hates hearing no, but what can he do? Nothing. That's why he's pouting.
Erik: 🥺🥺🥺
Y/N: Oh now you wanna be cute. Can't threaten me if you can't touch me, huh?
Erik: 😳 I wouldn't dream of it
Y/N: LIAR!!!
Erik: 😥 Pretty please
You cover your face nearly snorting because he's so full of shit.
Erik: Please may I have some titty? 🤲
You were going to send him a picture either way, but seeing him beg is something you have to screenshot for your gallery.
Y/N: I'll think about it
Erik: Make sure they're both fully in the frame, one picture with the bra and then one without.
Erik: Then I want one of your ass and you might need the mirror for that. Take one with your panties up normal then pull them all the way up so they stick between your cheeks like a thong since I doubt you're wearing one. I like that shit.
Erik: Then take another one with them all the way off with a close-up of your pussy.
Erik: One normal and one with your pussy spread.
Erik: Then bend over so I can see the pussy from the back.
Y/N: I said I'd think about it and you doing entirely too much. You ain't getting nothing. No-thing!
Erik: 😢
Erik: Lemme just get a titty pic and an ass pic then. 🙏
Y/N: My nigga this ain't Burger King
Grabbing your phone you take it into the restroom and walk into a stall to take off your white blouse and wait until the woman washing her hands leaves. Quickly you leave the stall and snap a pic of your grey wire bra. You snap multiples to make sure you got a good shot and angle and then take off your bra, listening carefully for the door. If need be your foot's near the stall and you can get in there. Snapping three pics, you rush into the stall and fix your bra back, putting on your blouse. No one seems to be coming in so you strip out of your navy pants and walk out.
Erik: Please baby, baby please
Forget what he's talking about, I send what I want.
You decide to make a video and instead of all that randomness he asked for. You're gonna shake your butt a little and he's gonna take it and be satisfied. You set up your phone and twerk your ass for a good ten seconds, pulling your panties down under your ass cuff for a few seconds. He ought to like that. Smiling into the camera, you close the video out and decide to send it before the bathroom door swings open and you scuttle almost bumping into the toilet as you rush into the stall, slamming the door.
Hold it together, don't laugh.
Shaking, you smother it between your lips and rush to put your pants back on. You just barely made it into the stall without getting caught. Once dressed, you send the titty pics and head back to your desk feeling like you just got away with a crime. Only he could convince you to do something that risky.
---
"Blood pressure good..," the young black nurse muttered stripping the black velcro cuff from Erik's forearm. She was passed the stage where she kept feeling up his muscle. She didn't even comment on it anymore. She put two fingers on the inside of his wrist and he kept still and silent while she counted in her mind.
"Everything's looking good. How you feel?"
Erik blinked. He was quickly regaining his strength and energy after getting some rest. He hated to admit that the doctors were right. The rest was much needed and he felt the difference.
"Feel great. Good enough to get up outta here."
"Well you're doing well but you do need to stay off of that leg."
He rolled his eyes. "I been using the crutches. I can't stay in a room all day." They'd finally broken down and given him a pair after he proved that he could listen and stay put.
"You can't put too much stress on your body either."
"They were pull ups, I don't need my leg for pull ups and I ain't losing my gains fuckin round in a hospital bed."
He got what she was saying. It had only been a few days, he had to give it time. Common sense said that. Still, he wanted to be home in his own bed, in his house, with his live-in submissive, doing naughty things. The quicker he could get back to it, the better.
"Be patient," she eyed in a moment of transparency. "I can see you're rushing to get out of here, but just be patient. Whatever you're rushing to, whoever.. it'll be there. Take care of yourself right now."
She was earnest. It was in her eyes when she spoke. The fact that she cared at all made him curious to hear what she thought. He needed a girl's opinion.
"Can I ask you something?" He looked in her eyes as she nodded.
"Go ahead."
"How would you feel if your man told you he did something bad... would you stay with him?"
"How bad?"
"...Bad.."
"I don't think you understand my question. Did he kill somebody? Cheat? Rape someone? How bad we talking?"
"Hypothetically, let's say he killed someone," Erik shrugged watching her eyes. She didn't blink. "Would you leave him if you found out about it?"
She sighed, staring at him eye to eye silently while he waited.
"Hmm.." She drummed her fingers on her clipboard. "It really depends on who he killed and why. Shit happens, but depending on where his head was at.. I might look at him a little differently.."
Erik exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. That didn't give him much. Y/N's reaction could go either way. He didn't want to risk it.
He waited for the nurse to leave to check his phone and "GOTDAMN!" He watched the clip she sent mesmerized by her ass. Instant hard-on. He couldn't even respond. He replayed it again and again, snaking his hand under the band of his briefs and pulling them and his pants all the way down to touch himself as he watched the screen. He had to take care of that before he did anything else. His dick refused to be ignored For the next fifteen minutes, he was jerkin it. Then the pictures added on made him buss all over his hand. He hopped to the bathroom to wash his hands and clean up.
Erik: I just came all over myself
Y/N: Good!
He was tickled. He wanted more, but he wouldn't bug her. Not right now anyway.
In the meantime, she was extremely curious and he knew she'd be looking into things, reading into them and asking a lot of questions about where he was and what he was doing. He had to lie and lie his ass off. Make up anything for her until he could see her again.
Either that or explain some hard shit.
---
The calendar on Outlook tells a story outside of your simple work schedule. It says that it's been 15-16-17 days since you've returned to Cali and Erik still hasn't returned from Texas. He says he's still on business and that something came up. The whole story is really convenient. It makes no sense, how does that happen? What ever happened to Texas being "dangerous?" Couldn't he say no? You're trying not to be upset with him because if it was an issue with his job then you had to understand, but still. He needed to bring his ass on back.
In the meantime, you've been living in his house as if it's yours. It's still scary at night, but you're getting used to it since nothing else bizarre has happened.
As you sit at your desk, you get a call from Tom who says that he may have unwittingly downloaded a virus. Now you have to check and do damage control.
When you finally take a break. You check your phone hoping to see a text from Erik. Instead, you're pleasantly surprised and honestly a little excited. It's Toni, one of the girls you met in Texas. You didn't think she would ever contact you. She hadn't reached out to you since you sent her your date pictures and she said you looked bomb.
Toni: Hey girl, how you been?
Y/N: I'm alright, I'm at work now. How are you?
You start to write more, but delete it and send the message as is.
Toni: How are things with Daddy Morebucks?
Y/N: I promise you he is not my sugar daddy! But it's pretty good. We're still holding in there.
Toni: Still in denial.
The phone rings and you answer.
"Hey girl, where you at? Me an Ava touched down in Cali last night. We in Long Beach shopping. Ava got a new daddy," Toni sings happily. "I said you stay in LA but she she said Long Beach so here we are!"
"That's Y/N," Ava's voice asks in the background. "HEY GIRL, WE WANNA SEE YOU BEFORE WE LEAVE CALI.. AND YOUR MAN IF HE WITH YOU, WE AINT FORGET HIS FINE ASS."
"Anyway," Toni interrupts. "I said you were in LA but she said Long Beach."
"She is in Long Beach. Y/N tell her you stay in Long Beach."
"How far are you from Long Beach," Toni asks.
"I'm actually in Santa Monica," you snicker. "You're not far, you're thirty minutes out. We could totally meet, but you won't be able to see my bestie. He's out of town."
"That's okay we just trying to hang out and catch up anyway."
"The fuck? Where I get Long Beach from," Ava laughs. "Ask her if she's been to a dance class."
"You been to a dance class?"
"No, that's what y'all doing?"
"Yeah we've got the whole week planned girl. We don't do half assed. You in?"