A Fighting Chance (15 page)

“Yeah?” she asks.

“Yeah, and I’ll be here for you every step of the way, too. You’re going to knock ‘em dead. I just know it.”

“I can do this?” she questions.

“I know you can do this!” I answer reassuringly.

“I can do this,” she says as a statement this time. I nod and peel her white fingers from the steering wheel.

“OK, I can do this,” she says again. She grabs her things and we both step out of the car. I grab her purse and walk over to her. I hand over her purse and offer a supportive smile. And like a switch, she turns back into the Savvy I know and love.

“I’ve got this, sugar. Thanks for coming here and helping me, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she says hugging me.

“Right back at you, babe,” I tell her.

She takes five steps toward the building and stops. Shit, I thought I had her all set. She turns around, runs back and hugs me again. With tears in her eyes and gum smacking in her teeth she gives me a nod. She turns back around, shoulders back, head up and starts to walk to the building.

“Savvy,” I call.

“Yeah,” she says turning around again.

I walk up to her, hold out my hand just under her mouth, and look from her mouth to my hand with my eyebrows raised. “Spit,” I demand.

“Spit? You want me to spit in your hand? Have you lost your mind? Oh, is this some secret doctor nurse only code?” she asks confused.

I roll my eyes at her and say, “No, spit out your gum in my hand.” She puts on a mock embarrassed face and spits her gum in my hand. “You’ve got this,” I assure her again.

I watch as she disappears in the doorway. I stand there for a few more seconds just to make sure she’s good. I think about her mom and that hospice nurse who had such an influence on her life. Just as I’m about to go back to Kyle’s car, Savvy pokes her head out of the building and with a huge smile she waves goodbye to me. What a dork. But what an amazing dork she is.

Back at the hospital, I finish out my shift and brought three adorable, healthy, bouncing baby boys into the world. Some of these mothers may never remember my name, but they will always remember today as one of the happiest days of their lives. The day they welcomed their precious son into their lives and into their family. I could never imagine doing anything different with my life.

As I walk out of a mother’s room, I see my man standing at the nurse’s station. An instant smile forms knowing he’s here for me. I walk up to Max and place the charts on the counter. The nurses behind the counter all have wide eyed dreamy looks. As Max kisses me, one of them opens her mouth in an ‘Oh my God, are you kidding, he’s with you’ kind of look. Max grabs my hand and we head to the elevator. I turn and look behind me to see nurses hunched together whispering. Yep, that’s right, he’s my man. And just for good measure, in a big handful, I grab his fine ass. He smirks at me and pulls me close to his side.

At his truck, he holds open the door for me. On the seat is a large box wrapped in a purple bow. I smile and instantly know, well hope really what’s inside. I squeal and grab the box and set it in my lap. Max closes the door and gets in the driver seat.

“Well, don’t just sit there, open it.”

I rip the box open, and inside are purple leather chaps and a purple leather jacket. It’s soft and feels amazing in my hands. Max takes the box as I try on the leather jacket. It feels even more amazing on. He reaches in the back seat and pulls out a purple helmet that sparkles full of glitter. I wonder if they make purple combat boots.

I toss all the purple goodness in the back seat and straddle Max’s lap, grab him by the cheeks, and plant a thank you very much kiss smack on his kisser.

Before things start to get too heated, Max pulls away and says, “We can go out for a ride this weekend. I have something I want to show you.”

“Yay, road trip!” I squeal.

Max

Let’s just hope she’s still as excited as she is now when she sees where we’re going.

I drive her back home, hold the door open for her to get out of my truck, and hold the front door open for her as we enter her condo.
See there Samuel, I learned that from you, too
. I smile at myself as I realize just how much I’ve learned from him.

Even after a twelve hour shift at the hospital, Chloe looks just as radiant as she did when I dropped her off. On the way home, Savvy called Chloe and I could hear her yapping on and on all the way over in the driver seat about her day at school. Chloe invited her over for dinner with a promise to sit at the table and pour over all of Savvy’s new text books with her. I hated school with a passion, so I don’t understand either of their excitement. But as long as Chloe is happy, I’m happy.

Chloe and I work seamlessly together in the kitchen. There are plenty of leftovers from last night’s dinner. We make a fresh green salad and just reheat the leftovers. Savvy comes in like the tsunami she is and plops half a ton of textbooks on the kitchen table.

“Woman, you want to place your shit somewhere else?”

“Sure thing Slick,” she says enunciating the last word with a grin.

Chloe smacks her hand over her mouth to stop her giggle. I sigh and look to the floor for strength. What does Chloe see in this chick? She was a pain in my ass at the bar, and she’s still a pain in the ass today. She’s damn lucky she puts a smile on Chloe’s face, or I’d tie her ass to a chair and torture her. I stomp my foot on the ground pretending like I’m going to get her, she giggles and runs into the other room. Her cell phone rings in her bag and she grabs it on the way to the far side of the room. She takes one look at the display and her whole demeanor changes. I’ve worked with plenty of women with issues ranging from abusive husbands to dominant John’s, and I know this look on her face.

She turns around and answers the phone in a hushed whisper. I glance at Chloe who gives me a worried look as we both try to hear her side of the conversation.

“Reno, I’m at a friend’s house. I know you said to come straight home after school. I tried calling you. I left you a message saying that I was coming over to Chloe’s house for dinner to show her my new books.” She stops talking to listen, and I can hear the guy screaming explicit after demeaning explicit at her. She glances at me over her shoulder, and with a shaky voice says, “I’ll be home in an hour. I promise.” She presses the end button and tosses it back in her bag, then hugs her purse to her chest.

“Do I need to step in here?” I ask sincerely.

“No, Slick…I mean Max. Everything’s fine,” she says, and like the whole conversation never happened, she skirts around me and heads into the kitchen.

“Can I help with anything?” she asks Chloe.

Chloe opens her mouth to speak when the front door opens. Ava walks in looking worse for wear. She tosses her briefcase on the bench by the door and walks out of her shoes on her way to the kitchen. She grabs a slice of cucumber out of the salad bowl and plops her ass in a chair at the table, puts her head down on the plate in front of her and doesn’t move. Chloe and I exchange looks between Savvy and Ava, both unsure who to talk to first.

Savvy puts her books on the floor and takes a seat at the table, too. Chloe and I grab dishes and place them on the table. We take seats and dish out food. Savvy acts like everything is as right as rain, and Ava seems to be asleep.

“Ava, honey, would you like some pasta?” Chloe asks.

She picks her head up off the plate only long enough to scoot it toward Chloe. Chloe scoops some pasta onto her plate, and then Ava abruptly moves it to the side of her face still on the table. Chloe gives me a shrug, then serves Savvy her food.

Believe it or not, Ava ate her entire plate of food with the side of her face planted on the table. When she was done, she got up and went to her room. Savvy nervously looked at her watch through the entire meal. When she was done, she brought her plate to the sink, picked up her behemoth-sized bag full of books and walked to the front door.

“Maybe some other time we can go over my books. I have studying to do, I should really get home. Thank you for dinner, it was amazing, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Savvy, wait…” But before Chloe could even get up from her chair and to the door, Savvy was already half way to her car.

“I feel like I should have done something more. Who’s Reno? Have you ever heard of him before?” Chloe asks me.

“No, I was going to ask you the same thing. She’s never mentioned him to you at the bar before?”

“No, this is the first time I’ve heard his name. What about Ava? That was strange, even for her. I know she’s working real hard at work trying to make partner, but she’s never come home looking like that.”

We cleaned the kitchen then went to Chloe’s room. It’s been a long day. I’m sure it’s been a long exhausting first day back for Chloe, too.

I walk up behind her and run my hands down the back of her arms. She turns her head slightly to look at me and smiles.

“How was your first day back to work?” I ask, continuing to rub her arms up and down.

“I don’t want to talk about my first day back,” she says turning around in my arms. She jumps up, straddles my hips, and plants her lips on mine. Her fingers dig in my hair, tugging and scratching her nails on my scalp. I walk forwards placing her back against the wall as she frantically grabs for the hem of my shirt and rips it off my head. Pulling back slightly, she expertly undoes my belt, button, and zipper. I put her down only long enough for her to pull my jeans and boxers down. She licks up my dick, and then sinks her hot little mouth down as far as she can go. Not so fast, little girl. I pull her up and wrap her legs around my waist again. She leans back again and removes her scrub top, tossing it to the floor behind her. I reach behind her and unhook her bra. She removes it from each arm, grabs my face between her hands, and presses her breasts to my chest. I walk her to her bed and drop her with a gentle plop. She smiles and reaches for me. I straddle her hips pressing my erection into her belly.

“See what you do to me? You drive me wild, woman.”

She unties her scrub bottoms and wiggles them down as far as she can reach, then kicks them off with her feet still leaving her panties on. She reaches for them to take them off. Oh, little girl, have you learned nothing. I grab them in my hand and rip them off. I bring them to my nose and smell her intoxicating scent. Her scent is like a drug, and I can’t live without it. Like a starved man, I descend and get my high. Only when her legs quake between my head do I get my fill.

I stand beside the bed and pull her by her ankles to the edge, and root myself deep inside. Her arms go above her head and her eyes roll in the back of her head. She locks her feet behind my legs and pulls in at my every thrust. I reach down and grab one breast with my right hand and rub her sweet little nub with my left thumb. Her legs shake uncontrollably as she comes again and pulses on my cock, and I release my own.

The love in my chest for this woman hurts like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. It’s not a painful hurt, but one that I welcome and cherish so fucking much. I kneel on the floor and rest my head on her lap. She scratches my scalp with those amazing nails of hers. She sits up, wraps my head against her chest and hugs my head. She kisses the top of my head and scoots up on her pillow. I climb in bed behind her, wrap my arms around her waist, and bury my nose in her hair.

She squeezes my arm and says, “Can we go see Samuel together sometime soon? I know you said you didn’t get to go to the burial. I’d like to go with you, if that’s alright.” Words that used to cut like a knife when I’d think of Samuel and his passing drift in my ears like a song. I smile and can’t imagine going to see him with anyone except Chloe.

“We can make that happen,” I say and close my eyes. We will both sleep peacefully tonight.

Chapter 12

Chloe

The next few days at work and home are pretty much like the previous days before it. Max drops me off at work, then heads to his office, and then picks me up when my shift is over. We make dinner together in which sometimes Ava joins us and some days she’s not even home from work. He sleeps in my bed with his arm draped over my waist to make sure my demons stay on the road where I left them.

Saturday, Max has his secret ride that he wants to take me on, and I couldn’t be more excited to get dressed up in my brand new smoking hot leathers. My purple leathers and my sparkly purple helmet, that is. Sunday we will have dinner at the Wellingtons, our first Sunday dinner back as a couple. Max and I are stronger than ever, and I can honestly say he’s the love of my life.

Work is awesome, I love my job. I love working with my brother and he’s even been dropping hints about the idea of opening a private practice together. Wouldn’t that just be a dream come true.

I invited Savvy to Sunday dinner, but I haven’t heard back from her. I’m worried about her, and this Reno character, he sounds like a royal douche. I’ve called her several times to see how classes are going, but it just goes straight to voice mail and I haven’t heard back from her. If by tomorrow she doesn’t return my call, I’ll hunt her ass down. Well, Max will hunt her ass down. I’ll just tag along while he does his thing.

I’ve been to counseling with Fiona several days already this week. Friday is my last session for the week, and each day I go, I feel more and more like myself. We’ve set a six-month schedule for three days a week, with the plan to lower that to, once a week, depending on my neediness. I don’t know if I’ll ever not need Fiona. You live a life, and in that life, shit happens, some worse than others. I may need Fiona for the rest of my life to keep me on track and to keep the swirling voices in my head at bay. Yes, those voices are still there. I write them in my journal and they go away. Only to be replaced by new ones. Am I crazy? I don’t think so.

Sleeping in Max’s arms, I’m woken by the buzzing of his cell phone on the night stand. He answers it with a rough bark, then disconnects without saying another word.