“Oh my god, why? I mean, how? You?” She sits on the end of the bed. “Come on… deets, girl. All of them.”
Fuck, I am too sleepy for this, but I’ll give her the basics. I need her girl-code energy to keep me from pining for the guy, or worse, feeling ashamed of what I did.
“Well, we were masked, so I never saw his face, but he was um… mature.” I start, feeling queasy, but still sort of turned on from the great sex.
“Are we talking grandpa mature, or Beckett mature?” Her pretty face scrunches a little with the question.
“Definitely the Beckett variety.” I have seen her hot older brother only once from a distance when he came to pick her up for their obligatory monthly dinners.
“Okay, that’s hot. Beckett is very sexy, but you know he’s my brother, so ew. And he’s a total tool, so also ew.” Her little scrunch crumples more.
“Yeah, this guy did have a little tool energy, but he was trying. It was a one-nighter. We wore masks, I handed in my V-card, and he ripped it the fuck up.” Boy did he, but he was also gentle. I wasn’t even that sore; it is a good ache, one I wish I could have again.
“Fantastic. So are you going to see him again?” She gives me a flirty grin.
“Only in my dreams. Which I’d like to get back to. There’s not much else to tell. I’m not gonna go all erotica on you; just know it was good. I’m okay, he was fine, it all was nice, and I am now a full-fledged member of the Folks Who Are Fucking Society. I feel honored and blessed,” I tease.
It was fine, but it was also a little bit awful. I would have loved to have taken the money, but my pride just wouldn't allow me to do it. The sex was good, but the fact that it ended so abruptly the way it did, and how he was so business-like afterward… I just didn't want any part of that. Ienjoyed myself. It was a fun fantasy for a minute, and then it was over; no delusions.
“I’m so proud of you. You took control of your sexuality and had some amazing consensual non-committal sex.” Mia puts her hand over her heart, also teasing. “My little girl is growing up,” she laughs. “Call me when you get into the corps de ballet, but until then, get some sleep,” she says, rising from the bed.
“If,” I counter and nestle back into my covers. “If I get into the corps de ballet.”
“You are too funny. You’re the best dancer at NYU; you’ll get in. See you tonight, you full-fledged fucker.” She laughs so hard, and it is so cheesy, but that’s why I love Mia. She makes everything awesome, not just okay, but sparkling.
“I love you,” I say, quickly falling back to sleep.
“Not more than I love you,” I hear her say as she leaves.
I sleep for the rest of the morning and only dream of him once more. Dreaming of Mr. Cock makes me miss him. I would have liked to get to know him better, if only to discover whether he was as awful as he said, or as good as he pretended to be.
When I finally wake up, it is one o’clock in the afternoon. I go into the bathroom feeling well-rested, finally, and brush my teeth. Remembering that I need to take my birth control, I open the pillbox. I am a little bit late taking it because of getting home at quarter to four in the morning, but as long as I take it, I'll be fine.
I open the container and realize I took my last one the day before.
Shit.
It is too late to get my prescription refilled, so I will have to get a morning-after pill. That is a complication because I need to be at the audition. If I get out of the audition before seven, I can go to the pharmacy and pick one up.
I just hope that the audition will be over by then. I calm myself down by telling myself that nobody gets pregnant the first time they have sex; it is rare. I can't think about it. I have to get my brain in the right headspace for the audition.
Chapter Seven
Beckett
TEN MONTHS LATER
“Good morning, Dr. Myers,” the sexy blonde at the receiving desk says as I walk in for my monthly shift in the emergency room.
Once a month, I do a charity shift at New York General. When I first accepted the role, I was a little more altruistic than I ended up becoming; however, it is good for my reputation. I am seen as somewhat of a saint after discovering a drug that increases the blood's ability to fight cancer cells in every mutation. It has shown incredible results in keeping cancer in remission and shrinking or eliminating most tumors. It isn't necessarily a cure, but it is the predecessor to one.
What it does is prolong the lives of those with late-stage cancer and nearly obliterate cancer in early-stage patients. Since the FDA approved the drug, I have become somewhat of a hero. It is a position I don’t really enjoy, but I need to keep up my shifts in the emergency room so I don't look like I bailed the minute I gained some notoriety.
I wave hello to the blonde at the front desk but don't engage her in conversation. She is definitely someone I would fuck, but I don't have sex with women who work at any of the hospitals where I have patients. I won't ever let anyone get that close to me. She is definitely fuckable, but the red-masked woman at the masquerade ball nearly a year ago kind of ruined me for casual sex.
I cannot stop obsessing over her. Of course, her body was absolutely stunning and perfect, and I fit inside her like a glove, but when she walked out on me—no, she didn't walk out, shesnuckout of the hotel and left me with nothing but a pair of broken fucking shoes and the Louboutins I had bought. I couldn't get my clothes on fast enough to catch her, so I talked with the head of the catering company to try and get her identity.
“One of the services we provide is the opportunity to engage more intimately with our staff, but what transpires between you has to beconsensual for you both. That includes exchanging identities. If you’d like to leave your name and number, we can have her contact you. Otherwise, our contract states…”
