Chapter 9

My wild and wonderful affair with Brent lasted for three more days.

On each of those occasions, we had sex. I got accustomed to slipping my tongue over his cock and being straddled by him as he pumped his penis into me.

But all good things come to an end, I suppose, and my relationship with Brent was no different. He left the hospital, and there were tears in the eyes of both of us when he left.

I recognized not only that was I taking a calculated risk having sex with young male patients, but that I was extending that risk by getting involved emotionally and then having to bring the relationship to a halt.

I was just trying to get over the ill effects of the forced break-up with Brent when, one afternoon, Dr. Harry Peterson, a young intern, ran into me in the hall.

I tried to avoid confrontation with him as I always did. From the very beginning, when I first started to work at City Hospital, I learned to dislike Harry Peterson.

Some of my fellow nurses liked him, but I frankly couldn't see why. Maybe I was being too negative. Just because I disliked him, I was inclined to discover any bad characteristic that I could link to him.

I remember thinking that, even though I did dislike him, he did have a kind of handsomeness about him-almost a mystique. He had light brown hair and an impish glow about him.

He made you think about a cute little boy when he was at his best. I didn't see much of the cute little boy, though. Instead I saw another side of him, that of the freewheeling, conceited playboy.

Young Harry came from a wealthy family. His father had been a prominent physician in the city for years, and Harry was bound and determined to follow in his footsteps. He drove a silver Porsche and attempted to conduct himself like a big man in every respect-particularly with the girls.

He was always coming on with the big line, doing his best to get intimately acquainted with nurses.

When I saw just how free he was with his light chatter, I immediately turned off. But my dislike for him seemed to somehow intensify his determination in getting acquainted with me. He seemed to try all the harder to get me to go out with him, even though I put him down quite often, sometimes in the fiercest manner possible.

He had a silly little grin on his face as he approached me in the hall, and I looked out the corner of my right eye, seeking escape.

"Joan, wait up," he said.

I stopped immediately, much against my wishes, but I couldn't just walk away from him. I was still trying to maintain good relations with all the people in the department where I worked, even though it was difficult in Harry's case.

I stood pensively, waiting for him to approach.

"How are things with you?" he asked.

"Fine, but I don't imagine you stopped me just for that. Did you?"

"What makes you so uptight around me?" he frowned, his ego shattered from the way I was talking to him.

"I don't know. I guess it just comes natural."

"I'll have you know that I'm pretty well liked around here," he snapped. "I don't know where you get the idea that you can talk to me in such a harsh manner."

"I'm sorry. I'm not meaning to sound harsh. It's just that I don't want you to come on in a fresh manner, like you do so many times."

"Whether I'm fresh or not is a matter of interpretation," he chuckled. "I happen to think that I'm a born charmer with the ladies."

"You're welcome to think anything you like."

"What kind of crack is that?"

"Nothing. I'm just saying that if you think you're a charmer, it's a free country. You can think anything you please."

"Then what you're saying is that you don't buy it, do you?"

"I didn't say that, you did."

"You're getting awfully damn cute," he said impatiently. "Let's talk the whole thing over over a cup of coffee."

"I really do have some calls to make."

"Look, I know it's nothing that can't wait. None of the people that you're looking after are in that bad shape. You can have a cup of coffee with me. You can make your calls later."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Harry Peterson," I said, with a tinge of sarcasm, "but my hospital duties come first."

"It's your hospital duties that I'm going to talk to you about," Harry said sternly. "As a matter-of-fact, that's what I was leading up to. I want to have a business conversation with you. It's very important. Your welfare is of immediate concern. So if I were you, I'd stop acting snotty and start acting a little civil."

"What is it that you want to talk to me about?" I asked, fearful over the tone of gravity in his voice. I didn't put anything past Harry, not even pulling rank on me by creating pressure. I had wanted to be completely tactful with him, but when I saw him coming on in a cheap manner, it totally shattered my equilibrium.

"Let's go have the coffee and I'll let you know," he said.

I noticed that my knees were trembling a little as we walked out the corridor leading to the restaurant. I hoped he wasn't going to serve up too big a bombshell. I had seen him eyeing me from a distance many times lately.

The look of hunger in his eyes had made me feel highly uncomfortable. Perhaps things were going to surface all too quickly in this case. All I knew I had to keep my wits about me.

The restaurant was practically deserted. The luncheon hour had ended, one hour earlier, and Harry escorted me to a booth toward the rear of the restaurant.

The waitress came over and said hello to both of us. Harry ordered a couple of coffees.

He settled back and took a long sip from his cup. He had a reflective look on his face. I could tell that he was trying to nail down the presentation he was about to make before opening his mouth.

"You've been a busy young girl lately," he looked at me and grinned slyly.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, around the hospital here."

"Of course. The moment I went to work as a nurse, I learned to anticipate long hours. And sometimes even weekends."

"I wasn't talking about that."

"Then what were you talking about?"

"I was talking about your cozy relationships with several patients."

At that point my heart began doing flip-flops. I could hardly believe what I had just heard.

"You'll have to be more specific. I don't know what you're talking about" was all I could say after a long pause.

"Oh sure. You're real innocent about this whole thing," he laughed. "like hell you are."

"Look, if you're going to be insulting, I'm going to get up and leave," I said, putting on the best righteous-indignation act I could.

Actually I was afraid to stick around any longer for fear that he was going to drop a huge bombshell from which I wouldn't be able to recover.

"I'd sit securely in your seat, if I were you," he said. "You're in a very vulnerable position, and I think that you'd need the help of old Harry rather than his hindrance at this point."

"I still don't know what you're driving at. I wish you'd spell things out a little more specifically," I told him.

"Oh, so you're going to keep handing me that line," Harry laughed. "You know damned well what I'm talking about. like with Brent Sawyer. I suppose you weren't balling with him? Is that what you're going to tell me?"

Before I could even answer, I gave myself away. My head dropped embarrassedly, and my eyes began to grow misty.

"You're insulting me," was all that I could think of to say.

"I'm just confronting you with a few facts. Actually, it's nothing for you to be upset about. I was really surprised, honey. I knew that you were taking pretty long with some of those calls. At first I construed it was nothing more than being a conscientious nurse, though."

"What made you so concerned about my schedule?"

"I make it a point to find out a little something about all the cute nurses around here. I want to get to know them real well. Intimately, if you know what I mean, baby."

"You're so vile."

"Sorry about being vile," Harry laughed. "But what would you call that little session you had in Brent Sawyer's room yesterday? I thought you were going to swallow his cock, you were sucking it so hard and fast. You couldn't give that guy enough sex to save your life, could you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. You're just fishing."

"I've already told you one thing that was going on in that room. You were sucking his cock. After that, he really rammed his prick into your pussy. I must say I got quite ,a hard-on just watching you. I had to knock off early and see one of the nurses who was off duty that day. That's what you did for me. And I kept wishing all the while that I was in Brent's place. I wanted to be fucking you. Even though the nurse that I balled later was cute, she really wasn't in your league, sweetheart."

"You're cruel, Harry."

"I was just using my detective's instincts. I thought I heard some strange sounds coming from that room. Then I investigated. You know, there's a little bit of a crack in the door. I just managed to peek inside long enough to see what was going on. It was very interesting, I must say, but you can rest easy. I didn't tip off another soul. That will be just our secret, honey."

"Thank goodness for that," I sighed.

I realized, however, that I was anything but out of the woods, particularly when he flipped his right hand beneath the table and let it come to rest on my knee cap.

"I'll take care of you if you'll take care of me," Harry said bluntly.

"I wish you'd take your hand off my knee, Harry."

"I don't see why I should," he laughed. "You're really not in that much of a position to tell me what to do, baby. I'm surprised at you being all that naive. You know, I'm a pretty important man in your life now, and there are no two ways about that. I guess you know what will happen if I go out and tell even one person about all this. One person who happens to have a little authority around this place. I could wreck you, baby, wreck you for good. Put that one in your pipe and smoke it."

"I don't happen to smoke a pipe," I said sadly, hardly knowing what else to say.

"Excuse the expression. Maybe it's not the appropriate one, but it serves the purpose for now. Drink up your coffee, my dear. We have something to do."

"What? I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.

"We're going to have a celebrated blast," he chuckled. "As a matter-of-fact, I'd like to take you in my private office. We'll lock the door and just let nature take its course."

"No, absolutely not. I won't be treated like a whore," I asserted angrily.

"Get a hold of yourself," Harry whispered.

"You'd better calm down, sweetie. Remember, I'm the guy who holds your fate in his hands. It isn't going to be all that tough making me happy. All you've got to do is stop acting like such a goddam snob and start acting a little more civil. If you could just do that, then you'd be surprised just how much of a gentleman I could be. After a while you won't even find me all that demanding, baby."

I slumped a little lower in my chair. I recognized that he had me dead to rights.

There didn't seem to be any other choice. I would have to follow through. He was calling the shots at that point.