Page 53 of Devoted

Chapter 15

Jess

One Month Later

“Thank you, Skye.” I reach for the tray containing three coffees and the bag with two muffins inside.

“No problem. Hope you have a good shift.”

“Here’s hoping.” I flash her a wink and then exit the coffee shop and head towards my car.

It’s been over a month since Cash and Piper’s wedding and things are going so well in my life, that my cheeks are hurting from smiling so much.

I have a job that I love, friends that are true, and a man that makes me shudder deliciously at just the thought of him.

I can’t remember the last time I felt that way—like everything is falling into place, which scares me to be honest. I don’t know whether to celebrate the unexpected turn my life has taken, or to fear that suddenly it might drop out from underneath me. At least in those moments of uncertainty, I know I can rely on Brooks to cheer me up and remind me to live in the moment. But as I feared, our work schedules have proven to be a problem in spending time together.

We both have had to work extra shifts to make up for the time we took off around the wedding, so we’ve seen little of each other, except for the occasional meal here and there. Although he still sent me texts when he could to let me know he was thinking of me, and we spoke on the phone a few times at night, most of those conversations leading to phone sex again.

After my confession about my ‘curse’, Brooks has been nothing but reassuring that he’s content with waiting to have sex until I feel comfortable to do so. And as much as I still wonder in the back of my mind when the other shoe is going to drop concerning this perfect specimen of a man, I feel myself getting that much closer to just truly believing in what we have.

But then the shoe started to slip.

The first time something concerned me with Brooks, it was during our axe throwing date. When he returned from that phone call, I knew something in that discussion rattled him. He snapped at me in a way I’d never seen from him before, but I chalked it up to his annoyance with the call, and decided to let it go. Everyone gets frustrated and doesn’t react perfectly all the time. And if it were that important, he would discuss it with me, right?

The next time though, it happened during a breakfast date. We both worked the day before late into the evening, so he asked me if I wanted to join him for breakfast the following morning. We met at The Corner Bakery, a mom-and-pop run restaurant in Emerson Falls that serves a killer breakfast. In the middle of our meal, Brooks got a phone call again that he left the table to take, venturing outside where I could still see him on the phone. By the way he pinched the bridge of his nose and ran his hand through his hair in frustration, I knew something about that call was causing him stress. But when I asked him about it upon his return, he brushed it off and acted like everything was fine—again.

The third time I sensed he was hiding something from me was when he cancelled dinner plans for us. I was supposed to go over to his house. He agreed to cook for me and then we were going to watch a movie, also known as, make out on his couch. About an hour before we planned to meet, he called to cancel on me, stating that his mom needed his help. I accepted his need to help his mother, of course, but then later than night when I ventured into town to grab some dinner for myself, I saw him talking to a small blonde woman just outside of CVS.

My heart pounded in my chest when the worst plausible scenarios flooded through my mind, the obvious one being that he was cheating on me. But I convinced myself that there was a logical explanation for that conversation and buried my doubt. Brooks has been nothing but honest with me from the get-go, so I didn’t have a reason to question his exclusivity with me. I text him later that night, telling him I hoped his evening went well and that I missed him, to which he replied the same and then wished me sweet dreams. If a guy is cheating on you, they probably wouldn’t say stuff like that, right?

Well, they say there’s always a straw that breaks the camel’s back, correct? Hence, here we are today, and my patience is about to be shattered.

“Hey, Alice.” I set the coffees on the counter and then remove hers from the tray, handing it to her.

“You are a lifesaver. I still have four more hours before I can finally rest my head, and then I have to wake up to take my son to his soccer game.”

“I don’t know how you do it, Alice.”

She shrugs and keeps sipping her coffee. “You just do.”

“Okay, well, I’m going to go find Dr. Bennet to give this to him,” I say and give her a sly smile.

“Have fun.” She winks back at me as I wander down the hall to the on-call room where Brooks told me to meet him before my shift started. I’m about thirty minutes early, so I figured that was enough time for a hot and heavy make-out session just as he ends his shift and I start mine. I have been craving this man’s kiss all week, and I can’t wait to satisfy that need.

The creak of the door is loud, but I manage to slide inside and shut it quickly behind me. A small twin bed is tucked in one corner of the room and an equally tiny end table rests beside it. A lonely gold lamp sits atop and the single drawer is half open, showcasing multiple charger chords sticking out. It’s not fancy by any means, but it gives you a place to rest when you so desperately need it.

Or a place to make out when you desperately need that too.

I take a seat on the bed, placing the coffees on the table and then falling back against the pillow. Reaching for my phone from my pocket, I decide to check my emails and apps while I wait for Brooks to arrive. We work in a hospital, so even though we agreed upon a time to meet, that doesn’t mean it will happen right on the dot.

I click and scroll away as the minutes start to tick by and I grow nervous that our time is running out. Not having time to dedicate to a relationship is one reason why dating has been so difficult for me in the past. But now that I found a guy that’s worth it, I don’t want that to be an issue for us too. Given that he’s a doctor though—well, that just might be an obstacle we’ll have to face and adapt to, which I’m quickly accepting.

Thirty minutes flies by and I have no word from Brooks. I even sent him a text to let him know I was here, but I got no response. As I stare at the screen, I notice the notification change from delivered to read, which means he saw it. But no dots pop up on my thread to tell me that he’s going to text me back.

Not having any more time to waste, I grab the coffees and make my way back to the nurses’ station where I find Alice back in her chair.

“Alice, did you happen to see Dr. Bennet around?” She has a look on her face of guilt when I come traipsing back over to her still holding two coffee cups.

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