Page 9 of Last Chance Love

“Well, you can rest assured I’m not going to slip a finger in while I’ve got you bent over and vulnerable,” I told him. His mouth fell open, then moved silently, gesturing helplessly. “What? I could always call Elliot in. I’m sure he’d appreciate the view.”

“Alright,” he snapped, picking up the small box the suppository had come in and throwing it at me. Well, he tried, but all he managed was to send it spinning through the air before it dropped half a foot from me with a pathetic sound.

“Everything alright in there?” came a call from down the hall.

I peeked out and grinned at one of the doctors in charge of the clinic. “It’s alright, Dr. Gideon. Dom’s just…coming to terms with his medicine.”

“Coming to terms?” the older man asked, his brow furrowing.

“I’ve got it handled. It’s just Dom,” I told him.

He looked ready to protest before sighing and returning to the examination room he’d come out of. I had no doubt he was wondering if he should make sure everything was alright or trying to figure out if he should leave well enough alone. I wasn’t nearly as bad about messing with people as Elliot; he could hold onto that title for as long as he wanted as far as I was concerned, but I did have a slight reputation.

“Just Dom,” Dom muttered, wiggling the packaging around. “Seriously?”

I decided to take pity on him, knowing he was reaching his limit. “Look, I’ll explain how to make this easier. And if you can’t figure things out, I’ll find a way to help you.”

“I don’t want help,” he said, glaring at the package. “I don’t want this medicine!”

“Martin wouldn’t have prescribed it if it wasn’t necessary,” I assured him. “C’mon, you’ve been having issues for weeks. All the other treatments haven’t worked, so here we are.”

Bowel problems were pretty common, but despite that, people were uncomfortable and embarrassed to talk about them. Dom had been plagued by stomach issues, along with on-and-off constipation. Dr. Gideon was trying to figure out the source of his problems, but right now, he was making sure he didn’t stay backed up until it became a serious problem.

“Trust me,” I continued, leveling my eyes with his. “You donotwant this problem to stay.”

“It’s just…I just need fiber or something,” he grumbled.

I stepped in and closed the door behind me. “Look, you really don’t want to know what’s going to happen if you don’t take a shit soon.”

“It can’t be that bad,” he said with a frown.

“Shove the pill up your ass, and no one but me and Dr. Gideon ever needs to know.”

It never failed to surprise me how small someone could look. Dom was not a small man and usually dwarfed the examination tables whenever he came in. Right now, as the reality of what he had to do settled into his thoughts, he shrank into himself rapidly. He sat, holding the packaging, staring down at it.

“This is just…man,” he groaned, his shoulders slumping. “How bad is it?”

“Uh, this is where I admit I’ve never taken one myself,” I admitted with a shrug. “But that little thing? You’ll barely notice it except for being a little dramatic.”

“Dramatic,” he huffed, squinting up at me. “Everyone says you’re so great to them, and here you are, making fun of me.”

I smiled. “If I started treating you with kid gloves and gentle words, what would you do?”

“Make fun of you.”

“Yeah, exactly. So listen up, and then I’ll leave and give you ten minutes.”

“Ten?”

“You only need five minutes at most, but I’m going to give you a few extra minutes to psyche yourself up, but more than that, and you’ll talk yourself out of it.”

“You think you know me like that?” he asked with a scowl.

“I was here when you had to get your flu jab and your rabies shot after that nasty scrape from the scrap pile. I also saw how you were with taking cold medicine. If you don’t psyche yourself up, you get pissed, but if you go too long, you start to talk yourself out of it.”

He looked up at me, frowning. “How the fuck do you pay attention to that kind of shit?”

I chuckled. “It’s my thing. Came in handy…once upon a time.”

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