She wasn't in her apartment ten minutes and her phone rang. There was no contact name on the screen, so she figured it was a salesman of some kind.
"Hello."
There was a silence.
"Hello." She repeated.
Still nothing.
She listened for a voice, a breath, something. Nothing.
She hung up. Maybe someone got the wrong number and didn't want to say anything. She threw her phone on the bed and went to put her pjs on.
It rang again.
This time she could hear breathing, but no one spoke.
"Who is this?" She asked suspiciously.
Nothing.
But someone was there, she could hear that heavy breathing.
She hung up and threw her phone on the bed again.
She stared at the phone like it was a snake about to strike. Now they were calling her?
It was late or she would have run to Dex. But she realized she couldn't do that every time something happened. It had become an urge, every time something went awry, she wanted to go to him and feel that safe feeling he gave. It was impossible. This was her problem, and somehow, she had to face it. Alone.
It could be a prank caller.
Shrugging it off, she went to bed with a good book and ignored her phone.
But Dex called a few minutes later and she sighed when she heard his voice. "I meant what I said, Mel, I really don't want anyone else."
She smiled, feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside. "Thanks…. "
"I'm glad we got that out of the way. Goodnight honey."
"Night." She whispered, and hung up.
Forgetting the prank caller, she laid her book down and went to sleep. She dreamed of Dex.
The next morning, she made herself some coffee and pattered about the place as she didn't have to go into work until late.
She made some dry toast and had a cup of coffee.
Suddenly she heard a big boom. It came from upstairs, directly above her. It startled Mel but she shrugged it off as someone had just moved in up there.
Whoever it was, they were loud as several times she heard that same boom. Like someone dropped a big box of books on the floor.
She'd make a note to ask Earl who had moved in upstairs. Not that she was complaining, it was probably someone moving boxes or something. She needed to give them a couple of days to get moved in before she started complaining about it.
Her car would be ready tomorrow, but today she'd have to ride her bike.
Dex came by and offered her a ride, he was going in late tonight too. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Dex."
"I won't allow my girl to walk when I can take her." He grinned.
"Your–girl?" She grinned.
"Aren't you?" He asked, in a teasing voice.
She looked around, smiled shyly and nodded. "I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead." she chuckled.
"We're making progress." He smiled. He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss that sent hot signals through her body. She moaned.
They left, knowing where those kisses were headed.
He drove, but reached for her hand. And when he parked the car in his assigned spot at the hospital, he looked over at her.
She leaned over and boldly kissed him on the lips.
He lost breath he was so surprised.
"Thanks for the ride," she whispered when she came up for air.
"I like the way you pay your debts," He chuckled.
She smiled and they walked to the elevators.
Lots of people joined them so there was no more kissing. He winked when she got off on her floor.
"Lunch?" He hollered.
"Okay," she hollered back as she stepped off the elevator and started down the hallway.
Neely was standing at the work station when she walked by and was smiling ear to ear.
"Why the smile?" Mel asked.
"I could hear him all the way down here, Lunch?"
Mel smiled. "Yeah…."
"Girl, you are a goner. I can see that in your eyes now. You and Dex. Couldn't happen to a nicer person." Neely chuckled. "Better watch out, someone might scratch your eyes out around here."
Mel's smile faded, "W-what do you mean?"
"I mean he's the best catch aside from a couple of doctors in the building. So, there will be a lot of pining girls wanting to get even with you for taking him so quickly." Neely laughed.
"Y-you're not serious, are you?" Mel asked.
Neely stared at her a moment. "No silly, just teasing you a bit. Didn't mean to scare you."
Mel clutched her chest. "Sorry, I've had some things happening to me. Don't know why or who, but someone is trying to scare me, Neely."
"You're kidding, right?"
"No, I'm dead serious."
"My God, Mel. I had no idea, or I'd have never said something like that to you. What's been happening?"
"Tell you on break."
"Definitely!" Neely told her and stared as Mel went to work.
Mel shivered a moment in the supply room then determined to put it all behind her as she went to work on organizing the room better so that the nurses could find things easier. She had asked for suggestions and several of the nurses gave her a few ideas on how to make the supply room more operable for the nurses. Whoever attended this job last wasn't good at organizing she decided with a grimace. Things that needed to be readily available were stuck back in corners. She spent some time making the supply room a priority.
But when she thought of Dex, she smiled. Despite her attempt at keeping him at bay, it seemed he was becoming more and more important to her. For one, he cared about her safety, for another, he wanted her. That boosted her ego a bit, as right now her ego was flat. She knew she as falling in love with him. She knew too that it was too soon, but she couldn't stop her heart, could she?
She was happy that she'd landed this job so soon, and happy she'd found a nice apartment, and even happier that she'd found Dex. Perhaps she should put all this weird stuff to the back of her mind and not concentrate on it. But how did you forget about someone trying to scare you all the time.
The incidents had graduated now. Now there were phone calls. Although, she couldn't be sure. It really could be some kid, prank calling her.
She wished she knew what the person was trying to do to her? Who could hate her that much?
But a sudden call to ER had her mind escaping to a different place when she had to fill in for another nurse and the emergencies that came up totally cleared her mind for nothing but her work for the next two hours.
When Neely came to find her, they took a break.
"Now I want to know what is going on?" Neely told her in no uncertain terms.
Melanie didn't want to sound melodramatic.
"Look even I'm not sure what is going on. It's juts….I've been getting the creeps when I go home on my bike, and other times. And then the other day, someone came into my apartment and locked me in the bathroom while they searched my apartment, for something, with a key in the bathroom. Now I'm getting these silent phone calls. Someone is obviously trying to scare me. And I don't have a clue who it could be." Mel related as they both got a soft drink from the machine in the break room. "Or why they are doing it."
"You are serious?"
"Very."
"And you don't know who it could be?"
"Not yet."
"Good grief Mel. Have you told Julia?"
"Julia? No!" Mel looked surprised. "Why should I?"
"She needs to know. We all did for that matter. If something happened to you, or if we could help. We would."
Melanie didn't like the idea of too many people knowing what was going on. She wasn't at all sure who she could trust, except Dex and Neely. "The police know. For now, that's enough. I'm sorry Neely, you’re a good friend, but the others, I just don't know who to trust. I'd rather not spread this around, if you don't mind."
"Alright, I'll respect your wishes hon. But if I can help, let me know, will ya?"
"Sure."
"You don't think it's anyone here in the hospital, do you?" Neely tasked her. "This could be serious."
"I'm afraid it is serious Neely, and that's the very reason I don't want to tell anyone. I don't want to think it's anyone I know, but I just don't know right now."
"Alright Mel, but you let me know if I can help, okay?"
Mel shrugged. "Alright, I guess."
"There are a lot of nuts out there Mel." Neely told her.
"But why me?"
"Don't know. Maybe you unintentionally set someone off."
"Not that I know of."
"What about that boyfriend you broke up with?"
"Brad. He's in Chicago, with a fantastic job. He wouldn't risk losing his job to be here to spook me. No, it's not him. I wish it were that simple."
"Wow, I just don't know what to say."
"People like this usually slip up…."
"You be careful, you hear me. We all like you on the floor and you have no enemies here that I know of." Neely told her. "But I will keep my eyes and ears open for anything that doesn't fit."
"Thanks. I do feel pretty comfortable here."
"Good."
"So, they called you to ER huh?"
"Yeah, they were short a nurse. It sure is different."
"I'll say, you are coming back up today?"
"Don't know, but if I can't make lunch will you or Heather tell Dex for me where I am?" Mel asked.
"Oh yeah, don’t worry about that. Did you tell Julia you're down here?"
"Yeah, she's was fine with it."
"Good. Say you and Dex are getting pretty thick aren't you?
Melanie smiled, "I really like him Neely."
"Yeah, I can see that. Well, I gotta run, but if you need me for anything, here's my cell number, call me. Any time Mel."
"You are just so sweet Neely." Mel kissed her cheek.
"Just made a new friend, don’t' want to lose her. I'll tell Heather, if that's okay."
"Alright, Heather's cool."
"What about Julia?"
"I don't want the hospital to know about this, unless it's absolutely necessary. No scandals."
"Yeah, you are probably right about that. She don't need anything else going wrong."
Mel nodded and went back to ER. She didn't understand a reason to tell Julia. Dex had told her that Julia didn't like drama. So why involve her in it?
ER was a hard place to work and unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to even see Dex. She missed him, but while working she couldn't indulge in fantasies.
By the time she got off, it was late in the morning and she knew she's have to walk home.
She wasn't looking forward to that. She'd had a long day and she was weary from all the emergencies she had faced, a knife wound, a heart attack, a gunshot wound. She wasn't used to so much sadness. The guy that was knifed, died and that made her nearly ill. He'd been cut in two major places, one around the neck, cutting a main artery, one near the stomach causing a lot of blood loss. By the time they'd patched the artery, he'd bled to death.
The gunshot wound had been messy, but the bullet went clear through his body and was easy to patch. The heart attack victim wasn't expected to live through the night.
Mel never imagined having such an emotional reaction to it all, but as she walked through the parking lot to the sidewalk, tears were streaming down her face.
Dex was behind her in his car and honked.
She jumped.
He saw the tears immediately and got out of the car to comfort her. "What's happened?" He asked holding her close.
"Just not used to dying patients I guess." She cried openly now.
"Aw babe, it's hard, I know. But you just can't wear your feelings on the outside. It takes a while to get used to that. I'm sorry you had such a rough day. Come over to my place and relax, I'll order pizza and we'll cuddle a while."
She looked up at him, "Sounds wonderful."
"That's my girl." He coaxed her in the car.
"I need to go take a shower first, then I'll come over." She told him.
"Sure honey, just make it quick."
"I will," she murmured when he leaned over and kissed her.
Needing his comfort, she let him lead her into a passionate kiss, until someone honked for him to go, the light had turned green.
She chuckled.
When she went to take a shower, she threw her phone on the bed, and went to the bathroom, it rang.
She hesitated to answer it.
"H-hello…"
No one said a word.
"Who is this?"
Nothing.
"It's not funny!" she cried.
Nothing.
She hung up and threw the phone on the bed.
"Stop it!" She yelled.
She went to dress and looked in the mirror. She looked a mess.
When she knocked on Dex's door he opened it and pulled her inside.
He took her in his arms and kissed her solidly on the mouth. It started sweet and warm, but it quickly grew into passion. She couldn't stop the sweet passion that swept through her. She needed him, for the first time in her life, she needed a man. She welcomed his kisses, his love.
"I got off late, what were you doing still there at the hospital?" She asked when they came up for air.
"I was waiting for you. Neely told me you couldn't make it for lunch and where you were. I knew you'd be bone tired when you got off. I just went to sleep in the car for a while. I wanted to be there. I didn't want you walking home after working in ER all night."
She touched his cheek, "That's so sweet of you."
His eyes glittered into hers. "God, you're a temptation girl."
"Am I?" She smiled.
"Do you know how bad I want you?" He asked her.
"As bad as I want you…." She confessed. Her smile faded, but her mouth opened just a tad, and she drew breath quickly.
Then he kissed her again, this time leading her to the couch and as he pushed her down gently, he followed, on top of her. She sighed with a slight smile. "Dex, oh God, I need you."
"I'm here, baby, right here." He whispered.
His hands went to her t-shirt and in seconds he pulled it from her. His hands went to her breast, she practically melted into his arms she wanted this so badly.
He pulled her shoes off, then her pants and she was lying there in her underwear. He stared hotly at her.
"You're so beautiful…" He whispered.
"Take me…. take me…. before I forget to be a lady…"
"Oh baby, yes…." He cried and he started to take her bra off. But feeling her stiffen up, he decided to woo her a bit first so she would relax. "I'll be gentle…."
That was it!
She came awake and pushed him off her.
"I-I'm so sorry. I'm not a tease…but…I can't." She grabbed her clothes and began putting her pants back on.
She had felt his full erection as he lay on top of her and it finally dawned on her what she was submitting herself to. She grabbed her t-shirt, and pulled it on. She was crying, he was staring with disbelief.
"What the hell…?" He looked completely perplexed.
"I wanted it. I truly did. But—I'm not on the pill Dex. And I'm sane enough to know that I don't want to get pregnant before I marry. I have to leave now."
Then the doorbell rang.
"Oh geez, pizza. Great timing." Dex sighed.
She stood there, her face red as an apple, her body shaking with needs unspoken.
He got up and paid for the pizza and set it on the table.
He looked at her with question. "Are you ready to eat?"
She stretched, sighed, and nodded, "We better."
There was an admission to those words, and she knew it. So did he. He gave her a long look.
At the table, she told him about her night and about talking to Neely. And the strange phone calls she'd been getting.
"Now you're getting phone calls too?"
"It would seem. I blew it off as someone pranking me, but they've called numerous times." She told him.
"Oh, God babe. This is getting serious. Some nut is stalking my girl, and I feel helpless to defend her."
She warmed to his calling her his girl. Fact was, she was very much his girl. She had wanted him just now and was just as disappointed as he had been, but more embarrassed than anything. What happened to waiting? She had to be stronger than this.
"I'm not going to take my phone to work. I can't have them bothering me there too." She announced.
"Do you think that's wise?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if something happened, you couldn't call me or let the police know or anything. You'd be totally alone, honey."
"Well, I can't be answering my phone all day."
"How many times have they called?" He asked frowning now.
"Five or six." She told him.
"Take your phone, but turn it off while you work. That way it won't bother you, but you'll have it when you need it."
She nodded. "I guess that's wise."
"I'm going to program my number into it so you can call me anytime."
"Not when you are working I won't."
"Even then, if you are in trouble."
"But…"
"Dammit!" he reached for the back of her head and pulled her close to kiss her. "I'm worried about you, baby."
After a mind-blowing kiss she tried to smile, "I'll be okay, Dex. I promise."
"Until we find out who is doing this, I'm not so sure." He told her.
"Dex you're scaring me." She wailed.
"You've got to be on your toes. Alert. This is getting serious, baby. That bathroom incident scared me silly. It meant someone had a key to that door. How could that be. Someone wants to terrorize you. I'm thinking seriously of buying a gun, and you too."
"Me too, what?"
"A gun."
"Oh Dex!" She yelled. "It won't come to that, surely."
"I'm not so sure."
"I don't know how to use a gun." She declared.
"Not to worry, we'll go out on a gun range and I'll show you all you need to know." He promised.
"You're serious."
He stared into her sparkling eyes, "Honey, I don't want to scare you, but Neely was right, there are a lot of nuts out there these days. You've got to be careful. Now that I've found you, I don't want to lose you." He declared.
She was really staring now. That statement took their relationship to an even higher level. She trusted him, she was half in love with him, why couldn't they be together?
He threw his pizza in his plate, took her hand, guided her back to the couch and planted a more than amorous kiss to her lips. She was swooning now.
"I know it's too soon. I know that. But, I'm falling in love with you, Mel. And you probably think I’m playing you, but I’m not. I'm serious. I've never met anyone that I connected with so deeply, felt so completely lost without. So, bear with me on this, you are important to me. Understand?"
She nodded, speechless.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Don't cry baby. It's a good thing that we've got between us."
"I know…" she barely uttered.
"You believe me?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes," she took a quick breath. "I feel the same way, but…. you're right, it's so soon. I went with Brad four years and he never once said the things you've said to me. I went with Jesse and he never even said he cared. Now this…."
"I'm crazy about you Mel. And I won't let some idiot out there hurt you. I promise. My next day off we'll go look at some guns. Okay?"
She thought about that a minute. "You think I’m going to need one?"
"I don't know. But I want you to have one, just in case."
"Alright, but you sure will have to show me how to use one. I've never owned a gun before. Never had a reason to buy one."
"It'll be alright, I'll show you everything you have to know about them. We'll practice. If someone is going to try to hurt you, I want you to be prepared for it. I won't lose you now, Mel. I think we might have a long future ahead of us."
His words shocked her, and yet pleased her no end. He as thinking marriage. She had been too.
"Hold me…" she whispered.
He curled up with her on the couch and they kissed endlessly, then went to sleep, his arm securely around her.