“You are insatiable.”
“Have I told you it turns me on when you use big words?” she asked.
“You should see the other big things I use,” I said, handing her the white sack.
I groaned, stretching my back at the end of my long shift. I couldn’t wait to see Avery, but I had a few errands to run. I glanced at the book that had been sticking out of my glove box for the past two weeks. It was about time I got it back to Doc Rose. That asshole had been doing everything he could to get closer to Avery. I could only ignore it for so long. When he had put his hands on her hips from behind, it had taken all I had not to kick his ass all over the emergency room.
I had somehow kept my cool. I couldn’t afford to lose my job and lose Avery in the process. If Doc Rose wanted to play dirty, I couldn’t let him play alone.
I turned up the radio, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel as I headed up I-95 North toward Alapocas.
I didn’t have much of a plan. My only goal was to remind the doc that he had just as much to lose as I did, whether he realized it or not. He had stopped pursuing her weeks ago and had begun to enjoy the arguments his flirtations would spawn. I’d dealt with his better-than type my whole life, but I’d be damned if I’d let him destroy what I had with Avery.
I parked along the curb of Doc Rose’s house, killing the engine as I looked over the brick shaker-style home that I’d seen so many times dotting the Pennsylvania countryside. I’d pictured Rose in one of those Victorian-style homes that overran the squares in Gettysburg, but I was surprised to see that his home was much more modest.
I watched a light in the upstairs flick on, illuminating a silhouette before turning off. The entire downstairs seemed to be lit like they were having a party. Part of me hoped they were so I could out his slimy ass in front of all their uppity friends, too.
“Your electric bill must be fucking outstanding,” I grumbled to myself as I opened my car door and made my way up the extra-wide sidewalk leading to a small, sloped entranceway.
I knocked, glancing around. As the sun sank below the buildings, the neighborhood was cloaked in darkness, making my visit feel even more ominous.
The door opened to reveal a woman, smiling with curiosity in her eyes and wrapping her thin, Robin’s-egg-blue sweater across her torso.
“Can I help you?” she asked as the sound of something electronic caught my attention behind her. I glanced down at the young teenage girl, who rode up behind her in a red electric wheelchair. The woman shifted her body to block my view.
“Are you lost?” she asked.
I swallowed hard, regretting coming to Rose’s home.
“Is it the pizza?” Rose’s deep voice called from behind his wife as he stepped forward, rifling through his wallet and pulling out cash. When he finally glanced up, the tiredness in his eyes was immediately replaced with alarm.
The moment I saw the fear in his eyes, my regret melted away. This motherfucker was guilty.
“Josh.” He tried to hide the surprise in his voice by clearing his throat. He clasped his hand down on his wife’s shoulder. “I got this, hon. Josh is a colleague.” He pressed his lips to the top of her head as she slipped by him. The daughter followed her mom further into the house while Doc Rose closed the door behind him.
He looked down at the book in my hand, nodding slightly.
“I don’t know what Avery has said to you, but I’m sure she has the wrong idea.”
I swallowed back the apology and the guilt I’d felt for showing up at his home. “What does she think is going on, Doc?” I asked, gripping the book tightly to keep from punching him in his smug face.
“Avery is a nice girl. She’s sweet and young, and she looks at me like I’m somebody special, not just the guy who plays nursemaid at home.”