Possessive Doctor

“What the fuck—” Her father stops himself and stares at me. I know it’s her dad as soon as I see his face. He’s red, flushed with anger, and I can smell the drink on his breath. He stares at me and narrows his eyes. “I know you.”

“Do you?” I ask.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re…. You’re her doctor. You’re that therapist guy.”

“Physiatrist,” I say. “Like a physical therapy doctor.”

“Right, yeah. What are you doing here, doc? You make house calls now?”

“I’m checking on a patient,” I say. “I noticed some… abnormalities on her last scan.”

“Her… last scan?” He blinks at me.

I want to punch his fucking face. He looks like a sniveling little prairie dog with big buck teeth and a scrunched-up nose. I want to break that fucking smile and bash his skull in on the ground.

But I know that’ll only make her upset. I can’t do that and risk her doing something stupid, like staying behind to try and fix her father’s bleeding and broken body.

So I hold back. Fucking hell, it hurts to hold back.

“CT scan,” I say, lying out my fucking teeth. “Real bad. Saw a shadow on her lower torso and thought I should come over and talk about it.”

“House call,” he says again. “Like when I was a kid. They used to make house calls. Can you picture it?”

“I can. I’m here.”

He nods a little. “Shadow. That’s bad, right? Cancer?”

“Maybe. Or another break that never healed right. Could be a lot of things.” I look around and spot movement on the right side of the house. I’m not sure that it’s her, but I’m going to take the chance. The longer I stay here, the more likely it is that I’m going to hit this guy.

“I think… she’s in here… somewhere.” He narrows his eyes. “I think I can get her out. Yeah, right. She’ll come out for this.”

“Go and get her,” I say. “Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

He nods once and turns away. He stalks into the house. “Amber! Your doc’s here! Amber, it’s really bad. He needs you, damn it. Amber!”

I shut the door and turn away. I walk down the steps and she comes out from the shadows. She stares at me, eyes wide. “Brent,” she says.

I grab her and hug her tight. She stumbles against me and I just hold her.

“Come on,” I say, helping her to the truck. The front door opens again just as I get her inside.

“She isn’t there,” he calls out. “I’m trying to find her. How bad did you say, doc? Doc, what are you doin’ down there?”

“You know what,” I call back. “On second thought, I think you should just go inside and fuck yourself, you coward motherfucker piece of shit.”

He gapes at me. “That’s not… nice. What?”

“You’re a sick fuck.” I get behind the wheel and turn on the truck. Amber laughs at me, delighted by my little outburst, but I’m almost shaking with rage. I want to hurt that man so badly I can barely hold back.

She puts her hand on my arm. I’m flexing, I realize. I’m flexing because I’m thinking about breaking his skull.

“It’s okay,” she says. “Let’s just go.”

I peel out, spitting rocks and dirt up. Her father just stands there on the porch, dumbfounded.

We drive away. Once we’re on flat road, I slow down a little bit.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

She nods. “I’m fine. He didn’t touch me.”

“Yelled plenty, though.”

“Yeah… well. He found our texts.”

“How?”

She tenses. “He looked through my phone. I didn’t know he did it.”

“That asshole.”

“I’m sorry. I would’ve deleted them… I didn’t know he was stooping to that. I didn’t know he was treating me like a child.”

She sounds angry now, too.

Good. I want her to feel angry. That’ll make what happens next come easy.

“You’re going to stay with me for a while,” I tell her.

She looks at me, a little surprised. “What?”

“You’re going to stay with me. I won’t let your father come near you until we figure out what to do from there.” I shake my head, angry with myself. “I never should’ve sent you home from that diner.”

“Wait… I can’t let you do that. I can’t impose like that.”

“Amber.”

“No, really. Brent, you’re helping a lot as it is, but I can’t just take over your home as well. You don’t owe me anything.”

I put my hand on her thigh and squeeze it. “Listen to me, girl. I told you once already. I protect what I want.”

She bites her lip and I relax my grip. “I just… are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I say.

She doesn’t answer. I keep my hand on her leg, her pretty thigh. She’s wearing jean shorts and a t-shirt, and I realize that’s all she has in the world.

“We’ll have to figure out clothes,” I say. “Get you toiletries, all that shit. I’ll buy whatever you need.”