Chapter 9

Sabrina stood smashed up against the edge of a row of lockers and wished that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. She had just finished changing after her shift and was walking back to her locker after brushing her hair by the mirrors, when Dr. Westborne (otherwise known as "the Britch") and two other gossipy nurses walked in.

Britch said, "So, what's the deal with Dr. Drake?"

"He's single, but a player." Nurse #1 said.

Britt smiled, "I don't mind. I like to play."

Nurse #2 chimed in then and said, "You know, it's weird. I haven't seen him with anyone in a couple weeks. Wonder what's going on?"

"Well, he has been spending a lot of time around Sparkle Pony lately. Maybe she is reigning him in, though for the life of me, I cannot see why a hottie like him wants to be around her. She is so not his type."

Nurse #2 and Britt snickered at the comment as silent tears began falling down Sabrina's face. With every new snipe aimed her way, Sabina felt smaller and smaller. Sabrina listened, cringing, as Britt listed all the ways she could distract Patrick from "the little nobody" when the a door opened and the trio became silent.

"Ladies." Sabrina heard Patrick say.

They fawned over him with greetings and tried to corner him in conversation, but Patrick deftly out maneuvered them, stating that he had an appointment and had to get a move on. Sabrina heard him walk to his locker and open the door, essentially dismissing them. She heard Nurse #1 tell Nurse #2 that they better get back to work before Epiphany searched them out. Britt lingered for a few moments, attempting to flirt, but (to Sabrina's delight) Patrick coldly blew her off. After the door closed behind Britt, Patrick said, "Sabrina, they're gone. You can come out now."


Patrick had a long day. First, he'd been called in early to help cover in the ER thanks to a car accident on the interstate. Then he had a difficult surgery where his patient developed complications on the table. After fixing things there, he had to make his rounds, which took forever. When he entered the locker room, the only thing that he was thinking about was seeing Sabrina later. Unfortunately, what he thought would be a quiet few minutes for him to relax as he changed, turned into a giant pain in the ass when he saw Britt and the mean girls gossiping. Although they shut up - guiltily - when they heard him come in, they didn't know that he'd overheard the lions share of their conversation and was pissed off. What he does with his life is his business and no one else's. Even if he was not seeing Sabrina, he wouldn't be the least bit interested in any of the three of them. Until meeting Sabrina, his standards hadn't been high, but he did have to at least like the women he slept with. He hadn't liked any of them before he heard their conversation and now he liked them even less after hearing the demeaning way they talked about Sabrina.

Patrick knew Sabrina had gotten off shortly before him, but since she didn't text him like she usually did when she left, he realized that she must have been running late. Sure enough, when he got to his locker, which was across from hers, he saw her tote bag sitting hidden under the bench and knew in his gut that she was hiding somewhere listening to the awful conversation. So, after the harpies left he said, "Sabrina, they're gone. You can come out now."

He heard her shuffle shyly from behind the row of lockers. Patrick could tell from her tear-stained cheeks and closed off body language that she was planning to bail on him tonight. So, he bent down and grabbed her bag before she could. She she went to grab it from him, but he wouldn't let go.

"Patrick, please..." She said as she implored him with her eyes not to give her a hard time.

When she went to grab the bag again, he pulled his arm in. Because of the tight grip she had on the bag, Sabrina was propelled forward into his arms. She struggled for a second to try to put distance between them, but then gave in and let go of the bag, wrapped her arms around him and cried.

A few moments later, she tried to pull away. "Patrick, someone might see."

"Let them. I don't care." When Sabrina didn't say anything, Patrick continued, "Sabrina, don't let those bitches get to you."

"How can I not, Patrick?"

"Because, their opinions don't matter. They know nothing about me or my life." He gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head up toward his. "I'm with you because I want you, not anyone else."

"But... Why me when you could have someone like Dr. Westborne, who, personality aside, is much more your type?"

"Because you're you, Sabrina. That's why."

"But... That doesn't make any sense..."

"Not everything has to make logical sense, Sabrina. Sometimes things just are the way they are."

When Sabrina opened her mouth to say something else dumb about how she was unworthy of him, Patrick kissed her to shut her up. The two of them stood there in the middle of the locker room flush against each other practically devouring each other alive until Patrick, who'd been having a hard time controlling his lust for a while, pulled back and whispered into Sabrina's ear. "Can't you feel how much I want you?"

Sabrina nodded her head and then rocked her hips into him. "I want you too, Patrick. So much," she whispered back huskily.

In actual physical pain now, Patrick said, "Then why don't we get out of here?"

Sabrina pulled away and grabbed her bag from the floor where it had fallen with one hand and his elbow with the other. Patrick collected his pager, cell, keys and wallet and slammed his locker door shut without changing out of his scrubs. It didn't matter though, because he wasn't going to be wearing them long anyway.