First message
After a gruelling twelve-hour shift, holding scalpels and steadying nerves, I couldn’t let go. My body clung to every ounce of tension, buzzing and restless, not with desire but with survival. I retreated to the on-call room, shutting myself in with the door halfway closed.
Leaning against the wall, eyes half-closed, I worked the ache out of with my fist with the same ruthless focus I’d had in the OR. My ragged breath filled the room with sweat and need. For once, I wasn’t thinking about patients, the hospital, or tomorrow’s rounds.
The door creaked, and I froze, thinking it was a nurse. But the hinges groaned wider, and light flooded in, cutting across my bare chest. Our eyes met, and I felt my stomach lurch. She stood in the doorway, staring at me like she’d stumbled into a scene she couldn’t unsee. Time stopped. My blood was still pounding, my body still betraying me, out of everyone in this goddamn hospital, why did it have to be her?