Doctor’s Duties by K.C. Crowne

Chapter 11

ABBY

My heart was pounding as I rushed away from Logan, shit, Professor Frost’s, office. It’d been nerve-wracking enough to go see him to discuss the issue at hand, but I hadn’t anticipated how intense the sexual tension was going to be. For a moment there, I’d very nearly closed my eyes and opened my mouth and invited him in for a kiss.

The worst part was that even though it was the dumbest idea I could even consider, kissing him in his office, him taking me right there on his desk, was the hottest freaking thing I could imagine. But I’d been strong. Sure, I’d blurted out the running monologue I’d had going in my head on my way there. He’d been totally cool about it, though. We’d discussed the matter like adults, and now we could put it behind us.

Next was my Medical Ethics class, which wasn’t too far from the oncology building. I hurried across campus as quickly as I could, and when I reached the class, I slid into an open seat in the back row of the fifty-person classroom and pulled out my laptop. Once that was open, I checked my schedule with frantic eyes, focusing on the names of the professors.

Relief washed over me in a cool wave as I saw that I had only one class with Logan, er, Professor Frost. As I poked around on the school web site, I came to the realization that he was one of the bigwigs in the oncology department. I only had one class with him that semester, but there was a damn good chance I was going to have at least one class each semester with him until I graduated.

There was no pretending otherwise – the idea made me excited. I knew I shouldn’t have felt that way. But merely thinking about being in classes taught by him was enough to get me wet right there in my medical ethics class.

“You make it happen with Professor Frost?”

Blake’s voice snapped me out of my trance. I flicked my eyes up to see him approach and plop into the seat next to me. Up ahead, the rest of the students slowly filed in, taking the remainder of the seats.

“Um, what?”

He cocked his head to the side, confused. “You alright over there, Abs? You said you were going to try to get a quick meeting with Professor Frost before this class. You know, what we talked about, like, ten minutes ago?”

I scolded myself internally for being so jumpy and paranoid.

“Oh, yeah. Logan managed a few minutes for me. Really nice of him since he said he didn’t do meetings on the first day.”

Blake raised his eyebrows and I realized right away my screwup.

“Logan? Wow, that meeting must’ve really gone well if you guys are already on a first name basis. Gotta admit, kind jealous over here.”

“Professor Frost,” I said. “I don’t know why I called him that.”

Blake laughed. “You called him that because you think he’s hot.”

“No, I don’t! What are you talking about?”

I felt like a middle schooler who just got called out by her friends for having the most obvious crush in the world.

“Come on,” he said, rolling his eyes as he grinned. “Don’t even pretend you don’t think he’s hot. I mean, how could you not?” Blake glanced away, as if something had occurred to him in that moment. “Why’d you want to meet with him anyway? Couldn’t you have just sent him an email?”

“It’s, um…” I hated lying to Blake, but there was no way around it. “It’s because I wanted to get his autograph.”

“His what?”

“His autograph. Like, on some books.”

He opened his eyes wide and tilted his head forward.

“Bestie, I get kissing up to the teacher, but this is a little much.”

“No, I mean for my dad.”

Now Blake was extra confused. So confused, in fact, that he didn’t say a word. Instead, he looked off to the side as if trying to figure out if he’d heard me right.

“You don’t know who Professor Frost is?”

“You mean besides the hottest teacher I’ve ever had?”

“Besides that. He’s a bestselling fiction author, writes these action thrillers about this guy named Jake Roland. Maybe you’ve heard of them, not sure if they’re your —”

“Wait, he’s the guy who writes those? Are you serious? My dad loves those Jake Roland books too! You have to ask him if he’s doing another one, my dad would go nuts if I got him the inside scoop like that.”

I laughed. “Maybe you can ask him.”

“That’s true, that’s true,” he admitted. “Hell, maybe I’ll start reading them. I remember checking out the back when I bought a copy for my dad for his birthday. It sounded pretty cool. And they’re supposed to be based on true stories and stuff, right?”

I chuckled, not wanting to give too much away about how I’d come to know so much about them.

“You kidding? We’re barely going to have time to shower this semester, let alone read for fun.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

We shared a laugh as the professor entered the class.

I allowed myself a small smile, both at the success of my little fib, and the thrill of knowing Logan would be in my life for the next few years at least.

* * *

The week passed, and never before had I been so happy for the insane course loads that were standard with med school.

When I wasn’t on campus, I managed to bury myself in studies, making sure I had every drop of information we’d covered in the first week of classes good and locked inside my head. When that was done, I skipped to the next chapters, getting a head start on the material.

I wished I could say it was all due to my diligent nature, but that was only part of it. More than that I wanted to have something to distract myself from the fact that my professor was so hot that all I could think about was sleeping with him again.

The worst part was that he didn’t even have to go out of his way to be sexy. All it’d take was him standing up at the front of the lecture hall, his hands on the sides of the lectern as he spoke in his deep, confident voice. By the end of the second class, I was soaked down below, wondering if it might not be the worst idea in the world to stuff an extra pair of panties in my backpack in case I ever needed to change.

He never made eye contact with me. Well, I take that back. Once, during the second class, his eyes fell onto mine for the briefest of moments – however it was more than enough time for my heart to seize up with excitement. From then on, I could sense he was going out of his way to make sure that there was no accidental eye contact. It must’ve taken some skill for him to pull that off, since part of his lecturing style involved being engaged with the class.

Before I knew it, the weekend was over, and it was time for week two of my life with Logan. I hurried into class, my heart racing as I did, and slid into my seat. Logan wasn’t there yet, which meant I had a couple of moments to myself before my head filled up with images of a particular sort of after class meeting I wanted to have with him.

I clicked here and there, closing my social media windows, and opening a Word doc in my oncology folder to take my notes for the day.

I didn’t even get a chance to type up the date heading before I heard Blake’s familiar laugh sound through the lecture hall. I snapped my head up and spotted him at the lectern, Logan there with him. I gasped, realizing that I’d been so wrapped up in my computer that I hadn’t notice either of them walking in.

I glanced up from the laptop, trying not to make it obvious that I was watching them. I was seated far enough back that that I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Not to mention that the noise of other students coming in and sitting down and having conversations among themselves drowned out everything but Blake’s laugh.

Then, I saw Blake place his hand on Logan’s upper arm as he spoke to him. It was such a ballsy move that I couldn’t help but gasp. It only stayed there for a heartbeat. Blake said one more thing to Logan before the conversation ended, Blake locking eyes on me as he made his way over.

He closed his eyes, theatrically sighed, and shook his head as he fell into his seat and began taking out his MacBook.

“Holy shit. He’s got to be the hottest man I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

“And you didn’t screw around when it came to flirting.”

He laughed as he opened his computer, his desktop background some glammed-out picture of Charlie XCX, his current pop obsession.

“I know, I know – it was pretty shameless. But I can’t help it; I had to find out if he was gay.”

The idea of Logan being gay was enough to make me nearly choke on my water.

“You thought he was gay?”

“I mean, he didn’t seem like the type. But you’d be surprised. Plenty of button-down guys like him in sensible oxfords have a wild side that you’d never know about. Like, did I tell you about how I found Dr. Lopez from the cardiology department on Grindr?”

I knew the answer to the gay question, but I had to pretend to be wondering just for the sake of keeping up my lie.

“And?”

“Not even a little. I could tell he knew exactly what was going on when I was flirting. He didn’t seem bothered by it but wasn’t into it. Trust me, the touching the upper arm thing is obvious, but it’s a no doubt way to learn such important details.”

I laughed. “But come on – even if he were gay, you wouldn’t seriously sleep with a professor, right?”

Saying the words “sleep with a professor” was enough to put back into my head the fantasies that I’d been playing in my mind over and over. I shifted in my seat to try to ignore how turned on I was.

“Yeah, that’d be a bad idea. Fun and sexy as shit, sure, but drama’s the last thing a med student needs, right?”

“And there’s the little fact that you’ve got a boyfriend.”

“I know,” he said. “And it’s not like I’d cheat on Clay. But I had to find out, you know? Nothing wrong with a little curiosity.” He raised his finger, another point occurring to him. “Plus, there’s the little detail of the freebie list.”

“The what?”

His eyes went wide. “Are you serious? You don’t know about the freebie list?”

“No idea.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you’re one of those weirdos who’s never seen Friends. Anyway, the idea is that if you’re in a relationship with someone you love, you get to have a list of people who you can, well, make an exception for.”

“Like, cheat with?”

“It’s not cheating because you’ve agreed to it. It’s like, celebrities and stuff, people you’d really never get a chance to hook up with, so it doesn’t count.”

“So, it’s cheating. And if Clay wanted to hook up with, um, Charlie here,” I pointed to his screen, “you’d be OK with that?”

He laughed. “In the event that my extremely gay boyfriend wanted to hook up with Charlie XCX, then hell yeah. In fact, I’d be so thrilled about being that close to her by proxy that I’d make him do it.”

That got a laugh out of me.

“Anyway, Dr. Hot-as-eff up there is most definitely on the list. And I’m more than sure Clay would high five me if I got the chance.”

I shook my head and smiled as I turned my attention back to my computer. Logan cleared his throat and took his position at the lectern – the sign for class to begin. I took a deep breath and focused, fantasies of what I wanted to do to him already playing in my mind.

* * *

That evening I was on the floor of my living room, some lo-fi study beats playing from my MacBook as I worked on the research project for Logan’s class. Sure, the research project hadn’t technically been assigned yet, but no harm in getting a head start. If he just so happened to be impressed by my eagerness as a student, well, I couldn’t exactly stop that, now, could I?

It was an hour or so into my preplanning for the project, which I’d chosen to be the subject of exercise oncology, and I was in the zone. The music was playing, my Starbucks lemonade close at hand, and the time flying by. Lexi was out for the night, which meant I had the place to myself as soon as I was done. I had big plans – delivery Thai and maybe finally starting Friends so Blake would stop giving me crap about this cultural blind spot.

When a hard knock sounding at the front door, I just knew that my peaceful night wasn’t going to happen. I pressed pause on the music and stood up, my stomach tightening as I made my way to the front door.

I peeked through the peephole and, sure enough, it was Mom and Dad, and they were dressed to the nines.

Shit. It was the night of the charity thing Mom had wanted me to go to.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, preparing myself to get totally chewed out.

I opened the door, disappointment appearing on their faces as soon as they realized that, instead of a flowing gown, I was dressed in gym shorts, an oversized Colorado Med T-shirt, and some slippers. Not exactly charity ball attire.

“What the hell is this?” Dad asked, gesturing to my outfit.

“Well, the shirts from school ‒ way overpriced, if you ask me ‒ and the shorts are from Uniqlo, I think.”

Dad narrowed his eyes. Being a smartass likely wasn’t the best call, but I was already screwed. Might as well have fun with it.

Mom stormed past me, stepping into the living room, and looking around.

“Are you serious?” she asked. “This is the night of the Walsh fundraiser, the event that I told you about weeks in advance, and you’re telling me that you’re not even ready?”

“I’ll level with you guys,” I admitted. “I got so wrapped up in school that I totally spaced on it.”

“Then go get ready now,” Dad ordered. “We’ll wait.”

“There’s no time for any of that,” Mom huffed. “Not like we can get her in front of a hairdresser in five minutes, and that’s even assuming she bothered to try on the gowns and pick one out.”

“That’s, um, pretty much all true,” I said. “And I’m sorry. Tell Melanie that I’m slammed with school. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“Completely disrespectful,” Dad grumbled. “It’s times like this that make me strongly consider significantly reducing your monthly stipend – if not removing it all together.”

“It’s this medical school nonsense,” Mom complained. “It takes all her attention and time. Letting her go was a mistake.”

I was getting pissed. I hated it when they talked about me like I wasn’t even in the room. To make matters worse, as Dad stepped through the room, his thousand-dollar dress shoe clad foot slammed into a stack of my textbooks, sending them toppling over. He didn’t even pay it notice.

It took all the restraint I had not to tell them to screw their money and their support – if this is what it was going to cost me, then I didn’t want it.

Thankfully, Mom spoke up before I had a chance to burn that bridge once and for all.

“It isn’t just the event, Abigail – it’s about who we wanted you to meet there! I told you how many eligible men you’d have a chance to get to know tonight.”

“And I told you that I was already seeing someone!” The lie flowed from my mouth so easily that it almost scared me.

Dad stopped his pacing, turning to me with wide eyes.

“What?” he asked. “You’re seeing someone? And you knew?” He directed the last question to Mom.

“I didn’t think it would last this long, to be honest,” Mom replied.

“Right,” I said. “Because you don’t trust that I have enough sense to choose someone good enough for me.”

“Tell me about him.” Dad’s tone made it clear he wanted to cut through the BS and get to the point. “Who is he?”

“He’s a writer.”

Dad scoffed. “A writer? So, let me guess, that means he’s actually a stock boy at Best Buy living hand-to-mouth in an apartment downtown with five of his loser friends while he tries to write the great American novel.”

“No, I mean he’s a published author who made the New York Times bestseller list more than once.”

Thatgot Dad good and quiet.

“And he’s a doctor,” I said, delivering the coup de grâce.

“A doctor and a writer?” Dad asked. “What’s his name? What’s he written? And where does he practice?”

I opened my mouth to deliver a few more lies, but then a better idea occurred to me.

“How about I bring him to dinner, and you can ask him yourself?”

That being a better idea lasted about as long as it took the say the words.

“Bring him to dinner?” Dad echoed.

Mom shrugged. “I don’t know this man. And I don’t like the idea of Abigail being with someone who we haven’t vetted first. But if he’s a doctor and somehow managed to be a successful writer on top of that, well, he can’t be so bad, can he?”

I smiled at Mom, happy that she was starting to relent.

Dad still wore a hard expression.

“I want to meet him, and I want to meet him sooner than later,” Dad said sternly. You’re in hot water right now, Abigail. And if you want any chance of getting out of it, you’d better hope this man impresses me.”

He glanced down at the mess of study materials on the floor, shaking his head.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said. Then, as if realizing he’d gone too far, he sighed. “Abigail, I love you, and your mother and I only want what’s best. Remember that when you bristle against us like this.”

He stepped toward the door and opened it for Mom.

“I’ll call you soon,” she said. “And we can plan all this out.”

I weakly waved goodbye to them as they left.

When they were gone, the panic hit. I was going to have to come up with a boyfriend, and fast.

And there was only one man who fit the description I’d put out.