Prescription for Ruin

Chapter four

We meet at The Pressure Drop at 4 p.m, the dead hour before the shift. Marisol is already there.

"You went to him again," she says, before I've sat down.

"Say hello like a normal person."

"Alice."

"Let me drink first." A glass of apple cider is already in front of my stool. I look at her as I drink. "Okay. Talk."

"Do you know a nurse named Claire Brown? She transferred to St. Augustine's, pulmonology, four months ago."

"Vaguely. She overlapped with us on Ward B." I say

"She was sleeping with Leo." she says "Before you. And overlapping with you, for the last two months of her time at Mercy."

The bar hums around us.

"Marisol—"

"I'm not finished." She holds up one hand. "Claire wasn't the first. There was a surgical resident before her, Dr. Park, who left the program early. Rumors, nothing that stuck and before that there was a fellow, cardiothoracic. She and Leo were engaged."

I set my wine glass down.

“What happened?”

“She left the hospital eighteen months ago. Quietly. No goodbye, just gone. And her leaving happened at the same time as something the administration quietly handled. A sealed file. Leo’s name. Two department heads and a legal consultant to process it.”

Marisol’s voice is careful but not quite steady.

“I don’t have the details. But Alice—”

"You're going to tell me to end it."

"I'm telling you because I love you." Just that. "I'm not saying he's a monster. I'm saying there is a pattern you deserve to know about before you decide anything."

I sit with that.

"He has never lied to me," I say.

"Being truthful about what he wants from you isn't the same as being honest about who he is."

We stayed quiet for a while, just sitting there. Then we get up and cross the street together, without saying anything more. I am still trying to process what I had just heard .

————————————

The shift starts, and work takes over, just like it always does. Ward C is at three-quarter capacity. Mrs. Caldwell is having a good night, and I check on the others as I make my rounds. I update charts, do the medication count, and make sure everything is in order.

Leo is not on tonight.

I don't know if that makes it easier or harder.

At 9:00 I get a text from Dan.

Still thinking about yesterday. Is that allowed?

I find myself smiling at it.

It's allowed

I write back.

Good

he replies.

Dinner tomorrow ?

I put the phone away. I can't stop thinking about what Marisol said earlier , so I can't decide.

—————————

At 10:30pm, in the corridor between Ward C and the east stairwell, I turn a corner and almost walk directly into Leo.

He catches me by both arms before I can step back, and the contact feels warm, and I liked it regardless of what Marisol said hours ago and what I suspected.

"What are you doing here?" I say. "You're not on tonight."

"I left something in my office." He doesn't let go of my arms immediately. He looks at me with the focused, careful attention he always brings to looking at me, and his thumbs make one slow pass against my sleeves. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing , is anything wrong ?." I ask

"No, Not that I am aware of " He says and draws me slightly closer, whispering . "I missed you today."

"Leo—"

"I know." He tucks a strand of hair back from my face. "I know what you're going to say."

"Then don't make me say it."

He looks at me for a long moment. Then he drops his hands and steps back.

"Come to my office," he says. "Ten minutes. I promise."

"I'm working."

"You're between rounds." He holds my gaze. "Ten minutes, Alice."

I should say no. I know I should say no. I had the conversation with Marisol still warm in my chest and the name of a woman who left quietly and something I haven't looked at directly yet.

I follow him.

He takes me to his office, locks the door, and pushes me against the wall, kissing my neck while quickly opening the front of my scrubs, leaving me with no strength left to resist.

"You're going to get us both in trouble," I breathe.

"Probably," he agrees, against my skin. His hand pushes between my thighs and I stop being able to form complete sentences.

He has me on his desk with my legs wrapped around him, trying to stay quiet, even though it’s becoming impossible.


He doesn’t undress me completely , just yanks my scrub pants and underwear down to my knees, spreads me open with rough fingers, and drives into me in one brutal thrust that makes my head fall back against the wall behind me. The desk edge bites into the backs of my thighs and the papers scatter. He f***s me hard and fast with no patience, just raw need. Each thrust shoves me higher on the desk until my shoulders hit the wall and I have to brace one hand behind me to keep from sliding off.

His hand covers my mouth lightly, a moan escapes anyway. I bite the heel of his palm, which makes him drive deeper, grinding against my c**t with every stroke until sparks burst behind my eyes. I’m soaked, the wet sounds too loud in the quiet office.

He doesn’t stop. He f***s me through it , with sharper thrusts until his rhythm stutters and he buries himself driving in fully with a low groan, coming in hot pulses that I feel everywhere.

Afterward I fix my scrubs in the small bathroom off his office. I look at myself in the mirror. My mouth is swollen. My shift still has six hours on it.

I come back into the office and Leo is sitting on the edge of his desk so composed, like nothing happened.

"Go back to work," he says. Quietly.

"Don't make this a habit."

"It already is," he says.

Then I leave.

———————————

At 11:07 while I am updating charts at the nurses' station the elevator opens and a woman steps out so composed, with a grey coat and confidence.

She comes to the desk. She looks at me.

"Are you Alice Marín?"

"Who's asking?"

Her expression shifts slightly. "My name is Sophia Brown." She watches my face for a reaction, she gets less than she wants. "I think we need to talk."

"I'm working."

"I know." She places a folded piece of paper on the desk between us . A card follows. "When you have a moment," she says, "Read that. Then call me."

She turns and leaves. The elevator closes.

I look at the paper for a long time.

Then I pick it up.