Fated Mates: The Beta

Penelope (Pen): Chapter Five

Pen

"I have a code blue in room two sixteen!" I begin running as I hear the code and rush into the room. The man is convulsing and his mouth is foaming.

Patty is bringing in the defibrillator and I get to work on clearing pillows and blankets out of the way.

The doctor rushes in and checks the patient and calls for clearance as the patient codes. He grabs the defibrillator and places one of the paddles on the side of the man's chest and on his side.

"Clear!"

We moved away from the patient and I watched with bated breath as his body jerked and t

the heart monitor began beeping reassuringly.

I took a deep breath and backed out of the room as his usual nurses began taking care of him. I walked back to the nurses station and grabbed my tablet, checking in on my other patients' vitals.

I made my rounds and when I came back, Becca was waiting for me with a small smile.

"What?"

"Come out with us tonight." She pleaded, her bottom lip pouting out and her brown eyes wide.

I groaned internally, feeling my gut twist. I knew it was Jen's birthday and they had all been talking about going to this bar in the city, but I couldn't.

I always said no and I knew they were tired of it, but if Chandler even got a whiff off me going anywhere other than work...

I pressed my lips together and sighed. "I can't."

"C'mon Pen! You always say no! Just tonight! You said yourself that Chandler was out of town for business and you'd be home alone tonight. Just come!"

Guilt begins to get to me and I shrug. "I don't know if that's really my scene. I don't drink."

"Girl! You don't have to drink! Just come and have fun, dance with us and we'll have you home at a decent time."

I think back on Chandler and how he would react to me setting foot in a bar. But who would tell him? Unless I opened my big fat mouth about it myself, he wouldn't know. Right?

"Can I think about it?"

"No. Yes or no, right now!" She bounced in her chair and I grimaced, hating to be out on the spot. On one hand, I always said no. That would be expected. On the other hand, since I got married to Chandler, I hadn't gone out with the girls and they were starting to get suspicious. If anything, I would be doing him a favor if I went out.

"Fine." I grit out. I grinned down at Becca and she squealed.

"Finally! Jen is going to flip! As soon as you get home, get all sexxed up and I'll pick you up."

"I'm not getting sexxed up. I have a husband now."

"Pen, it's okay. Chandler will not even see you."

Her face got serious for a fraction of a second and my breath caught. Did she know? I studied her face and fiddled with my fingers.

"Okay." I tell her because maybe then she won't dig any deeper than that.

She squealed again and stood up, spanking my butt as she moved around me to go make her rounds.

I sat down and began doing paperwork and getting prescriptions put into the system for my patients and tried not to think about how tonight was going to go.

When I got home at eight, I was running late. So late that I thought about just calling Becca and telling her I wouldn't be going. A part of me did want to go and have a carefree night out with all of my girls and pretend that my life was still normal, but the other, darker side of me knew that if I got caught, I would regret it.

I tried not to think of that as I showered away all of today's bad memories and got dressed. Reasonably. Not sexxed up. For my comfort, not theirs.

I wore a pair of jeans that Chandler hated because it hugged my curvy waistline and showed off my better assets and just a normal, black blouse that fit me a little loose, just to balance myself out. I blow dried my hair and let it sit naturally. I put on minimal makeup so Becca wouldn't talk crap about me not even trying and once I was done, fear struck me.

It had been so long since I had gotten this dressed up for anything. I stared at myself in the mirror and looked over my outfit and hair. My long, wavy, fire engine red hair stuck out like a sore thumb. I loved it, but at the same time, it drew too much attention.

I ran my fingers through it as I stared in the mirror, wondering what Chandler would do if he walked through the door right now and saw me.

He would probably throw a fit and maybe a few choice words and objects. I cringed, thinking about it and shook my head.

He was out of town and wouldn't see me. That's what I had to keep telling myself to walk out of the front door. I got into my car and took a few deep breaths, looking out of all of my mirrors, just in case.

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. I put my car in drive and began making my way to the bar. I tried to hype myself up with some boppy music and tried to sing and dance, but I wasn't feeling it. In the back of my mind, I kept imagining Chandler finding out.

I grit my teeth and made myself pull in to the parking lot. I sat in my car for what felt like forever but was only like a minute or two so that I could get my party face going and grabbed the gift I got for Jen at the gift shop at work. It was better there than having to explain the purchase anywhere else to Chandler.

It was a cute blouse in her size that I hoped she hadn't peeked at when she visited last at the hospital.

I got out of the car and walked dreadfully slow to the entrance, taking deep breaths. A couple of years ago I would have torn into the place like a tornado, but now all there was, was fear.

Anxiety began coursing through me as I opened the front door and despite the place being full, my eyes trained on a man sitting at the end of the bar. My breath caught at the sight of him and hands became clammy. He was gorgeous. The most beautiful man I had ever seen, and Chandler wasn't an ugly man.

He had black hair that looked like he had run his hands through quite a few times and what looked like a very tight, toned body.

I tore my eyes away from him quickly and searched for the girls. I didn't even know why I noticed him first. I hardly ever tried to look at a member of the opposite s*x if I could help myself unless I worked right alongside him. And even then, if Chandler happened to stop by and see me, he would ream into me as soon as I got home.

I found the girls sitting in a booth in the front and when they saw me, they cheered and Becca stood up quickly to greet me. I smiled and put my gift in front of Jen before sitting down.

I glanced through the crowd back to the mysterious man and noticed how pale his face had gotten. He was breathing hard and before I could even turn away, he pitched back in his seat and landed hard on the concrete floor behind him.

I stood up immediately and ran to him, without a second thought, and kneeled next to him. Up close he was even more breathtaking. His lips looked plush and soft, his hair, which was not black but a dark brown was soft as I lifted his head into my lap.

His eyes fluttered up and my breath caught at how turquoise his eyes looked. Like the ocean in Fiji. That's what they reminded me of. And he smelled so good. I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but it was an earthy musk. Something primal.

I introduced myself as a nurse and asked him if he was okay and watched as he stared up at my face in a daze.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I-I'm Josh."

I smiled at him. "Nice to meet you Josh.Are you good to get up?"

He nods slowly and stands up on long, muscular legs. I'm practically drooling as he thanks me and I smile at him.

"You're welcome. If you need anything else, I'll be over there." I pount back to my group who are all watching me with eagle eyes. I walk off quickly, suddenly feeling unstable myself. Wow.

What the hell is wrong with me? I have never felt such a strong urge to look at someone like I was still feeling now. I sat at the table and all of the girl's eyes were on me as I sat down.

"Holy sh*t that man was..." Becca fanned her face and exhaled loudly. I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head.

I glanced at the door where I saw him glance at me one more time before he left and I felt my whole body heat up like a damn furnace.

I shook my head and exhaled slowly. "Yeah..." I said nodding. "He was."

"What happened? What did he say? Did he sound as hot as he looked?" Jen asked me pushing a loose strand of blonde hair back behind her ear.

"Nothing. He had a panic attack and told me his name." I shrugged in a 'it's not a big deal's type of way and looked down at the drink that one of the girls must have ordered me.

By the smell of it, it was strong and there was no way I was going to leave this place out of my mind.

"What was it?"

"Josh."

"Gah...did you see how tall he was? I swear, those six foot tall men really do it for me," Leila, out other friend whispered.

"I did."

"I wonder if he's single. Did you see a ring on his finger?" Lottie asked me.

I smiled and shook my head at all of their questions. Thirsting over a poor man that was obviously not doing really well.

"No. But I wasn't looking either." I shrugged and I swear all of their eyes bugged out.

"Girl, you were practically drooling over there. I have never seen more stars in your eyes as you had when you were staring at Mr. Tall Dark and Delicious."

I giggle and felt my cheeks burn. "No, you guys know I love Chandler. I'm a married woman. I wasn't drooling."

"Yeah and I didn't strip my way through nursing school." Becca retorted and rolled her eyes. "We saw you ogle him as soon as you entered the building. You're not slick."

I shook my head and took a sip of my drink through the straw. I grimaced at how potent it was and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, Pen, married or not, you were salivating." Lottie told me with a nod.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Like I said, I'm married and I'm sure even if that didn't matter to him, he was way too preoccupied in other stuff to have even paid me any attention."

"Pen, please. You're so naive. That man was looking at you like a rare steak. We thought you were going to Spiderman kiss him when you put his head on your lap. That's how much tension there was. We could feel it from here."

"Didn't we come here for Jen's birthday?" I said with a burning face. I smiled, thinking about a man actually looking at me like that. Chandler only ever looked at me these days with disdain. Like I killed his cat in a past life or something like that.

"Fine. But next time a man looks at you like that, make you catch his number. Atleast so you can pass him to one us single girls."

My stomach churned at the thought of that. Thinking back on his gorgeous, sculpted face beaming at one of my friends instead of me.

I shook my head at the thought. Married. I'm married.

But Lord if I wasn't...