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You could perform a standard patient intake with your eyes closed. Confirm full name and DOB, review allergies, log chief complaint and any pertinent information. Take the vitals and prep the necessary tools before updating the board to ‘ready to be seen’. All very routine and very boring. Until it wasn’t.
The first thing you’d noticed about the patient in Bay 8 was the smell. It was an eyewatering blend of gasoline, nicotine and a seedy dive bar. He reeked but you had absolutely smelled worse. The drunks could be a handful but thus far he had been polite, full of ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘that’s right, ma’am’. Something shifted about the time you started entering the information about the long laceration on his forearm.
He'd leaned forward, shifting his weight. His casual observation shifting into darker territory as he leered, eyes raking over you from head to toe, lingering at your chest. Asshole. You ignored him and continued your job. “Any other complaints?”
“Oh sweetheart,” he drawled and you suppressed a shudder of disgust. The word ugly coming from this man. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask. You see, I’m all keyed up so why don’t you get on your pretty little knees and suck me off?”
For a split second, you froze. You were so used to the microaggressions, the off-color jokes, that it took you a moment to process that he had actually said that. Not implied it, not muttered it where he thought you couldn’t hear, but just said it right out.
Maybe you’d misheard. Maybe you’d finally snapped and imagined the whole thing. You looked up from your tablet and forced your face into perfect blankness. “Excuse me?”
He rolled his eyes. “You heard me, sweet cheeks. Get busy.”
You wanted to slap him or at least tell him off but you did neither. Instead, you saved your work and shut down the tablet.
Seeing your focus shifting, he started undoing his belt, sausage fingers fumbling with the buckle. He actually expected you to do it. The realization made your hands start to shake. As you turned to leave the room, you heard him say, “Aren’t you gonna help a guy out?”
Your pulse raced and heat flared from your neck to your hairline in shame and embarrassment. You slipped out the door, sliding it shut behind you. You didn’t run but you didn’t stroll, either. Your badge slapped against your chest and you exhaled when your gaze found Jack and Robby huddled together at the hub. Jack normally worked nights but they’d had some sort of admin meeting today. You didn’t care as long as you didn’t have to go. You approached the men.
This was pretty much your worst-case scenario—standing at the hub, internally combusting while two of the sharpest, most intimidating people you knew were about to ask you what was wrong. You hovered a few feet away, not wanting to interrupt their conversation and needing a few more minutes to decide what you were going to say.
You’d always liked the way the two attendings balanced each other. Robby, all coiled energy and intensity seemed incapable of any setting between zero and full throttle. Jack preferred the perpetual slow burn, eyes hooded with exhaustion, voice gravelly and deadpan. You usually felt invisible around them, but this time Jack’s gaze lifted to hone straight in on you.
His eyes scanned you, assessing. “Something’s wrong. What happened?”
Robby followed his gaze, eyebrows rising. “You okay?”
You shifted your weight from foot to foot as you nodded a lie. “Yeah. I just…uh, can you maybe assign a male nurse to finish up the lac in Bay 8, please?”
Both men straightened and it felt like all the oxygen got sucked out of the room as you suddenly had their full attention. Robby’s gaze had gone narrow and sharp. “Why?” There was a lethal edge to the word.
You tried to come up with a plausible reason beyond you being horrible at ignoring asshole behavior but you came up empty.
“We can do that, sweetheart, but you’re going to have to tell us why,” Jack said, voice steady. The endearment dropping from his lips was so different from the patient’s version that it almost made you dizzy. When Jack said it, it wasn’t belittling, it was warm, protective.
Your mouth went dry and you licked your lips. “He told me to suck him off,” you said so fast and so quietly that neither man caught your words. But they didn’t miss the way your shoulders hunched.
Robby’s gaze flicked between you and the bay in question, his protective instincts flaring. He frowned. “Come here,” he said and took you by your elbow to steer you into an empty room waiting to be turned over for the next patient. For a long moment neither of them said anything. They just stood there with their arms crossed as they stared at you in concern. You wondered if this was their finely-tuned ‘don’t pressure the trauma victim’ routine or if they were both just quietly seething in anticipation.
Robby broke first. “Alright, let’s try this again. What happened?”
Your tongue felt heavy. You so didn’t want to tell them this. You inhaled a shaky breath. “He made a vulgar remark and then—”
Jack cut in, voice tight. “What exactly did he say, sweetheart?”
You cringed as your face heated. You didn’t want to say it but you didn’t have a choice. “He…um, he told me to get on my knees and suck him off. When I said ‘excuse me’ he called me sweet cheeks and told me to get busy.”
Jack’s jaw flexed so hard you could see it across the room. Robby’s eyes, usually the softest thing about him, went flat and dark. His hands curled into fists, relaxed, then balled again. The silence stretched for an uncomfortable eternity, finally breaking under the weight of Jack’s voice. “Let me make sure I’ve got this right. He told you to get on your knees and suck him off?”
And god, the way he said it was sharp and angry and certainly should not have turned you on. It was the same sentence, but coming from Jack it struck somewhere else entirely. It should have made you shrink or cringe at the memory. Instead, a small, involuntary whimper left your throat, shaming you down to your core. You froze and wished you could evaporate. Or at least that if they noticed, they’d chalk it up to fear.
Neither man missed anything, but in that moment, they gave you the grace of ignoring it. They exchanged a long look before their focus shifted back to you. Robby tilted his head, studying your face. “Did he touch you?” Robby’s voice was quieter than Jack’s had been but somehow carried more weight.
You shook your head hard and fast. “No, but he was unbuckling his pants when I left. Asked if I was going to help him.” The memory rippled through you chased by humiliation. Gods, this was so embarrassing. You felt smaller somehow saying it, like with every word you were shrinking.
Both men went completely and utterly still. Robby’s jaw went tight, his flicking from you to Jack then in the direction of Bay 8. Jack’s nostrils flared, his lips drawing into a hard straight line, his gaze locking on the other attending. For a moment, you thought that would be it. That they wouldn’t say anything at all and simply send another nurse to complete the task you’d been unable to finish.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Robby bit out, finally.
Jack’s hand was already on the door. “What room again?” His tone was clipped, professional but you could hear the edge to it.
“Eight,” you said, heart pounding. “I didn’t know what to do. I’ve heard worse, but there was something about this guy…” Your voice trailed off because you didn’t have the words to explain. To make them understand what was so different, why this one lingered when so many other violations had been so easily ignored.
Jack looked at Robby who nodded once sharp and decisive. No further discussion required. Robby spun on his heel and stormed from the room. Jack followed, stride precise and predatory. You followed along, anxious to see what they were going to do.
Ahmad was at his post when Robby bellowed, “Security to Eight, now.” The guard rushed over, hustling after Robby who moved with a singular focus. Jack stalked at his right shoulder, not speaking, just radiating a silent menace you’d never seen from him before. You trailed three steps behind, close enough to overhear, far enough to stay out of the way.
They slid open the door with a bang and the asshole on the gurney, belt still hanging loose, jerked upright. The smirk slid from his face as his eyes moved between the three men staring him down.
Robby planted himself a foot from the bed, hands fisted tight enough you could see the veins straining. “You’re done. You are no longer welcome in this hospital. Leave or I’ll have you forcibly removed.”
The guy tried to laugh it off then saw Ahmad hovering in the background. His eyes narrowed. “You can’t just kick me out. I’m injured. You’re supposed to fix me.”
Jack didn’t say a word. He just stepped up and wrenched open the supply cart. He pulled out a roll of gauze and a 4x4. He snapped on gloved, pressed the gauze against the guy’s forearm with enough force to make him yelp. He wrapped it so tight, the man winced. “Look, you’ve been treated. This will get you to the next ER. If you walk fast, maybe you’ll beat the infection.”
The man snarled and tried to jerk him back but Jack held on, looked him in the eye. “You’re not coming back here. Not today, not ever. We see you in this building again, we’ll call the cops.”
The patient let out a string of curses and Ahmad stepped forward, grasping him by the upper arm. “Let’s go.” They were gone in under a minute.
Robby stood with his head down, shoulders rising and falling in big, heavy breaths. Jack leaned against the gurney studying you with dark eyes.
Finally, you found your voice. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Jack’s gaze softened. “Yeah, we did. Nobody talks to you like that.”
You blinked a few times. “You mean no one talks to the staff like that?”
Robby stepped into your space. He was talker than Jack and had a way of looming without meaning to. It made your knees weak in a way you would never, ever admit. “No, we mean you. He said what we meant, sweetheart.”
Jack nodded so subtly you almost missed it but there was no mistaking the way he moved to stand just close enough to crowd you. Not threatening, but possessive. You swallowed, hard, and realized the two of them had you bracketed between them. You had the sudden realization you could happily get used to be the center of these two men’s attention.
Jack’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “You tell us if anyone bothers you again, okay?”
Your face was on fire and you couldn’t look directly at either of them. You nodded, sure that would be enough, but they waited you out.
“Need to hear you say it,” Jack instructed and you felt the demand all the way down to your toes.
You licked your lips. “Yes, I’ll tell you if anyone bothers me.” Your voice came out much smaller than you’d intended.
Robby’s lips curled into the faintest smile, dangerous and pleased. “Good girl.”
You didn’t mean to, but you whimpered just a little as your thighs clenched and you fought the urge to be even more obedient. Jack’s grin went feral and Robby stepped impossibly closer.
His hand found your shoulder and his thumb traced the side of your neck. “Finish your shift, pretty girl. Then you’re coming with us.”
It should have sounded like an order, but it was more of a promise. Jack’s hand brushed your elbow. “We mean it. Shift ends in two hours. Don’t even think about skipping out.”
You nodded, convinced you had entered some alternate universe where the two hottest men in the hospital had decided you were theirs. Both men watched you in anticipation. Right, verbal answers. After a beat, you cleared your throat. “Okay.”
“That’s our girl,” Jack said, and with that they both walked off, leaving you staring after them.
You wondered fleetingly if anyone else in the world had ever gotten this lucky, or this ruined, in a single shift.