Be My Lover Part One

For the Good Times

Be My Lover – Part One

by

Reagan Kavanagh and Diana Walker

This work of adult fiction includes adult language and experiences; you have been warned. No offense to any person, living or dead, is intended. ©Reagan Kavanagh & Diana Walker.

If you were in Chicago at the TOFOG Concerts in August, 2003 as Diana and I were, you remember Russell Crowe’s rendition of “Be My Lover.” When Alice Cooper sings it, it’s good, but rather asexual. When Russell does it, it’s pure, raw, unadulterated sex. If you’d like to purchase/download Alice’s copy, it’s available here. Unfortunately, Russell Crowe has not recorded his version …but we keep hoping. http://www.gomusic.ru/album.aspx?id=2384&fid=124036 Enjoy! Reagan

DINO
It had taken me a while to get to the point that I knew I was ready to make a lifetime commitment, and there were a few stumbles along the way.

Max was out of town overnight, and Reags was into the fifth month of her pregnancy. I knew Max wasn’t crazy about Reags being stuck off in the country all by her lonesome overnight – they’re 15 miles from the nearest town – and asked if he’d like me to go down and spend the night. Now some might think he’d take my head off for offering, but he knows me – not to mention Reags – better than to be suspicious. He’d said he’d appreciate it but wanted to ask Reags first if that was okay with her. He said it was when he got back to me later in the day, though I wasn’t privy to the sweet talking he’d had to do to gain her agreement. Knowing Reags as I do, she probably bristled like a porcupine at the idea that a man – any man – had offered to “protect” her in Max’s absence. “Protecting her” wasn’t what I had in mind when I made the offer to Max. Hopefully, she’d realize that I was worried about her being alone and the possibility of premature labor. I’ve seen that happen once, and the result wasn’t pretty.

I called her before leaving the office. “Hey, Honey, I’m on my way out the door. Don’t know how long it will take me …I’ve never made the run during rush hour traffic.”

“Oh, Dino, I really hate for you to drive all the way down here. Melody’s here …she’s having a problem with her data analysis and drove down for me to take a look at it. She’ll be here until nine or ten, and I’ll be fine for the night. I’ll call you bright and early tomorrow to let you know I’m alive.”

Melody? My memory flashed back to Max and Reags’ wedding and just how pretty Melody is …and if memory served, she wasn’t attached to anyone. Tall – like Reags – slender, and with shoulder length auburn hair. Fair skin and dark brown eyes; she was a sight for sore eyes, and mine sure needed healing at this point.

“Nope. I promised the Old Roman I’d guard his lady fair, and I’ll be there …besides, I could do with some female company. I’m tired of looking at hairy-legged men all day. I love Sooze, but she ain’t my type.” She laughed at that. “How about I pick up something for dinner on the way …you still like Chinese?” She laughed again.

“Yes, and at the rate I’m consuming it, this baby may be born speaking Mandarin!”

“I’ll stop at the China Dragon and pick up dinner for three. See you when I get there.” I’d head south on 45 to Ferris, then cut west to Red Oak and south on 35 to the turn off for the farm. The farm-to-market roads would give me a chance to blow out the carbon from the valves. Baby had been suffering in the absence of my runs to and from Palestine. I looked at my watch and shut down the computer, said goodbye to Terry and Sooze, and was out the door. Reags and the fair Melody awaited.

MELODY
“Dino’s coming down?” I managed not to smile too broadly. He’s a little older than the men I usually date, but there’s a lot to be said for a mature man and the experience factor.

“Yeah. He promised Max he’d come down and spend the night; neither of them seem to realise I can shoot straight and hit what I target. It appeals to their combined male egos to think they’re protecting me.” We both laughed at that one. Reagan is the last woman I’d ever imagine needing a man to take care of her. “I hope you still like Chinese …he’s bringing dinner.”

“That’s fine with me. Let’s finish up the recoding here so that we can actually enjoy Dino’s company when he gets here.” Was that a small, knowing smile I saw flit over her face? I know Dino’s been seeing Ellen Hughes for quite a while, but if she’s no longer in the picture, I’ll step into the breach for the moment. Dino appeared to be attached to Ellen at Reagan and Max’s wedding, but that may have changed. He’s probably not looking for anything serious, and that works for me. I’m too busy for a relationship but certainly wouldn’t say no to an occasional release of sexual tension.

I’ve wondered if it ever occurred to Reagan that she’s surrounded by the sexiest three men I’ve ever known. Max is …well, suffice it to say that if I’d met him before she did, I’d have worked overtime to land him. Terry and Max look a great deal alike but they’re as different in terms of personality as night and day. Both of them look like those packages they carry between their legs make walking difficult, and I’d bet Reagan and Dee are two very happy women. Dino isn’t far behind Max and Terry in the looks department, though he’s wiry and more volatile. He’s cute and funny and radiates sexuality. And yes, I was having lustful thoughts as soon as I learned he was coming to Reagan’s. Perhaps I could get him to stop by my place this weekend and check out my security measures.

REAGAN
Melody was one of those students who had always taken a somewhat laissez faire approach to data analysis. If the program doesn’t run the first time, she tinkers with it in SAS/STAT for days before resorting to looking at the actual code. When she’d called this morning and said she’d been unable to find the problem, I’d told her to bring me the data runs and the underlying codes. I’m old school; I still write my own code rather than doing the point-and-click bit. Melody hates looking at code, and prior to Dino’s call she’d not settled down with me so I could point out the problems in her program. She did an about face as soon as I’d hung up the phone.

“If Dino’s coming, we need to get this done.” She pulled out her highlighter and focussed on the sheets of code lying on my dining table. I sat back and watched …and I’ll be damned. Within half an hour, she’d located the three problem areas I’d noted (though not marked) and had them sorted. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that she wanted work well out of the way before Dino arrived.

I’ve never been one who gave a damn about who slept with whom. It isn’t my business, and I make it a practice to stay of others’ bedrooms. My problem was this wasn’t just any ‘others.’ This was Dino, Ellie, and Melody. Ellie had been working on a major case, and she and Dino had seen very little of each other over the past couple of months. The time they spent together helping Max and me move was the longest time they’d had together since she agreed to represent some fuckwit arrested for having a meth lab in Palestine and trying to sell the product in Dallas with all of the attendant jurisdictional complications. Ellie is my oldest friend, and I was protective of her. Dino is also a dear friend, and I love him as I would the brother I’d wished for as a child. Melody is like a younger – though occasionally wayward – sister and far more than just another student. I was on the horns of the proverbial dilemma.

Do I warn Melody off and tell her that though there’s no official commitment between Dino and Ellie, there is a basic understanding? Do I tell Dino if he cats around on Ellie, and I learn of it, I’ll have a new set of door decorations? No on both counts. I’ll keep my mouth shut. The three of them are ‘all growed up and haired-over’ as the East Texas saying goes. If Dino wants to screw up what may be the best shot he’s ever had at long-term happiness, it’s none of my business, and Ellie will never hear about it from me. Melody was stuffing the documents back into her briefcase when Dino drove up to the house. I started to haul my ever-increasing girth out of the chair, and she stopped me.

“Stay there, Reagan. I know getting up and down is more difficult now; I’ll get the door for you.” I thanked her and stayed where I was. The dogs were bouncing in anticipation of the opening of the door.

“Dino! It’s great to see you again …how’ve you been?” Dino’s usual line when he brings food to our house is ‘Hot food …coming through!’ He beats a path straight to the kitchen and then greets Max and me. He grinned at Melody and leant down to kiss her on the cheek.

“Hey, Sweet Thing! Haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays. Let me get rid of these bags and come back for a hug.” He nodded to me as he headed for the kitchen and stopped to give me a kiss on the cheek on his way back to Melody. She got a big hug and a kiss on the mouth. Uh-huh. Suspicions confirmed. That was no mere affectionate greeting …that was a ‘Be My Lover’ greeting on both their parts. Actually, it could even have been a ‘Hello, Lover’ greeting. Nah …not yet. The look on Melody’s face was do-you-want-to-be-my-lover …and the one on Dino’s was just-as-soon-as-I-get-back-to-Dallas.

DINO
What the fuck am I doing? I’m lonely, sure, but I love Ellie. Just because I’ve gotten back on a working relationship with my right hand doesn’t give me the right to screw around on her. We’d only seen each other a couple of times since she took that case that had her jumping through hoops, and I’d been out of town on both my annual run to the accountants in Boston and a quick trip to Chiapas. As a result, we’d been two ships passing in the night for the last couple of months. The only reason Ellie and I’d had a couple of days together in all that time was because we’d both promised to help Max and Reags move to the farm. That was the last time we’d spent the night together, and it was six weeks ago. I was proud of myself for not having been to a strip club in all that time, but man, it was wearing on me. I realized at a very early age I’m not cut out for the celibate lifestyle. I’d also begun to realize that I’m not cut out to be single the rest of my life. But there I was, planting one on Melody like she was a long lost lover. I looked over at Reags; her face was inscrutable.

I’d called Melody at the university the next morning. She was in class, so I left a message on her machine; she called back just before lunch.

“Dino?”

“Hey, Baby. Think you could stand me for dinner two nights in a row?”

“Actually, I’m through for the day and on my way home. You want to head over here and start early?” Start early? Oh, fuck. I asked for this didn’t I?

“I don’t know where ‘here’ is, Baby.”

“I can give you the address. Come over when you leave the office, and I’ll make dinner.” Jesus …I want her, but this is fast even for me. Why the fuck did I cave so easily? On second thought, don’t answer that.

“Can’t get there before about seven, Baby. I have a full afternoon and a couple of stops to make after work. How ‘bout you get into your glad rags, and I’ll take you to dinner? I’d bet we can find a place close to your apartment.”

“I’m close to the University, in one of the old pre-World War Two apartment blocks.”

“You know the La Duni Latin Cafe?”

“Yeah, it’s not too far from here …about three exits south on 75.”

“I’ll make reservations and pick you up at seven. What’s your address?”

“I’m in the SMU Apartments at 2901 Binkley Avenue, building three, apartment 22. You can park in the lot around back, off the street. There’ll be an aloe vera plant in the parking space to hold it for you. That’s the only way you’ll find a space.” I laughed.

“An aloe vera plant?”

“Yeah …it’s understood that no one takes the place with the aloe vera in it.” Baby, we’re on the same wave length. The plant means leave the space empty because the person taking it will be there all fucking night.

“Okay …seven-thirtyish it is. See you then. Dress pretty for me.”

“It will be my pleasure. See you later.” I smiled as I hung up the phone. At least for the moment my conscience was stuffed back into my hip pocket. I was committed now …perhaps I should be committed.

When I arrived, I’d found the parking space as promised. I got out of Baby and moved the plant onto the sidewalk and pulled into the space. Just for good measure, I put the potted plant on the hood and stood back to admire the effect and smiled. To use one of Terry’s terms, it was sweet as a biscuit. I found the apartment and knocked on the door at seven-thirty sharp. She opened it and stood back for me to come inside.

She was wearing a little black number, short skirt and cut low in the front, and there was a pair of four-inch high-heeled come-fuck-me-pumps on her feet. I don’t know how women walk in those things, but I know I appreciate them. Bet that little dress never saw a faculty dinner, at least not one with Reags in attendance. Reags may be the queen of backless evening gowns, but she’s very circumspect in her professional venue. I can just see her raking Melody over the coals if she’d ever made an appearance at a faculty function in a dress like she was wearing tonight.

The lights were low …two wine glasses on the coffee table …bottle of wine in a bucket of ice. Hors d'oeuvres on a little plate. She’d left a cigarette in the ash tray; the smoke spiralled upward in the dim light like a sensuous cloud. I was getting a pretty strong message here. Maybe I’d better get the ground rules straight before we went any further; I was pretty sure I was reading the signals right but had no desire to get my face slapped if I was wrong.

“Melody, I was planning on taking you to dinner and,” I checked my watch, “our reservation is in half an hour. It’s going to take us an hour to get through the wine and cheese. Do I need to call and move the reservation back 45 minutes?” She stepped up and stopped about six inches from me.

“Dino …we both know why you’re here. You can take me to dinner next week.” Sometimes a guy just gets lucky. I pulled my phone from my pocket with one hand and made the call cancelling the reservation as I pulled my tie loose with the other.

I was the first one in the office and sat at my desk with a cup of coffee. I turned my chair and looked out the window. It was just after seven, and I’d come straight from Melody’s apartment to the office. I’d spent four of the last nine nights at her place and was fucking exhausted. I’d started keeping a change of clothes in Baby’s trunk; I’m a little old to be doing the walk of shame. I thought back to the morning after the first night I’d spent at her place. I’d waited until the gang left the office that evening and then changed into the suit I keep at the office before leaving for Melody’s. When I left for her place, it honestly hadn’t occurred to me that I wouldn’t be spending the night at my place.

I’d walked into the office that morning so fucking tired I could hardly put one foot in front of the other but plastered my usual good morning smile on my face as I headed for the coffee bar. Max was there – he’d come in on the 0600 flight from New Orleans – and turned with a smile on his face. It faded almost immediately as one eyebrow went up. He didn’t say a word, just gave me a curt nod, and walked out the door; he can read me like a book. The son-of-a-bitch didn’t speak to me until the following day. He sent me five e-mails that day instead of his usual practice of hauling his ass out of his own office and walking into mine. I’d headed for my office and met Terry as he came down the hall. He stopped and looked at me and shook his head.

“You’re too old for this shit, Mate.” I must have looked worse than I thought, and he’s seen me look like this too many times in the past not to read the signs. I have no secrets in this office. Sooze was a little more sympathetic. She spent the day exchanging empty coffee cups on my desk for full ones. On the first run she’d brought coffee and a large glass of water and a couple of aspirins. The second day I walked in looking like something the cat dragged in she did a repeat performance with an added fillip. As she was leaving for lunch she stuck her head in my door.

“Want me to bring you some lunch, Dino?” I was too busy to leave and nodded.

“Yeah, thanks, Sooze.”

“Anything in particular you’d like?”

“Nah …you know what I like.” An hour and ten minutes later she walked in and put a bag on my desk. I thanked her, and she disappeared. I opened it and reached inside and pulled out the to-go dish. Strange …it had ice crystals on the top. I undid the foil around the edges and lifted the cardboard cover. Oysters on the half shell …a dozen of them.

“SOOZE!”

MELODY
Dino and I’d been fucking each other’s brains out for three weeks, and it was probably time to establish the parameters of what I was afraid he was beginning to consider a relationship. The tone of restaurants where we had dinner had changed; we’d moved from trendy to upscale, intimate places where we could actually have a conversation. I hadn’t expected him to be such a good listener, but on the rare occasions that we actually talked, he truly listened to what I had to say. The problem is that I don’t have time in my life at present for the intimacy that’s the foundation for real conversation. I was beginning to worry that Dino was mistaking sex for intimacy.

When we got back to my place after dinner last night, he’d poured after dinner drinks and sat on the couch. He’d brought good scotch and good brandy over a couple of weeks ago. He’d bought snifters for me as all I had were tumblers; I am grad-student-poor after all. I picked up the snifters and walked to the bedroom; he hauled himself off the couch and followed me, tugging at his tie as he walked. I put the snifters on the bedside tables and walked back to him.

“Let me do that.”

I finished removing his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt as his hands moved to my back and slowly undid the zipper. We started out slowly enough, but Dino warms up quickly …at least the first time. Unfortunately, men in their mid-forties have a long refractory period. Unless I came up with something really exciting, it usually took him an hour to recover. I’m pretty inventive. I felt his fingers at the clasp of my bra, and he unsnapped it before moving his hands to my shoulders. He hooked his thumbs through the top of my dress and bra straps and slithered them down my body, catching my panties on the way – I wasn’t wearing hose – and took everything straight to the floor. I’d unbuttoned his shirt while he was fiddling with my zipper and pushed it and his coat off his shoulders. He shrugged out of them as I unbuckled his belt and ran down his zipper, tugging his slacks and shorts down just like he’d done with my panties. He toed off his shoes and kicked them away before stepping out of the rest of his clothes. His mouth went to my breasts as he groaned and backed me toward the bed before shoving me down on it. His voice was rough when he spoke.

“Roll over, Baby.” Oh, God, he’s way too invested in this. Men like Dino don’t do anal sex unless they’re with a whore or someone they’re really comfortable with. I rolled as he reached for the box of condoms he’d put on the shelf at the bottom of my nightstand. It was a box of 48, and that alone was his way of staking a claim. If he’d considered me nothing more than a succession of one-night stands, he’d have just brought several with him each night. He spread my cheeks and then stopped.

“You got any lube?” I shook my head.

“Then it’s not that important …I don’t want to hurt you.” He entered me vaginally, thrusting hard. There was no foreplay, and I really didn’t need it. Dino’s a great lover, and just watching him walk across the room was enough to make me wet. God, but the man feels good! He braced himself on his left arm and reached around me, frigging my clit as he continued to thrust. His cell rang, and he ignored it. I came in less than a minute and collapsed on the bed, moving slightly to one side and swinging my body and legs around, legs over his head and down beside his thighs. He slowed on the outstroke to give me room to turn but never missed a stroke. There’s a lot to be said for a man with experience.

He reached for a pillow, and on my next upward thrust he shoved it under my butt …much better, at least for me. Apparently that didn’t suit him, and he jerked the pillow out from under me and tossed it away, grabbing my ass with his hands and holding me where he wanted me. That was even better. I came again a couple of minutes later. He was still grunting but not with the satisfaction I’d heard on earlier occasions; tonight he sounded like he was paying for it. A few minutes later, he shouted and came before collapsing on top of me. He didn’t stay there as he had in the past but immediately rolled off and lay beside me. Something’s not right; he’s preoccupied tonight. I waited a minute before speaking.

“Something wrong, Dino?”

“It’s been a rough week at the office.” I got up, walked to the living room, grabbed my cigarettes and lighter, and brought them back to the bedroom along with an extra ashtray. I lit one for each of us and handed one to him.

“Thanks.” There is something going on. It hit me then. Until tonight if his eyes were open when we were having sex, he’d always looked into my face. This time he hadn’t. The one time he’d opened his eyes – after his cell rang – he’d watched himself moving in and out of me. One of us had to say it, and it was obviously going to be me.

“Dino …you do know that all I’ve ever wanted from this arrangement is a good fuck-buddy.” He didn’t say a word, just nodded his head.

ELLEN
I’d called Dino to tell him I was going to be free this weekend; did he want to come down here or should I drive to Dallas? He wasn’t home when I called his condo about ten that night …probably out with a client, so I called his cell. He didn’t answer, and it wasn’t turned off. He may have been in a conversation and couldn’t interrupt at that point. I left a message asking him to call me when he got home. He hadn’t called when I woke up just after two in the morning, and that was really strange. I called his condo a second time and got no answer and called the cell again. Still no answer. Now I was worried. He could have been in an accident. No, that didn’t make sense either. He had five emergency contacts …Terry, Max, Sooze, Reags, and me. If he’d been in an accident and any of the others had been called, they’d have called me. Reags was on the list because if something happened and the police couldn’t find his partners, I’d rather hear the bad news from Reags than a cop standing in my front door. My phone hadn’t rung all night. All I could do now was wonder who she was and what my part in it had been.

Perhaps we define ‘couple’ differently. We’ve never had a conversation about what ‘being a couple’ actually means. It was just something we said at Max and Reags’ wedding. Perhaps he meant that I was his date for all TEO’s official functions or anything related to Terry and Dee or Max and Reags. To me, being a couple means that exclusivity is expected. If you’re a ‘couple,’ you aren’t seeing anyone else, not even casually. Being a couple implies a level of emotional intimacy you don’t have with someone you’re only dating and screwing.

I’d thought we had that intimacy, and that took me back to what my mother had told me so many years ago.

“All men cheat, Ellen Marie. You’d best get used to it. They’ll cheat on you when you’re busy having their babies, and they’ll cheat on you when they’re away on business because you just aren’t available to them at those times. They’ll even cheat on you if they get lonely or if they’re bored at home. It’s a fact of life, Honey, and the sooner you take that in, the less you’ll hurt when it happens to you.”

When my mother said those words to me I was 16-years-old. I’d just broken up with my first serious boyfriend – Jimmy Roberts – because I’d caught him kissing another girl at a school dance. I’d heard Mama’s words but hadn’t really heard what she’d said.

Tonight I could hear her words as clearly as if she was sitting next to me, and this time I heard the pain behind them. It was the first time I’d ever honestly realized that my Daddy had cheated on her …and she knew every time he did. Times do change; Mama just didn’t realize that I’d be the one who was travelling or busy and that would make me unavailable. She’d told me the truth. She always had; she just didn’t know the shoe would be on the other foot when I had to wear it.

DINO
I’d heard my cell ring while I was fucking Melody but ignored it. They could wait ten minutes. When she got up to go to the bathroom, I hauled my ass out of bed and checked the display …Ellie. I was pulling on my pants when Melody walked out of the bathroom.

“I have to go …the call, it was ….”

“I heard your cell ring. I understand. Take care; call when you can.” I pulled on my shirt, pants, socks, and shoes, and grabbed my tie. My coat was on the floor, and I picked it up, shoving my tie in the pocket and looked back at her.

“Take care, Melody.” I kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the room and out of the apartment. The frigging aloe vera was still on the hood of the car, and I shook my head as I put it back on the sidewalk. Maybe someone else could use it for the rest of the night.

I knew Ellie would have called my apartment after not reaching me on the cell, and I didn’t think I could stand hearing her voice tonight; I hadn’t even listened to her message on the cell. I drove to Max’s old loft, parked, and let myself inside. I tossed my coat on the couch and made myself a drink then sat staring out the huge windows into the dark. I went back downstairs to get my clothes and go bag from Baby’s trunk. I’d shower and shave here and go straight to the office. Maybe by the end of the day I could make myself go home and listen to both Ellie’s messages.

I was in the office before seven and had been at work for an hour-and-a-half when Terry arrived. My gut was hurting like a bastard, but I tried to retain some semblance of normalcy. He stuck his head in my office after stopping in his own to drop his briefcase.

“I don’t know who you’re seeing locally, but at least she’s getting you into the office early.” I looked up at him.

“Close the door.” He did and then sat across the desk from me. I took a deep breath. “I don’t often ask advice, not from you or anyone. Part of it’s because I’m a grown man and should be able to handle my problems myself. I’m asking today because I think I’ve really fucked up.”

“Who are you seeing in town?”

“Melody Williams.” His eyebrows shot skyward.

“Reags’ student?”

“One and the same. She was at Reags’ when I spent the night down there a few weeks back while Max was out of town. How the hell do you juggle two women?” He shook his head slowly; it had obviously been a long time since he’d tried that little game.

“It’s been a damned long time, and I was a larrikin when I did. At that point I didn’t actually care about any of them. I met three of them at the same time and was just trying to see which one floated to the top of the pile. The problem with that and meeting them all at the same time is you don’t know enough about any of them to sort out which is the right one. When you have time to focus on one for a time without two others dangling, you can sort out if she’s the one. When I grew up, I made sure they were on different continents. But, Mate, I didn’t care about any of them. I think your situation is a bit different.”

“Ellie and I’ve been like ships passing in the night for the past three months. She has that case that’s taking all her time. I made a couple of weekend trips to Palestine, but she was so busy I hardly saw her. The couple of occasions that she had time for me I was either in Boston or the Yucatan. The only real time we’ve had together lately was when all of us helped Max and Reags move to the farm. She had that on her calendar before this case started and managed to work around it. Of course, she was on her computer until three in the morning both nights she was here trying to catch up and not lose anything in the shuffle.” Terry pulled at his eyebrow.

“Okay, Mate. I need some advice from you. What the fuck am I supposed to tell Diana? If you keep seeing Melody, Diana’s going to sort out that you’re not behaving normally.”

I knew he’d never tell her unless I gave him the all clear, and I didn’t think I could do that. To Dee, sex is the physical manifestation of love. She’s an incurable romantic, pragmatic in most things, but not where sex is concerned. To her sex equals love and always has …probably always will. I looked across the desk at him.

“Nothing …you tell her nothing. I’ll tell her, and it’s going to kill me to knock myself out of her good graces again.” He nodded and stood, leaving me sitting at my desk and rubbing my stomach. If possible, my gut was hurting even worse. It felt like someone had planted a white-hot, six-inch shiv just below my ribs and slightly to the left.

SOOZE
I was at my desk when Dino hit the intercom. He didn’t need to use it because I could hear him all the way down the hall. There was pain and fear in his voice, and I hit the floor running.

“SOOZE!”

By the time I got to his office, I had to push my way in past Max and Terry. They seemed momentarily frozen, and Dino had collapsed across his desk. He was white as a sheet as I ran around the desk with Max and Terry behind me; they pulled him upright. His left hand was clutching his chest, and he groaned as Terry barked orders.

“Get your car and pull it round front of the building. Max and I’ll get him to the car. You drive us to Baylor …it’s the closest trauma centre.” I took off at a gallop, slowing down only long enough to grab my purse – my driver’s license and keys were in it – from my desk drawer and ran for the express elevator. The ever present guard was in the hall, and I shouted at him as I ran past.

“I need to you get the express elevator here and hold it. Dino O’Reilly’s collapsed, and I think he’s having a heart attack.” He beat me to the elevators and keyed the express speaking as he did.

“I’ll wait for them.”

I took one of the regular cars. Terry said later the express car was there by the time they got Dino into the hallway.

The elevator seemed to creep downwards to the mezzanine though it didn’t stop at any of the floors. I ran for the skywalk to the garage. When I got the Camry to the front door of the building, the guard was waiting with them. Max and Terry were on either side of Dino; his arms were dangling near their waists; he didn’t have the strength to hold on to them. They literally dragged him to the car, scuffing the toes of his Ferragamos as they tugged him along. They got him stretched on the backseat, and one of them was in each floor well. I floored it out of the valet parking lane, leaving peel like I hadn’t done since I was a kid with my first car.

I checked cross traffic and ran through the red lights at every intersection that didn’t have a car within 50 feet. I was leaning on the horn, praying I’d pick up one of the Dallas or DART cops to escort us to the hospital. I was talking over my shoulder as I drove.

“How’s he doing? Dino? DINO! Fucking talk to me, you son of a bitch!” I doubt if he heard me over Max and Terry. I glanced in the rear view mirror to see Terry’s finger tips on Dino’s left carotid checking his pulse. He looked at me as he spoke.

“His pulse is good …not thready, so I don’t think he’s in shock. Just get us to hospital as fast as you can.” I ran every red light I could on Main Street between the office and Washington Avenue, the cross street that leads into Baylor Medical Center and pulled into the emergency entrance with the horn blaring. Max was out of the car almost before I had it stopped and was shouting to the guard at the doors.

“I need a stretcher, NOW!” The guard ran inside, and came back a couple of seconds later followed by two nurses and a guy in a white coat; I sincerely hoped he was a doctor. The guys manhandled Dino out of the car, and the five of them – the hospital personnel plus Max and Terry – got Dino onto the stretcher and whisked him inside. The guard came over and leaned down to the window.

“You can park right over there, Ma’am. Put this sticker on the dash and the car will be fine.” He handed me a decal for the handicapped parking slots that were straight across the street, and I wheeled out of the drive and into the parking lot. I was in the emergency room in less than three minutes. I could see Max just outside one of the treatment rooms; he was alternately looking into the room and back down the hall. Guess he was waiting for me. I ran toward him, and he put one arm around me and dragged me into the treatment room.

The medics had a monitor on Dino and were cutting off his shirt. The doctor was asking questions, trying to get Dino to answer.

“Mr. O’Reilly. Can you tell me where it hurts? Just point.”

“My gut and my chest.”

“Can you describe the pain?”

“Stabbing, burning ….”

“Any sensation of weight or pressure? Any pain in your arms?” Dino shook his head.

“No …just this stabbing, burning pain …started during the night and got a lot worse after I got to the office.” By that time they had him on oxygen, and a phlebotomist had drawn blood. I looked at Max.

“I’m going to Admissions. I have all the insurance documentation and his SSN. That’s all they need, but we need to get it done now. Come get me if there’s any change …in either direction.” He nodded, and I took off. I’d wait before calling Sarah, just as Max and Terry would wait to call Reags and Dee. We all needed to know something definitive before alarming our families. Oh, God …who’s going to call Ellie?

To be Continued

NOTES

SAS/STAT	A data analysis program developed by the SAS Institute. It has applications in virtually every industry, and is a favourite of psychologists engaged in research.
Walk of Shame	Going to work in the same clothes you wore the day before because you’ve spent the night somewhere other than your own place …and EVERYONE watches as you walk past them. It’s great fodder for gossip round the water cooler.
Refractory period	Literally, this is the time immediately after an action potential in which the neuron cannot respond to another stimulus. For purposes of this use, it’s the time lapse after ejaculation before a man is able to attain another erection. In very young men, it’s usually less then 15 minutes. Men in their 40s require an hour or more between ejaculations before being able to attain an erection again.
DART Cops	Dallas Area Rapid Transit police, a separate entity from the Dallas Police Department; they cover Downtown Dallas and all the train lines and rapid transit lanes on the interstates that cover the City.
MI	Myocardial Infarction – a heart attack

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