The
glass toppled from her tray and crashed to the floor, shattering into pieces.
Nora McMillan cursed; she had rushed to finish her shift in time to make it
outside before the blood bus left. The drive ended at 5 and she wanted to make
sure she had time to donate before they closed up shop. They had been parked
out in the mall lot all day, but the diner had been busy and she hadn’t found a
moment to slip away. Now she had to clean this up too.
Nora
crouched down and began picking up shards of glass, her white skirt riding up
to expose her creamy thighs. A wolf whistle came from a nearby table and she
wished she was permitted to dress more modestly. She felt eyes upon her chest
and realized just how much of her ample cleavage was visible as she leaned
over. Ugh. She hated this place; the constant ogling, the darlings and
sweethearts, customers with wandering hands, and to top it all off was the
shitty tips.
She
collected the glass in a hurry and dumped it into the trash. Then, before
anybody else could flag her down, she booked it out the door. She crossed the
lot to the mobile blood collection bus. She rapped her knuckles against the
door and an older woman slid it open. Her face was crinkled and her hair was
going gray, but she smiled with a pleasant glow.
“We
were just about to call it a day, but we’ve always got time for one more.” She
stepped aside and beckoned Nora to enter. The interior appeared surprisingly
large; there was a spacious open area and then two nooks with small beds and
curtain dividers. A refrigerator was tucked in one corner, and a small table
stood next to it littered with needles and tubing.
A
man in a white lab coat was sitting at a small desk, writing something. Nora
noticed his broad shoulders over the back of the chair; the only other thing
she could make out was his shaggy dark hair. Strange for a doctor, she
thought. Still she sensed something strange about the man, there was almost an
aura of power surrounding him. Nora smiled to herself at how ridiculous that
sounded; he’s just a guy in a lab coat writing in a book, nothing special
there. Then he stood up and turned to her.
Damn, she
thought. Maybe there was something special about him; he stood at least
six feet tall, and even with the lab coat hiding most of his body, Nora could
tell he was in excellent shape. His skin was deeply tanned, like he spent most
of his time outside, and his features were striking. His eyes were a dark brown
and regarded her pensively.
“I’m
Dr. Kent,” he said and his voice seemed to reverberate from the walls of the
bus.
“Nora,”
she said. “I’m Nora McMillan.”
“Well
Nora,” Dr. Kent said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and steal your blood.”
He
smiled and Nora giggled loudly, then felt her face turn red. He went on to ask
her all the usual questions, had she eaten recently, was she afraid of needles,
had she ever fainted, and she just nodded or shook her head in response. Then
he began asking about her family history, which she thought was a little odd
when all she was doing was donating blood. But Dr. Kent was handsome, and she
didn’t mind one bit if he wanted to draw out their conversation. Maybe he’s
trying to flirt?
She
could have sworn Dr. Kent seemed unusually interested in how her grandparents
emigrated from Eastern Europe, but he was probably just trying to be polite.
Finally, he asked her to lay down on one of the small beds. She did as she was
told and he rolled up one of her sleeves and tied a tourniquet around her
bicep. The sensation of his fingers against her skin sent a tingle through her
body and she looked up into his deep brown eyes as he worked. He glanced up and
met her gaze, then flashed a broad smile.
“This
might pinch a bit,” he said as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves. He picked
up the needle and she watched his face as he gently stuck her. She was so
focused on the gorgeous doctor that she
Learning to Kill: Stories