‘Yes,’ Pav said as he moved right into her personal space and put his hand gently on her back to propel her forward away from the counter. ‘The next one. Like, tomorrow? You sort of owe me after that stunt you pulled at the club. I had some explaining to do to Mr Steroids on the door.’
‘I … oh, you mean the … the bouncer? I just –’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Mr Martakis dismissed, waving the hand that was not at the small of her back. ‘I know Barry. We sorted it. Now, about that drink –’
‘Wh … what?’ she stammered, feeling the heat of his large hand on her back and moving faster to get away from it. That was until she couldn’t move any further. He’d manoeuvred her over to his table before she’d even realized what was happening.
‘Hi, Millie,’ Libby said gently, giving her an encouraging smile.
‘Hey,’ Jamie put in, giving her a brief nod before he turned to Mr Martakis and frowned, probably confused as to why he’d dragged her over here.That makes two of us, Millie thought in bewilderment.
‘Dr M.,’ Kira muttered, not bothering with an encouraging smile. Libby and Kira had both started as medical students at the hospital a few months ago and whilst Libby was kind, Millie was well aware how much Kira disliked her. Ironically, though, the feeling was not mutual at all. Millie thought Kira was hilarious and a little bit crazy. Unfortunately, when faced with big personalities and extreme extrovert behaviour, Millie tended to shut down. So any interaction she’d had with Kira in the past had been strained to say the least. The friendlier Kira was, the more dismissive Millie became and there was no way for her to stop it.
‘Dr Morrison and I have been grappling with Doreen for the last ten minutes,’ Mr Martakis explained smoothly whilst he pulled out a chair and gestured for Millie to sit down. Millie looked at his hand and up to his thermal-covered forearm before she glanced at his face, still sporting that wide glamorous smile. ‘Take a seat.’
Her mouth dropped open and she blinked once. There was no way in hell she was sitting down.
‘I think you’re making Dr Morrison uncomfortable, Pav,’ Kira said, her voice uncharacteristically flat and unwelcoming.
‘I … I’m not …’ Millie took a step back and watched as Mr Martakis shot Kira an annoyed look before he skirted his chair to move towards her, causing it to scrape along the linoleum.
‘Ta-ta, Dr M.,’ Kira said with a fake smile and a small wave. ‘Great chat, as always.’
Millie took another step back but came to an abrupt halt as her back hit a solid wall of flesh. The coffee she was holding spilled over the edges of the cup and onto her hand. She barely registered the scalding pain.
‘Shi – I mean, sorry, Dr Morrison,’ the large ODP (operating department practitioner) that worked with Jamie and with whom Millie had just collided said.
‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘I … sorry …’ She trailed off and turned on her heel to leave. As she weaved through the tables she put down her coffee cup; it was only half full now anyway and she couldn’t exactly run back to the radiology department with it sloshing all over the place. Her hand started to throb as she rounded the double doors of the canteen and strode down the corridor at speed. Once in the safety of her office, she leaned up against the door and closed her eyes.
Donald was on leave today. It was bad timing. She needed him here. Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Needing Don was a bad idea. Needing anyone was a bad idea. Millie knew she had to rely on herself. Her hand throbbed again and she rolled her eyes. If she hadn’t scuttled backwards like a terrified rabbit she wouldn’t have run into that ODP and she wouldn’t have burnt her hand. She moved away from the door, and was just about to start running some cold water into the small sink in the corner when a loud staccato knock caused her to jump about a foot in the air.
She knew who it was before his head appeared around the frame. That knock could only belong to someone as larger-than-life as Him. She contemplated hiding under her desk (it wouldn’t have been the first time – she’d tucked herself in behind the front panel more than once before to avoid people) but there just wasn’t time to sufficiently squash herself into the available space, and the thought of how ludicrous she would look if caught made her break out in a cold sweat.
‘Hey,’ Mr Martakis said as he stepped into the office as if it was his own. Millie wouldneverenter someone else’s space unless specifically invited. She marvelled at how confident, pushy and … andrudethis man could be. Then, after entering her office without permission, he proceeded to casually stroll up to her, stand way too close and take both her hands gently in his. ‘Ah, bugger,’ he muttered as he moved her right hand into the light to see the red burn marks over the back and fingers. ‘Let’s get this under some cold water.’
He propelled her forward to the sink by her elbow, turned on the faucet and then held her hand under the flow. Millie’s whole body had gone rigid with shock as soon as he put his hands on her. And now, with her back to his front and his arms around her to hold her hand under the tap, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. There was the instinctive fear she had when in physical contact with anyone, but this was mixed with a far more worrying and foreign feeling, almost like flying; kind of what she imagined it would be like to take drugs. Her ears were ringing and her heart was hammering in her chest.
‘It’s pretty red but hopefully it won’t blister,’ he murmured behind her ear, and she could feel his breath on her cheek. ‘Jesus, what are all these bruises?’ Her sleeves had ridden up and the inner surface of her forearms were showing. ‘What the –’
Millie had dropped down and ducked under his arm, then dashed across the room, putting her office chair between them. He spun around to face her with a bemused expression on his face. She gripped the back of the chair and kept her eyes focused on her desk.
‘Dr M.?’ he called, and she flinched. ‘Okay, I’m going to move away from the sink now, all right,’ he told her as he started walking backwards to the other side of the room and Don’s desk. ‘I’m sorry I crowded you but can you please put your hand back under the water?’
Millie blinked down at her hand, which started throbbing again as her adrenaline receded. She glanced at Mr Martakis out of the corner of her eye; then, with as much dignity as possible under the circumstances, she walked to the sink.
‘Will you keep it under the water?’
Millie never cried. Tears did not work for her when she was a child. Instead of crying her throat would close over almost completely, making it impossible to speak. Thus, a distressed Millie was always, always an entirely silent one. So, with no other option, all she could do was nod her head whilst she stayed focused on her hand under the running water.
‘I’m going to go now, okay?’ he said cautiously, and she nodded again.
After the door closed behind him, part of her was weak with relief, but the other part, the part that had experienced that rush when he was near her, that part felt such an acute sense of loss it was almost painful.
Chapter 3
Thwarted ambition
Pav shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned as he made his way back to the canteen. He’d been so distracted that he’d left his phone on the table. Yes, he was normally a disorganized bastard, but that level of inattention was rare, even for him.
