Doctor-Patient Confidentiality: Chapter Twenty-Six

Okay, I’m pretty sure my eyebrows just jumped off my face and into my hairline—kind of like how Liams’ wanted to just moments earlier.

My feet are immediately frozen in place, almost as if they’ve been physically cemented to the floor. My legs feel foreign, like a pair of oversized ice blocks, their weight suddenly too heavy for the rest of my body.

A surge of ice shoots through them and flares throughout the rest of my body, making an especially notable impact as it slithers through my spine, and I know it’s not because of the onslaught of cold wind now blowing over me.

Icy blue eyes keep me paralyzed and mute for several moments, and I swear my voice just left with the last gust of wind that came my way.

I feel my eyelids stretching themselves to the point of discomfort in an effort to accommodate the quickly-widening eyeballs within them. I’m even unable to blink as I behold the tall, imposing man standing at my grandmother’s doorstep.

“Doctor Frost?” I choke out before I even realize I’m saying the words. I don’t even know when—or how—I’m able to get my voice back.

“Hello, Ramona,” I hear him say, his own voice deep and almost sinister.

The scowl on his face quickly gives way for a more neutral expression. He clears his throat, easily removing me from my dreamy stupor.

“You mind if I come in?” he says. It’s really not a question. Not with the way it sounds coming out of his good-looking mouth.

“S-sure,” I stutter, giving way for him to enter.

He walks right by me, and for two wonderfully torturous seconds, his body ever so slightly brushes against mine as he does. My flesh tightens as rigid goosebumps form all over my skin, and once again, it’s not the weather’s doing.

As I close the door behind us, I can feel my heart pounding in my chest like an oversized drum, and the pounding echoes wildly throughout my body, reverberating with so much force in my head, and shamelessly between my legs.

Despite the protests of my brain, his highly unexpected presence here is clearly a treat for the rest of my body—especially my treacherous pussy.

But as I turn back to face him, I have to wonder, why is he here?

And suddenly, it clicks.

Oh, no…

Does he have news about my visit and the endoscopy and what the issue could be? This is not the time or the place to discuss my health. But then, why would he come all this way? It has to be serious.

Oh, God… 

Without thinking, I grab his hand and rush him over to the corner. I’m frantic and desperate and not really thinking rationally.

“You can’t tell her!” I whisper, although I think it comes off more like a threatening hiss. I’m trying to keep my voice down but I can quickly feel my panic getting the better of me.

“Excuse me?” he looks incredulous, and probably a little annoyed. His icy eyes dart down to my frantic hold on his sleeve and then back up to my own wide, pleading one.

“Don’t tell her about my appointment with you,” I whisper in desperation, my eyes darting behind him every so often for any sign of Gran or anyone else who might be within earshot of our conversation.

He shrugs his hand free of my grasp, maintaining his annoyed expression as he re-adjusts his cuff-linked sleeve.

Suddenly, I feel really embarrassed and stupid for reacting the way I did.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to grab you like that,” I say, swallowing as I try to catch my breath and keep my furious heart from pumping its way out of my chest. God, he must think I’m crazy. I certainly think I’m crazy right now.

I quickly avert my eyes from his as I struggle to swallow the huge lump that seems to keep reforming in my throat. This man keeps making me unusually nervous and I really don’t know why.

He eyes me for a few more seconds, looking me up and down in that same assessing manner before he speaks again.

“I’m just here to pay my respects to your grandfather,” he says.

My eyebrows immediately furrow at the statement, and my lips draw themselves into a taut frown.

“Wh-what?” I’m confused. He obviously didn’t know my grandfather, so why has he come all this way to respect the memory of a man he didn’t know?

But before I can actually ask him, I spot Liam walking toward us from behind him. I don’t know why, but seeing him so suddenly while I’m talking with Doctor Frost makes me jolt nervously.

I immediately straighten my dress and adjust my posture, as if I’m a kid who just got caught doing something they’re not supposed to be doing, even though I haven’t done anything wrong.

I really hope the renewed anxiety I feel doesn’t show on my face, but I do my best to maintain another forged smile just in case it does.

As Liam closes in on us, Doctor Frost turns to face him as well, and I realize that he’s even taller than Liam is, if only by three or four inches.

As soon as they come eye to eye, the energy around us shifts considerably, and an angry scowl finds its way onto Doctor Frost’s face; the same scowl he had on when I first opened the door for him. He definitely looks unamused.

Liam’s expression quickly matches his own, and they continue to scowl at and stare each other down for a little too long for my liking.

My eyes dart back and forth between the two men, and their silence but very obvious tension is making me feel super awkward right now.

I clear my throat in an effort to break the ice, and thank goodness it works—or at least, it does in part.

Doctor Frost remains stoic, but Liam breaks his stare and his attention turns to me. His frown immediately turns into a cheery smile, all packaged with a few flashes of his pearly whites.

He moves past Doctor Frost, visibly bumping his shoulder against his, and I have the distinct feeling he did that on purpose.

I’m not sure what the hell is going on. These two obviously know each other, and from the little silent showdown they just had, there’s clearly some bad blood between them.

Liam bends down and gives me a peck on my cheek—another gesture that I’m not in the least bit prepared for.

“See you around, Ramona,” he says with a smile.

“Bye, Liam,” is all I can manage at the moment, especially when I can feel Doctor Frost’s intense eyes on us.

Liam turns and gives Doctor Frost another hard look before disappearing into the corridor.

The sound of the front door opening and closing signals his exit, and I find myself releasing a deep breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding.

***