Hi there! Yes, you there, Angel, hi!! 

It's been a while, and I'm truly sorry! But now exams are over, and I can focus on this! At last!! Can I get a Hallelujah?

 So without further ado, let's get right into it!

Don't forget to vote if you liked the chapter! It truly helps me a lot. ❤

Take care of yourselves, angels! xo J

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Erika's POV:

"Wow, I- Uhm... You two are- what are you doing here?" I avoided looking at her puzzled face, trying to control a chuckle from escaping my lips. 

My best friend's reaction was understandable. I knew, she knew Brandon was sneaking in and out of our apartment at surprising early hours of the morning. It was obvious from her teasing expressions throughout the rest of the day; her face was screaming 'I heard you'. She had heard, but never actually saw Brandon sneaking out of our house. I couldn't begin to imagine her confusion, now that she actually saw him, in the hospital's on-call room, no less.  

"You know what?" she said, glancing at Brandon's half buttoned shirt, "I'll just close the door and meet you, when you guys are ready." She chuckled nervously, before taking slow backward steps and closing the door behind her.

Once the two of us were alone, I couldn't control the laugh that left my mouth and Brandon raised an eyebrow questioningly as this wasn't normal behavior for me.

I couldn't help it. I was happy.

"I think it's time for me to go." He smiled my way, leaving a kiss on my forehead, before he was gathering his belongings and straightening his shirt. "Call me when your shift is over."

"My shift ends at eight in the morning." I looked at him quizzically.

"Doesn't matter. I'll be awake, most likely. I'm a light sleeper anyway." He shook his head, a serious expression on his face.

"Still, you should get some rest, before your game tomor-"

He shut me up with a kiss, before he spoke against my lips, "I want to tell my girl 'Goodnight!', before she goes to bed."

"I never agreed to being yours, though." He chuckled at my attempt to rile him up further, pulling me in his strong arms.

"I'll be waiting for your answer after my game, then."

"You better win, then. For me."

"Fuck, Angel..." He breathed against the speeding pulse of my throat. "Then I'm gonna finish it in the first round."

Unable to form coherent thoughts, I agreed, promising to call as soon as I was home, to let him know I was safe. After one last kiss, we moved out of the room, where a bashful Stella was waiting, before Brandon left the hospital.

"So..." she dragged the word, as she pulled me towards the surgical ward for the night-shift handover.

She wanted all the details, but in the little time we had, I tried to fill her in about the progress of my relationship with Brandon. I wanted to spare me the embarrassment and avoided hot topics, but seeing the wicked grin on her face, I knew a vague summary of events wouldn't suffice my best friend.

"You are withholding information, chica, and I'm not having it," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The movement of her arms crossing in front of her chest caught my eye, and I just now realized the color of her scrubs. Green.

"You scrubbed in." The wide smile on her face was the only indication I needed, to know that my assumption was correct.

"Me and Markus assisted Dr. Jelani in cardiothoracic. It was thrilling, Erika, you have no idea. And the heart was pumping so beautifully and, Dios mio, I think I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon."

Stella's smile was contagious, and I couldn't help my own smile. Even though we weren't sure which specialty to follow, all three, four including Jaxon, of us were doing good, as we explored all our possibilities in the surgical department. I hoped this carefree feeling, of having everything in place, would last. 

I didn't like taking a step forward and then two steps back.

"Where's Markus, anyway?" I asked her, trying to avoid our previous topic of conversation.

"You little fox, I know what you're trying to do." I rolled my eyes, because she caught me red handed faster than I thought possible; her own methods never worked on her. "He's giving Jaxon a recap of his patients before his nightshift begins. Lucky you, you're going to be with Dr. Hot and Cold all night. I wonder what Brandon thinks about that."

My best friend winked at me like the little piece of shit that she was, and I shoved her playfully, trying to hide the burning blush now covering my skin. Truth be told, I didn't tell Brandon I had the night shift with Jaxon. Not because I cared for Jax in a certain kind of way, but because Brandon had a bad reaction to him that onetime we talked about him. Besides, this was work, so I deemed it unnecessary.

"Come on, spill the beans, Eri. Don't make me beg."

"I thought you liked begging." I ignored her previous comment, avoiding her gaze since my cheeks were still tinted pink.

"Well, you are not mistaken, chica. And the look on Markus when I do, Dios mio... Need I say more, or should I spare you the details of dominant-Markus?" I choked on my own spit, covering my blushing face with my hands, while I tried to recover. 

Honestly, her relationship with my brother was not something I wanted to hear about tonight. At least not their sexual escapades.

"Fine, just- just stop. I'll tell you everything. Dio mio, you are so hard to handle sometimes."

"Tell me about it." As if he knew I was in trouble, I was saved by my twin's perfect timing. "What are you two up to, anyway?" He eyed Stella, who had a mischievous grin on her face.

"Mierda, Markus. Couldn't you wait five more minutes, before you barged in on us? Now she won't tell me anything about her guardian-angel-calling-boyfriend."

The two started bickering like children, leaving me dumbfounded, when I spotted Jaxon coming towards us. Seeing the two next to me, he rolled his eyes, knowing what was already happening, before he was able to hear a word.

"You're not even dressed yet. I told you the restaurant won't hold our reservation if we're late. And why are you bullying my sister, anyway? Let me remind you, that between the two of you the one withholding information is you." Stella's pout made him chuckle and he pulled her close to him. "Besides, if Eri has anything to say, then I suppose I should hear it too, don't you think?" His blue eyes met mine and I gulped, because he had the same scolding look as our dad and it was unsettling.

Damn it, the two of them together were an unwinnable combo.

"No! You most definitely don't." Evading both, I picked up the patients' files from the top of the desk and moved away quickly. "And don't forget to put the left-overs in the fridge this time," I said over my shoulder.

"It was just a one time thing." I chuckled at my brother's frustration.

Liar.

"We both know it was more than once," Stella tried to say under her breath. "You've got it, mom."

Rolling my eyes, I finally got closer to my - mostly - quiet colleague; Jaxon's knowing smirk was louder than words. The two of us had a job to do 'til the early hours of the morning, and if we wanted a couple hours of rest, then we had to get moving.

We walked in silence, reading the patients' list assigned to us. Tonight, I had the emergency wing on the ground floor and the intensive care unit on the sixth floor, while Jaxon had the seventh and eighth floor to look after. Throughout the day the surgical wards were filled with attending doctors, residents, interns and medical students, but towards the end of the day, silence accompanied the hospital corridors, patients were sleeping and our only company for the night were the nurses and the on-call resident or attending, who were not to be disturbed unless in absolute emergencies.

"I'll see you back in the on-call room," I told Jax, and he nodded, before I took the stairs for the sixth floor.

It was still too soon, but I felt that he and I were friends. Respect was essential among colleagues, but understanding lacked most of my other friendships or acquaintances. In a way, Jax could read me, or at least understand when something was going on in my head, which was often, but still didn't reach the same level as

Brandon could see right through me. No matter how thick or tall the walls around me were, that man could see right through as if they were made of glass. He walked right through them, as if they were made of air. Jax wasn't even close to that, our friendship was a work in process, but under his cold exterior, I felt a strong connection to him and the need to be there for him as well. Besides, his professionalism and cunning way of solving cases sparked our competitiveness in a silent tag-of-war between us.

Once again, I was lost inside my head, as I walked along the hallways of the hospital, checking on all the patients one last time, before I found myself in the on-call room.

It was around midnight, when my phone rang, snapping my attention away from the lab-report I was reading.

"Stella? What's wrong?" Adrenaline fuelled my body, as it wasn't common for her to call me in the middle of a night-shift.

"Dios mio, Eri, does something need to be wrong for me to call my best friend?"

"No, but, aren't you on a date with Markus tonight?"

"He's in the shower."

"Why aren't you with him?"

"Chica, stop asking stupid questions, and talk to me. I know you better than anyone. Figured you'd want to talk to someone about everything that's been happening in our lives these past couple of weeks."

She was right. I wanted, no, needed to talk to my best friend about everything; my almost-kind-of-relationship to the god-like man that caught my attention the moment I saw him, the fact that he used to be my patient and all the implications surrounding that, the games and the new world we were all propelled into... the questions still left unanswered behind all those weird, dangerous encounters surrounding the same man. But was tonight really the time?

I sighed, because even without words, Stella most probably knew about all the things that made my brain overwork. "Stellz? You and Markus..."

"Dios mio, you're finally asking... Yes! Yes, he's so good, he's wonderful." I hadn't noticed she needed to talk to me about her relationship to my brother, just as much as I needed her; how selfish have I been these past few weeks?

"And when we're together, he gets into this beast mode I've never experienced before..." Stella continued, making me realize, that was exactly the reason why I was afraid to ask in the first place.

"Stella, wait, I didn't mean-"

"His hands, Dios mio! And his tongue, and-"

"Okay, you need to stop now... that's just too much for a girl to know about her brother," I said out of breath, and she chuckled, probably doing this on purpose.

"What did you want to tell me, chica?"

It was now or never.

"Me and Brandon... we are doing things together. Well, mostly he does."

Of all the things I wanted to tell her, my stupid brain decided to start with that.

"And what's the problem?"

"That's exactly the problem. I never touched him enough before to make him..."

"To make him cum?"

"Stella, not so loud. Markus will hear." She giggled on the other side of the line.

"Don't you wanna?"

"Of course I do!" I covered my mouth with my hands, trying to shut me up before I admitted anything else.

For an over thinker, one would think I held my emotions and thoughts in check, but there was just so much this brain could hold in, before it started spilling like a well after a rainstorm. 

"Do you know how?"

I ignored her question; maybe this was a bad idea.

"Whenever I try to touch him, do the same for him, he pulls back or stops me... He saw me naked a bunch of times, but I never saw him."

"Maybe he's small and embarrassed?"

"Stella!" 

"What? I'm just brainstorming here."

"Well, that can't be it. I felt him... before... and... well let's just say, I don't think that's the problem."

Her giggles caught me off guard, because, for the life of me, I didn't find anything funny. "Dios mio, I can't stand you," she said through her giggles.

"What? What is it?"

"I think he wants you enough, to hold back, before he loses control," she said, as a matter of fact.

"But, I want him to..." I whispered through the phone, afraid he could hear me.

"Look at you, wanting your man to rail you good."

"Dio mio, you're insufferable." I breathed out, pinching my nose at the upcoming headache. "I'm hanging up, now."

"I love you, chica. Take care."

"Yeah... I love you, too." 

"And be careful," I heard her say, just before the line was disconnected.

I didn't know if our conversation brought some clarity, but at least her playfulness eased my cramping thoughts for a while.

Getting back to my previous studying, I was sipping my iced-tea, reading the different case files with all sorts of diagnosis, when I felt my eyes faltering closed. Exhaustion had caught up to me, and I allowed myself to some minutes of sleep. Serene moments were not the norm, when I was working the night-shift, so when exhaustion had finally caught up to me, I allowed myself some minutes of sleep.

Reminding me I always had to be awake and alert, the obnoxious sound of my pager startled me. In seconds I was on my feet, ready to exit the room, as the code of the emergency ward was illuminated on the green screen of the small device.

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Just a heads up. New chapter will be out very, very soon.

'Til then, take care Angel!

xo J