Doctor Kim

Chapter 2

Dr. Kim vanished from the view the moment our gazes locked, and Jay mistook my gasp of surprise as pleasure, too into the moment to think it'd be anything else. I didn't tell him what I'd seen, and Dr. Kim never said a word about it. Not to me, and probably not to her son either. She was excellent at pretending it hadn't happened.

But I wondered how long she'd stood at the window.

How much of my naked body had she seen, writhing on the deck chair? Should I have felt unease? Disgust? I didn't. All I felt was odd and jittery, like I'd been left under a heat lamp too long. Whenever I thought about it, my skin glowed hot and was stretched too tight.

"I just got in the water, give me a second," I said, stalling for more time.

Jay shot me a helpless grin. "Sorry." Although his tone said he wasn't. "You put on a bikini. How am I supposed to keep my hands to myself?"

Six months ago, I would have found his comment playful and charming. Today, it turned me off.

He leaned back in the water, floating near me, and his brown eyes looked richer with the water reflecting in them. He was cute when we'd first started dating, and he'd since filled out as he grew into a man. He was handsome. Jay's hair was short on the sides and long on top, and lighter in color than his dad's.

My stomach hurt with worry as I watched him glide through the water, carefree. He had no idea I was about to drop a bomb.

"Hey," I started, my voice already wavering. "We need to talk."

The patio door opened with a noisy slide, drawing our attention. Dr. Kim stepped outside, carrying a pitcher in one hand and two plastic cups in the other.

Jay grinned widely, and he asked his dad teasingly, like it was some joke I wasn't in on, "What's that?"

"Fresh lemonade," Dr. Kim answered quickly. Too quickly.

Jay laughed. "Poor Somi. Maybe I should go over there and tell her you hate the taste of lemon. She could make those cookies again. Or the brownies. Those were awesome."

I wrinkled my forehead in confusion. Jay swam close and circled me in his arms.

"Our next-door neighbor got divorced, and now she wants my dad. Bad. Up until today, she's been trying to seduce her with baked goods." He squeezed tight, and it felt constricting. "Hey. How come you don't bake stuff for me anymore?"

"Probably because I'm busy and we hardly see each other?" My tone was more pointed than I'd meant for it to be.

Dr. Kim walked toward the glass table perched under the umbrella and set the pitcher and cups down. "Well, enjoy."

"You think she roofied it?" Her son said it as a joke, but Dr. Kim's gaze narrowed suspiciously at the pitcher.

"I'm sure it's safe," she said, then disappeared back into the house.

"What a glowing endorsement," Jay joked.

Under the water, his hands began to wander, playing with the strings at my hips. I squirmed away, but he didn't get the message, and my irritation reached critical mass.

"I didn't come over to have sex with you."

He shot me a confused look. "Then, why did you?"

Oh my God.

His simple question broke the last piece of my heart. He couldn't see any other reason I'd want to be here? I wasn't his friend anymore—I was just someone to stick his dick in. The realization was incredibly hurtful, and tears sprang into my eyes. My voice went shallow. "Jay, I can't do this anymore. It's over."