Defective

Chapter 1

I sat on a plastic chair in a corridor connecting the ER to the central hall (where all the main shops habited), waiting for Abe to go on break. It had been two months since we first met and we had been convening 4 times a week since then. At first, all the socialising was tiring but by now, I was used to it. The department was relatively quiet for a Tuesday night with only the occasional elderly patient pushed by on a trolley by the porter in the direction of the geriatric ward. My plimsolls dragged slowly across the ground under my chair as I tapped the side of my chair in a rhythmic motion with my fingers, counting each evenly-spaced beat in my head, having first tapped it incidentally and, as always, found myself unable to stop.

A flustered Abe soon rounded the corner, a stack of patient files in his hands. Spotting me from a few metres away, he signalled with his hands for me to come.

I shook my head and held up a finger on my left hand, indicating I'd only be a second.

"What are you on?" he asked, immediately understanding as he spotted my drumming appendages.

"...196, 197, 198, 199, 200." I said standing up as I finished, desperately resisting the urge to sit back down and tap till I got to a whole thousand, which was a much nicer number.

Walking back in the direction of the ER, Abe apologized for his lateness. As if I had somewhere else to be.

"Anyway, I've got so much paperwork to catch up on and we're so short-staffed, I was wondering if you could do me a massive favour?" he inquired, a hopeful look tainting his big grey eyes.

Bracing myself for whatever was coming, I gave a small cautious nod, still not having spoken a word. We saw each so regularly that greetings had become a formality often skipped.

"One of my friend's babysitters cancelled at the last moment right before she left town on an emergency trip and so I kinda offered to watch her little girl for a few hours at work till her brother-in-law picks her up." he spat really fast, wary of my I-know-where-this-is-going-and-I-don't-like-it glare at him, "But the thing is she's really chatty and she's distracting me from all the forms I need to fill in so I was wondering if you could maybe just possibly keep a tiny eye on her for merely a little bit while I try to get my work done?" he rushed, out of breath.

"How long is merely a little bit?" I sighed, reluctant. I didn't mind kids and I certainly didn't mind doing Abe a favour, it was just I had to sneak back into my room before dinner and meds in 45 minutes.

"Half an hour tops, just till her uncle comes to pick her up" he said smiling, knowing he had already won me over.

"Abe!" I moaned, aware that I would have to run like Flash up the fire escape stairs to avoid being caught outside of the ward - I had long ago stolen the spare key to my window which was only supposed to unlock itself in an emergency and frequently used it to get in and out of my room without being seen.

"Hayley! Come out here," he shouted into the staff room door for a small skinny blonde girl to emerge, "This is Coby, she's going to keep an eye on you till your Uncle comes, okay?"

The little girl nodded clutching a sky blue folder to her chest as she offered me a small smile. She couldn't have been more than 7 but I could see the edges of a Fall Out Boy t-shirt past her folder. Along with her knee-high green converse, I had to admit, the child had both taste AND style.

Gesturing to a collection of seats just a few meters away, I asked her, while moving to sit, to "Tell me about yourself, then?"

...

25 minutes later, Hayley was bouncing on her chair as she did an impersonation of her grumpy teacher explaining why he was allowed to eat in class and they weren't. I sat cross-legged, my chair positioned a few feet away laughing at her hilarious persona. I can easily understand why Abe wasn't getting any work done.

All of a sudden I could feel an electric tingle in the air around me, sparking with my skin. Hayley seemed to feel it to and leant away from me, the little girl's eyebrows burrowing in confusion.

At the end of the hallway, next to the main entrance doors, stood an extremely good-looking man, power radiating off him, making me tremble in his dominating presence. As my eyes trailed up his god-like body, they connected with his and within an instant he was standing uncomfortably near to me, give but a foot.

"Mine." he whispered, as he checked over my body with hungry but also protective eyes.

My brain kicked in as I realised the close proximity of his body to mine and I stood up knocking my chair over backwards as I desperately tried to get away from him, my lungs clogging up from the possibility of his outside germs infecting me.

His eyebrows furrowed at my frantic movement and he took a step towards me, hands raised. "What's the matter, cara mia?" he coaxed in the most breath-stopping voice I'd ever heard in my entire life. It was smooth like chocolate, a velvety baritone deep enough to drown myself in with a hint of Italian.

"G-g-get away f-from me!" I pleaded, alarmed by his appealing presence and sudden closeness, way too close for a stranger, especially one I was unprepared to encounter. His suit looked designer, very upmarket in matching with his stylish Italian leather shoes.

"Stop it, you're scaring her Uncle Dim!" Hayley protested, upset.

I suddenly noticed two large men on either side of him, also dressed impeccably well for anything other than the red carpet, peering curiously at me as well but with less fierceness in their eyes.

"What's all this ruckus?" barked Abe, walking out of the staff room, agitated. He soon became quiet as he noticed the looks shared between the god-like man and myself, mines full of terror and fear, his full of love, endearment and protectiveness.

I felt trapped by all the overwhelming figures and soon began to hyperventilate as the walls closed in on me. In the corners of my mind, I recognised the surges of a panic attack submerging all remaining rationality. "Hold him back!" Abe called out to the bodyguards as he recognised the clouding over of my eyes at the same time as the warning ding for the elevator at the end of the corridor to go up rang out.

Sprinting into action, my adrenaline racing, I barely slipped in through the closing metal doors within a few seconds flat as I turned to watch chaos erupt behind me. I could just about make out Abe's pink scrubs grabbing Hayley as he ran in the opposite directions of me as the two massive escorts also grabbed 'Uncle Dim' as his face contorted into a mix of pure rage and horror at watching me leave, trying desperately to get out of their grip but distracted in the heat of the moment.