Playing for Rya

9. Hunger

Song: Demons by Imagine Dragons, cover by Boyce Avenue ft Jennel Garcia

Rya nervously twirled the key card she held in her hand as the hospital elevator rode up past the fourteenth floor, which was the last generally accessible area in the hospital, and proceeded onto the fifteenth floor.

She had found the card on her bedside table that morning and at first, as she admired the simplicity of its black and gold design, she had thought it was simply a business card, same as the one he'd handed her years ago.

It had his name, as well as the name of his company on it, but not his title or much of anything else.

However, after texting a thank you message to the number inscripted on the back of the card, for his efforts in making sure she was okay, she had received a response from him saying,
'my office, 2pm. Use the key card.'

Only then did she realize the dual purpose of the card he'd left her.

She didn't want to go, especially after waking up that morning with a very discernible ache in her lower region, and Derek's lingering and very pleasing male musk on her sheets intensifying the yearning within her.

What she needed to do was keep her distance so she didn't do something that she might regret later. He owned the hospital she worked for, their relationship needed to remain strictly formal, not to mention that there was a certain doctor she'd just started seeing...

She'd felt oddly fine waking up, and considering the evening she'd had, she had expected to wake up with a hangover, and had instead, been pleasantly surprised at the clarity of her mind that morning.

Getting into the shower, she'd let the water pelt away at her body as she pieced together the events of the previous night.

It certainly hadn't taken her and Derek long to fall into bed together, despite all the avoiding she'd been trying to do since she had discovered his position at La Cura.

Instead, it seemed like the more she tried to stay away from him, the more they continued to run into each other.

She'd gotten out of the shower with her decision made, she would ignore his invitation, and claim that it had slipped her mind, if they ever stumbled into each other again.

But, as she got dressed, she'd discovered a pair of gold cufflinks she hadn't noticed before, on her bedside table and had quickly come to the conclusion that she had two options; she could either wait for him to come back for them, or she could take them to him.

She decided that if she wanted distance, having him frequent her apartment probably wasn't the best way to achieve it.

And so she had used the key card, first pressing the button for the fifteenth floor, and when the metal box still didn't move, she inserted the card into the slot located directly above the buttons. It had the desired effect, and the elevator began it's ascent.

Thinking back to the day she'd rode with Derek, in this same elevator, up to his office, she realized she hadn't seen him use a card such as the one he'd given her, but then her mind had pretty much turned to mush the moment he'd stepped inside, and so she couldn't quite be sure.

The short carpeted hallway was as quiet as it had been the first time she'd been on this floor, and she wondered who, besides Derek, used the place. The wide, spacious lobby, in which the elevator opened up to, as well as the hallway, was simply decorated with a dark grey carpet and beautiful abstract paintings.

She reached Derek's office door, which was one of the two doors she had seen so far, on this floor, and gave a tentative knock. She heard his voice call out for her to enter and took a moment to steady herself and attempt to calm the flutter in her belly, which had begun upon hearing his voice.