Shake, Rattle and Roll: The Baxter Boys #4 (The Baxter Boys ~ Rattled) Page 2

  So do I, but I need to remain professional. “You and the twenty guys who were here before you.” Then I pull back. “Sorry, I’m only here for demonstration, not actual hands-on.”

  “So, that’s all I do?” He asks. “Press my fingers around my balls and see if there is a lump?”

  “Yes and no. First, the best time to examine yourself if after a bath or shower because the skin is relaxed. Hold your penis out of the way, then hold your testicle between your thumbs and fingers and roll it gently between your fingers, feeling for lumps like you felt on the simulator, or any type of mass or something that might not feel like it belongs.”

  “Hey, Bethany, sorry I’m late.”

  Carina, who was supposed to man this booth starting an hour ago steps behind the table. “Matt worked over and I didn’t have a sitter to fill in until he got home.”

  Matt is her husband, a police officer with the NYPD and they have a nine-month-old son. “That’s okay. I had this.”

  She glances up at Christian then recognition lights in her eyes. Carina was with me the night we saw his band play. Carina also knows that I kind of really crushed on him that night. I hope to hell she doesn’t say anything.

  “So, if you don’t need me, I think I’ll do a check.”

  “Go ahead.” She’s grinning, but at least she’s keeping her mouth shut.

  “What do you need to check?” Christian asks as I come around the table.

  “This, all of it.” I spread my arms about indicting the entire health fair. “It’s my baby this year and I need to make sure all is going well and that nobody needs anything.”

  While it would be nice to spend more time with Christian, I do have a job to do and I’m sure he wants to go find his friends because I’m pretty sure he didn’t come with just Mary since she’s dating Dylan.

  “Mind if I tag along?”

  No words could surprise or thrill me more. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugs. “I’m in the mood to learn something.”

  2

  So, I’m not exactly in the mood to learn anything, but what other excuse can I give to be around her?

  No, not her, but Bethany. At least I won’t have to look like an idiot and have to ask her name. I mean we were just talking balls and showers so I should at least know her first name.

  Damn, there is just something about Bethany, and it has nothing to do with talking about balls. I felt it the first time I met her, even if I didn’t get her name that day. I’m not sure if it’s her clear blue eyes, hot has hell body, thick auburn hair, or just her gorgeous face. But, whatever it is, it was instant that day and just as quick today. She disappeared then and I’m not about to let her out of my sight again. At least not until I get to know her better.

  “So, what do you want to learn?” she asks with a laugh.

  “Anything you want to teach me.” And, I mean anything. I’d be her willing pupil on any subject.

  “Well, since I’ve got to check with every booth, you’ll get to see everything we have. Let me know if something strikes your fancy.”

  “What if it’s you that strikes my fancy?”

  She just laughs as if she doesn’t believe me, but it’s true. Bethany is the best fucking attraction at this health fair. Clearly I don’t have the same effect on her as she does on me and I’ll have to figure out a way to change that.

  “Need anything, Gerard?” She asks at the booth right next to the balls one. This one has a sign Feel Your Boobs? Of course they’d have a guy at this one. On the table is a similar simulator as the balls one, except this one is a boob, of course.

  “I’m all good, Bethany, but not many takers.”

  “Women are better educated than guys,” she says with a look in my direction.

  “I got educated,” I defend.

  “Just make sure you stay educated,” she says as she wanders to the next booth.

  There’s a girl and a guy handing out pamphlets with suckers attached. The sign about them is Suck It. I have no clue what this is for.

  “Good on suckers?” Bethany asks.

  “Yep!” the guys says and then I realize they are dick suckers. Seriously?

  “What is this about?”

  “Do you know how many people think oral is safe sex?”

  Is this a rhetorical question? “Um, no.”

  “Do you know?”

  “Ah, yeah. If it’s not safe for one part of the body, it’s not safe for any.”

  “See, you’re already learning.” She grins. “But you’d be surprised how many people don’t ask the same questions about safety and testing before oral that they do before intercourse.”

  “That kind of surprises me. I thought it would have been a given.”

  She shrugs. “It is, in college for the most part. Who we need to educate are high school girls, who think it’s safer, or don’t think it’s really sex to go down on a guy.”

  That statement shocks me. “People still think that?”

  “For all the knowledge in the world and for how much we’ve come out of the dark ages, on the whole, teenagers are still pretty ignorant to dangers, and a lot of college kids too.”

  We stop and I look around. “So, this whole health fair is about sex, protection and all that?”

  “No, not at all. You just happened to start at the condoms and balls.” She laughs. “We’ve got the blood drive, a booth with simulates drunk driving and walking, drugs, smoking, the dangers of sleep deprivation, communicable diseases that are on the rise, such as mumps, mono and strep of late, how antibiotics can be a friend, but what you need to know when taking them, depression, anxiety, all kinds of mental health and numbers for the hotline.” She holds out her hands. “If it has to do with the body, mental, physical and emotional health, we probably have a booth.”

  Well, it may not all be about sex, but that is all I have on my mind when it comes to Bethany and it sucks that I’ll be leaving for the west coast in two days. I’m only supposed to be gone for two weeks, but damn, why couldn’t I have actually met her before now?

  Correction, I did meet her, but I was the idiot who didn’t ask Mary for her number.

  I can’t believe that Christian Sucato is walking around the health fair with me. He could do anything, go anywhere, or even visit with Mary, but he is with me! The fan girl inside me is giddy as hell, and I’m not sure my pulse has returned to a normal rhythm since he first approached the booth, but I hope to hell he can’t tell.

  “Eye check?” he asks.

  “Yep, and dental services. We offer what we can for free to the starving students.” We’ve checked in with every booth and he’s helped me carry a few boxes to replenish supplies a few times, but for the most part, there’s not much more for me to do except supervise and be here if anybody needs anything.

  “Hungry?” he asks.

  With that my stomach grumbles. The last time I had anything was about six hours ago. “Sure. Let’s get something.”

  In keeping with health, there is a food tent set up, except it’s all healthy. “I hope you don’t mind fruits, salads, and lean meats.”

  “I’m good with whatever.” He smiles and follows me into the tent. We both grab chef salads, dressing and bottles of water before finding an empty table.

  “So, Bethany, besides running health fairs, what else do you do?”

  He really wants to know about me? “I’m a nursing student and will graduate in May, but I won’t be done with school.”

  “Are you going to work on your masters? Get a doctorate?”

  “Not really.” I push the salad around on my plate. Even though I’m starving, my nerves have gotten the better of me since I still can’t believe I’m sitting with Christian Sucato and he actually seems interested in me. “I didn’t realize until I was almost done with my education that what I really want to become is a physician’s assistant.”

  “They are more than a nurse and not quite a doctor, right.”

  I can’t help but l
augh. “Something like that, but I’d always work under the supervision of a doctor. Unfortunately, it’s more school and I’ll need more hours working in the medical field, like three years, before I can complete the degree.”

  “Is that so bad?”

  “My parents agreed to pay for the BA and I’m really lucky that they can, but anything beyond that is out of my own pocket, or through school loans, so I’ll need to work while going to school.”

  He tilts his head and studies me. “Where are you from anyway? I detect a little southern in your tone, but I don’t think you come from too far down south.”

  “Kentucky.” I laugh. “Not quite the south, but more so than here.”

  “Will you be going back to Kentucky after you graduate?”

  Was there more than curiosity to his question? I really hope there is. “No. I’m going to stay in New York. I have a good shot at getting on at the ER with Mary. Working there will help build clinical hours.”

  He nods and takes a bite of his salad.

  “What about you? Do you do anything besides play the saxophone?”

  “I’m boring. Let’s talk about you instead.”

  My face heats. I am so much more boring than he is. The man has two songs out and I hope there will be more. What the hell can he find so fascinating about me?

  3

  I want to know everything I can about Bethany… Hell, I don’t even know her last name, but that isn’t important right now.

  “So, why the ER?”

  “It has everything.” She shrugs. “From traumatic injuries to sore throats, and everything in between. Everywhere else in the hospital you are treating basically one kind of thing. Not that everyone on the Ortho Floor has the same exact injury or treatment, or Labor and Delivery doesn’t have unusual and sad situations, but you never know what is going to come through the door when you are in the ER.”

  “So, you like variety.” Does that mean she gets bored dating one guy? I hope to hell it’s not like that, not that I’ve asked her out yet, but I fully intend to once I get back from Oregon.

  “That and it will help me prepare for my career choice.”

  I don’t get the connection. “Isn’t being a physician’s assistant like working in a doctor’s office, not much variety.”

  “It would be, if I wanted to work in an office, but I want to be in a clinic.”

  Clinics would offer a variety, I guess, and there are all kinds of them out there.

  “A free clinic,” she says.

  This surprises me. Why would a sweet young thing from Kentucky want to work in a free clinic?

  “There is one that I volunteer at not far from my apartment and they need all the help they can get. For all the talk about people having health insurance, and all of that, there are still a lot of people who can’t afford care, or know where to begin. Too often people wait until it’s so late when something is wrong that they end up in the ER and a lot of times are in for a hospital stay. Prevention is everything.”

  Ah, so she is a do-gooder. Not that there is anything wrong with that, depending on the motivation. I just hope she isn’t a rich, idealistic girl who is doing this to make herself feel better about her privilege. She did say her parents paid for her education, and she’s white and cute, and I really hope her career choice is more than that.

  I know I shouldn’t jump to that judgement, but I’ve seen a ton of young, privileged white kids trying to help, to feel better about themselves, without a fucking clue about the real world people who are forced to use free clinics actually live in. “New York clinics must have been an eye opener for a girl from Kentucky.”

  Bethany stops eating and frowns at me. “Why?”

  “Well, I don’t know much about Kentucky, but I know a lot about New York, since I was born and raised here.”

  “Kentucky has poor people like everyone else.”

  Shit, I didn’t mean to offend her and maybe I did get a little judgy.

  “I thought Kentucky was all rolling green hills and horses.” I admit, maybe I am a bit ignorant about the state.

  “A lot of it is,” she shrugs. “But, my family lives near Louisville, which has some pockets where people are really suffering from unemployment, poverty, crime, and so on, just like every other major city in America.”

  “So, why aren’t you in Kentucky?” Why would she come to New York when Kentucky as a whole still sounds a lot nicer than the city?

  “As beautiful as it is, I don’t want to live there and have my mother constantly trying to fix me up with the new local vet.”

  “Veteran?” What’s wrong with that? Though I’m kind of glad she’s here. No, not kind of – I’m really glad she’s here.

  “Veterinarian,” she corrects with a laugh. “He’s new and I met him over Christmas, and she thinks he’s just young enough that I should automatically be interested.”

  “Veterinarian and Kentucky can only mean one thing—horses?”

  “Yep,” she answers. “Mom and Dad have stables and board horses.”

  “Racing?”

  She shakes her head. “We like the races, of course, but we don’t own any race horses. At least, not anymore, but back in the day my granddaddy sure hoped to have a Triple Crown winner.”

  She is so out of my league. We come from two completely different worlds.

  “Kentucky is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but I want more than settling down on a horse farm. And frankly, it can be as boring as well.” She pushes the tomatoes around on her plate. “I wanted to get out and see something, and as soon as I arrived in New York it felt like I’d come home, if that makes any sense.”

  I never grew up in a real home, not like Bethany, but I get what she’s saying. Though Baxter Academy of Arts, where I ended up at school, wasn’t home per se, the friends I met became almost instant family and that’s where I found my home--where I belong. Home isn’t always a place. Even though I now live with Alex, Dylan, Zach, Sean and Ryan in the same place, a brownstone that we’ve been fixing up, for over a year, it won’t always be that way because I’m pretty sure that Alex and Kelsey will marry one day, and possibly Dylan and Mary, but even when we no longer live under the same roof, they will always be my home.

  “School was just supposed to be school, be out on my own somewhere different, and then go home. I won’t be going to back to Kentucky, though. I belong here.”

  For a while there I felt like I needed to defend myself and my decisions, which I’d never had to do before. Was Christian judging me? How the hell does he know enough about me to judge anything? But then, his attitude kind of shifted, so maybe I just read him wrong.

  “So, when you are all done with school, you want to work in a clinic?” he returns to the topic of my education.

  “Not full time, even though I wish I could, but those positions don’t pay enough to survive. Hopefully, I can still work in the ER and make enough to pay rent, and still work at the clinic, where I’ll really be needed.”

  “Don’t they have enough staff? Or, are they always short because of money?”

  He seems really interested in my plans when I really want to know more about him. “They are usually short on nurses and doctors. As a PA, I can bridge the gap, if there is always a doctor on call, and with a nursing degree, I’d be able to cover more bases in meeting the needs of the patients and clients. What the clinics need, or at least the few I’ve volunteered at, are more PAs because there aren’t enough doctors willing to work for so little or volunteer their time.”

  Christian wrinkles his brow and studies me. “You’d volunteer?”

  “If I can make enough at the hospital, yeah.” That’s never been a question that I’d volunteer if I could, but I wouldn’t be much help to anyone if I didn’t make enough money to rent a place and feed myself. “Mom and Dad may be great in helping me out financially, but that all ends on graduation day, especially since I’m not coming home. I think they believe that once I start to starve, I’ll return where I be
long and then they’ll be generous again.”

  “Financial manipulation?”

  “Yep!” They still think it will work, but I’ve been saving and planning so I don’t have to move back. “But they keep forgetting about Uncle George, or they haven’t forgotten and have probably been working on him too.”

  Christian frowns at me. “Uncle George?”

  “Dad’s brother who also left Kentucky. He moved to Paris in January, working for a major bank, and is letting me live in his loft. Uncle George promised not to kick me out no matter how much Mom and Dad want him to send me home, and he doesn’t expect to move back here for at least a year, if not longer, so it’s a win-win, for the two of us at least.” I have to laugh because Mom was so pissed and betrayed by my uncle. But he gets why I want out of Kentucky because he did too. “I pay utilities, but he won’t let me pay rent so that I can save enough to get my own place once he gets back.”

  “Sounds like a good deal you’ve got.”

  It’s the best, but I am also so done talking about myself. “Your turn. Tell me about yourself, Christian.”

  He pushes his plate out of the way and leans back in his chair. “Not much to tell. I play music.”

  “Just the sax?”

  “Keyboards, but badly.”

  “Sing?”

  “Um, no.”

  I prattled on all about my life so he should at least give me answers that require more than a couple of words. Why the hell doesn’t he want to talk about himself? Most of the guys I’ve met won’t shut up about their accomplishments. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but at least conversations were usually two way, instead I feel like I’ve just been interviewed, given he isn’t as forth-coming.

  “Hey, there you are,” a guy calls and I turn to look. He’s tall with short blond hair and walking toward us. He has a sucker in his mouth and is grinning. “We’ve been looking for you.” He sits down next to Christian than picks up a slice of bell pepper from Christian’s plate and eats it after taking the sucker out of his mouth.