Make Me Yours: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story (2 page)

*****

Dean
drew up to the hospital anticipating surprising Meaghan by taking her
home and cooking her dinner. He’d heard about the accident on
I-295 and that patients had been taken to Mt. Sinai. So he’d
called earlier to commiserate but she hadn’t picked up and he
knew it had been hard for her. He realized they rarely talked about
the hard things; too many barriers to that, what with his family
drama and their limited time together which he realized was mostly
spent in bed. After his talk this morning with Smith he’d
realized he didn’t
really
know
how Meaghan felt about the continuous attempts to sabotage them
perpetrated by his mother and his ex-girlfriend. She always said she
was fine with it; that she understood but maybe…

He
pulled into the parking lot just in time to see her sliding into a
blue SUV with a tall white older looking guy. The guy drove off and
before Dean could think about it, he was following them. They didn’t
go very far; just to
La Trattoria
,
Meaghan’s favorite restaurant…the guy handed her out of
the car – she was smiling at him – and they walked into
the restaurant. Dean vacillated between wanting to drive off right
away and wanting to find out who this guy was who
his
girlfriend
seemed to have blown him off
for. It seemed she wasn’t too tired to talk to
him
.
He snatched his phone off the console and sent Meaghan a text.

Where are you?

He tapped his foot,
waiting anxiously for her reply. Willing her to tell him the truth.
She didn’t reply for a while and Dean was just contemplating
stepping out of the car and going to confront her when his
notifications pinged.

I’m at
work. See you later?

Dean stared at the
text, his eyes burning and his heart beat fibrillating dangerously.

She had lied to
him.

Dean
leaned back on the head rest of his seat, traitorous thoughts
swirling in his head. How many times? How many men? Was any of this
real? Was she playing him? So many questions with no answers. Dean
tried to calm down, to wait and see but he could feel his heart
breaking. He’d risked everything for her and she did…
this
?
Before he knew he had decided to do it, Dean was alighting from the
vehicle and heading into the restaurant. Luigi was at the maitre d’s
station speaking with him in low tones. He looked up and saw Dean,
and his face lit up with a smile.

“
Dean!
How nice to see you. Have you come to join Meaghan and her doctor
friend?” he asked.

Dean shook his head.
“No, I just thought I’d…have a cup of Joe. Don’t
tell them I’m here,” he tried out a smile for size but
didn’t think Luigi was fooled.

“
Oh,”
he said in a tone implying he was drawing his own conclusions. He
extended his arm, indicating that Dean should follow him and led him
to a table from which he had a good view of Meaghan and her guest;
but she couldn’t see him. Luigi left him to his own devices and
someone brought him a coffee before long. He was too busy watching
Meaghan interact with the man to notice. Their conversation seemed
extremely intense and Meaghan was talking a lot. Dean would have
given his left arm for a listening device right now. The white guy
leaned forward, not breaking eye contact with her, and put his hand
on top of hers on the table. Dean almost lost it right there and
then. Who the
fuck
was this guy and what did he think he was doing putting his hand on
Dean’s
girlfriend?? Luigi came by and slid into the seat opposite Dean,
temporarily blocking his view of Meaghan. Dean transferred the glare
he’d been directing at Meaghan’s companion to Luigi.

“
You
know distrust is the death bringer of relationships,” Luigi
intoned. “I know that for sure because it’s coming
between my wife and me.”

Dean was not in the
mood to be diplomatic. “What’s coming between your wife
and you is the fact that you’re still in love with Bain,”
he said cuttingly. Luigi had the grace to look shamefaced but then
rallied.

“
Regardless
of that. This is not the way to go about these things,” he
said. Dean had become a friend so he was allowed to be snippy now and
then; especially if he was upset over Meaghan possibly cheating on
him. Luigi knew how bad Dean had it. He and Meaghan had eaten at the
restaurant many times so Luigi had plenty of opportunity to observe
them. Plus he still spoke to Bain, so he knew about all the family
drama on Dean’s side.

“
How
would you suggest we ‘go about’ these things?”
Dean’s tone was just a little bit snarky.

“
Would
you like me to find out who he is?” Luigi offered, making Dean
feel bad about his rudeness. He thought about it seriously but then
found that he wasn’t ready to know if Meaghan was cheating and
then thinking that Meaghan was aware that Luigi knew about them and
surely she wouldn’t be flaunting another guy in front of him if
she wanted to keep it a secret. So either there was another
explanation or…

Dean shook his head,
“No don’t. I’ll wait for her to tell me herself,”
he said standing up and drawing a bill down on his plate. “I’d
be grateful if you didn’t mention I was here,” he said.
Luigi nodded and Dean turned to leave with a muttered thanks.

*****

“
So
where in Queens did you grow up,” Meaghan asked, curious to
find out as much of his journey as she could.

“
Well
I grew up in Queensborough; like I said my dad was a mechanic,”
he said.

“
So
why medicine?”

Dr. Shelley
shrugged, “Well you know the way boys grow up playing with cars
and video games and running outside climbing trees…if they’re
lucky enough to live in neighborhoods that still have those that is.”

Meaghan smiled and
nodded.

“
Well,
I grew up dissecting first Barbie dolls and then insects…the
occasional frogs. I wanted to find out how things worked. My mother
thought I was gay at first, and then she was afraid I was a serial
killer,” Dr. Shelley said smiling wryly.

Meaghan laughed. “So
what happened? Did she take you to a psychiatrist?”

“
No,
lucky for me I had a science teacher who recognized my interest for
what it was and guided me toward less disturbing ways to satisfy my
curiosity about the human body. He was my first and most important
mentor. Without him I might not be where I am today.”

“
Teachers
can be great,” Meaghan agreed.

“
What
about you? What’s your story?” he asked.

Meaghan shrugged. “I
came from the wrong side of the tracks but I wanted to get into the
right schools so I applied for a scholarship, played up my
disadvantages and gave them perfect grades. I had a great teacher to
help me do that too. From there it wasn’t too difficult to get
into Dalton and from Dalton to Yale. The rest as they say is
history.”

“
Wow,
you attended Dalton School? That’s…impressive.”
Dr. Shelley was nodding his head at her and smiling his approval and
Meaghan couldn’t help but feel glowy inside.

“
Yeah
I did. Anyway, it was a great ride and my mother was very supportive.
Lonely though; it wasn’t like I could come home and discuss my
day with the neighbor’s kid,” she twisted her lips as she
said.

“
I’m
familiar with that problem. My neighbor’s kid was selling pot
by the time he was twelve. A real entrepreneurial type – really
made my life difficult because one, I was white, and two, I actually
took school seriously.”

Meaghan laughed and
nodded, “My neighbor’s kid was pregnant for the second
time by her fifteenth birthday. She dropped out of school I think,
not sure though. She thought I had airs so she didn’t talk to
me much.”

Dr. Shelley laughed
and nodded his head. “Yeah. Good times”, he said. He
lifted his coffee cup to her in salute and she returned the gesture.
They drank, feeling more at ease and smiling at each other.

“
I
have this youth development project that I run back home. We do
mentorship, inner city rescue and we have a clinic where we exchange
dirty needles for clean ones every other Saturday. I’d really
love it if you would think about joining us,” he said.

Meaghan
perked up. “What? You’re joking. I’d
love
to do that. Hell the reason I’m
working at the Queens clinic is to give back to my community. Don’t
know when I’ll find the time though.”

“
Well
if it helps, we have some paid positions for clinicians. It comes
with a good medical plan too; though I imagine you’re on
Obamacare already? Anyway, I know you work locum at some other
hospital so instead of that you could come to us hmm? It could work?”
Dr. Shelley suggested.

Meaghan opened her
mouth to say something but her heart was too full. After such a
shitty day to be offered such a thing was…well it had come
just in time.

“
I
accept,” she breathed smiling.

“
Don’t
you want to come check us out first? See what we do? Maybe ask how
much the pay is?” Dr. Shelley teased.

“
Okay
then I accept subject to finding out all of the above Dr. Shelley,”
she said grinning.

“
Brilliant.
I just know we will work well together Meaghan Leonard, M.D. I really
look forward to having you on our team. We work with a whole lot of
young upcoming doctors but we also have seasoned professionals. Dr.
Ben Carson came by just last month to give a talk,” he told
her.

“
Really?
Wow. Tell me more,” Meaghan said eagerly.

“
Okay
but first I have one request,” Dr. Shelley said.

“
What?”
Meaghan asked.

“
Call
me Conrad.”

Meaghan smiled, “Got
it. Conrad. Now tell me more.”

Conrad lifted his
hand to the waiter to indicate they were ready for more coffee. And
then he told her everything there was to know about his project.
Meaghan listened with rapt attention getting more and more excited to
be part of something so practical yet with the potential to make such
a difference. She couldn’t wait to tell Bain all about it.

*****

Bain
walked into
La Trattoria
that night to have dinner before heading to the strip club to catch
his boyfriend’s show. He was feeling particularly out of sorts
and dinner with Luigi always made him feel better. It wasn’t
like he was cheating on Daniel after all; Luigi was married…to
a girl. Meaghan had been really busy recently and they hardly seemed
to see each other anymore. Oh they still texted incessantly, but it
wasn’t the same. Bain missed his best friend and he wanted to
talk with someone who would understand.

“
Hey
Jude, is Luigi around?” he asked the maitre d. There was always
a table for him so he didn’t even have to ask about that even
though the restaurant was packed.

“
He’s
in the kitchen. I’ll tell him you’re here,” Jude
said as he led Bain to his table. “It seems we’re really
popular tonight,” he continued in a voice which said he had
some juicy gossip to impart.

“
Do
tell,” Bain obliged. He wasn’t above a bit of gossip now
and then.

“
Meaghan
was here earlier today with some doctor guy. And then
Dean
came in after them and sat at another table, spying on them.”
Jude told him a look of utter glee on his face. “What do you
think is going on?”

Bain
was taken aback at this story, it did not sound like either Dean
or
Meg. He kept his expression
non-committal though. He didn’t want to fuel any gossip fires.

“
Well
I’m sure I don’t know,” he said.

“
Oh,”
Jude said sounding disappointed. “Well I’ll fetch Luigi.”

Luigi didn’t
keep him waiting long, and when he did come, he was a veritable mine
of information.

“
Hey
babe, we need to talk,” Bain said as soon as Meaghan picked up.
“In person,” he emphasized.

“
Yeah
we do, I have some news!” Meaghan said sounding ever so pleased
with herself.

“
Good,
well so do I. My place, one hour?” Bain asked.

“
Okay.
I’m heading out the door,” Meaghan said.

Bain hung up and
turned to Daniel who was curled up on the sofa next to him. “Darling,
I’m gonna need some privacy for this conversation,” he
said to him.

Daniel made a face.
“Wow, and here I thought we were past keeping secrets from each
other.”

“
This
isn’t a secret. It’s a private conversation. We can still
have private conversations right?” Bain said.

Daniel had lasted
longer than his average boyfriend. It was over six months now and
they were still together, still going from strength to strength.
Still, Bain wasn’t ready to include him in his inner circle of
trust. That would take a lot more than just having sex with him
almost every night. I mean Daniel was fire; in bed and out of it. He
also cooked like a dream – but Bain wasn’t ready to say
he knew him well enough to trust him with his friend’s secrets.
So he’d just have to take himself home right now.

Daniel sighed and
stood up, “Okay then Bain. Have your private conversation. I’ll
just go home to my tiny lonely one bedroom apartment and pine away
there for you.”