Lev

The satisfaction I craved never surfaced.

I waited for the sound of the back door to close before I arose. I showered quickly, opened the bedroom curtains, and sat in the center of the rumpled bed, legs crossed. My phone in front of me, I stared down at the business card and thought hard about making the call.

My stomach turned as I picked up my phone and dialed. It rang twice before he answered with a swift hello.

“It’s Mina,” I began. I bit the inside of my lip and told him what I needed. “You know that contact you have? I’m ready to see them.”

Silence followed, then he told me where I needed to go.

“Okay.” I wanted to smile, but couldn’t because my heart was caught in my throat. “Thanks, Pox.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, I called Nas and asked her a favor.

I needed a ride.

The clinic was small but clean, and a small woman dressed in scrubs saw me to an empty room. I didn’t want to go alone. Nas sat in one of the chairs, going through her phone.

I swallowed hard. “Hey,” I called, my tongue sticking to the roof of my dry mouth. “You coming?”

She blinked at me, searching my face a moment before seeing the fear in my eyes. She stood, and I breathed a sigh of relief as she followed me into the exam room.

We waited in complete silence. A few minutes later, a willowy woman with a messy bun and pink scrubs walked in, smiling. “Mina?” She looked from Nas to me, unsure of which woman was her patient.

“I’m Mina,” I said, sitting up straight and raising my hand like a schoolgirl.

Her smile widened as she sat. “Hi, Mina. I’m Dr. Henley. My brother called ahead. Told me you needed an IUD.” She paused then asked, “May I ask why you’ve chosen the IUD over the implant?”

Wait…Pox was her brother?

They looked nothing alike.

I wrung my hands together in nervousness and told her, “Lasts longer.”

She nodded in understanding then started to type on the open computer screen. “We don’t have them on hand, of course.” My face fell, but she went on. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I’ll hand you a script and send you next door. The pharmacist always has a ton of them.” She sighed lightly. “I have to tell you, Mina. I don’t like doing these rush jobs. In a normal scenario, we’d do an internal exam, a pap smear, and test for STDs before we inserted an IUD.” She glanced at me kindly and asked, “I don’t suppose you’d come back in a week?”

My voice weak, I spoke quietly. “I’d prefer not to. Doctors make me nervous.”

She nodded in sympathy. “Okay then.” Her face compassionate, she spoke gently as she told me. “I can’t do much without doing an internal first.”

I knew it was coming. Of course she’d have to look down there. It was where the darn thing was going.

Dr. Henley led me behind a curtained area, instructing me to remove my jeans and panties before pulling the sheet over my lower half. I did as ordered and found it easier knowing that Nas was only a yell away.

The exam was short and relatively painless and, satisfied with the results, Dr. Henley let me dress, leaving a glass of water and two painkillers on the tray table. I swallowed them down, stepped out, and she scribbled on a piece of paper before handing it to me. “Go on next door and ask for Maria

Maria

Nas stayed on the other side of the curtain. Dr. Henley and I were soon joined by Jane, the nurse who originally showed me to the exam room. Jane held my hand tight and told me to breathe deep as I was opened up with a lubed plastic speculum. Dr. Henley warned me when my cervix would clench on its own, causing my stomach to cramp painfully. She was honest and open, and it seemed as though she knew what she was talking about. The pain didn’t last long. In fact, the birth control device was inserted in less than five minutes, and as soon as the speculum was removed, the pain receded to nothing.

“That’s it?” I asked, stu

Dr. Henley pulled the sheet down to cover me. “That’s it,” she stated. “Don’t be fooled. You’ll get some wicked cramps later on as the device settles. I’d advise you to take ibuprofen every four hours, even if you think you won’t need it. It’ll help the inflammation.”

She and Jane left me to dress, giving me a pad to wear. I dressed quickly and stepped out to join the others.

Nas looked up. “You all suited up, sunshine? You know what they say. No glove, no love.”

I glowered at her. “Shut up, Nas.”

She gri

I did love Nas. She was fast becoming my best friend. It didn’t matter that she was my only female friend. She was supportive and fu

Dr. Henley warned, “You’ve got the glove, but no love for a week though, okay? Not without a condom.”

My face turned beet red. “I don’t even have a boyfriend. There will be no love.” I turned to Nas. “There will be no love.”

Dr. Henley smiled. “I’ll have the results of you pap smear and STD test by Monday. I’ll have Jane call. Also, I’ll have you booked in for a follow up in five weeks. I expect you to keep a diary in that time of how often you’re spotting.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she must have seen it coming, because she raised a hand and cut me off. “It’s standard. I have to make sure the device has settled well.” She threw a fear tactic out there. “If it doesn’t settle well, it can become embedded in your uterus and you’ll have to get it cut out. Come to the checkup, Mina.”

Her fear tactic worked, damn her. I agreed to the appointment.

From the moment Nas and I left the clinic, I felt better than I had in a long time, and something told me things would only get better.

I should have listened to Dr. Henley, but being the badass I was, I didn’t.

Her advice not followed came back to haunt me as I almost doubled over from pain, a sharp stabbing sensation throbbing throughout my belly. I thought I was going to be ill from the pain alone.

Holding onto the railing of the stairs, I made my way down slowly, one stair at a time. I found Lev in the kitchen. The second he saw me, he dropped the newspaper he was reading and shot up out of his chair. “Mina, what’s wrong?”

I groaned, clutching my stomach. “I need painkillers. Ibuprofen.”

He helped me sit before searching through the medicine cabinet. “I only have acetaminophen,” he said as he brought it over with a glass of water.

I shook my head. “No. Ibuprofen. It needs to be anti-inflammatory.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked again, but I ignored him.

“Call Nas.” I grimaced as another cramp took hold, causing me to grit my teeth.

He did, and she arrived soon after holding a white box of tablets in her hands. She shook her head at me. “Didn’t listen to the doc, huh?”

“What doc?” asked Lev.

I moaned in agony, my forehead begi

She sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I got ‘em right here.” She placed the box down. I opened it with shaking hands and threw two into my mouth, swallowing them dry. Nas clicked her tongue at me. “Look at you? You didn’t listen, and now you’re useless. You’re not working tonight. Go to bed.”

But Lev was stuck on, “What doc?”

Nas took pity on me and lied to her brother. “It’s Mina’s time of the month. I took her to a clinic to see if they could do anything about the cramping.”

I was hoping he’d shy away like most men. I didn’t like lying to him. Instead, he knelt by my side and placed a hand on my knee. “Why didn’t you say so?”