Roman High's Stars

[103] Bite The Bit

Chapter 103

They got in. They got into the hospital with no resistance. Surprisingly easy if Dean said so himself...

But his stomach was still tying itself in knots. Something was wrong.

They passed the reception desk and walked towards the hallway on their right.

Phil was almost running as they made their way to the end of the hallway. Dean was following, but at a slower pace.

It was at the end, when Dean was about to follow Phil to the elevators on their right, that Dean paused.

He had meant to take a cursory glance towards the room Billy was in at the moment. And he had.

But then he took a double take.

Josh was walking away from Billy's room, just stalking past a male nurse in green scrubs, and his face was screwed up in a scowl.

Shit. This was it, wasn't it? The reason for his bad feeling.

Josh almost ran him over because his angry eyes had been staring daggers at the ground. Whereas everyone else seemed to sense Josh's evil mood, and gravitated away from him, Dean stood his ground, readying his arms so that he could stop the boy.

When those hands connected with his upper arms, Josh's face looked up in surprise.

"What's wrong with Billy?" Dean asked, sparing the hi-how-are-you's. He already knew how the boy was doing. What was the use of asking?

Josh looked at Dean, suddenly looking vulnerable for a quick moment before the scowl was back on his face, no trace of weakness left in his face.

Yeah, of all of them, Josh was the hardest to find weak. He covered it up with jokes or getting mad.

So to see even that little blink of weakness showed how bad Josh had it.

"Josh-"

"They won't let me see her at all." He said, his eyes not meeting Dean's, and the way they bounced all around showed how close to losing it Josh was.

Josh went to pull out of Dean's hold, but Dean clamped down on Josh's arms. "Wait...let me think--"

"Dean, there's no fixing this--"

"Don't say that. There's a way--"

"You don't fucking understand!" Josh exploded. Dean wasn't surprised, only because he'd known how close to losing it Josh had been. "I did this! I fucked this up. Knowing about her past, knowing that she was right in front of me when I beat Rob, knowing she still--" Josh's voice cracked. He cleared it and said, "Knowing she still struggled with the trauma. She trusted me the most...and what did I do?"

Dean sighed. "Josh--"

"What the fuck did I do? I showed her I was just like that deadbeat bastard she called a father." Josh's jaw clenched so hard, Dean was surprised the thing didn't crack. And then Josh all but wrenched himself from Dean's hands, and went to walk past him.

"Josh, " Dean turned to see Josh stop, but he didn't turn around. "Give me some time--give me...sixty minutes...before you give up hope, just one hour." He pleaded.

He watched as Josh's shoulders moved up and down in a deep sigh. The he turned, and the bleak look in Josh's eyes broke Dean's heart. "What's going to change in an hour?"

"Please." He begged.

Josh sighed again. "What the fuck. I ain't got nothing to do anyways." He turned and trudged over to one of the blue plastic chairs and collapsed into it as though his body weighed a thousand pounds.