Break You

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

BLAIRE

I peeked out the double doors to search the parking lot for Jason. He wasn't there, leaning against my car like yesterday. For a split second I wondered if it was because he'd started that internship at the children's home. If so, I was sure he was doing great with it. A small smile twisted the corners of my lips as I thought of this, but I forced the smile away.

Turning, I forced all thoughts of Jason out of my mind and headed to finish taking vitals on my last two residents before leaving for the night. As I walked down the hall his text from last night flashed through my mind again.

I don't buy that at all. Not even for a second. Bad things happen, Blaire, simple as that. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

My lips dipped into a frown. Jason would know the truth to those words better than anyone, because he'd already lost too much—his father, his grandmother, and now his Gramps was barely hanging on by a thread. We'd already notified his mom a week ago that his health was dropping drastically. He wouldn't last much longer.

Bert, an old man who insisted we call him by his first name, hobbled past me with a grin. He never talked much, only when he didn't like something, but he always had a smile on his face. As I stepped into my first resident's room, I happened to glance back down the hall and caught a glimpse of Bert walking out the front door. The alarm went off and Bert started moving faster. I dashed down the hall to stop him.

This was not uncommon. Bert had attempted to escape on more than one occasion. Thank goodness for the system Cross Meadows had in place. Each resident wore a bracelet and when they went through any of the outside doors, it went off.

Bert had made it to the middle of the parking lot when I bolted through the double doors and spotted him. I moved around to the front of him as quickly as I could. "Bert, what are you doing out here? Did you get lost?" I asked, using my sweetest voice. I learned early on that in situations like this, residents could become mean and nasty real quick. "Let's get you back inside."

"No!" he shouted like a toddler and flung his arm out of my grip.

Great, he was going to be a fighter this time. I glanced at the doors, wondering when someone was going to come out and help me. There was no way I could get him back inside by myself.

"Bert, you know you shouldn't be out here." I attempted to grip his arm again, but he swung at me. His fist barely missed connecting with my jaw. This was one of the main issues with my occupation—uncooperative residents. "Bert, let's go." I gripped his arm tighter and used my most firm voice.

He bit me.

"Ouch!" I shouted and smacked his hand so he'd release me. "Damnit, Bert!"

"Looks like you could use some help?" a familiar voice stated.

My insides buzzed to life at the sound of the voice. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Jason standing with his hands crammed in the front pockets of his shorts and a smug smile twisted on his face. His beautiful blue eyes were locked on mine and I felt my legs weaken at the sight of them.

"Umm." I glanced at the double doors. No one was coming. What the hell was going on in there right now? "Sure, he's not being very nice." I said the words a little louder for Bert to hear. He didn't even seem fazed by them.

"I saw that." His smug grin grew and he walked around to Bert's other side and gripped his arm. "Come on, Bert. You have to go back inside."

Bert whined and let his entire body go limp. I gripped onto him tighter so he wouldn't slip from my grasp and hurt himself as I helped to carry him back into the building. Once inside, I realized why no one had come out to help; they must have seen me getting Bert and thought I could handle it alone while they all stayed inside, attempting to calm down the chaos that had exploded. There was an actual fight going on between Wilma and Deloris over her baby doll. It was taking three nurses to calm down that argument. The other two nurses were nowhere to be seen.

Jason helped me get Bert back to his room. We laid him on his bed, and I checked his vitals. He was unresponsive to my movements as I did this. It was as though he'd completely shut down after realizing he wasn't going to get away. Cross Meadows wasn't a bad place to live, but it was nothing like being independent and living on your own.

"So, is this something you deal with every day working here?" Jason asked.

I nodded. "Pretty much. Yesterday I nearly got kicked in the face while changing a guy's brief." I closed the door behind us as we walked out, leaving Bert alone.

"His brief?"

"Yeah, we aren't supposed to call them diapers." I smiled. Heat radiated through my chest, putting my mind at ease for the first time in weeks and lightening the load on my shoulders.

"Hold on," Jason demanded. He stepped in front of me and stared at my face as though he were examining me like a doctor. His face grew slack, like he'd found what he'd been looking for. "Pinch me."

"What?" Where the hell had that come from?

"Pinch me, please, I need to know something."

His face was unreadable, but I swore if this was part of some pickup line he was going to get smacked. I reached out and pinched his arm, hard. If I had permission to pinch someone, then I was going to do it right.

"Ouch, ouch! Okay!" he shouted and I laughed. It was the first time I'd laughed in three weeks and it felt amazing. "I've got my answer."

"Answer to what, exactly?"

He grinned at me. "That even though I can see you standing here with me, I can hear you talking, and see your lips twist into a hint of a smile every now and then, I'm not dreaming. I'm awake."

My smile grew and I shook my head. "I should slap you for that corny pickup-type line right now."

"Oh really? What's stopping you?" He chuckled. I started to say something, but his cell rang in his pocket. "Just a second, that's my mom's ringtone. She probably needs me to pick up dinner or something because she burnt hers to the point of it not being recognizable."

"I'm actually going to go check my next resident's vitals real quick," I said.

He nodded and hit answer. "Hey, Mom."

I turned to head into Mr. Gregory and Mr. Colman's room, but paused when I heard Jason say he was at Cross Meadows so there was no way someone wouldn't have told him. My heart stopped. I knew exactly why the two nurses were missing a second ago—Jason's Gramps had passed away.

My skin tingled as I slowly turned to face him. His index finger and thumb were pressed to the bridge of his nose and his face had gone pale. Tammy caught my eye from behind him and she shook her head, her eyes wide and tear filled. There was nothing worse than having to tell someone their loved one had passed on—except for having to do it face to face.