Filthy Desires: A Romantic Suspense Collection

by Parker, Kylie

  At first the doctor does not want to let me back to see him. I’m not kin in any way, but seeing as how Nick does not seem to have anyone else and I had been the one to save him from overdosing in an empty cabin, they allow it. I enter into the tiny hospital room where I see that Nick is thankfully sitting up in bed hooked up to an IV. He looks at me with this confused face. “Who the hell are you?” he asks, but there is not exactly anger or annoyance in his tone so much as curiosity.

  “My name is James.” I begin, “I’m Eddie’s brother.”

  “You’re not a Smith,” he says, “so you must be the legitimate brother, right?”

  “I guess that’s me.” I say. I come and sit down in a chair near his hospital bed. “How old are you?” I ask.

  “Fifteen.” He says, and it makes me sick to my stomach. He frowns, “So where is Eddie? Why did he send you?”

  “I had Eddie’s phone when you called.” I say.

  “So you didn’t tell Eddie what’s going on?” he asks.

  The kid doesn’t know. I debate with myself whether or not to tell him what is going on, but ultimately I decide he deserves to know. I tell him about what happened to Eddie, and he has this horrified look on his face. He expresses worry about Eddie first, but then I can also tell that he is worried about himself. If he was supposed to be living with Eddie come this summer, what is going to happen to him now?

  I think I know what Eddie would want me to do. I wind up staying at the hospital all day, calling and talking to local child services and hanging out with Nick in the hospital room until I finally get his case worker on the phone. She winds up coming to the hospital, and she gives Nick a berating about getting back on drugs. He looks embarrassed, and she makes a grab at his arms to see the red streaks. “What are you doing now?” she snaps, “First it was cocaine, now what is this?” she points at the streaks again, and he yanks his arms away from her and hides them against his chest.

  The woman’s name is Donna, and she is actually not too snarky despite her tirade on Nick. I tell her what is going on with Eddie, and I can see stress lines appearing on her face. She probably thought everything with Nick was about to work out all perfect with a happily ever after bow on top. The two of us wind up out in the hall away from Nick to talk. “All of his remaining family members with the exception of Eddie have been deemed unfit to parent,” she says, referring to the circus show of random siblings I’ve met over the past week.

  “Then let me take the kid home with me.” I say, “I might as well be family.”

  “That’s not how all of this works.” She says, “And besides, you just met him today.”

  “But I want to help. I can foster him at least, right?” I say, “I can do that. I could be a foster dad, right?”

  “Becoming a foster parent requires a lot of background checks and-”

  I cut her off, “Then do it. Do what you have to. This kid doesn’t need to go back into some random foster home. What he needs is therapy. He needs to be in an institution to help him get clean.”

  She raises a brow suddenly, “You know,” she says coyly, “There is this really nice institution not far from here. It’s a private rehabilitation center… for the… wealthy. Nick would never be able to get in there, but if someone were to-”

  I jump in quickly, “I’ll pay for it. Whatever he needs.”

  Donna smiles, “That might just be enough for me to motion for Nick to be placed under your care. He would be able to get help while we are diving into getting you approved for temporary guardianship.” She smiles and then puts on a serious face, “Is there anything I should know about before I even bother working on all of this?”

  I tell her outright about me getting arrested once in a bar, and I also tell her about the current lawsuit. She nods as though she is making mental notes of all of my delinquent behaviors that could pose a problem in this new arrangement. “Do you think Nick would even want to stay with me?” I ask after we have been talking for some time.

  “What he wants and what he needs are two very different things.” Dana says, “Although, it would definitely help the case if he actually wanted to live with you. I recommend trying to get to know him over the next couple of days while I try to get going on this new arrangement.”

  I nod, and Dana tells me to wait out in the hall while she goes to speak with Nick privately. Now I’m really nervous. Did I just try to adopt some kid I don’t even know? Yeah. That just happened.

  After about an hour, Dana reemerges with a smile on her face. “I think this is going to be a good thing,” she says, “for some reason, Nick seems to already have taken a liking to you. Probably because you’re Eddie’s brother. Could you give me the name of the hospital Eddie is staying at?”

  “Yes, of course.” I write it down for her. She takes a lot more information from me, including having the hospital photocopy my ID for her.

  As she is getting ready to leave, I ask, “I know that Eddies and Nick’s father is not around, but what happened to Nick’s mother? Why is he in foster care anyways?”

  Dana frown, “She shot herself after doing heroine when Nick was ten. She was a heavy user, and it just got worse with time. Nick was already in foster care at that time, though, after she got arrested for prostitution when he was six; she took him with her on jobs, so she obviously lost custody, but she always stayed in touch with him while he was in foster care. It’s weird to say, but deep down I think she could have been a good mom. She cared, and in the line of work I am in that is a rarity. At least she cared enough to stay in touch with him after he was taken away.” I guess by the look on my face, she can tell the brief story made me sick. She offers me a smile, “He’s a tough kid. Don’t worry too much. Let’s just be glad that when I told him about the institution he was somewhat willing.”

  She gets additional information from me and has me fill out some paperwork before telling me she will be back in a few hours. The plan is for me to take Nick to the institution in the morning after he is checked out of the hospital. I tell my driver to go home and that I will just catch a cab back to LA once Nick is taken care of. The hospital staff lets me crash on the little couch in Nick’s hospital room for the night, and Nick and I wind up staying up late swapping stories about Eddie. He looks absolutely devastated to hear what happened to him. I am too.

  The next morning, I woke up with a serious backache. Nick is asleep, so I decide to slip out and go to the hospitals cafeteria for breakfast. While there, I call Sylvia to update her on what is going on. She sounds concerned for me and for Nick, but I assure her everything is going to be fine. After talking to Sylvia, I catch myself calling Éclair too to let her know I’m going to be out of town for a couple of days. I have serious issues. Why do I feel the need to call them both?

  I brush the confusing emotions aside and head back to Nick’s room after breakfast. My life is on a spiral. I’m just worried about what is going to happen next…

  47

  The rain is pouring down hard as I stand outside of the hospital waiting for my driver to return from the parking deck. The weather is fairly fitting with all of the craziness in my life right now. My brother Eddie is still in a comma back home, and I’m at some random hospital miles outside of LA dealing with his other half-brother, Nick. Nick was picked up just a few minutes ago and taken to a rehabilitation center that I am going to be paying for. I just had a conversation with a woman named Donna with child protective services about what to do next. She wants me to do whatever I can to get these court cases out from under me so that I can potentially pick Nick up from rehab once he gets out. I’m not sure how that’s going to go, and I am almost nauseous at the thought of bringing home a fifteen-year-old kid to look after. He’ll be in rehabilitation for a while, but it is still horrifying to think about.

  I grip my umbrella tightly, feeling somewhat embarrassed by it. I bought it from the gift shop; it’s bright pink with stupid looking white and blue flowers all over it. It was the only that had been left.
My driver pulls up to the curb and hops out to get the door for me, and I thank him and hurry into the back seat. As we are pulling out into the street, my driver laughs under his breath and says, “Cute umbrella, sir.” I roll my eyes. I’m not really in the mood for jokes. I tell my driver I want to take a detour before heading back to my home once we reach LA. “Are we visiting Éclair or Ms. Sylvia, sir?” he asks, and I contemplate bashing him in the back of the head for being a smart ass.

  “Neither.” I say and then give him the address.

  It’s a good drive, so I lean back and close my eyes for a little while. I have been sleeping on a couch at this hospital in the middle of nowhere for two days now. While I am quite eager to get home after all of that nonsense, I have something I want to do first. I think I must have fallen asleep because we are suddenly pulling up into this really shitty neighborhood just outside of LA. It’s one of those places that make you feel like you should only walk around if you’re armed and on high alert. Is this really the right address? I have my driver double check, and he assures me we’re in the right place. I tell him to circle around a couple of times; I just have this overwhelming feeling that he’ll get mugged if he keeps this nice looking car parked out in front of a house.

  I exit out onto the sidewalk, thankful that it’s not raining here –although the sky is still a bit gloomy. I probably would get my ass kicked around here walking around with that stupid pink umbrella. The house I find myself standing in front of looks pretty run down. There are a few kids’ toys in the front yard which is nothing but dead grass and dirt. I walk up the small and incredibly cracked walkway to the front door and knock three times. The door flings open, and Bobby, my brother’s sixteen-year-old nephew, is standing in the doorway. I see that he has changed the stupid green stripe in his hair to blue now. He snorts slightly when he sees me, “What the hell are you doing here?” he asks.

  “Is your mom here?” I ask, ignoring his question.

  “She should be getting off work soon.” He says and there is this awkward silence between us before he says, “You want to come in?”

  “I’d rather not stand out here,” I say, and he steps aside so that I can enter.

  The house is full of noise of young children who had just gotten home from school. Bobby raises his voice as the five-year-old twin boys William and Jacob come running through the foyer chasing each other, “Get your asses back in the kitchen!” Bobby snaps, and the two boys scurry off.

  I raise a brow at Bobby’s command. He walks after the two of them, and when I enter the kitchen I see that all of the other kids are seated around a small kitchen table helping one another with their homework. “I told you he would yell at you,” Tommy, the nine-year-old, chastises his younger brothers.

  “Yeah, well, I know none of you are finished, so get to it.” Bobby hisses. “Eddie’s brother is here.” All of the kids smile at me, and I watch as Bobby goes around the island in the kitchen and proceeds to cup up tomatoes. He’s making dinner.

  “Don’t you have homework too Bobby?” I ask, knowing that he’s back in school now.

  “I’ll get it done later.” He says, “It’s easier to do my homework when they’re all in bed. Besides, Mom’s not working late, so that makes it easier.”

  This kid pretty much runs the house. It makes me angry to see it. He probably had to round up all eight of his younger siblings when they got off the bus to get them into homework mode. And he’s making dinner too. It’s not like his mom, Kate –Eddie’s sister, can do it all by herself. I suppose I should have realized that someone was helping her. I just didn’t think it was her kid.

  “What’s for dinner, Bobby?” Lana, the fourteen-year-old, asks.

  “I already told you, hamburgers.” Bobby hisses, “Quit talking to me and finish your homework.”

  “You know,” I say with a smile, “I make a pretty mean burger. Why don’t you help them with their homework and start on your own work too, and I’ll make dinner while I’m waiting on your mom to get here?”

  Bobby gives me a reluctant glare, but I can tell he is exhausted and could use the help. He agrees, and I take over kitchen duty. I finish up the patties and head out to their back yard where there is a grill seated on a small slab of concrete. The grill is chained to the side of the house using a bicycle lock. Has someone tried stealing their grill before? I try not to think about it and get to work on the burgers.

  Just as I am removing the last burger from the grill, I hear their doorbell. I head inside with the plate full of patties, and I spot some of the kid’s running back into the kitchen from the front door. I spot Max, another one of Eddie’s siblings, headed inside followed by Kate. “Hey J-j-Jamesss.” Max says with his usual stutter. I watch as Bobby starts signing towards Max, and I kind of smile at that. It makes sense. I can hardly understand a word that Max says, so I can imagine that Max has found other means of communicating.

  Kate smiles when she sees me, but she finishes thanking Max for the ride home both vocally and through sign. Evidently, Kate’s car had broken down a few days ago and Max had been driving her to and from work. The next thing I know, I’m being invited to dinner and I get to see what a true madhouse this place is. Max stays for dinner too, which is good because I need to talk to him just as much as I do to Kate. Dinner is full of loud, unintelligible shouts from the kids as they each try to tell a story from school that day. I wind up sticking around to help Kate and Bobby get the kids ready for bed. By the time the house is settled, poor Bobby is passed out on the couch with his homework spread out all around him while Kate, Max, and I chat in the kitchen.

  I had wanted to tell Kate and Max about their brother Nick in person. From the looks on both of their faces, I can tell that neither of them are too surprised about him overdosing. The thing that surprises them the most is that I am talking to family services about being Nick’s guardian. “Why would you do that?” Kate questions, “He’s not your family.”

  “He’s Eddies.” I say as though that should be enough. I put my hands in my pockets and lean back against her kitchen sink. “I just wanted to make sure you both know.”

  “I should call the others and tell them where Nick is.” Kate says, and I try not to think about how many more of these random half-siblings Eddie has wandering around that I still don’t know about. Kate gives me a peck on my cheek and thanks me for telling them.

  Somewhat reluctantly, I head out –using my driver as an excuse to leave. He has been circling around the neighborhood for a couple of hours now. As I am headed out the door I spot Bobby passed out on the couch, and I shake my head. Surely there is something I can do to make this easier on all of them. I’m just not sure what.

  48

  I don’t really know how to describe what I’m feeling. I feel numb to say the least. My heart feels like it’s in my stomach, and I think I could throw up. After returning home, I had immediately gotten dressed and headed to the hospital where Eddie is still on life support only to be greeted by a less-than enthusiastic doctor who tried to convince me that Eddie can’t be saved. He thinks we need to pull the plug on Eddie.

  I haven’t called Sylvia yet to tell her the news. I need a moment to let this sink in although having her by my side would surely make things easier. I haven’t called Éclair either; I know she would probably have some encouraging words to say. She always has had a way of putting things into perspective for me. Then there’s Eddie’s family. I don’t think I could bear watching Bobby break down again after that first time here at the hospital when he saw Eddie all beat up like this. I could kill whoever did this.

  A few hours go by. I’m just sitting next to Eddie, talking. I’ve read God knows how many books to him since he was put on life support. It all seems kind of pointless now. I just want a chance to apologize to him for everything that was said between us. There is a lot I have to apologize for, and it is starting to look like I am never going to be given the chance. “Eddie,” I say, “I wish you would just wake up for a lit
tle while. I’m sorry, Eddie. I’m sorry. I just want to tell you I love you –I know I never really say that much, but I do. I know I’ve been an asshole, but I really am sorry.”

  I can’t really look up at his face, so I’m staring at his hand. It’s so still and pale, much like the rest of him. Suddenly his hand moves, and he is fucking flicking me off. I jump in my seat, and I look up and see that Eddies’ eyes are squinted open. He can’t speak with the tube down his throat, but I can tell he can hear me. He’s looking dead at me. I sprint to the door and shout for a doctor or nurse and then run back to Eddie’s side. “Eddie, can you hear me, man?” I ask as though I don’t really believe what is happening before my eyes.

  I see Eddie’s right hand moving and making weird gestures just as the doctor is darting in the room. The doctor looks just as surprised as I am. “Do you know sign?” the doctor asked.

  “What?” I question.

  “Your brother, he’s signing.” The doctor says.

  “Um…” I am confused; I certainly did not know Eddie knew any sort of sign language.

  “Mr. Mont,” the doctor says as he approaches Eddie’s bedside, “How are you feeling?” Eddie’s hand reaches up and touches his own face, and the doctor quickly pulls Eddie’s hand back down. “Give me one moment, sir, and we’ll get that tube out of your throat.” The doctor looks at me, “There is a nurse in the hall with short black hair, Miss. Kasey, she knows sign-”

  I run out into the hall, and I spot the nurse that the doctor had been referring to and usher her into the room. The doctor is checking Eddie over, and Eddie is still weakly waving his right hand about. “What is he saying?” I ask.