Von gripped my shoulder, sensing my sorrow. “Wow. I didn’t think anyone liked work as much as you do. You alright? You’re actually holding someone’s hand of your own volition.”
Mason looked down at me, clearly pleased that I was reaching for one of them, silently asking for pulling instead of resisting them every step of the way. He squeezed my fingers three times, letting me know he liked it when I held his hand.
“I’m fine, Von.”
“Dollar,” Von reminded me of the Denial Jar bet. He was right; I was like, a planet away from fine.
“Well, I’m officially unemployed. So I won’t have dollars to spare soon enough.”
“Guess you’re going to have to stop lying about if you’re okay or not.” Von quirked his eyebrow at me. “And obviously your new job comes with a salary. You’re the national treasure now. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about money for a while.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good. I was a little worried about how I was going to pay for things.” I swallowed, clinging to Mason’s hand as we walked to the infirmary. I had a few things that were mine that I needed to collect before I left. A stethoscope, my mug, and a few items I didn’t actually need, but couldn’t justify leaving behind. I inhaled deeply, relishing the familiar scent of antiseptic and bandages that mingled in with the waft of concrete from the bare halls. Some people don’t care about how clean smells to a girl, but I took another deep drag to make sure the memory stuck deep inside of me.
“Well, if it isn’t the girl who’s finally late for work,” said Brenden with a small smile in his voice. He held out his wrist to show I was a whopping ten minutes late. He looked up from his clipboard, the grin falling off his face in surprise when he saw I came with a male supermodel and a Viking in a polo. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met. Brenden McAllister.” His brown eyes watched Mason’s hand leave mine to shake his.
Brenden touched the slight cleft in his chin and then pushed his black-rimmed glasses further up on his face. They were always sliding down, but his wife loved the frames, so he wore them even though they annoyed him on the job.
“Mason. Nice to meet you. This is Von.”
Brenden answered a crackle on the intercom that told him a patient was being escorted up. He glanced at my jeans and lavender t-shirt and frowned. “You’re not dressed for work. Don’t tell me you’re finally making a dent in your vacation days.” He shot me a knowing look and smirked at Mason. “Take as many as you need. Good for you, Gracie.”
Mason shot me a look of confusion as to why Brenden was calling me by my middle name, but I ignored him. “Actually, I just quit.”
Brenden abandoned his clipboard and the patient files that were too many for one person to get through in a day. “Wait, what? Is it because of Pistola? I can treat him without you in the room, if you like.”
I scratched the back of my hand, wishing the guys weren’t here for this conversation. “Not at all. Believe me, I wish things were different, but it’s just time for me to move on.”
Brenden’s green scrubs seemed less cheery as he visibly drooped. “You can’t possibly think I’ll be satisfied with that answer. Why? What’s wrong? What does Ollie have to say about this?”
I took the insinuation that I needed my brother’s permission to make decisions in stride. I kept a pleasant smile on my face and my chin level to the ground. “It’s all fine, Brenden.”
The buzzer announced a guard was dropping off a prisoner for medical attention. I groaned and threw my arms up when I saw who it was. “Joseph! Again? Honestly, this is your third fight this month. That’s gotta be your all-time high.”
Joseph had blood dripping from his receding hairline down over his eyebrows and onto his chin. “I didn’t start it, Nurse Gracie.”
“I think I’d believe that a little more if you didn’t say it every single time. Sing me a new song, Joseph.”
Brenden sat the bleeding man down on the stool to get a look at his injury. Joseph was a gusher, and a head wound was never the type of injury that held back the gore. His pooched belly left him no lap at all when he sat on the stool. Joseph was in his late forties, and halfway through his ten-year sentence. He was restless, which meant he was prone to starting fights over the slightest insult. It was what Brenden and I liked to call the “halfway itch” the more irritable inmates just loved to scratch.
Even though I wasn’t on the clock, I couldn’t leave Brenden without help. “Hey, Jerry,” I nodded to the guard who was twenty years my senior, but had never once called me “kid”. I liked Jerry.
“Good to see you this morning, Nurse Gracie. Come in on your day off?” Jerry asked of my clothes. His dark skin stood out against the blue uniform that Jerry never permitted to wrinkle.
“Something like that.” I motioned to two chairs for Von and Mason to sit in while I pulled on a pair of gloves. I could tell Von was trying to play it cool, but was uncomfortable being in the prison at all.
“I don’t like this.” Mason’s full lips were set in a firm line, his fists clenching every now and then at his sides to express his deep displeasure. It was hard not to admire Mason’s sheer bulk, especially when his muscles were tensing.
I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “This’ll only take a minute.” So dramatic.
I set to cleaning the wound while Brenden readied the curved suture needle we used for stitching. I counted the sharps, making sure there wasn’t anything lying around that Joseph could stab us with. “You’ve got to stop this,” I admonished Joseph as if he was a five-year old (which, given the state of his temper, he pretty much was). “By the time you get out, your face is going to look like a patched shirt, and then what will your wife say?”
Joseph grinned, and some blood dripped into his mouth and dribbled out his cracked lower lip. “Ah, she’ll be glad she has someone to kick around again, the bitter old hag.” His eyes fell on Von, who I noticed wore a look of rage mingled with sickness, marring his handsome features. Von didn’t do a good sexy brooding. I liked him better with that carefree punch-me-in-the-face smile. “And who’s this pretty piece?” Joseph asked with a smarmy grin. The blood oozing down his face made him appear truly terrifying. On a normal day, he looked much like your average murdering-mailman-slash-homicidal-husband (dressed in an orange jumper, of course).
“He’s a friend. Archibald Hemsworth.” I made up a name on the spot that sounded like it could be British. I swiped at the cut on Joseph’s lip. “I’ve got actual friends on the outside. See? It’s what you have to look forward to if you have some good behavior to speak of.”
“Wasn’t my fault. Pistola was going after T again. Poor kid’s too dumb to know not to look Pistola in the eye. Or maybe T’s got a death wish; I can’t decide.”
I chewed on my lower lip, tucking that bit of information in my back pocket. I worried about Terence McCray. I’m not sure I’d ever stop worrying about him. “T’s not up here getting stitched. Does that mean he’s alright?”
“For now.”
I caught the guard’s eye. “Jerry, would you mind keeping an eye on T? If Pistola’s got a temper today, it won’t do to have them near each other. I’m not staying, so Brenden will be shorthanded. One less fight for Brenden to clean up, I hope.”
Jerry nodded to me. “Of course, Nurse Gracie.”
Joseph’s eyes swept up and down my form that I usually tried to keep shapeless. Though my V-neck shirt was modest, my breasts stood out like twin beacons. “You’re wearing civilian clothes. You dress up just for me, sweetheart?”
“Yes, this is me all gussied up. Jeans is the best I get,” I replied with feigned exasperation.
“I could bounce a quarter off that ass.”
I scoffed good-naturedly. “Like you have a quarter.”
“You always give me something pretty to look at. Almost worth getting into fights if you’re on the clock.” His harmless flirt made Mason stand from his chair, arms crossed over his broad chest as he stared Joseph down. I could feel bot
h Von and Mason getting worked up, that tug in my chest tightening as their nerves and tempers climbed.
“Lucky me. You’re saying I’m prettier than Pistola? Now, that’s high praise.” I jerked Joseph’s chin back so he was looking straight ahead and not at my breasts. “Hold still and repeat after me: I’m going to go back to my cell and think about what I’ve done.” It was hard to get an even stitch when his head kept moving, so I touched his chin to keep him in place while I worked.
Joseph obeyed, and then took a chance with his life and winked at Mason, who raised an eyebrow at the man. Mason was still standing and ready to pounce if Joseph made a false move. “I don’t think the big one likes the look of you so close to the scary inmate.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop trying to convince them you’re scary. We all know you’re a giant puppy.”
Joseph made Von jump when he broke out into a mad bark, howling at the men like a crazed dog before he dissolved into laughter while he slapped his knee. He winked at Von. “Now that one? He’s a tasty treat. He’d do well in here. Any chance he’s your replacement?”
“Yes, Archibald’s very pretty. But no, he’s not a nurse.” I shot Joseph an unimpressed look in answer to his villainous laughter. I knew he loved that he’d gotten under Von’s skin. “Enough, you. Quit baiting my friends. Sit still, or Brenden will stitch your eye shut so you’ll walk around with a permanent wink. Think of how that’ll go over on the yard.”
Joseph chuckled, his belly shaking with the deep sound. “Yes, Nurse Gracie.”
11
Von’s Sacrifice
“Okay, you can’t go too far over the limit like that. There’s a speed trap coming up, and you’re going to get us pulled over,” I scolded Von, who was white-knuckling my steering wheel.
“I have no words for what I just saw. I can’t… How can… Why? Why were you working there? Do you have a death wish?”
“No. I had a steady job that didn’t involve sucking the life out of people. That back there was actually a step up from what I’m currently doing.” My small box of belongings in the passenger’s seat rattled as he turned sharply. The clattering of my stethoscope against my mug reminded me that I was unemployed.
“I’m serious, November. And why were they calling you Gracie?”
I looked out the window, watching the businesses and trees whip by. “Grace is my middle name. October Grace Reese. Allie and Ollie thought it best I didn’t use my first name on the job. Too distinctive. This way when the inmates get paroled they don’t come looking for me.”
“Do you hear yourself? Here’s a tip: if you have to change your name at your job, it’s a dangerous job!”
“Jeez, you look like you need a Duwende to pull some stress outta you. You want Mason to work his magic on that frown of yours before it becomes permanent?” Mason’s hand in mind was gripping too tight to be comforting as we sat together in the backseat.
“No! What other out of your mind completely mental things are you up to? I can’t believe your mum let you get a job like that! And what does your brother have to say about this? If I had a sister, no way would I let that fly.”
I bristled that he thought I needed anyone’s permission to choose my place of employment. “Look, I don’t work there anymore, so you can chill. It’s a good job. Great pay with tons of overtime. You know that house you woke up in? The bed you slept in? All paid for by my job, Allie’s and Ollie’s.”
“Never again. I mean it. Never again.”
“Hello, I just quit. And you don’t get to play the father card. Haven’t needed one of those my whole life. Not about to start now. You’re pissing me off, Von.”
Von’s frown twisted the face that was much more attractive when it was laughing. “How about I play the big brother card? You seem pretty close with Ollie.”
“Because he knows better than to boss me. See this one?” I pointed to Mason. “He knows not to tell me how to be.”
Mason held up his other hand like he wanted nothing to do with being on my side. “Ho! Don’t go putting me in this. I’m with Von. Joseph talked to your breasts the whole time. I’m trying to keep a low profile Topside so I don’t stand out too much, otherwise I would’ve blacked his eyes for looking at you like that. That bit about the quarter? Please tell me he’s never talked to you like that before. Tell me he was only doing it because Von and I were there, and he wanted to get a rise out of us.”
When I sensed my argument taking a downward turn, I changed to a less contemptuous tune. “Look, it’s nice of you both to care, but I’m fine. It was the only place that would hire someone like me, so I jumped on it.”
Von shook his head. “Loads of places would hire someone with OCD. You sold yourself way short.”
My teeth ground together as I siphoned the edge off my response. “Not that, jackweed. I was nineteen when I graduated. Not many places were willing to take a chance with me. It’s why I have to work extra hard. I always have to prove myself. Make sure they know I was a good hire.”
“Nineteen’s not all that different from eighteen to graduate from high school. So you got held back a grade.” Von’s tone softened and he relaxed his death grip on the wheel, sitting back in his seat a little. “Is that why you’re so hard on yourself?”
I took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I didn’t graduate from high school at nineteen. I got my nursing degree at nineteen.”
Von’s eyebrows pulled together again as the corners of his sculpted lips tugged downward. “How’s that work? I thought those degrees took a couple years.”
“Four years, yeah. I took my GED when I was fifteen, then worked my sweet can off at nursing school. The hospitals didn’t want to hire a teenager, but the warden was desperate enough to take a chance on me.” I hung my head. “He took a chance on me, and I just up and quit on him.” I felt horrible, and knew the guilt wouldn’t leave easily.
“You graduated high school at fifteen?” Von whistled his appreciation. “Wow. Bev must’ve been some epic homeschooler.”
I snorted at the mental image of Bev teaching me anything other than how to walk down a runway. “Um, no. That was all Allie and Ollie. They taught me everything I know. They homeschooled me so I could test out of high school.”
“At fifteen?” Von repeated, astonished.
I rolled my eyes at having to spell out my life for him. “I went to regular school until I finished my freshman year, then we decided I would be done with it. I took my GED, and that’s the name of that tune.”
“I can’t believe they even let you take the test that young.”
“I was emancipated when I was fifteen, so legally I was an adult.” I exhaled out a bluster of nerves at revealing so much of myself in one go. “Did you also want to know my social security number? My weight?”
Von was quiet for about twenty seconds, and I could practically hear the questions piling up. “You know I’ve got to ask how bad it was with Bev that a judge emancipated you so young.”
“I’ll show you Bev’s trailer sometime when Danny can watch her,” Mason offered. “I told you about it, but seeing is a whole other thing.”
“No, you won’t.” I kept my gaze stalwartly toward the window. “It was bad enough that I don’t need to talk about it. Everything worked out fine. Bev has a mental disorder. She wasn’t capable of taking care of three kids, so we gave her a break. Nothing more complicated than that.”
“And I thought my family was messed up.”
“Let’s dive into your personal life, shall we?” I enjoyed Von’s squirm and rubbed my hands together in anticipation. “Male escort? Kicked out of the Academy in your last year? Angela? Spill it.”
“We don’t need to get into all of that unpleasantness, do we?”
“Hey, I’m just being a good work wife. If my life’s on display, yours is, too.”
Von cleared his throat. “You know all about Angela and Penny. And I was kicked out of the Academy for things that don’t matter now.”
; I scoffed. “Are you kidding me with this? No way. Out with it, Von.”
Von blew a long breath out through pursed lips. “Fine. I was caught gambling my senior year.”
“Huh? That’s it?”
“That started my suspension. Then I got into it with the headmaster over something unrelated. He was thinking of penalizing Boston, my younger brother because Boston was with me while I was gambling.”
“And?” I waited for the other shoe to drop.
“And I was young and impetuous. I get a little carried away when the people I watch over are threatened. That’s all.”
Mason rolled his eyes at Von’s evasiveness. “He set the headmaster’s car on fire. That’s what got him kicked out of the Academy.” He shrugged at Von’s scowl of betrayal. “What? She’s right. If her world’s on display, ours should be an open book for her, too.”
“You set your headmaster’s car on fire for trying to penalize your brother for gambling?”
Von’s steely eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “That’s right. Boston went with me to Dagat for a little holiday. Dagat’s one of the nations in Terraway – the one Captain Finn’s from. Boston was my responsibility. Headmaster Chalmers was throwing around the idea of suspending us both, so I dropped out, did a little fire play with his car, and threatened more if he hurt Boston over my night of gambling. Turns out, Headmaster Chalmers can be reasoned with. You just have to find the right pressure point. The car fire didn’t do it, but when I told him I just might take a fancy to his daughter, he was surprisingly compliant.” Von thumbed the steering wheel as if he was trying to rub his problems off of it. “I don’t regret one second of it. Boston’s a fantastic Puller. He deserved to graduate, and he did.”
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