The biggest question in my mind was why did Jason have full legal guardianship over his little brother? Most kids Casey’s age would have their mother and father listed as their guardians but not this one. His parents weren’t listed anywhere on his chart. Interestingly enough, there was also nothing in his chart describing why he was paralyzed and had brain damage. The whole file seemed odd.
If there’s one thing I hate more than anything, it’s not knowing the facts. The curiosity was killing me. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to search Casey’s name on the net. If there had been an accident or something, it was bound to show up on a news site somewhere. No matter how I tried the search, there was no information.
Since I couldn’t find anything on my resident, I decided to search his brother’s name. The internet didn’t tell me anything about why Casey was in the condition he was in but I’m nosy and wanted to know more about him anyway. Unlike his brother, Jason’s name was all over the Internet. I clicked on the first link, which took me to a website called Sherdog.
At first, I thought I was looking at a mug shot of Jason’s face; he looked menacing. As I scrolled down, I saw that I was wrong. Apparently Jason was an MMA fighter with a group called Monster Cage Fighting. From the looks of it, he was pretty good at it too. He had a record of 7-1 and hadn’t lost since his second fight. I’m not really into that kind of thing but I know an impressive record when I see one.
As I thought about him fighting, I felt a cold chill shoot down my back. What if his parents were dead and he was his brother’s guardians by default? Could he have been practicing his fighting moves on his brother and somehow left him paralyzed? That would make sense as to why there was almost no information in the file. Why would he give any info that could potentially get him in trouble?
I jumped as my daydreaming was interrupted. Maggie had stuck her head out of her office door and was yelling down the hall to me.
“Shelly, can you come in here for a minute? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Maggie was one of the good ones. She was the only other person in the entire place that was willing to stay late to make sure that all of her tasks were completed daily. As the assistant director of nursing, she had a lot of responsibility and she knew that by not staying on top of things, the care of our residents may suffer.
I saved the file that I was working on, locked my desktop and made my way into her office, closing the door behind me. She never calls me into her office unless she wants to have a private conversation so I always know to close the door when she does it. If the conversation weren't meant to be private, she would have come to my desk.
“Okay Shelly, I wanted to let you in on something that nobody else knows other than Angie. I’m going to be retiring at the end of the year and I wanted you to hear it from me first. We both know what a big mouth Angie has.”
Hearing Maggie tell me she was going to retire hit me like a ton of bricks. I loved her to death and, at times, felt like she was my only ally at work.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I replied. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
“I know you are sweetie but that’s only one of the reasons I brought you in here. I wanted to talk to you about what’s going to happen when I’m gone. Not only do you have the most seniority of anyone here, but you also do at least double the work of everyone else. I’m going to recommend that you take my place once I retire.”
“Thank you, Maggie. That means a lot to me.”
Even though I hadn’t expected Maggie to retire for a couple more years, I always assumed that I would be next in line for her position just based on how long I had been around. It was still nice to hear her acknowledging the work that I put in, though. She’s about the only person who recognized or appreciated it.
“There’s just one thing. You need to make sure you play your cards right if you want to advance.”
What? Play my cards right? What in the hell was she talking about?
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s be honest here. We’ve all seen how Angie likes to play favorites with her niece.”
“Yeah, but she wouldn’t really think of giving her your position, would she? She hasn’t even been here for a year.”
“I know, but look at everything she gets away with. You do the majority of her work even though you have the same position. She walks all over you and Angie has to see that. She just chooses to ignore it.”
“You would think that would be all the more reason to give me the position.”
Maggie shook her head.
“You’re not thinking about this the way Angie will. If she promotes you, who’s going to do all the extra work that you do? If the people who are supposed to do it won’t, what’s going to happen when the only person who does it has new priorities?”
As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Thinking about the potential of being passed over because I do too much work pissed me off.
Jason
I hoped that the new assisted living center was going to be a good fit for Casey. It sure as hell couldn’t be any worse than the one I pulled him out of. One of these days, I was going to get the answers that I was looking for from that place.
Even though First Hope seemed to be a better place, I had serious doubts that I was going to be happy with it. Casey deserved so much better, especially when you consider all the bullshit he’s had to deal with. He’s been dealt a shit hand and it’s not fair to him that he has to deal with shit medical care as well.
If it were up to me, I’d have him in a top-notch assisted living center. I’d have him surrounded by the best equipment and medical staff that money could buy. Unfortunately, money was the only reason he wasn’t in a better place. Places like First Hope are the best that I could afford.
Even though I’ve had to place my brother in one of the cheapest facilities I could find, his medical care was still breaking the bank for me. When I got into fighting, my goal was always to save all the money I could so that I could bring my brother home to live with me full-time. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to get as many fights as I’ve wanted and, not matter what I’ve accomplished in my short career, it doesn’t seem to be getting noticed by any of the big MMA companies.
I’ve loved fighting since the first time I stepped into the cage but there’s only so many times you can fight in front of 500 people and take home a $200 payday. I take any kind of side job I can find to try to make ends meet but it’s tough. I’ve worked as a painter, a landscaper, and have taken several construction jobs. I never turn down work.
Eventually, the money just runs out. After paying for my brother to get his care, there’s barely enough left over for my piece of shit apartment and, if I’m lucky, a few loaves of bread, some bologna, and tuna fish. If it’s been an especially good month, I may even buy some peanut butter, jelly, cheese, or ramen. Yeah, shit is that bad.
When I started fighting, I belonged to a gym with coaches who taught me everything I know. I couldn’t afford to pay for training but they allowed me to work off my expenses, mostly by sanitizing the wrestling mats that we rolled on and doing janitorial work at the gym. Eventually, the gym closed up shop and, without any name recognition, none of the other gyms would take me on.
To stay on top of my game, I’ve had to train in unconventional ways. I study videos and practice on an MMA grappling dummy that one of the gyms threw out. I’ve had to patch that thing more times than I can count but it allows me to work on my wrestling and ground striking. I’m at the point now, though, that I need new gear and have no money to buy it. If something doesn’t happen quickly, I won’t even be able to continue training so I can fight.
I thought back to the nurse that I came across at the new center. I felt guilty for the way I interacted with her. After all the shit that’s been done to my brother, it’s hard to have faith that a new place will take any better care of him.
The only interaction that I’d had with that nurse was immediately a
fter watching her smile while talking with my brother. It wasn’t fair for me to blow up at her the way I did. I also didn’t want my actions to carry over into the way Casey was treated so I decided that I’d go back up there and apologize. Before I did that, though, I needed to give myself a couple of days to recover from my fight.
CHAPTER THREE
Shelly
I’d taken the conversation I had with Maggie to heart and was worried about being passed over for her position when the time came to fill it. On one hand, I did everyone’s work and that alone should have been enough to show what a valuable commodity I was. On the contrary, who was going to do all of that work if I got the promotion?
The decision was not an easy one to make but, being the head RN on staff, I had to get tough on the people working under me. I waited until the residents were settled in after lunch and called a mandatory staff meeting. There was going to be no more ‘Shelly the pushover at First Hope’.
“Okay everyone, I need all of your attention on me,” I said, surprising myself at how assertive I was being. “Would everyone here agree that it takes a team effort to keep everything running smoothly here?”
I got the typical head nods and light yes comments from the staff.
“And would everyone agree that it takes teamwork to get everything done that needs to get done around here?”
Same response.
“Good. I brought you all in here to tell you that, effective immediately, I will no longer be covering any of your work. I’ve been doing other people’s jobs for so long that my own work isn’t getting done. Now, that’s not to say that if you’re really trying and struggling to keep up, that I won’t help you. Believe me, I will. That’s how teamwork goes. However, if you have time to play on the Internet while other people are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get their work done, you may need to reassess your priorities. Are there any questions?”
As I suspected, nobody raised their hands. I did notice that Candace rolled her eyes at me, but that probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me. As soon as the meeting was over, she was the first one out the door, pouting and storming her way into her Aunt’s office. I’m sure she ran right in there and snitched on me. At that point, I no longer gave a damn.
I was only back at my desk inside the nurse’s station when I looked up to see a man approaching me.
“Hello. Remember me?” he asked.
I looked at him and knew that I recognized him but I could not put my finger on it. I squinted my eyes and placed my finger on my lip as I contemplated where I had seen him before.
“It’s Jason Stark. I’m Casey Stark’s brother. We met the other day.”
Holy shit! I could barely believe that I was looking at the same person. He had looked so rough and tired when I met him previously. His eye bags were completely gone, his hair was combed and he had on clean clothes. He cleaned up nicely.
“Oh yes, I’m sorry Jason. It’s been kind of a hectic morning around here.”
“It’s okay. I just wanted to check in with you to see how Casey has been adjusting for the last few days.”
“Casey seems to be adjusting to life around here very well. The doctor’s been in here spending quite a bit of time with him each day and the rest of the staff loves him.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he shifted his weight and leaned on the desk. “I wanted to apologize to you for the way I acted the other day. It’s just that the other place really did a number on him. As you can probably tell, I’m protective of him.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t think anything of it. In fact, I wish more people cared as much as you do.”
“It’s not fine. I was way too hard on you and I just want you to know that I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted. He had lunch about an hour ago, but he may still be awake,” I said as I checked my watch. “In fact, it’s about time for me to check in on him if you’d like to walk with me.”
I grabbed my charts and made my way down the hall with Jason beside me.
“So you looked like you were a little banged up the last time you were in here. Is everything okay?” I asked, not wanting him to know that I’d looked him up on the web.
“Oh, that? Yeah, I do mixed martial arts. Sometimes I get a little banged up and have to walk around a for a few days looking like I was in a bar fight.”
“Mixed martial arts? That’s interesting. I’ve never known anyone that did something like that. Are you on television?”
“No, not yet. That’s the goal. I’m just working the small shows, trying to get myself noticed.”
“Is that something you’ve always wanted to do?” There was something dangerously sexy about him. Maybe it was the fact that he still had a partial black eye, or maybe it was the way his t-shirt hugged his ripped muscles. I kept staring at his arms; they were huge, and his knuckles were still swollen. Something about those swollen knuckles made me hot.
“Honestly? Not really. I needed some quick cash and someone told me about an MMA fight where one of the participants had just dropped out because of an injury. I knew nothing about the sport but the money was decent so I went for it. I just threw my hands and ended up knocking my opponent out. I decided to take it a lot more seriously after that.”
We walked in silence until we reached his brother’s door. Just as I was about to open it he stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“I only fight for my brother. I don’t have any other skills or anything that I can fall back on. My goal is to be the best fighter I can be and get noticed by one of the big companies. If I can get noticed and sign a big contract, I’ll be able to bank most of my money. My hope is that by the time my contract expires, I’ll be able to retire and bring my brother home with me. That way money won’t be an issue and I’ll be able to provide full-time care for him instead of sticking him in a shit hole like this.”
Jason
I’ve never been good at knowing when to shut my fucking mouth. Judging by the look on Shelly’s face, I’d just offended her big time with my shit hole comment. I wasn’t trying to insult her employer but all you needed to do was look around to see that the place was literally a shit hole. There was no way to sugarcoat it. It wasn’t her fault. It’s just the way things were.
“I’m sorry. That was an asshole thing for me to say. I didn’t mean to offend you.” For the first time since I had met her, I looked into her eyes. I could tell that she was a genuine person, had a good heart.
God damn, Jason. Why do you have to be such a dick?
“You don’t need to apologize. I’m not offended. I am surprised at some of the things you said, though.”
“What do you mean?” The more I talked to this chick, the more she blew my mind. I had just insulted her—or at least I thought I did—but she wasn’t offended. It was like she saw something in me, and I know damn sure that I saw something in her.
The way she carried herself, the way she talked to me, the way she interacted with her residents, it was all with pride, confidence and love. I couldn’t find a job that suited me, but it was obvious that she loved her career.
I had never met anyone like her. Most of the trashy girls I met at the after parties were sluts. Shelly didn’t seem to be like that. She had self-respect, a good head on her shoulders and she was self-reliant.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t expect to hear that somebody like you was so invested in caring for an invalid.”
“No? And why is that?”
“I mean no offense but we don’t really see anyone come through these doors that has a goal of getting their loved one out of here, let alone someone who is still so young and rough around the edges.”
Rough around the edges?
“So what? You think I'm just some giant asshole or something? Am I some kind of monster because I fight?”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” she started backpedaling.
“It’s okay. I deal with this kind of thing all the tim
e. That’s why I almost never tell anyone what I do for a living. They think that because the sport is barbaric, those who compete in it must be too.”
“I’m not one to judge,” she waved her hand in the air. “What you choose to do for a living is completely up to you.”
“You know what?” I grinned at her. “I think you and me should go on a date, let me show you who I really am.”
“You are? Are you telling me or asking me?”
“I’m asking you. Why don’t you let me take you out for a night so I can show you there’s more to me than meets the eye?”
The Silencer: A Bad Boy MMA Romance Page 2
