CHAPTER NINE
ALEXIO
My nose was aching,though luckily, Jonah didn’t headbutt me hard enough to break anything, and I wasn’t bleeding. But it was clear he was going through it, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was his dad thing or if it was what had happened yesterday.
It was creeping toward late afternoon, and Peter was napping. I hadn’t expected anyone to come by, but I instantly recognized Jonah’s voice in the hallway. I was unsurprised to see him with Banks, though I hadn’t expected him to show up at all.
My brother and I were still trying to get Peter’s situation sorted out. The guy was on a few meds—stuff for his blood pressure and a script for Xanax. Neither had been touched in a while, which pissed me the fuck off. And as far as I could tell, he was on no treatments for his Alzheimer’s.
The medical neglect was goddamn criminal. Probably literally, though Nikos insisted I was overreacting. But it didn’t feel like an overreaction to me. And as much as I wanted to stay out of it and let whatever was going to happen happen, I couldn’t bring myself to do that.
I hadn’t meant to bring Vanya with me today though. He’d insisted we get chicken wings after my errands, and there was no telling that man no.
He was like a dog with a fucking bone when he got an idea in his head, and for whatever reason, he’d set his sights on hanging out with me this season.
Like, a lot.
He was quiet now though. He and I stood in the corner of the room, and every now and again, Banks would look back at me with a glare. I half imagined him pointing two fingers at his eyes and then one at me to let me know he was watching.
I wondered if he had any clue how bad this situation was.
But maybe he did because ten minutes after Jonah got settled in the apartment, there was another knock at the door and a man walked in. He had a badge with some medical group name on it, his scrubs bright purple and really tight.
He looked like he should be modeling them on a magazine instead of taking care of patients, but that was just me being a judgy dick again. He looked at each one of us, his eyes calculating, which I supposed was good for a person who was meant to take care of someone like Peter.
Then he sat down in front of Jonah and said his name was Kellen and that he’d been working as a home health nurse for the last two years.
“And you’ve had memory care patients?” Jonah asked.
The question surprised me because I didn’t realize he’d think to ask about that. It was different from taking care of other patients. Peter sundowned regularly. He forgot things all the time. When we came in that day, he’d left the tub running, and it had flooded the bathroom floor. God only knew how long it would have been going if I hadn’t come by.
“He would be my second. I’m new with this company,” he said.
I frowned. “Why?”
His gaze snapped to me, and then he looked at Vanya, who was fiddling with the photos on Peter’s wall, and then at Banks, who was still sitting there with his arms crossed. “Are you all family?”
“No,” Jonah said at the same time as I said, “We might as well be.”
“Ignore him,” Jonah said. “Peter is my dad.He’sa dickhead who doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone.”
“Oh? You mean I’m the guy who took care of Peter when you fucked off and?—”
“Boys!” Tucker said again.
I sighed and shut my mouth.
Jonah turned his attention back to Kellen. “Look, I was just informed about my dad’s condition, okay? I was…low contact with my parents. My mom dropped his diagnosis on me a few weeks ago, then said she was leaving for the UK, and then she fucking did. She didn’t even tell me where he was living, and she disconnected her damn phone, so I couldn’t even call her.”
My whole body jolted. Maybe that was a story he was making up to make himself look better, but…maybe it wasn’t. The tone of his voice said the pain he was expressing was real. And so raw.
“I’ve been trying to get him into a facility for a while, but the decent ones are full and…and I don’t know. It’s been a lot.”
“And you don’t want him to live with you?” Kellen asked.
I braced myself. It’s the question I’d been wondering about too. Why this shit-ass apartment?
Jonah bowed his head. “I can’t. It wouldn’t be a good idea. I’m blind, and?—”
