AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ye-ah?”
It was a fucking miracle. Dark and Daemon had told me they kept losing Killian, but somehow… this… “Look, we’ve all talked.” I shot Slash a glare to let him know to keep his mouth shut. “We think you need help.”
Killian weakly pushed himself to his feet, anger in his eyes. “I told myself over and over that you weren’t like my father. That you wouldn’t do this to me. That you wouldn’t commit me. But I was wrong, wasn’t I?” I opened my mouth to speak, but Killian was on a roll. “You guys steady me. I don’t need anyone else. Please.”
That last pleading word hit me a little harder than the rest, but I wasn’t about to give in. Not anymore. “We can’t fuck you every time you need to get out of your head. It isn’t practical, and it isn’t healthy.”
“You’re locking me up.”
Aeron and Slash were silent as they let me try to convince Killian that we couldn’t possibly care for him the way he needed. “No, we just want you to talk to someone. One person. Tell them what you’re feeling.” I got a small nod before he stalked back to the bedroom and shut us out for the night.
Slash stared at me. “How did you see that going?”
“Not any better than it did. Killian needs help we can’t give him.”
Aeron let out a garbled sigh as he joined us at the kitchen table, letting his head fall to the wood. “You better hope you find someone who can help him outside of a hospital.” I didn’t answer. “Look, Samael, I know you’re just trying to help. We all want the same thing. The problem is, that kid ties us together in ways we didn’t know we were missing. If he gets taken from us? I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”
I stared at the closed bedroom door, knowing something the other two didn’t. I wasn’t looking for a therapist for Killian. I was looking for an institution because as much as I loved the kid, I wouldn’t watch him unravel when I could have helped.
Even if he hated me, I would not watch him become a corpse of himself.
SLASH
Niles had left fifteen messages on my cell by midday the next morning. I refused to answer a single call, debating whether or not to block his number altogether. Knowing that he was basically my boss kept me from doing so.
“What?!” I finally answered the sixteenth call, gritting my teeth together. Last night had been silent for the most part until Killian threw a fit about not going to work. Samael tried to reason with the kid but ended up calling Brent – to which Dark threw another fit but eventually gave in. The kid was all sorts of out of his mind, but until we found a therapist we all agreed on, we couldn’t rightly keep him holed up in our houses.
Niles clicked his tongue. “I’ve been real lenient with you, Ryker. I’ve taken a lot of shit from you over the years but—”
“Niles, I don’t need the fucking attitude. I also don’t need the job. Say what you need, or stop fucking calling me.”
There was a moment of silence as Niles tried to form a coherent thought. “Is that how you—” I was abrasive but had never really been to him except in the last couple of weeks as my life started spiraling out of control.
“I already told you I don’t need this fucking job, Niles. Don’t test me.”
Another moment of silence, and then, “Casey left.”
“And?”
“You were her doctor.”
“I transferred her care.” Niles was reaching for something, hoping that I’d cave. He didn’t know me very well.
“And I know you said something to her.”
I snorted, despite how hard I was trying to stay professional. Casey had been my patient up till the time I left the hospital after her surgery. She was no longer my responsibility. “Nothing she didn’t already know. What do you need, Niles?”
“She shouldn’t have been released so early and—”
“And what?” I could see the gears already turning in Niles’ head. “Fuck no. I’m not going on a city-wide manhunt to find that lady.”
“Just call her.”
“What part of – terrible part of my past – did you not understand? I despise that woman and want nothing to do with her. She popped up in town to make amends or some shit, but the things she did way back then were way worse than the occasional locking me in the closet. I do not care that she left the hospital early. She is an adult, and she was not under my care.”
“You’re a doctor.”
“And she’s not my responsibility.”
