Chapter 13 - Julie

I'm sitting in the hospital room, and it feels like my own personal prison. I barely move other than a couple of times the nurse has forced me to go home and shower when she finally tires of me smelling bad. Uncle Merl suffered third-degree burns to the upper back half of his body, and because the assholes let him sit there near death, he ended up with a severe infection.

The past several weeks have had everyone thinking we're going to lose him, fighting with my cousins over their lack of empathy or willingness to come home and help their dad, and texts from everyone. There are also general texts from my friends and from the townspeople who were worried about him. The new, fresh reminder of my personal hell are the texts from Kaius.

He is so apologetic and sounds so sincere. There is still such a deep part of me that is full of guilt for enjoying even an ounce of that time that my uncle was there alone and scared… Dying. I try to push the thoughts away as another text pops up from him on my phone. My parents step off the elevator together and are sure to provide plenty of distraction. I guess they came back for round two.

I stand and cross my arms, preparing for another argument about the fact that I haven't been at the shop for the last few weeks. They walk in and Mom has pursed lips, an annoyed look she's perfected. Dad just looks sad.

"What now?" I snap, in no mood for this. I have three more calls to make to get things sorted out for the home health supplies and the wound care nurse that I have to get set up before Uncle Merl hopefully comes home later this week.

"You're so defensive, Julie. I don't understand why you can't just take a break and come work some shifts at the store," Mom launches in, immediately raising her voice in that shrill tone she's had all week, "This is silly. He's a grown man. He made his choice to drink, and this is the consequence of his actions. Let him live with it."

"Or die with it? You think that's something I'm prepared to do? He's my uncle. Out of this entire family, he's the only person who has ever encouraged me to be my own person. He's the only person who's ever shown an active interest in who I am instead of what I can do for them. So no, this conversation is done."

My mother drops her mouth open in shock as if I've said something absolutely ridiculous instead of the truth. I drop my hands to the bed rail and step closer. My father just shakes his head and clenches his fist.

I don't know what it is between him and his brother, but Uncle Merl has been nothing but good to me. I have been livid with my parents since they missed being here for his first and second surgeries to help with skin grafts to treat the larger burns to his back. None of my cousins did either. I am pissed at my entire family right now. Thankfully, my friends and all the dragons came and sat with me during those nerve-racking days.

Not a single word passed between us, but Kaius had just sat there with me, his arm around my shoulders. No one said anything, but that minor act had been the most reassuring thing throughout the entire process. No sarcastic comments, just calm. They all seem to love Uncle Merl as much as I do.

I will not be the one to turn my back on him, especially when I know this was not his fault. He and I don't need their support or their judgment anymore.

"Julie Adelle Harris, you take that back. You will come back to work today. We have been nothing but good to you—"

"I'm not coming to work a shift while he's still recovering, and in fact, Mom," I interrupt her before she can launch into the same tirade, "I don't think I'm coming back to work any shifts. You're going to want to call Greg and see if he'll finally come home from his travels. Besides, the store is his if something happens to you. So why doesn't he take some responsibility for it?"

Uncle Merl blinks up at me quietly and puts his hand on top of mine, squeezing it. I don't know if it's seeing him this sick, having faced actual dragons, or flown—maybe all of it—but I don't feel that same need to be mousey and fade into the background anymore. I'm not a doormat. If I can face all that, I can definitely decide what's right and wrong and stick to it.

"You haven't been worried about being here to support Uncle Merl, so why be here now? You're disrupting his recovery. Please just go," I say with a slow shake of my head.

"I'm not paying your rent with that woman of yours then," Mom says with an ugly sneer, as if that was more of an insult than anything she could envision.

"Fine, I'll have my stuff moved out of my friend's apartment by the end of the week, anyway. I'm going to stay with Uncle Merl until he's fully recovered." Georgia and I discussed the entire issue of her needing to find a new roommate two weeks ago when the doctors were telling me the outlook and I decided on this course of action. My parents are just blissfully out of the loop.

My mother opens and closes her mouth, looking a bit like a fish out of water, gasping for air as she huffs in irritation at me. Dad just slides an arm around her and turns her from the room, retreating to the elevator. I take a slow breath.

"That went better than I thought it would, actually. No yelling, no throwing anything," I sigh.

"Are you sure about this, Jules?" Uncle Merl asks with a tired rasp. I give him a smile and squeeze his hand.

"Of course. We've got to get you back to singing your Johnny Cash with Rufus. He sounds awful without you," I laugh as the heat of tears threatens my eyes. Uncle Merl gives me a small smile and falls back into a nap. He's so tired and frail.

I text Lena, asking if she thinks Rufus could come to help keep him company while I work on moving my things from the apartment. In no time at all, she replies that he's on his way and that the rest of them would meet me at the apartment to help. The tears start to fall, and I wipe furiously at them as I head out to let the nurse know the plan, overwhelmed with gratitude for my amazing friends.

I pull up to the apartment and fumble around the passenger seat, trying to find where I tossed my phone. A sharp knock on the window scares me half out of my skin and I turn, expecting to see my friends, but my heart sinks as a familiar blond goatee is in view.

Fucking not today Luke. Not today.

I sigh and open the car door, expecting him to move, but he just stands there. I roll my eyes out of sheer exhaustion, and I can't truly fathom what he wants from me now. I look up at him and blink, waiting for any kind of answer. He just raises a blond eyebrow in my direction.

"What do you want, Luke?"

His face pulls into an ugly, hungry grin as his eyes dip lower than my own. My skin crawls, and I want nothing more than to shove this door against him.

"That's not very polite. You should apologize."

The fucking balls on this jerk are astounding, considering how small they actually are in comparison… I swear.

"You know what? I don't think so, Luke," I snap as I open the door and step out, letting him decide to move and cave to me this time or get bashed in the knees with a car door. I slam the door shut and move to take a step around him toward the apartment, but he steps in my way. He steps further into my personal space, and I automatically retreat a step without realizing it. He backs me up against my car and leans forward with a scowl, placing his arms on either side of me on the roof.

"When did you become such a bitch, Julie? This isn't like you. It must be all the time you're spending out there with that cult or those garbage books you read. Told you those weren't any good for you."

I want to say something more, but I don't get the opportunity as a large hand clamps down on his shoulder, and Luke is aggressively pulled away from me. I blink, and Kaius's large body is between me and Luke, his back to me. His hands are loose at his sides, but every muscle in his body looks tense and ready to react.

"There a problem here?" he asks Luke in that deep, baritone voice that just resonates through my body.

Luke has to look up at him, which makes some perverse instinctual part of my brain giddy. My much more rational, feminist-driven mind is peeved that Kaius doesn't think I can handle this myself, but after everything else I am dealing with currently, I don't know if I have the energy to care, let alone deal with Luke.

"Yeah, there is, Pal. I'm trying to talk to my girlfriend, and you're interrupting," Luke says with a toss of his floppy, blond hair. He looks ridiculously childish by comparison. I genuinely am not sure how I ever found him attractive.

"Not your girlfriend, Luke," I snap and step around them both, ignoring the hateful look flaring on Kaius's face and the indignant look on Luke's. "Kindly fuck off. All the way off."

I leave them behind me in the parking lot, fully intending to head into the apartment to pack. I make it to the door and am fumbling with my keys when I feel heat behind me. The deep, woodsy smell of Kaius floods my senses and I feel the length of him pressing against the back of my body. One large hand plants on the door in front of me as he presses closer, inhaling deeply.

"What are you doing?" It comes out a whisper, and I'm a little scared to know how he'll respond.

"Girlfriend? What the hell are you doing talking to a guy like that?" he asks, his voice low and gravelly. "I don't like the way he was looking at you."

"I wasn't doing anything. Luke cornered me. He's a dick, and that's what he does. He tries to intimidate me when he can."

The mention of the word dick has my mind retreating to the memories of that time in the cabin with Kaius and just how different the two of them are. I swing my hips slowly back in a circle, grinding slowly against Kaius. His other hand snakes around my hip and pulls me toward him.

Fuck, I have missed his hands on me.

"You dated that guy?"

"Ancient history, but apparently, I have a type."

"You're really going to compare me with that piece of shit?" His lips brush lightly against my neck, and he inhales deeply.

My lips fall open with a little gasp, but the sound of the lock sliding in the door snaps me out of my brief fantasy.

"Shit, stop. Damn it. Stop trying to distract me. And don't be a jealous dickhead. You don't have the right, either. If you want to pursue this, then drop the sarcastic jerk act and show me you're not him," I sigh as I step out from under his arm, just as the door opens to Georgia on the other side.