Wheels of Steel, Book 2 (18 page)

Mrs. Hamilton handed her back the bills. “Here. Take this.” Robin was shaking her head.

“No, I don’t want it. You take it and give it back to Jason.” Mrs. Hamilton was staring at her so hard that her eyes were moving back and forth rapidly as she stared into her eyes. Robin was crying uncontrollably and shaking.

“Shit.” Mrs. Hamilton said softly. “Shit…”

Mrs. Hamilton reached into her purse, finding some tissue and handing them to Robin who took them and turned her head discreetly to the side so that she could wipe her eyes and nose away from Mrs. Hamilton’s probing eyes. Jason’s Mother still had the money clutched in her fist, but seemed to have forgotten about it as she rooted around in her purse again, this time for cigarettes.

She lit one quickly and then watched the young Aid. By that time, Robin had gained some control of her emotions as she sniffed and wiped her eyes again. Still, she was more embarrassed now; with this woman staring, than she had been when she walked in and busted her riding her son and groaning dirty words. No…that wasn’t true. The level of embarrassment had just hit the ceiling and there was nowhere else for it to go. Maybe the world would just come to a grinding stop and she would drop dead because there was no way that she could live this day down.

“Okay.” Mrs. Hamilton spoke aloud as if she had just had a private conversation with herself. “This is what we’re going to do. We’re going back to Jason’s apartment and I’m going to find out what’s really going on. There’s no way for you two to collaborate stories. If what he says agrees with what you’re saying then great. If not…” Mrs. Hamilton was shaking her head.

Robin relaxed. Maybe she wouldn’t force her to leave Pinnacle. She considered how just a day ago she contemplated not being Jason’s Assistant and the idea of not working with him was now almost impossible for her to fathom.

Robin nodded her head in agreement.

Jason’s mother’s eyes were scary and intimidating when she glared; which is what she was doing now. “If you aren’t coming clean with me, then god help you both.” Robin crossed her arms around her belly. This was not the scenario that she had pictured for herself when she imagined being introduced as a girlfriend to the man she loved. She swallowed down the salty water that was gathering in her mouth and prayed that she wouldn’t puke. But her stomach was already churning she knew that very soon she’d have to get to a toilet.

Mrs. Hamilton stalked out of the laundry room with Robin following closely behind. She was wiping her face and hoping that she didn’t look as shitty as she felt. Jason’s mother glanced over at her, an indecisive look on her face, but then she pursed her lips and continued towards Jason’s apartment.

She rapped on the door urgently. “Just let me do the talking.” She commanded. She sounded so much like Jason. Robin thought that he really had very little chance of being anything other than a replica of her. The door swung open and Jason’s lips parted instantly in understanding as his eyes darted from Robin to his mother’s.

He had left a message for his mother to call him immediately and had hung up afterwards; afraid of what might come out of his mouth. When he opened the door, he had no idea that it would be her standing there, and with Robin. But he figured it all out very quickly; she had never left. His mother had set her trap and he’d unwittingly sent Robin, as distraught as she was, into the claws of a woman that he barely had the strength to stand up against.

“Mom…” Was all that he could manage before she swept into the room. Robin followed, looking pale beneath her brown skin, and shaken. He swung around to glare at his mother. “Mom, what did you do?!”

“That’s what I’m here to ask you!”

He turned back to Robin, reaching for her hand. “Are you okay?” She nodded quickly and then squeezed his hand and tried to offer a smile. It was weak and he could clearly see fresh tears in her eyes and drying on her cheeks.

“Jason Lane Hamilton, I want you to explain to me exactly what type of relationship you are having with your Aid!”

Robin watched Jason close his eyes, his back still to his mother. Was he counting? He opened his eyes slowly.

“Mother. Get out.” Mrs. Hamilton’s mouth snapped shut. “Get out of my house. You’re not welcomed here.” His voice got louder and he swung around in his chair to face her.

“You want to kick me out because I’m asking you a question that you don’t want to-”

He was shaking his head. “I’m kicking you out because I can’t stand to look at you! Who are you to ask me a question like that? That is none of your business, Mom! What Robin and I do, is none of your damn business!”

She put her hands on her hips and Robin saw her neck roll and her eyes bug and she looked like she could have come straight from the hood. If her Mama had been giving her that look, Robin would have cracked. But Jason just pushed his chest out, his lips pursed and his eyes narrowed and his look was equally as intimidating.

“It is my business when it’s MY money that you’re using to pay some Aid to have sex with you! You think I don’t know that’s how it works? They get jobs dealing with the elderly and disabled just so that they can offer them sex!”

Jason’s eyes were bugging. “Oh my god…you are fucking crazy! You are one crazy woman!” He grimaced. “And you’re disgusting!” He turned his wheelchair away from her and Robin saw his nostrils flaring as he looked at her.

He was shaking his head in disbelief, and hurt. “You already heard this, haven’t you? She’s already asked you this? Is that why you were crying; because she already asked you if you were my whore?!” Robin felt her throat working, this was so bad, this couldn’t get worse. And then it did. She vomited on the floor, splattering the cocktail table.

Mrs. Hamilton leaped back even though she was nowhere near to being splattered. Jason stared in dismay at the blood laced vomit. Robin was bent over panting and clutching her stomach. It felt like she was being stabbed with a red hot poker!

“I’m going to be sick…” She croaked and then retched again; more bloody vomit. She darted, still stooped, out of the room and into the bathroom. Jason stared at the floor, terrified. That was a lot of blood…

“Mom…” He whispered. “What do I do?”

Mrs. Hamilton moved quickly past Jason and to the bathroom. She tried to open the door but it was locked. She could hear Robin coughing and choking. “Hey…!” She couldn’t remember the girl’s name! Fuck, what was it?! “Open the door, honey…unlock it.”

Jason reached out and tried the doorknob as if it would magically turn. It didn’t. He knocked on the door, hard. “Robin! Unlock the door!” Mrs. Hamilton began digging through her purse for her wallet. She quickly withdrew a credit card to slip between the lock and the doorjam. She roughly pushed Jason out of her way and he wheeled back to give her space.

“Robin?!” He said. He could hear her coughing and gagging. Damnit! Why had she locked the door?! Suddenly it popped unlock. God, how had his mother done that?! She jimmied the lock! Robin was sitting on the toilet, pants down around her ankles and holding the trash can between her naked thighs, gagging and spitting into it. She looked up at them in horrified surprise as they burst through the door.

“I’m okay!” She said weakly. “Leave me alone for a minute. I need to be sick…” Her stomach lurched and blood; bright red was suddenly coming from her mouth.

“Jesus, god in heaven…” Mrs. Hamilton said. “Jason, call an ambulance.”

Robin’s head popped up. “No please…” she said breathlessly. Watery stool hit the water in the toilet and she was contemplating a life in another country because she never wanted to see these people again. She’d find another man to love. She couldn’t love a man that was watching her poop and vomit blood. If she had a gun, she would have shot herself.

Jason was pushing past his mother. She spun around and jerked him by his shirt front. Thin as she was, she could have lifted him from his chair and tossed him against the wall. “Call the fucking ambulance, Jason! NOW!” His eyes met her and he quickly reached for his cell phone. Joyce Hamilton sat on the tub next to Robin. She placed her hand on the damp curls of the young girl’s head.

“Robin.” She rubbed her neck and shoulders and Robin couldn’t believe that she was sitting on the toilet pooping with Jason’s mother rubbing her neck. “It’s okay honey.” A dagger seared her stomach and Robin cried out. She squeezed her eyes closed.

“My stomach…” She moaned. “Please, go away…it’s just my IBS.” She wanted to explain that she cramped like this all of the time with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The vomiting…well that part wasn’t normal, and the blood in it wasn’t good, but there was no need for an ambulance!

“You’re bleeding internally, why?”

Robin was panting. “Ulcer, but-”

Jason’s mother grimaced. “No way. There is no way that you are vomiting pure blood from an ulcer.”

Jason was talking into the cell phone. He thrust it to his mother. “Mom, here talk to them, they can’t understand me!” He was stuttering and knew that he wasn’t making sense. He quickly grabbed a towel and wet it. Then he wheeled next to Robin and wiped her sweating face. She wanted to tell him that they were blowing this out of proportion. They just needed to let her wipe her bottom in peace and then she’d drive herself to the hospital! But the look on Jason’s face told that he was already convinced of the worst.

“Robin…” He groaned. Oh fuck. Tears sprouted in his eyes. His mother was right, she was bleeding internally and why in the hell had he let her get so distraught?? He watched her body jerk again and her eyes squeeze shut as something hurt her and then a splash in the toilet like pure water. He tried to peek behind her in the bowl. He needed to know if it was blood, but he couldn’t see past her brown bottom.

“Jason.” His mother said calmly. He looked over at her. She was rubbing Robin’s neck and shoulders. “Go out and wait for the ambulance.” He had already begun shaking his head.

“Babyboy, do what I say. I have hands to clean her and I need to get her ready for the ambulance. Do you understand?” He didn’t understand, because he was having a hard time understanding anything right now. There was an ambulance coming. And it was coming for Robin. He had to go outside and wait. His mother needed to clean her. He could hear his mother telling him to go. Go Jason. Go. He wheeled out of the bathroom. It seemed that he was moving so slow even though he was going as fast as he could.

He couldn’t make his muscles move right and he thought; don’t have a seizure. Not now. But it wouldn’t be up to him to decide if, only how severe based on how much he fought against it.

When Jason was gone, Joyce turned on the shower. There was a handheld shower head, not long enough to reach the toilet but if the girl could at least stand up, even if she couldn’t step into the tub, she would spray her bottom clean and mop the floors later. Joyce moved in front of Robin and stooped to grab some toilet tissue.

“Lean forward. I’m going to clean you.” Robin did as she was told, leaning forward in the way that Jason had done for her many times now. Then she felt Jason’s mother cleaning her bottom. She didn’t consider why she didn’t do this herself. She was just so tired all of a sudden. Distantly she thought, ‘I have lost a lot of blood…’

“It’s mostly water, a little blood in it.” Mrs. Hamilton announced. She flushed the toilet. “Robin. I need you to stand up when you’re ready.” Robin barely sensed Mrs. Hamilton removing her legs from her jeans and her panties.

Robin felt numb. There was just too much sensory overload to react. She stood slowly on shaky legs and Mrs. Hamilton helped brace her while she stepped into the shower. She was still wearing shoes and watched as the warm water soaked her socks and sneakers. Robin stared at the water, concentrating on it as Mrs. Hamilton cleaned her. Maybe this wasn’t real. It didn’t feel real; it could be just a dream. Why wasn’t she blacking out? She would have been fainting by now, except the world seemed to be super sharp. She was going to have to stay awake through all of this, and that was a shame.

“Don’t worry if you have to do it in the tub; it’s just little more than water, Babygirl. It won’t hurt anything.” Robin suddenly heard the sharp sound of a siren, off in the distance and getting closer. She felt her body automatically stiffen. She didn’t want to get in the ambulance, she could drive herself to the hospital, or maybe Jason’s mother could.

Mrs. Hamilton helped her step out of the tub and grabbed a large towel to wrap around her waist.

“Can you just take me to the hospital?” She pleaded in desperation.

Joyce gripped her hand in reassurance as she helped her leave the bathroom. She couldn’t even straighten. “No, honey. They’re already here.”

The rest was just a jumble of movement, a blood pressure cuff on her as she was placed on a gurney. She tried to tell them that she could walk to the ambulance. Mrs. Hamilton was trying to hold the towel around her and Jason was trying to get his wheelchair close to her but also keep out of the way of the medics.