Wheels of Steel, Book 1 (6 page)

They had started out on a bad note. She decided to be the bigger man and set things right. “Jason, I apologize for calling you rude.” She blew out a tense breath. “I won’t judge you if you stop judging me.” His eyes flinched. He turned back to this cereal.

“Fine,” he said between bites of food.

When he was done eating, he placed his dishes into the sink then wheeled out of the room. “I need a shave but there’s no time for that. I need you to pee me.” Her heart jumped in her chest. Pee him? What in the hell did that mean?

“Um, how do I do that?” She followed him to a large bathroom.

“You need to hold my penis while I piss.”

Oh my god, this was a nightmare. She’d never been around a penis before! Her face was hot and sweat sprouted from her arm pits and dotted her forehead.

“I-uh, you were holding that spoon just fine, Jason.”

“I’m just messing with you Robin. I can hold my own penis just fine.” He gave her a long look and she almost fainted from relief. He smirked. “Have you ever been an aide for a male before?”

She wanted to kick him in his smirking face. “Don’t worry about me,” she snapped. “I’m a fast learner.” She tried to hide her displeasure that he had known just what to say to cause her to shake in her shoes.

He stopped the chair as close to the toilet as he could get. “I only need to use the bathroom three times a day. My body has been…I guess you would say, ‘trained’ to go once in the morning, once in the afternoon and then before bed. But I can’t use my legs much. If you can help me to stand, then I can take care of the rest myself.”

Robin squeezed past the wheelchair and got in front of him. “How do we do this?”

“Lean forward, bending at the knees. Use your legs not your back. I’m going to put my arms around your shoulders, your arms go around my body under my arms. Pull until my legs are locked beneath me. I’m wearing braces, so once I’m standing I’m ok.”

She leaned forward and Jason’s eyes stayed glued to her lighter ones before his arms went around her. His long, red hair was in her face. It ran down in unruly curls over his shoulders. It was beautiful hair. He was a ginger; red hair, green eyes, freckles dotting pale skin. Too bad he was such an asshole. She might have thought he was cute.

She began to lift. “Don’t use your back,” he said, lips very close to her ear. She paused and then used her legs to lift. “There you go.” She was hugging him, he was hugging her and the timber of his words vibrated through her body creating goose bumps that ran down her spine. She had never been so close to a man that was not directly a part of her bloodline. Beneath his loose fitting shirt, his muscles were tight and tone. Her mouth felt suddenly dry as she nervously took a step away from him. Standing, he towered over her. She had to look up at him. He was looking down, but not at her, at his legs.

She looked down, as well. They seemed to be supporting him ok. She backed up again, bumping the toilet and he placed one hand on the sink counter while the other remained on her shoulder for balance.

She gave him a surprised look. “Can you walk?” And then she blushed that she’d asked such a thing to a man in a wheelchair.

“A little.” He swung his left leg out and she stepped out of his way, still remaining close enough so that he could continue to hold onto her for support. He leaned his body to the left and then swung his right leg out.

“You’re walking.” He wobbled a little but righted himself. “Jason, if you can do this then why don’t you get a walker or crutches?” His expression grew dark and he didn’t answer. Shit, she’d put her foot in her mouth. He had reached the toilet. Now what was she supposed to do?

“Lift the toilet seat.” He said while he moved to undo his pants. She did it quickly. He wasn’t holding on to her for balance but he wasn’t wobbling either. “Bring my chair behind me so that I can sit when I’m done.”

She did as he demanded, wishing that he could be a little nicer. As she moved to get the chair, she heard the loud patter of his urine stream hitting the water within the toilet. She blushed. Well there was no shame in his game.

After urinating for an ungodly long time, he checked behind him for his chair and then using the cabinet he lowered himself into the chair, flopping down in it. He picked up his left leg and then his right, setting his feet into position. She watched as he reached forward and flushed the toilet then wheeled himself to a pedestal sink, where he washed his hands.

He sighed and looked at her. “Well, we’ll be late but I guess that can’t be helped. Wheel me out to the living room so that I can get my things.”

“I got here at seven on the dot.” She said, unwilling to take the blame for his tardiness to school.

“You’re supposed to be here at six am.”

She sighed. “Well I won’t be late again.” He didn’t speak, and she silently cursed Ben for making her look so stupid for this job.

He instructed her to get his book bag out of the closet while he went to his computer and unplugged something from the modem. He pocketed whatever the thing was and then rolled to the door waiting for her to open it. At her car, she helped him to stand again.

It took a while but she got him folded into the small car while he looked at her like she was an idiot for not having a mini-van. After opening the trunk she tackled the chair. It was light weight but still big and awkward! And because she’d never done anything like this, it seemed to take forever. Jason had eventually bellowed that there were latches that would need to be undone. She found them and lifted the suddenly collapsible chair. Something metal scraped against her bumper and she cursed. It had left a mark! Now she was really in a foul mood; rude client, Ben lying about the job and now her car was scratched!

Robin climbed behind the wheel, refusing to look at Jason. “Where to?” He pulled out a cell phone and checked the time before answering.

“Head to the main campus. I’ll direct you from there.”

“Which main campus?”

“UC. “ He raised a surprised brow that she didn’t know. He put on headphones and proceeded to ignore her for most of the ride.

Robin was not particularly happy to navigate through the congested early morning traffic as Jason directed her through the maze of buildings. She would have to draw a map in order to find him again! He directed her to a parking spot, scowling again because she didn’t have a handicap sign. Silently she retrieved the bulky wheelchair from the trunk. Jason had already unbuckled himself and had his feet positioned on the ground. He stood without her assistance, using the door to steady himself.

She came around to the side of him with the chair and he turned his body and again flopped down into it. “Okay, can you take it from here?” She asked, already counting down the seconds when she could be done with him for a while.

He eyed her.

“I can wheel you inside if you want-”

“God…” He sighed in exasperation. “You aren’t dropping me off. You’ll be spending the day with me.”

She frowned at him in disbelief. “I-uh…I thought-”

“What? That you’d just drop me off and go off somewhere and do your own thing and still get paid? No, you are my aide for the entire shift.” Her heart dropped as she glanced nervously at the other students moving about. She did not want to be here—more, she didn’t want to be here with this asshole!

Swallowing back her disappointment and trying not to become anxious, Robin wheeled him to the entrance of the building. Jason suddenly stopped the chair by gripping the wheels. He turned his head to look at her. He had a frown on his face and his muscles jerked so much that it caused his unkempt hair to flop around him.

“You do know why I need an aide, right?”

Robin did not want to answer that question and appear even more clueless then she already felt. Yet she did need the answer to that simple question.

“No. No one explai-”

“Damnit.” He turned back in his seat, straining to look at her. “I don’t have time for this.” He was back to being annoyed which made his speech even more slurred and hard to understand, and his movements even more jerky and spastic. She wanted to roll her eyes and was on the verge of telling him to just shove it!

He was digging for his cell phone. “I have seizures; about two a day—maybe less maybe more. I need you to help me with my seizures, help me with my books and my laptop. I can do pretty much everything on my own. But if I have a seizure then I do need someone with me. Um, mind coming around in front of me so that I don’t crane my neck looking at you?”

Robin moved from behind his chair to stand in front of him. People looked at them curiously. He was jabbing at his phone. “The duration of a seizure is anywhere from one minute to three. They don’t hurt me, but sometimes I’m tired afterwards—Hello? I need to speak to the manager in charge. This is Jason Hamilton. “

He ignored her momentarily as he focused on his call. She felt stupid, just standing there as people moved around them. UC was a huge campus and a guy with Cerebral Palsy in a wheelchair and a black girl standing in front of him looking like a kid about to be punished by her parent…it just garnered a lot of attention.

“Who am I speaking to? Mary Louise. This is Jason Hamilton. JASON.” He said distinctly, obviously attempting to control his enunciation. He talked as if his tongue was half a second behind the movement of the rest of his mouth. “Yeah…I’m not doing very well at all Mary Louise. Pinnacle lied to me.” Robin’s eyes widened. She listened intently to the one-sided conversation.

“First you took my m-money promising that you could do ALL of the th-things I asked.” He stuttered a bit, face turning red. He suddenly sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes, seeming to gain a bit more control of the movement of his neck and the jerking of his head and facial muscles. “Oh yes, it was a lie. You didn’t have an assistant lined up for me. You threw this…inexperienced girl into the job, probably lying to her the same way that you lied to me.”

His eyes flashed. “Mary Lou-Louise, don’t patronize me! I’ve already missed a week and one day of school, I’m late today and it’s all Pinnacle’s fault! You will be crediting me for the loss of my time.” He sighed. “The only thing I want to hear from you is, ‘Yes, Mr. Hamilton.’” He snorted. “Then I’ll just stay with the state or I’ll just keep looking elsewhere-” Jason suddenly looked at Robin. “Fine. That’s acceptable. Robin needs a course in seizure emergencies if she’s going to assist me.”

Robin tried not to stare but couldn’t help it now that the conversation had turned to her. “As soon as possible or she’s no good to me. Because I can get the Access bus to drive me around—but I NEED someone who knows how to handle seizure emergencies.” He listened quietly. “That’s not good enough. No. I need you to tell me something today. Find out today and call me back this evening. Let me make sure we understand each other; You are crediting me two full days—today and yesterday, you’re providing Robin with training in a certified seizure emergency course. No. That’s not good enough. Oh my god, you should know this! Contact the Epilepsy Foundation, or the National Institute of Neurological disorders and they will tell you exactly where—”

He winked at her suddenly and she almost jumped. A slow smile crossed his lips. “Thank you, Mary Louise. I don’t mean to be an ass, but this is…a job for others; for me this is my life.” He disconnected the call and replaced it in his pocket. He gave her an intent look.

“Okay, so I guess your boss will be contacting you to set up training.” She nodded stunned. He had handled himself so well; better than she ever had with Pinnacle…and he made a good point. Obviously he had every right to be aggravated because to her this was a job that she’d leave behind at the end of the day. But this was his life.

Chapter 7

Robin felt guilty for her impatience. She moved back to push his chair but he had already begun rolling himself to the entrance. She hit the automatic door opener for him and followed him silently down several hallways.

They reached a set of double doors and Jason stopped abruptly. “Please don’t disrupt class. If you have questions then write them out on paper. As soon as we get inside I will need for you to get my backpack from behind my chair and set up my laptop.”

Set up his laptop?

“If you have a cell phone then set it to vibrate. If I have a seizure, don’t panic, I will tell you what to do. Got it?” She nodded, nervous at the instructions he gave and how quickly he delivered them. “Open the door Robin.”

She moved ahead of him and opened the door. She could hear the voice of a male teacher who paused to watch her as she stepped inside of the auditorium, using her body to hold the door for Jason to wheel inside.