Page 21 of Dirty Monsters

Kane was a sick fuck, and I should have done more to stop him, but my sixteen-year-old self still felt the sting of her cries and how it led to Kane and I being kicked out.

Who the fuck did that? Who disowned their kid after all those years of being our “parents”?

I harbored a lot of resentment toward them—and her—to this day. They were our one chance at a better life, and she fucked it up for us. Kane needed help; help I couldn't give him. Help Jeanine and Theodore should have gotten for him instead of kicking him to the curb to avoid any scandal or poor marks against their names. Kane and I were a package. Where he went, I went.

The following years were the worst of my life. Kane never received any help, and to this day, he was a menacing dick. I was lucky to pull myself up and get out of the hell we lived in. I saw the way people glared at us like we were trash. Like we didn’t deserve the help.

Kane couldn't have done what I did. He was too damaged. His brain was a level of fucked up that regular therapy wouldn’t fix. He’d need medications and a hard-core psychologist to start to even carve into half of his mental shit.

Wren made sure he wouldn’t get help. She damned him to a life on the streets. Served her right being in this hell now. Of course, she was undoubtedly at the best place Theodore’s money could buy.

I wondered what they thought of their princess being in rehab? Did they hide her away in disgust?

Thinking of it almost made me laugh, but I sobered up quickly, wondering if they knew I was here. I couldn't help but worry she was sent to destroy my life again.

She was the queen of being a tattletale.

“Nurse Ro?”

Fuck, I knew it was Molly without even glancing back. I wanted to pretend I didn’t hear her because I had no doubt she was only there to flirt some more.

“Nurse Ro?” she said again, this time sounding more like a plea. Something I couldn’t fucking ignore.

“Oh hey, Molly,” I said as I smiled and turned toward her. I had been leaning on the wall of the cafeteria, waiting for Wren to show up for lunch so I could double-check it was her.

Not that I needed to. I was holding her file in my hand after pretending I needed to prepare for her arrival in Orange House. It told me all I needed to know.

Here after a cocaine overdose.

Paid for by Theodore Carrington.

Past her detox time, so it wouldn't be long before she headed to my care.

I had until she arrived in Orange House to decide how to handle her, which was less than a day, according to her updated stats.

“Ro,” Molly purred next to my ear, “you seem so tense leaning against the wall by yourself.”

I backed away and smirked, playing off Molly’s attention. “Some days, this job is tough. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No, I was thinking I could do something for you,” she whispered.

“Ah, Molly, this teasing is killing me.”

I had to somehow make Molly happy while simultaneously not getting myself fired. It was a fine line between right and wrong.

Molly’s face turned into a pout, but her voice slowly drowned out as I caught sight of Wren and stood straighter. I was like a dog who’d just seen the squirrel he’d been searching for the last hour.

I didn't mean to make the change in my demeanor so obvious, but Molly caught it and followed my gaze toward Wren.

“Oh, I see,” she seethed. “It isn’t that you can't get close to patients. I’m just not the right patient.”

“What?” Shit, shit. I didn't want to tell her I hated Wren or why or any of our history. But I didn't want her thinking I was into Wren either. “She’s only my next patient, and I was waiting on her,” I lied.

She wasn't totally buying it, so to lay on the lie extra thick, I excused myself and walked over to Wren.

“Hey,” I said dumbly.

Wren turned around and almost dropped her lunch tray, her jaw falling open. I didn't wait on her to get her shit together. It was obvious she wasn’t expecting me to approach her.