Chapter 5

Steele

My ears were clogged when I woke up. That's the only reason I could come up with for missing every other word in the conversation happening between my cousin and the housekeeper. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what they were arguing about.

"Steele, can you come on up off the floor so this woman can sweep and mop it? She been waiting all day."

"Sure thing, cuz. Wait, what time is it?"

"Three. The cousins should be here any minute. Get off the damn floor before you get stepped on!"

"Three?" I gasped, thinking that Sheeba would be on the unit any minute. My stomach was protesting and so was my bladder, but all I could think of was my boo. "Hold up, how long you been up?" I asked as I stood, stretched, and planted myself on the daybed so the clearly pissed-off housekeeper could do her job.

They woke me for meds and meals, but when physiotherapy came at two, I got my ass up. I did a bunch of bed exercises with them to keep from getting a blood clot in that leg. This Fixator is heavy as fuck. And since I'm not supposed to put any weight on that leg, I'm not supposed to get up yet."

"Oh, baby," Choyce said from the doorway. Her six-month pregnant belly was her most prominent feature at present. Her brown eyes were filled with tears as she took in her husband. Without a word, she ran to his side, throwing her arms around his neck and sobbing against him.

"I'm alright, baby," Simeon told his boo, holding her and rubbing her stomach as he soothed her. Mirror and Desmond followed her into the room, heading for me. I dapped each of them, giving the couple a moment.

"Sup, fam?" I managed to get out before my stomach gave an embarrassingly loud gurgle that caught everyone's attention. We all fell out laughing.

"I just woke up," I protested weakly as I wiped an imaginary tear from my eye. "Look, let me jump in the shower real quick and I'll be ready to deal with y'all."

"You remember what happened yesterday?" Old Man Sim asked, annoying me further because I'd forgotten. All I wanted to do was shower and dress before my girl got here. I grabbed my things without answering and headed for the bathroom.

"Des, I need a favor. Could you stand in front of the door while I'm showering? Imma only be a few minutes, but-"

"Can't you just lock the door?"

"Can't. The doors don't lock here," all three of my cousins looked at me like I was crazy and I shrugged. Choyce looked at her husband, who nodded and shrugged. "Just stand in front of the door and make sure nobody gets in. Like a bodyguard." Considering that Desmond owned a nightclub, the comparison made sense.

He still sucked his damn teeth before he did it.

Secure in the knowledge that my shower would be uninterrupted, I still cleaned up fast and got out of there.

"What the hell kinda place can't afford locks on the doors?" Desmond asked in annoyance as I left the bathroom.

"The kind where suicides like to lock themselves in the bathroom," I answered nonchalantly. That shut him up.

"Looking good, cuz," Mirror changed the subject. "Who you looking for?" That got Choyce's attention where she'd been quietly fussing at Simeon.

"You got a girl? Where she at?" Sheeba was suddenly standing in the doorway as if summoned. I tried to wipe the goofy grin off my face at seeing her, but her shy smile got me. She took a step into the room and was immediately cut off by Desmond.

"Damn girl! You so short I'm 'bout to ask how the weather is down there!" Everyone started laughing and her smile froze. Before I could intervene, shorti stood up for herself.

"Yeah, I will remind you that I am short, and therefore can get at your junk faster than you can. Whatsup?" The two stared at each other intensely before Desmond laughed again, causing her to smirk.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about," he chuckled. She nodded with a smile before addressing the room at large.

"My name is Sheeba and I'm a nurse on this unit, though I'm not Simeon's nurse tonight. I usually don't come by so early, but I managed to get some good leads on houses for rent in the area. Here's a list of numbers," she said, handing the list to Desmond without interrupting her info dump. "The phone behind the bed there is good for local calls. Just dial '9' to get out. I'll try to get back here before the shift ends for proper introductions, but it all depends on my patient load. Y'all take care. Oh, and don't forget to keep up with your pain meds OS. It's hard to get back under control once you lose the race with it." She turned around and left without waiting for a response.

Everyone laughed hard at that. "Why'd you antagonize that girl, Des?" Mirror asked through his laughter.

"What? Everyone's so damn short in this country! I feel like I'm walking in the land of the Oompa Loompas or some shit." Before anyone could comment, a five-foot-six woman appeared at the door.

"Hello. My name is Soo Lin and I am your nurse for the evening. Is it okay if I come in and assess you, Simeon?"

"Sure, come on in, Soo Lin. These are my cousins, Desmond, Mirror, and Steele, and my wife, Choyce. How you doing tonight?" The nurse nodded at each of our people before turning back to her patient.

"I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. I just want to take vital signs and listen to your insides. How's your pain? What would you rate it on a scale of 1 to 10?" We left her to do her assessment after that. The Asian nurse was efficient and no-nonsense. She did her thing and left.

"Please tell me that ain't your girl," Des laughed.

"What's the matter with Soo Lin?" I asked defensively. For some reason, I felt protective of the staff here.

"She too stiff. She'd never make it in our family," Choyce said with a shrug. "That Sheeba, though…"

"Why y'all frontin like Sheeba ain't his boo?" Mirror once again spoke up. This was unusual for the man. Mirror tended to be as quiet as me in conversation. "Y'all can't have missed how shorti lit up when she came in the room. Plus, she had that list."

"She's so cute," Choyce squealed. "I love how she shut that short shit of Des's down right away."

"Yeah, I like her. She real. Even if she ultra polite," Des said as he handed the list to Simeon to look over.

Simeon and Desmond started making calls and writing down quotes. While those two took care of the housing, the rest of us worked on getting food. Choyce was looking for fried chicken, so when we learned there was a Popeyes Louisiana Chicken in town, we left on a mission to grab some. I think her eyes were bigger than her stomach, 'cause we came back with enough chicken to feed a small army. Digging in, though, I could admit that it was a good call.

Sheeba

It took until midnight to get all my charting done on my patients.

I stumbled over to room ten on one flickering brain cell after submitting my overtime request. I didn't get either of my breaks. One of my patients was restrained by his arms and legs because he'd lost his shit and started punching and kicking everyone in range while screaming obscenities in the middle of the shift. Then another of my new patients started making threats against me and racial slurs that forced me to call security to keep from punching him in the mouth. I have no idea why he even bothered to come into hospital if he hates doctors so much. All I wanted right now was a hug. Three of my four good patients were replaced on shift with these bad ass idiots. The third one was an alcohol withdrawal patient who was actively withdrawing. He only needed his arms restrained so he'd stop trying to rip up his IVs and foley. Poor room 25 had to sit in the hall all shift because she was so confused and kept trying to walk, not remembering that she was weak and kept falling when we weren't there to help. God, what a shift!

Everything in me wanted to go home, but I didn't want Steele to think I couldn't handle his cousin and his 'short' comments. What he said was actually funny. And I wanted to meet his other cousins. So I dragged myself to Simeon's room. I frowned at the worried look on my new boyfriend's handsome face, accepting his hug.

"What a shit show! I can't stay long, but I had to see you after such a crappy shift."

"You look like you about to pass out," he nodded at me, moving us to the daybed.

"I feel like I'm about to pass out," I told him honestly. "The shift started out weird with Alice pulling me into her office to talk about Erica and her bullshit. But it's like it's a full moon or something! They kept moving my patients and replacing them with these demons. It was horrible." I hugged him and breathed him in. Wow, he smelled amazing as he always did.

"You want to get in on this chicken before Choyce finishes it off?" he asked, obviously trying for a joke. I looked around, making a mental note to clean my smudged glasses the next time I got a chance. I was slumped in his strong arms, feeling about two seconds from collapse. Mustering my resolve. I looked around and grinned tiredly.

"Y'all went to Popeyes? I'm jealous." I sighed. "I shouldn't-"

"When did you last eat?" he asked me forcefully, tilting my face up to his. I could feel his disapproval as I tried to come up with an answer for him.

"I… I haven't eaten today," I finally said in alarm. "I overslept and said I'd eat when I got here. Then the Unit Manager pulled me into her office and I didn't have time to research my patients properly. I said I'd eat during my break, but I didn't get either one of them. No… I haven't eaten all day. No wonder I'm-"

"You better sit down and have some of this chicken," Choyce broke into the conversation. I looked the pregnant woman over, then gave in with a smile.

"I appreciate that. Let me go get a plate and I'll warm it up. I'd decline, but I'm starving right now." I jumped up and swayed before getting my bearings to head to the storage room for plates and silverware. When I came back and saw just how much food was there, I loaded up before heading to the microwave. I cleaned my plate without a trace of shame and made up another one. After starting my third helping, I finally remembered that Old Man Sim and Steele had company.

"Sorry. I'm usually not like this. But it's been an exceptionally bad day."

"Do you usually skip meals?" Des asked.

"Never," I shrugged. "I'm usually the poster child for taking breaks and eating when hungry. But it couldn't be helped today. We had to call security on my patient in room 26 and room 24 is in four-point restraints right now. And that's on top of his isolation. It was a zoo, but I think all the fires were put out by the time I did handover reports for the night shift. It was just… everything up to that point was just… Nightmare. I put in for overtime on my missed hour of breaks. That was beyond ridiculous."

"Where did you learn to talk so proper?" Des asked. I glared at him, giving him a look that shut that line of questioning down with the quickness. There was an awkward silence that I ignored. This felt like 'Oreo' territory and after a shift like I'd had, that was unacceptable. I was finishing off my mac and cheese when the other male cousin started a new conversation.

"I'm Kharon, but I go by Mirror. Where you from?" he asked in a non-threatening way. I studied him for a minute before answering, mentally reprimanding myself for being sensitive.

"I'm originally from West Philadelphia. As trite as it sounds, I was born and raised there until we left the city when I was ten and moved to a suburb."

"Philly, huh? How did you end up in Western Canada? I'm Choyce, Simeon's wife."

"Pleased to meet you, Choyce. Simeon talks about you often. As for why I'm here, I came up to visit, watched a gorgeous sunset over the mountains, and realized that I was more at home here than I was in Philly. So I moved."

"That must have been one hell of a sunset. I'm Desmond, Simeon's road dawg. Call me Des."

"Believe me, Des, it was. I felt compelled to be here. My family was not happy with it. But I got a partial scholarship to the University of Calgary, got two jobs after graduating high school, and grabbed a Greyhound across the country. They let me ship a bunch of my stuff to my dorm room so I could fit the rest on the bus at the end of the summer. It was hard, and the culture shock would have been insurmountable without my friends, but I made it work. It was my first time having friends who goofed off like me, which made it easier." I accepted the ice-cold Dr. Pepper from Steele with a warm smile. "What did you find out about those houses?"

"Our best bet is a two bed, 1 bath house in Hidden Valley. It's going for $3000 a month." I choked on my drink. Hidden Valley? That was in the Northwest part of the city! And there were four of them in two rooms, one a girl! With only one bathroom between them!

"What?" I exclaimed at last. "3 Grand for a 1 bedroom apartment of a house half a city's drive away? The daily commute is going to kill you, even if you choose non-peak times! Do you have pictures of the place?" Des handed his phone over and I couldn't believe that this woman was crazy enough to post pictures of this small, cramped, dirty house. There were actual mouse turds on the floor! And the dark ring in the bathtub made me want to hurl. "This… This is actually on sale? They oughta be ashamed of themselves. The place isn't even clean!"

"None of them are," Des defended his choice. "I figured, we'd buy some cleaning supplies and make the trip tomorrow. Then-"

"Nah… Nah! If they're charging that much, the place should at least be clean. And there are clearly mice in that house! My house is larger than this!"

"You have a house?" Choyce asked in wonder.

"Of course I do! Renting is a black hole for your money," I heard myself starting to rant and reeled it in. But come on! There was no way I could let them go to such a filthy place, even temporarily.

"I have 3 rooms, but I'm using one," I mumbled. "1 and a half baths. There's no furniture in the bedrooms, but there's a sofa bed in the living room and the basement is empty except for my gym equipment…"

"Sheeba?" He was looking at me like that one crazy guy wandering the streets in the middle of the day talking to himself. I said a quick prayer on it and was flooded with peace over my decision.

"Pay me half what they're charging," I said at last. "The bedrooms are unfurnished, so you'd have to sleep on the floor. But the floors were just vacuumed on Sunday. There's fresh bedding - I happen to collect thick towel sets and quilts - and a sofa bed for you, Choyce. I keep the place clean at least. And there's a gym in my basement. $1500 and you can stay with me. There's food in the pantry, a grocery store right down the street, and the hospital is fifteen minutes away."

"Are you sure, Hefsiba?" Steele asked in awe. "I know that you like your space."

"If that is your best prospect, then hell yeah! It's ridiculous that someone would post those pictures and expect…" I was furious, but it wasn't my place to judge. I took a deep, cleansing breath instead. "I tend to listen to my music loud, but I can use headphones for $1500 a month." I looked up at Mirror. "You haven't signed anything yet, have you? Haven't given those trifling people any money?"

"Nah, shorti. We told them all that we needed to discuss it and we'd get back to them first thing tomorrow. The plan was to sleep here tonight and figure it out tomorrow." Mirror told me.

"Y'all ain't sleeping on this dirty ass floor. My floors are carpeted and they're clean. We gotta go now, though," I told them with a weary glance at the clock. It was a quarter after midnight already. "I'm exhausted and I have to work tomorrow. If y'all got a car, you can just follow me home. Otherwise, you can all pile into my car."

"I rented a car," Mirror said, beginning to gather the trash to throw out.

"Where are y'all parked?" I stretched, throwing my trash in the already overflowing trash can. I changed the bag and collected everyone's garbage before throwing it in the dirty utility room. When I came back, Steele was packed up and ready.

"I'll bring them back to you in one piece, Simeon. I promise," I smiled at the patient gently. I could tell that these people were close and used to being near each other. He nodded and reached out for a hug, one that I happily gave. "Come on. The front of house elevators are this way." We made our way to the front of the unit and I used my badge to let them out of the locked part of the unit.

"I would have thought you'd be long gone after the day you had," Landi laughed. I joined her tiredly.

"I was contemplating quitting and joining the circus, but… nah." We shared another laugh.

"Can you hear room 24 screaming?"

"Honestly, I blocked him out after a while. I mean, damn! Is it a full moon or something?"

"Actually, it is," Landi shrugged.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," the Charge Nurse laughed. "The crazies are in full swing right now. I've got to admit two more tonight. It's insane."

"See, stuff like this makes me want to develop a flu, or cold, or plague so I can skip tomorrow."

"Nope! You and me are in this together, hon!"

"You're right. I'll see you tomorrow." With a jaunty wave, I left my friend to her work and went out the back door, turning back around when I noticed footsteps behind me. "Um… where… Aren't you going out the front to get to your car?"

"We'll go with you and then find the car," Mirror explained.

"Um… Okay, I guess. But I have to grab my stuff from my locker."

"That's fine, Babygirl," Steele said. I quickly started on my way, feeling my body heating up. After exchanging my work things for my boots and purse so I could go home, I headed out of the locker room. The four of them were still outside the locker room waiting for me. It felt nice to have people to hang out with on the way to my car. I was usually on my own for these trips. Not that I cared that I was such an army of one, but joking with people like this was new and pleasant for me.

"...What you think, Sheeba?" Des said, bringing me back to the present.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was zoning out. Please repeat the question." The group laughed at my expense. I was tempted to take offense, but it wasn't worth it. "What?" I asked defensively. Steele came over and wrapped me in his arms and suddenly I didn't care about anything else.

"You smell so good," he whispered against my head. I snuggled against him as I walked to the back elevators.

"I use soap and deodorant only. It's a scent-free hospital." He chuckled and I relaxed against him. We were walking fast, or at least I was. Either way, the pace was comfortable for both of us because he didn't ask me to speed up and I didn't have to ask him to slow down. We were in our own little world; I halfway forgot that we weren't alone until I pushed the button to call the elevator and turned to see three Cheshire cat smiles. The intense heat from my face could have replaced the furnace in my house.

"When did this start?" Simeon's woman asked gently.

"Yesterday," I decided to be honest. Steele hugged me from behind and I hugged his arms, feeling content. "Are all your family tall and gorgeous like y'all, Des?" The elevator door opened and we shuffled inside.

"We're carbon copies of our grandmother, Sheeba. She's 6 feet 1 inch, and we get our hazel eyes from her too. Grandpop was 7 feet even. I think Taylor is the shortest, and she's 6 feet even. She our only girl cousin. The other 29 of us are between 6'4" and 6'6"."

"Except Travis and Sherrod. They're 6'8" and 6'7". If you gonna host us for the next two months, you're likely to meet one or both of them," Mirror told me. I nodded around a yawn. Things were quiet the rest of the way to my electric hybrid sedan. Steele loaded his luggage in the trunk and everyone piled into the car, my boyfriend in the front seat, Des behind me and Choyce in the middle. I decided to go with it.

"Everybody fastened in?" I asked as if I did this all the time.

"It's not far to our rental," Des smiled.

"The car don't start until everyone is buckled in," I told him stubbornly. "That's how I was raised. Accidents aren't predictable." The sound of seatbelts fastening was gratifying. I started the car and the short trip to their rental and was suddenly glad I'd insisted on seat belts when someone cut us off right in the parking lot. "Woah!" I cried out, barely avoiding an accident. "Everybody okay?" I questioned my passengers, trying to get my heart rate under control.

"We good," Des exhaled sharply. "Damn, girl! It's a good thing you insisted on these seatbelts!"

"Word, "Mirror was laconically.

"I honestly didn't see that coming. But whatever. Where's your car?"

"When we came in, we didn't go down the ramp and everything was green."

"Parking level one, forest section," I mumbled as I headed for the other side of the parking lot. Their car was one of the last in the section, complete with a ticket. I sighed. We'd have to get here early tomorrow to deal with it. "If you're going to be staying for long stretches, it would behoove you to come down part way through your visit to pay for parking. Or get a 24-hour pass," I shrugged. "I'll show you where to go to pay the ticket off tomorrow. In fact, if y'all want to stay with Old Man Sim for a shift's worth of time, I could just drive you here. I'm allowed to stay here 24-7. I pay and it comes right out of my paycheck."

"How much does it cost you?"

"I haven't a clue, Choyce. It comes right out of my paycheck. I know that it's expensive, but I'm willing to pay for it. I consider it a tax so I don't have to scrape ice off my car at midnight."

"Your Mama would be proud." I couldn't help my laughter.

"My mom was horrified that I spent so much money on parking. She's cheap like that. She used to bug me about the expense all the time, but I started giving her weather updates in the dead of Winter and she stopped. Our idea of 'cold' is very different up here. Anyway, load up and follow me. Y'all can park in front of the house and I'll take the back." I took the ticket off the car, determined to be the one to pay it off. It was only fifty bucks and it wasn't their fault that they didn't know any better. Choyce, Desmond, and Mirror got out of the car to go to the rental, which surprised me. "You don't want to hang with your family?" I asked. Steele simply slid across the seat with a sexy smirk that revved my hormones. It took the other car's horn beeping for me to realize that I'd been staring at him for a good, long time. Blushing furiously, I got my ass in gear to get them to my home.

When we got home, we trudged through the light dusting of snow in my backyard to the back door.

"Sorry for the lack of light. I don't use this entrance often."

"How you supposed to know about something you just found out about?" Steele answered. He was breathing hard, his teeth chattering as he talked. I didn't understand; it was only -5 Celsius! Then I did some rough math in my head and realized that 23 degrees Fahrenheit was a little cold for Americans.

…Or at least Americans without a decade of experience with it.

I quickly let us in the back door, turning on the lights as I went. I stomped the snow off my boots on the back rug and took them off. "Um… We don't wear shoes in the house up here," I mentioned to him when he went to go to the front door. There was no frantic knocking at the front door, which surprised me. Setting my boots on the large rug by the front door, I opened the door to see that none of them had even come out of the car! Giggling, I put back on my boots to help unload the car. Turns out that the boys were quite efficient at unloading the car, especially when motivated by the weather. Soon their things were in my house's living room. Desmond made his way to my couch, but a quick 'no shoes in the house' had him and the others rushing to take off their shoes.

"Damn, girl! This place is nice," Des said, settling on the couch.

"Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable. That couch has the sofa bed in it. My buddy Pod said that it's more comfortable with the air mattress, which is right there," I pointed to the black lump beside the couch. "Come on. Let's get the luggage upstairs. Choyce, where do you want your stuff? Probably beside the bed, right? There's a half bathroom down here in the laundry room. I'm not using it for anything; feel free to set up in there. As for the rest of you, you'll have to get by with the bathroom on the landing. I'll show you where your rooms are." As we ascended the stairs, I heard Mirror mutter 'damn! Your girl be like a tiny drill sergeant!" Ignoring the laughter and byplay, I continued up the curved staircase. "Sorry about the light for the staircase. I can't reach the light up there to change the bulb, not even if I jump." More laughter. "These are your rooms. Steele seems to be pretty comfortable on the floor, so I'm hoping you will be too. Like I said before, the carpets are plush and clean. I'll grab some blankets for the four of you - I happen to collect interesting blankets and quilts as a hobby. Here's the bathroom. It's nothing fancy, but it's empty and it's clean. I-"

"This is perfect," Steele said, folding me into his arms. "Thank you so much for sharing your home with us, Hefsiba." I automatically stopped trying to defend my home to them. I rested against him until I felt myself starting to sag against him and pulled away. "The bulk of the blankets are in the closet in that bathroom, but if you come with me, I'll show you where the quilts are." We took the short trip to my bedroom. In my closet, on the top shelf because I never used them, were a multitude of quilts and blankets. "Help yourself. It's not cold enough for me to use any of them. I've got a step stool downstairs if you-" He gave me a look and grabbed all the bedding. He didn't even have to stand on his tip toes! "Must be nice…" I muttered, feeling jealous. Before I could edit myself - I was tired and all my inner thoughts were starting to come out - he grabbed me and kissed me senseless. I heard a moan rub its way out of the back of my throat and tried to back away in embarrassment. Steele was having none of it. He simply adjusted me and the blankets in his arms and continued to kiss the mouth off of me.

"Well, damn. If y'all gon get all cozy like that, at least hand me the blankets. They look warm as fuck in this cold ass country of yours." I felt the blankets pressed against my side disappear and had roughly one second of mortification before he pressed me against the wall of my closet and lifted me up so our heights matched. We stayed in that love haze, kissing and sucking each other's tongues and touching, until I heard the air mattress being inflated. I pulled back slightly, feeling soft and languid, and stared deep into his amazing hazel eyes. He stared back for a long time and it didn't get awkward at all.

"I should help them get settled," he murmured at last.

"Okay," I nodded, my mind still in a haze. He could have asked me anything, absolutely anything, and I wouldn't have been able to answer. My name, my age, the current Premier of Alberta… It was all a blank. Realizing just how far gone I was for him, I blinked and shook my head. That's when I remembered that I was not in contact with the ground by any means. My legs were wrapped around his trim waist and I'd been unconsciously pulsing against him.

"You know, you were working me over pretty good for a virgin," he chuckled, unlocking my legs so I could stand on my own two feet. My face heated at the playful accusation.

"Wh-what makes you think I'm-"

"Shh…" he soothed me. "Hush, love. I gotchu. But I gotta get my cousins together and this isn't the way I want you to lose your flower. Good night. I'll check you out in the morning." He leaned in for one last kiss, one that promised things. When he pulled away, I followed him, up to my tiptoes, and he chuckled and caressed my face, chuckling more when my head rolled back. "Yeah. I gotta keep my wits about me around you, Babygirl." It took a few more minutes for us to fully disengage, and when we did, he straightened himself up and left the room. I stared after him dreamily, trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing.

It was going to be a long night.