reached for the antacids that stopped helping a long time ago.
He popped two pills in his mouth, swallowed, and tossed the empty box on the bathroom counter before pushing himself toward the shower. He shoved the armrest out of the way with trembling hands, reached over and grabbed hold of the white plastic bench and moved to transition himself only to end up tightening his hold on the bench as another wave of nausea tore through him as black spots danced along his vision.
For several minutes, he sat there, struggling to catch his breath as nausea and pain battled for control until it became too fucking much for him to handle. Releasing his hold on the bench, Chase dropped his head in his trembling hands as he struggled not to lose his fucking mind. He released a shaky breath as he sat there wondering what he’d done to deserve this.
Every day was worse than the last and he honestly wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. It was bad enough that he was stuck in this fucking wheelchair, but the pain…
God, the fucking pain was slowly killing him.
Something had to fucking give, Chase thought as he heard the bathroom door open behind him. Releasing another shaky breath, he said, “Get the fuck out,” only to bite back a groan when more pain shot down his spine.
“Sorry it took so long, but the pharmacy was backed up,” Sloane said, ignoring him as she walked into the bathroom and placed two white plastic bags on the counter with a sigh.
“Don’t fucking care,” he managed to get out, praying that the pain swallowed him whole before he lost it.
“They were able to fill all of your prescriptions,” Sloane said while she sorted through the bags, pulling out prescription bottles and placing them in the medicine cabinet as he sat there, struggling to breathe as he watched her, so fucking close to begging her for something that would stop this.
Just when he felt himself about to do just that, Chase ground his jaw and told himself that the pain would be gone soon. He didn’t need her help, didn’t want it, and he wasn’t about to fucking beg for it. He–
“This should help with the pain,” Sloane said as she placed a small plastic cup with three pills in one of his hands and pressed a bottle of water in the other.
He waited until she turned her back before he tossed the pills in his mouth and swallowed them along with half the bottle of water, damn near sighing in relief because it had been a long time since he had anything stronger than Advil to deal with the pain. While he waited for the pills to kick in, he watched her as she went to throw away the empty bags only to pause when she saw the bloody mess in the wastebasket.
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her to mind her own fucking business when she picked up the wastebasket and dumped the contents into the toilet. Once she was done, she rinsed out the wastebasket, dumped the water in the toilet, and placed it back on the floor before grabbing a pink bottle from the medicine cabinet. Without a word, she filled a small plastic cup with the pink liquid before passing it to him with a murmured, “This should help with your stomach,” and shifted her attention to the shower behind him.
Watching her, Chase drank the liquid that tasted like strawberries before tossing the plastic cup on the bathroom counter. She didn’t say anything or try to lecture him as she started the shower, which was the only reason that he didn’t stop her when she reached for his shirt. Once she had it off, he reached down with trembling hands and worked on shoving his shorts off. It took several attempts and a bit of help from her, but once he had them off, he allowed her to help him transition to the plastic bench and as soon as he was settled, he couldn’t help but groan when the hot water hit his aching muscles, making it easier to breathe.
“I was able to get you a doctor’s appointment tomorrow,” the woman that was wasting her time said as she grabbed a facecloth off the shelf.
“Cancel it,” Chase said, dropping his head forward beneath the stream of hot water while Sloane ran the facecloth over his back, forcing him to bite back a groan.