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1776 Words
Rather than taking his boyfriend home like he was told to do, Markus brought Jaxon to Toronto General Hospital instead. Walking him inside, he sneered at the man guarding the door. Knowing that the guy was replacing the old guard, he rolled his eyes when the man walked over to them.
Instead of berating them, he asked if they required assistance. Breathing a sigh of relief, Markus’ sneer turned into a smile as he finally recognized the man as one of Kennedy and Memphis’ players.
Accepting the aid, he nudged Jaxon into the wheelchair that the guard grabbed for him. Getting to the desk, he glared at the woman staring at him. “Doctor Hansson, please.”
“She’s not taking new patients,” the nurse replied.
“We have been her patients since we were kids, so please get her for me. My name is Markus Roberts, and this is Jaxon Marks. He was recently attacked at school and needs to be seen.” Knowing that his stature was intimidating enough, he let his fluid body movements speak for him.
The nurse paled. Numbly, she reached for the phone to her left and placed a call. “Is Doctor Hansson in her office, Clarice? Okay, thanks.”
She looked up a few moments later, “She’s in her office. Go on up.”
“Thank you.”
Once they were alone inside the elevator, he sighed heavily. He could see the teen slowly losing his fight with his inner demons. He’d promised to watch out for him, and failed miserably in the task. Though it was not his fault, he now understood why his father preached about not making random promises.
Brushing a stray strand out of his boyfriend’s face, he winced. “I’m so sorry, Jax. I should have been there.”
Doing his best to hold himself together, Jaxon shook his head. “This is why I started training. So that I would be able to help myself when none of my teammates were around. You’re not at fault, Mark. Neither of us could have predicted that happening, and I have no idea how he got off with his earlier attack on me. I can only assume that something happened in the dean's office.”
“We’re good, then?” Markus whispered, his arm encircling Jaxon’s waist.
“Always,” Jaxon breathed.
The silver door slid open, letting them off on the floor where Ambrosia worked. Heading straight to her office, he tried not to think of the what-ifs that were circling his mind in a downward spiral. He didn’t want to be blamed for this, but Jaxon had a point. There was no way to predict the end-of-day outcome that hit them so suddenly. Feeling his phone buzzing in his pocket, he pulled it out.
Glancing at the screen, he winced. “It’s your father, babe.”
“Answer it,” Jaxon deadpanned.
Steeling himself, he did as Jaxon asked. “Hey.”
“Where the hell are you?” David snapped. “That prick of a dean was paid off by that sonuvabitch’s mother earlier today, and I got home to find you hadn’t gotten back yet?”
Clearing his throat, Markus said, “I brought Jax to see Amber as a precaution.”
Hearing the sigh of relief on the other end had him relaxing a little more. “Good call. Thanks for being there for him, but don’t let it go to your head. Your father is going to have a field day with the administration this time around. Cal gave him a free pass.”
This time, he was careful not to say the word promise when he replied to David. It was too binding, too restrictive, and he didn’t like feeling guilty because of something that was out of his control. Slipping the phone into his pocket, he knocked on the office door.
A young nurse opened the door, her eyes holding a confused light as she looked them over. “Markus?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
Nodding, she stepped aside to let them in before she moved back to the nurse’s station.
Walking into the room, Markus finally relaxed completely. “Hey, Aunt Amber. Can you look Jax over for injuries, please?”
“What happened?” she asked, raising an auburn brow over her forest-green eyes. “Jaxon?”
He jumped at the mention of his name, his lip quivering as he realized he was finally in a safe haven. Dropping his head into his hands, he recounted the day he had to her. “So, yeah, Mark wanted me seen before we went home.”
“Understandable, really. Alright, since you can stand, I’ll have you change so that I can do a full-body check. Mark, go tell Veronica to come in,” Ambrosia said as she took charge of the situation.
Hours later, after making sure Jaxon got home safely, Markus rolled his eyes as he walked down the hall to his therapist’s office. He grimaced at the clichéd poster on the wall with a cat hanging off a wire and the inspirational words of “Hang in there, Kitty”.
If only that were all it took to boost someone’s spirits, he thought absently as he stopped at the reception desk. The man sitting behind it didn’t even spare him more than a glance as he typed away on the computer. “Markus Roberts to see Doctor Ramsey.”
“He’s running late, but I’ll let him know you’re here.” Handing the younger man a tablet, he said, “Like always, fill out the questionnaire, please and thanks. We’re a little busy today, seeing as it’s the last of the month.”
“Uh, sure,” Markus replied.
Taking the tablet, he moved to a quiet space and sat down. Looking over the now-familiar questions about his emotional and mental health, he pursed his lips.
Since the court ruling that saw both his mother and her best friend getting hauled off in cuffs for their illegal activities against his father, he’d been ordered into counselling along with his younger brother. Unfortunately, Lukas was unable to make it to this appointment due to having caught the same cold Jax had a mere month before.
The ruling, of course, was brought about due to his father explaining that their mother’s words and actions, both recently and in their childhood, had harmed them. When asked how, Trace told the judge everything that had been going on since the divorce.
Blowing out his cheeks, he blinked a few times as he thought about how to answer the listed questions and answers.
They were basic, commonly asked items, but he had to actually think about the answers before selecting them. Having switched therapy workers after what happened to Sky and Russell, the mob turned to creating its own with a highly-ranked man at the epicenter. The new therapist came with glowing recommendations from Seth Hopewell himself, and dealt with their patients differently.
Rather than the normal methods, they had their patients fill out what their mental state felt like since the last meeting, and how they were feeling emotionally. It helped the doctors get straight to the point in order to assist in the healing process.
Again, Markus blew out his cheeks. ‘Rate your mental health since your last visit?’ “Let’s see… four, I guess.”
Just as he finished the last one, his name was called. Moving to the office, he handed the tablet over to the doctor and sat down on the couch. Remaining quiet, he glanced around at the décor for a few minutes.
“Markus, I see here that your mental health seems to have taken a hit. Why don’t we start with that, so we can move on to more pleasant business?” the doctor asked.
“Sounds good,” Markus replied. “Um, so, I had another fight with my brother, but we resolved it pretty easily. I think it was today that tipped the scales, though.”
Nodding, the man said, “Let’s talk about that then. What happened?”
Explaining the events of the day, Markus felt a weight come off his shoulders. “I just… I dunno.”
“How did it make you feel to see him being kissed by another man?” Ramsey asked cautiously.
“It hurt. A lot,” Markus replied.
Nodding, Ramsey jotted down a few notes. “And when Jaxon turned on the one that assaulted him?”
A smile crept across Markus’s face. “I was so proud of him at that moment, but then he got cornered and overpowered after uni was done for the day. When no one else was around to help, they dragged him off to apparently teach him a lesson for making them look stupid.”
“I bet that made some unusual emotions come to the surface, didn’t it?” Ramsey gently probed, part of the healing process.
Markus nodded. “It, uh, it made me feel powerless. I felt like my heart was in a vice. I couldn’t breathe, and all I could think of was, had I been a minute later, he would have been seriously hurt.”
“Thankfully, he wasn’t. So why carry the guilt that you do right now?” Ramsey asked.
His gaze snapping to the man, Markus realized that this was why he came highly recommended by Seth. He swallowed the ego that was threatening to expose itself. “I promised I would be there to protect him forever, and I failed. I failed to keep my promise.”
Making a noise of agreement, Ramsey shifted his weight. “Mark, I want you to think about something for a moment. Think about why promises are made, and why your father taught you not to make them lightly. See, promises are like binding verbal contracts we make to others and ourselves. You also promised that you would work on yourself, didn’t you?”
Markus nodded.
“Okay, so let’s set aside all those other things that would only leave you feeling negative about yourself. Now, imagine that each of those promises are goal bars that you set for yourself. Is taking care of everyone else attainable if you forget to care for yourself?”
His mouth falling open, Markus thought over Ramsey’s words carefully. “No, it’s not. It’s out of reach. Wait… Is that why I feel like I’m not good enough? Because I set the bar too high?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Ramsey said with a kind smile.
- Writer
