Page 28 of A Sudden Response

“Sorry, no can do. You’re not supposed to drive while you have those pills in your system. So, I guess you’ll just have to stay home and rest like a good little girl.”

“Eric-” she started to say, only to be cut off.

“Besides, I can’t really talk right now. I’m kind of busy here with work and all, but before I forget, I was supposed to tell you that Mom is hurt that you wouldn’t let us call her last night.”

“Wh-What?” Joe managed to choke out. “Who the hell told Mom?” she demanded, wondering which one of them had broken their pact to keep Alice in the dark about injuries, illness, and hangovers. It had to be Nathan, Joe thought, inwardly cursing. Eric knew better. Besides, he would never screw her over like this. He-

“I did, of course. You know it’s really not nice to keep Mom in the dark about these kinds of things. Now, if you don’t mind, I really do have to get back to work,”Eric said cheerfully.

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” Joe said hollowly as she started to panic.

“Not even a little bit.”

Just as a few choice words popped into her head, she heard her front door open and swallowed hard. “Eric, please tell me that’s you coming into the house right now.”

“Sweetheart?” Alice said, ruining all Joe’s hopes that Eric had lied. “I made Jell-O!”

“I hate you,” Joe mumbled into the phone before hanging up, but not before she heard the little bastard laugh.

CHAPTER 12

“Did they arrest him?” Greg asked Teddy as the two of them leaned back against one of the box trucks.

Teddy shrugged as he pulled out a cigarette. “They probably will.”

Eric shifted the empty oxygen tank to his left hand so he could reach over and flick the cigarette out of Teddy’s mouth. “No smoking in the garage, dickhead,” he said, gesturing to the sign behind him.

With a sigh, Teddy put his pack away but made no move to help Eric as he prepared truck fifteen for service. That didn’t surprise him since the prick was fucking lazy. He only exerted himself when he had to, and he made damn sure that he didn’t have to most days. Normally that was bad enough, but today, they had Greg third-riding with them because the damn kid still needed to complete his training time. He really wished Bill had managed to get someone else to fill in for Joe today. He hated having this asshole influencing any of the newbies since the last thing any of them needed was another Teddy.

“Has anyone showed you how to fill the tanks?” Eric asked Greg.

“Yeah, I learned that a few days ago,” Greg said, shrugging it off.

“Good,” Eric said, shoving the empty tank in his arms. “Then, fill this up.”

Greg looked like he was going to argue, but thankfully, for his sake, he kept his mouth shut. Eric wasn’t in the mood to deal with any bullshit today.

“What will happen to him?” Greg asked, picking the conversation back up as he reluctantly did what he was told.

“He’ll be sent for an evaluation and have his medication tweaked until they find a dosage that works. Then, he’ll most likely be sent to a new residential program,” Eric said, walking over to the supply shelves to grab a box of extra-large synthetic gloves. He was just about to grab a box of mediums out of habit when he remembered that Joe wasn’t working with him today.

“He’s not going to get arrested for hurting Joe?”

“No,” Eric said. “He’s a psychiatric patient. He’s pretty much covered while he’s receiving help.”

“That’s fucked up,” Greg said.

“That’s the job,” Eric said, grabbing a box of pens and a fresh pack of run sheets.

“What about the residential home? Will they get into trouble?”

Eric chuckled without humor. “A slap on the hand.”

“Joe could sue the program,” Teddy suggested, mostly to start shit.

“She can sue?” Greg asked, sounding too fucking eager for Eric’s peace of mind.

“She could, but she won’t,” Eric said firmly. That was too much drama, time, and bullshit for Joe.

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