Page 6 of Juno

Saint

His arm hurt like a son of a bitch, and arguing with Juno was grating on his last nerve, even if it did help him forget some of the pain. She was the most stubborn woman he had ever known, but he already knew that about her. She was one of Dare’s best friends, and while his little brother didn’t have any friends over to the house after their parents died, Juno always called him to check on him and was always hanging around him when Saint picked Dare up from school. Juno was a good friend to his brother and even helped him get through losing his parents and having Saint become his guardian. It was an adjustment period for both of them, but he’d do it all over again to keep his brother out of the foster care system.

The thing about Juno was—he actually liked her stubbornness. It turned him on. Saint had always liked his women a little fiery, and she was an inferno. The problem remained that she was Dare’s best friend, and over four years younger than him. Saint never dated younger women. They usually liked to play games, and he didn’t have time for games. But Juno didn’t seem the type of woman who liked games either.

He looked over to find her crying and he wondered what he had said to upset her. He knew that he wasn’t the nicest guy, but making her cry wasn’t the plan. “Why are you crying?” he asked.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks, “I was just thinking that I probably won’t have my apartment for too much longer,” she said. “I mean, if I can’t pay my rent, I’m pretty sure that my landlord won’t let me keep living there.”

“I’m sure that you’ll be able to find another job soon,” he assured.

“Not one that will pay my bills,” she insisted. “I was barely making it on my own before losing my crappy job. And all my friends are married and even have kids, so crashing on their couches isn’t an option.”

“Can you find a cheaper place to live?” he asked.

“I’ve tried, but all of the rent-controlled apartments are taken, and I had no choice but to take the place that I’m in. I’m going to have to move back in with my parents, and I don’t know if I can do that. I’d rather live in my car,” she said.

“Well, it is big enough,” he teased. She shot him a look, letting him know that she wasn’t in a joking mood right now. “Sorry,” he breathed.

“If I move back in with them, I’ll never hear the end about me going to college. They don’t understand that not everyone is cut out for college. Hell, I barely made it out of high school in one piece.” Saint wondered what she meant by that, but he was distracted as she pulled into the hospital entrance, and he pointed at the emergency room sign. Juno followed the signs to the back of the building and pulled up to the ER entrance.

“I’ll help you out and then park your truck,” she said.

“That’s not necessary,” Saint insisted. “I can walk.” He looked around the dimly lit parking lot and thought about all of the bad things that could happen to a woman who was walking alone at night.

“Is this your way of protecting me from all of the imaginary monsters who live in the dark?” He shook his head, but then thought better of lying to her, and nodded.

“I’m just trying to look out for you, Juno,” he said. That was partially true. Plus, he was starting to like the little fireball and if something happened to her now, he wouldn’t get the chance to ask her out—not that he had fully decided if that was a wise decision or not yet.

“Suit yourself,” she breathed, “if you want to walk, then you can fucking walk.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled. She pulled around to the parking lot and parked his truck in the middle of nowhere. He was pretty sure that she had picked the furthest spot from the emergency room’s entrance just to punish him for being a decent guy. Saint decided to pretend that it didn’t bother him at all to walk so far, even though his arm felt like it was on fire.

They walked in silence to the ER and that was fine by him. He was able to deal with her anger rather than her tears. As soon as they got into the emergency room, Juno took charge, telling the woman behind the desk what had happened in detail, leaving out the part about them being in a parking lot at the strip club. By the time she finished telling the nurse about his accident, she handed him a clipboard with papers attached and a pen.

“Fill these out and bring them back up here when you’re finished,” the nurse ordered.

“Thank you,” Saint said, taking the clipboard from her. Juno followed him over to the waiting room and sat down next to him.

“Do you need me to fill those out for you?” Juno asked.

“I think that I can handle it,” he said, “I broke my left arm, remember? I’m right-handed so filling out the paperwork shouldn’t hurt too much.”

“Suit yourself,” she said. She seemed to say that a lot to him, but Saint decided to ignore her comment and started filling out the papers. He fumbled through his wallet, trying to grab his insurance card out, and failed miserably using only one hand. Juno sat back in her chair and smiled over at him. He could feel her silently gloating when he finally gave up.

“Can you please help me get my insurance card out of my wallet?” he asked.

“But you have your right hand. It’s not broken,” she taunted.

“Juno, for just once tonight could you not give me any shit? I just need help getting my card out of my wallet,” he said.

“Fine,” she said, taking the wallet from him, “but you could have at least said please.”

“Please,” he added as she handed him back the card. He finished filling out the paperwork and took it up to the lady behind the desk.

“Your wife really likes to give you hell, doesn’t she?” He looked back at Juno and laughed.

“She’d not my wife. In fact, we really don’t know each other. She’s my little brother’s best friend,” he explained.

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