Page 50 of The Bad Boy Rule

And I’m going to be the one that shatters that fucking house, razing every inch of it to the ground until there’s nothing left standing.

“Saint?” A soft voice pulls me out of my head, and I glance down to see Lennon staring up at me. Her brow is pulled tight, a bewildered expression on her face. “Did you hear what I said?”

“Nah, sorry, what?”

She looks slightly confused but repeats it slowly. “I said that we’re going to go ahead and go in while my parents are talking to Dr. Baker.” She waves her hand toward them as they both walk across the hospital and then disappear out of view.

I nod, opting to remain quiet.

“Ooookay.Let’s go.” Lennon turns on her heel and starts off down the hallway toward the end of the wing. The walls are painted in bright yellows, greens, and blues and are covered in finger-painted pictures that I can’t even begin to decipher. Along with the paintings, there are popsicle stick crafts, rainbow-colored construction paper folded flowers, and all of the patient room doors that we pass are decorated in a fall theme.

It’s the first time I think I’d ever call a hospital… cheerful.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” she murmurs, following my gaze. “It feels a lot less like a hospital and more like a home away from home.”

She’s right. It’s clear the staff make an effort to make it feel this way for the kids. I’ve only been to the hospital a few times, and most of them were for hockey. A few because of my dad.

One time, I got in a fight with my father that resulted in me needing stitches. I was probably eleven at the time, and the butterfly bandage I kept trying to close it with wouldn’t hold, and blood was getting all over the house. That only pissed him off more.

I was fucking terrified when we got to the hospital, mostly because I was scared of what would happen if I told the truth. He told the nurses it was a puck to the cheek, when in reality, it was his fist that caused it.

He wouldn’t even allow Mom to come with us, and we sat in the emergency room, covered in blood for hours that night. I hated it. It was stark white, sterile, and the overwhelming stench of antiseptic hung in my nose for the rest of the night.

At least these kids have the comfort of people who care about them and try to make their time here more bearable, more welcoming.

“If I was a kid, the last place I would want to be is stuck in a hospital. Scared, overwhelmed, away from my home, family, friends.” I look over at her, keeping the fact that I was that kid more than once. The scared one who felt alone, even though I was sitting around doctors, nurses, adults who could’ve helped me if I’d had the courage back then to tell the truth. “It’s good that they make them feel more at home.”

Her expression softens as the corner of her lip tilts up into a smile. “Wow, that might be the nicest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. I do have a reputation to uphold.”

“Mhmm.”

We stop at a set of double doors at the end of the hallway, and she pushes them open. I’m not sure what I was expecting to find, but a playroom wasn’t it. There are a handful of kids scattered across the room, coloring at wooden tables, sitting in miniature chairs made just for them. A couple are sitting on a plush blue bean bag in the corner, reading picture books, and then there’s a little girl with a button nose, probably five, maybe six, pushing a small grocery cart full of recycled boxes made into pretend food around the room with an older nurse.

There’s even a huge rainbow painted on the wall with a sea of clouds and a pot of gold at the end.

“Are we on a playdate right now, Golden Girl?” I ask, moving my attention to her, smirking when she rolls her eyes and laughs, soft and breathy.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to call it. This is where the kids get to hang out and play, which means we get to hang out here with them. C’mon, I’ll introduce you to a few of them.”

I follow behind her as she crosses the room to a small wooden table where a little boy sits, wearing a plush gray robe. He looks up as we approach, and the smile that transforms his face at the sight of Lennon is almost enough to thaw my black heart.

Almost.

“Lemon!” he cries, knocking his small blue chair backward as he stands and rushes over to her as fast as he can with the small oxygen tank on wheels trailing behind him. She squats down, opening her arms just as he barrels into them, throwing his small arms around her neck, squeezing her tightly.

He’s clearly familiar with her, comfortable in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I guess she visits the hospital more than I thought she did.

Add it to her list of Golden Girl accolades.

Except this one… I respect the fuck out of her for it.

“Hi, little guy,” she murmurs after a second, pulling back to look up at me. “There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”

The kid looks up at me warily, not entirely standoffish, more cautious than anything.

“This is my friend Saint. He came to hang out with us today.” She looks down at him, wearing a grin. “Guess what? He loves to color.”

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