Page 58 of Taken By the Convicts
“It’s well-stocked with anti-seizure medicine,” Melina said as she sifted through the kit. “You’re better stocked than the med-center.” She measured out the dose. “I take it you’ve been helping yourself to supplies.”
“You’re giving him too much,” Jayce protested.
“I know what I’m doing. The dose is based on body weight and age.”
Age. Jayce hadn’t considered that. In the past, when he’d dosed Ivan, Jayce had consulted the database and made the best guess based on what he’d read, but he hadn’t been giving enough, apparently. She injected the medicine and Ivan’s body began relaxing, faster than usual. It was nice having a doctor here, someone who knew what she was doing.
Ivan’s eyes fluttered open. His eyes scanned all the faces. “You told them,” he said, glaring at Jayce.
“You did that,” Jayce said. “You had an episode.”
Melina took his pulse and checked his eyes. “He shouldn’t be having seizures from the—” she cut herself off.
“From the what, Mel?” Zev asked. “Finish your sentence.”
“Leave her be,” Ivan said as he tried unsuccessfully to rise.
“You can’t keep hiding this,” Jayce said.
“You’re allowed to keep your secrets, but I’m not allowed mine?”
He had him there. Except Ivan’s problem put them all at risk.
Melina felt for his pulse. “I can treat you, but not here, Ivan. Anti-seizure medicine is a temporary measure which will do more harm than good in the long term. It’s not a solution. Let me fix the underlying problem.”
“Which is what?” Zev pressed.
Melina leaned toward Crusher as she did when she felt threatened.
No, not threatened. Zev had never threatened her, not like Jayce had. But Zev had hit upon a subject that made her nervous, like it did Ivan. Jayce had only recently learned the full-brunt of what Ivan and his squad had gone through, how Melina had developed the drug that had killed his men. But Ivan had emphasized that Melina was innocent.
The way her eyebrows scrunched together and how she held Crusher’s arms around her as if she sought his protection made her look guilty, not innocent.
“The spectacle’s over,” Ivan bellowed before she could answer Zev.
Jayce offered Ivan a hand, which he accepted. It almost felt like old times, when they didn’t need words, but knew what the other was thinking.
He walked Ivan down the hall to his room and lowered him to his bed. “I don’t think you’ll make third shift today. Or tomorrow.”
“I’ll sleep it off,” Ivan said, his eyes already closing. The seizers and meds always knocked him out, which meant playing guard for several days in the past. At least now in the bunker, Jayce could still make it to his shift and continue his deals. Ivan would be safe down here. Despite how much Jayce had argued against it, coming to the bunker had been a good move.
Whispering filtered through the wall. Damn it, she was telling Crusher and Zev. By the time Jayce closed Ivan’s door, Crusher and Zev had left Melina’s room. Jayce stormed in and slammed the door shut.
“Why the fuck did you tell them?”
She blinked twice, startled. “They needed to know. We’re a unit now, aren’t we? Ivan just finished chewing me out about leaving, saying how I put everyone in danger, not just myself. That goes both ways. He has a medical issue, and he’s refusing treatment.”
“There is no treatment.”
“I created the problem, I can fix it. But I need access to the lab at the med-center. Why are you letting him suffer like this? Don’t you see the pain he’s in?”
He saw it. Every day, including the good days when Ivan actually cracked a joke or a smile. God, how long had it been since the two of them sat at a fishing hole and kicked back, just bullshitting about nothing in particular?
“He said you and he used to be friends,” Melina said, cleaning up the medkit and placing it on the dresser.
“Still are. Present tense.”
“Then get me to the med-center. Let me devise the cure for him.”
