Jojo hated the smell of hospitals more than she hated anything else.
That nauseating pungent reek of bleaking hope and long empty hours.
She sat uncomfortably on one of the old brown benches with peeling paint in the plain waiting room, waiting for the gray haired Doctor Thomas that practiced and consulted here to call for them.
The room was dusted with a few other patients waiting to be called too along side their supportive family or friends.
At least they attempted conversations. They say words and even if they hold no much solid meaning to their audience it felt good to her ears.
She wished Meghan would try that sometimes. It would feel good to hear her mother's voice again.
It's been so long now she wondered if it would sound the same or foreign if she gets to hear it again.
Maybe if she'd tried talking to someone about what happened that night, all those years ago she might have hung on longer and not gone into this mute solitude.
The minutes passed ever so slowly and it seemed like hours before her mother's turn came around and they were finally called to go see Doctor Thomas.
She didn't need any guide with getting to the consultation room. She's been to this one here countless times in the past years.
She sat back and watched the old man shuffle through the files on his table until he pulled the one that bore her mother's name.
She recognized it as the one that held her mother's most recent brain PET scan, several MRI results and all what not.
The man went through them like a ritual, one right after the other, not leaving any out and making new notes in the big book he usually wrote in.
He went over to Meghan and started his usual examination.
Jojo tuned him out half way, more stressed than ever.
The man took his time and when he finished with Meghan, he called for the attending nurse to take care of her while he had a word with Jojo.
He lead the younger Collen into his office.
His office looked bland and same as it had the last time they were here. It smelled of the books stacked of the big shelf on one corner of the room.
The mental health posters on the wall were already faded and strikingly old.
She let out a low sigh again as she took a seat facing the doctor.
"Like I said last time and the times before that, I don't find anything wrong with your mom except a severe case of PTS. There's nothing on her scan pointing to Alzheimer, I can tell you from my medical experience that her brain cells are not dying." He started.
The man took off his rim wire glasses and rested his hands on the table in in a bid to be closer while he said the remaining part.
His voice when he did sounded more like he was advising her rather than shoving her full of medical facts.
"Over the years that I've been working with her, I've been extra careful making sure I don't miss anything and till date she still shows signs of normal neurological condition. Healthy brain cells for almost five years now, does that sound like Alzheimer to you."
"No Doctor. But you can't write her off like this. Take a look at her, she doesn't show any sign of recognition around anyone. It's like she doesn't see us. This can't be normal."
The man listened with rapt attention until she was done.
"Have you ever heard of pretend amnesia?"
When she shook her head no, he continued.
"It's when someone, especially PTS patients try to get rid of their memories by pretending they didn't happen. They can end up convincing themselves that a certain phase or all their life didn't happen."
What the!?
"People with deep secrets or long buried trauma do it too. Bottom line is, they develop pretend amnesia at best and multiple personality disorder at worst."
Jojo didn't know which was worse. How does one take news like this.
He picked his glasses and put it on again as if to see her better for the final blow.
"And Jocelyne," He paused, "her mind is frail. She doesn't have much grip on reality anymore. She needs attention and I mean around the clock attention."
She was quick to tell him about Maria. He shook his head at that,
"I mean someone whose focus is only on her. Kids need attention too and a minute away from her can be all it takes for her to do something as irrational as it will be dangerous."
Jojo thought to herself that she shouldn't have mentioned Riley being part of Maria's job description. The girl wasn't much of a kid anyway.
"Have you given nursing homes a thought?"
Jojo didn't want to sound rude rejecting the idea like she did with Maria so she settled for,
"Her nurse Maria mentioned it once."
The man pinned her with a hard to decipher look then turned to scribble out a prescription for her mother.
He handed her the white paper bearing the name of the hospital in bold letters at the top, her mom's prescription in his familiar scrawny writing that can only be understood by the pharmacist.
He shuffled through his stuffs after that, his brows drawn together until he found what he was looking for.
The card was small and an interesting shade of blue, on it the name 'Jones mental health facility and nursing home' was written in bold letters.
"I'm not asking you to do this now, but it's going to become necessary in the long run. That contains all the information you will need for a start and I'm always here for you. You should think about it"
He didn't even give her a chance to say no and return his card. He just stood and left the room, calling the next patient.
What in the blazing hell is it with everybody bent on pushing her into installing her mom in some random home anyways?
* * *
Double caffeine ingestion did nothing to boost Jojo this morning.
If only she had more time she would have gone back to that cafe around the block to get more cups of strongly brewed coffee.
As it was she was minutes away from being late and she didn't dare risk it.
After that mind numbing kiss from weeks ago, Jojo has been careful not to tick Jordan off again for any reason.
That kiss had shook her more than most thing ever could but he'd just so easily reverted back to his old self like it hadn't happened, didn't matter, didn't mean anything.
The one reason she's tried so hard to deny her intense attraction to him was this.
She wasn't ready for him to kiss her like his life depended on it one minute and then turn so cold towards her the next.
It required an amount of bravery she didn't possess to put your heart on a line like that.
She walked out the elevator and over to office door already accustomed to Lisa's snickers and bitching.
She wasn't surprised when he didn't bother to acknowledge her presence in the room. He's been doing that a lot now.
She dropped into her seat. This was going to be a long day, she could already tell.
If only she'd gotten that extra coffee, maybe functioning this morning would've been a little easier.
Her eyes hurt from lack of sleep, her mind numb with pressing thought.
Between her mother's appointments, being early to work and putting in her hours efficiently, taking care of Riley, considering and checking out the mental facility slash nursing home Doctor Thomas had recommended and now Maria's one week notice for resignation, she was more stressed out physically and mentally than was legit for any average human.
She prayed she'd be able to go through this morning without detonating her ticking time bomb of a boss, she won't be able to deal with that rationally with her stress level right now.
Jordan could almost congratulate himself on his ability to pretend ignorance to her presence in the room.
After that one kiss he'd started keeping away from her to keep his raging desires under control.
It was one thing wanting her but after sampling the sweet addictive taste that was her, he was craving claiming her in every possible way and that scared him.
It's never been like this with anyone else, why Jojo?
How does she manage to drive him to the brink of insanity with hunger and desire without lifting a finger?
He could damn well have any woman he wanted but even that thought didn't appeal to him anymore.
He wasn't going to look at her. He did it, almost.
His eyes strayed to the beautiful picture her small self made.
She looked tired, worn, her light make up not doing much to hide the bags under her eyes.
His Jojo.
If only he'd come out clean and told her who he really was from the start then he wouldn't have issues asking her what was going on with her.
But he hadn't and he'd gone on to destroy the thin chance that might have let him by kissing her.
Now he was stuck watching her hurt from the sideline because he couldn't control his hunger for her.
But damn, he couldn't bring himself to regret kissing her sweet, soft, luscious lips that tasted of heady champagne and caramel even if he tried.
Hell, he wanted to repeat it over and over again and way beyond that and that was the problem.
Well, there's no way in hell he was letting her go through whatever this was that was chipping away at her without finding her help.
And if he can't ask her because of his own mess then that's fine, he'll just have to find a way to navigate through that and get the answers he needed.
The time moved so slowly and at one point in the awkward silence that surrounded them his phone rang.
Jojo's eyes met his as if to remind him of his own rules.
In his distraction, he picked the call and regretted it when he heard the purring voice from the other end of the line.
Fayre.
"Hey baby."
From then on his morning took a turn for worse.
After that irritating call from Fayre, he'd gotten information that Malcom, one of his best clients, was boycotting him now and there were lead traces to dirty information Morgan had anonymously dropped.
Fuck.
The last time he'd been in Morgan's office, he'd flat out told the man that he wasn't interested in doing business with him because of his reputation in supplying sub standard products, this obviously was his way of making a statement.
It would have been laughable if this wasn't Malcom he was clawing in.
For fucks sake!
* * *
Jojo didn't see much of Jordan after those phone calls he'd taken.
He'd been irritable after the first one and then furious after the next.
He didn't say anything to her as he stormed out, then in and out again, spiting orders into his phone.
She only stood from her table when she took her lunch break that wasn't much of a break.
It only took a few minutes to brew herself a cup of strong coffee and another few to throw it back with a thin sandwich.
Maria had texted her earlier saying her mother was doing better and reminded her to fill that prescription on her way back.
She was going to miss her when she finally leaves next week.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
Times like this made her wish she had someone to share her problems with.
She needed a shoulder to lean on, someone that offers comfort and passion, relief and maybe...... Love?
She sighed out as she got back to her system, going through and returning important mails.
Love, she'd only felt that once for someone that wasn't family.
She'd been in her teen then. It's been years now, but being able to feel that for him even though it hadn't been requited had been amazing.
Would she still feel something for him if she ever saw him again? She wondered.
She doubted, it's been so long.
Then why haven't she been able to start something with someone else?
Minus her constantly busy life, she knew that was not the only reason she wasn't opening her heart to anyone.
But that kiss with Jordan had made her wish for more, more than she's ever thought possible.
He affected her.........a lot.
Funny how the only person inciting pleasurable feelings in her is the one person that's bent on avoiding her now.
And he bore so much resemblance to........
That line of thought was broken when the door to the office slid open and a gorgeous, blonde woman that could easily pass for a model walked in, calling,
"Baby......."
Oh wow.
Fayre didn't notice the other woman in the room upon her entry.All her attention had been honed on the look she'd imagined would be splashed across Jordan's face when he saw her.It's been months since she last saw him and though they'd broken up on very rough terms this last time, she was sure he wouldn't be able to resist her once he saw her again and gets a taste of what he's been missing.After all, she wore this figure hugging, revealing dress whose red color screamed 'fuck me' for a purpose.No man have been able to resist her and her smoking hot body before, he wouldn't be any different, not after she's made special effort to tempt him back.They've had break ups before, ones almost as messy as the current one, but he always took her back anyways. She shouldn't feel any worry about this time around.She stood glaring at the vacant space staring back at her, her disappoin
"What are you doing in here, Fayre?"The low resonance of his voice carried his anger with it but Fayre didn't take the hint.This was her Jordan after all and no matter how angry he got at her, she always managed to calm him and make him come around her way.She smiled at him, subtly pushing her chest out and making her voluptuous breasts more obvious.She smirked as she noticed his eyes drop to them momentarily.This leopard can never change his spots even if he tried."Baby," she drawled,"I've been waiting forever for you. Thought I'd sur
It was just seven pm, give or take a few minutes as Jojo stood outside her house.Whatever function they were attending didn't start until eight but Jordan had insisted she be ready by seven so here she was.She was nervous.Well she was until Jordan's sleek, black Mercedes pulled to a stop in front of her miserable excuse of a home.First, all that nervousness had transformed into a soul ripping pool of embarrassment and then they'd morphed into a sizzling bolt of desire that made her wish she had time to go back in and change her under wear as soon as his door had opened and the man stepped out.He was incredibly hot for lack of better words.He was the perfect blend of gorgeous and sexy. Fuck he gave the words meaning on a whole different level.A Much, much, better level.His whole six feet three body was decked out in a snug fitting,
A fucking princess!That is what Jojo felt like.The perfect, figure hugging, black dress she had on, God bless whoever picked it out, was nothing short of gorgeous.It did wonderful things to her figure, hugging her in all the right places.Her hair had been released from the boring bun she'd done it in and was now in amazing curly waves that flowed down her back.'Miss touchy', whose name she'd learned was Betty, had performed magic on her and she could hardly believe that the woman that had smiled back at her from the wide, floor length mirror was indeed herself.Albeit the surprise it had been and the snarking voice at the back of her head that keeps asking her,'Why is he doing this? What does he want?'she could really kiss him right now.A high crashing thought flitted through her mind.
The front door creaked open and there were footsteps.Meghan knew they didn't belong to anyone she wanted to see in the moment.Not even Layla, the new lady that pops in every now and again to check on her since sweet ol' Maria left, didn't walk like that.For one, they were heavy and patterned and definitely belonged to a male.A big one at that, probably with dirty blonde hair, receding hairline, reeking breath and eyes as brown as they were malevolent.Fear clogged her throat, stealing her already shallow breath and a slight tremor shook her thin body.Doors were being thrown open, she could hear it, and there were more footsteps now.He'd brought people with him.She knew who that devil in her house was and what he was looking for but he'd have to literally take her to hell to get it.She prayed to every God listening&
Jordan stood stiff at one corner of the small waiting room, the only moving part of his physique were his eyes following Jojo's petite figure as she paced the length of the room.He didn't even notice Brad standing awkwardly at the other corner of the room nursing a fraction of unease.He wasn't acquainted with the woman in question, so the same level of tension and fear wasn't expected of him.Neither was it expected of Jordan but he'd known the woman.She'd been like a second mother to him while he was growing up because he'd spent half his time during childhood at the Collen's home either waiting for Jojo's lazy ass to get ready or dropping her off and ending up staying over.He knew exactly how Jojo felt in the moment and he wanted to go to her and hold her, she needed someone to promise that everything was going to be okay and he wanted to be her man but he couldn't. Didn't dare.
The ride to Jordan's home was quiet.Jojo stared out of the window, wondering why she'd given in to the bizzare idea of staying with him even if it was only for tonightMaybe because she had Riley to consider.Carl Stratton had dropped her off at the hospital because his family and himself were going out of town for a few days and there had been no where else to take her.Or it could be because Jordan had pulled that sexy, commanding voice on her.Riley's small body snuggled into hers and her hands instinctively wrapped around it.Apart from responding to Riley's enthusiastic greeting back at the hospital and coercing her to give in to his deal, Jordan haven't said a thing and Jojo worried that he already regretted offering in the first place.He was opening his home to his mere PA, and the added baggage of her family, of course he regretted it already.
Jojo couldnt sleep.She lay restless on her bed, still turned on from earlier in Jordan's room and frustrated from her unsatisfied desires.She felt bad because for heavens sake, she should be up worrying about her mom and the mystery behind her present condition but no she was up craving the touch of the man that was her annoying boss!The thought of getting herself off wasn't appealing to her, not when Jordan was the prize.She got off her bed, ready to chanel all the energy fueling her sexual frustration into something else.Anything other than lying here would be better.She went past the wide, sliding door and into the other room to check on Riley.Jordan had insisted that she let the little girl have her own space when he'd carried her in and without giving her a chance to negate him, he'd done as he'd suggested and carr