Sinner's Creed (Sinner's Creed #1)(88)
“You know, there is a plus side to losing my hair. I don’t have to shave my legs.” I laugh and have to agree with her. I kiss the top of her head and pull her closer. Today was a good day. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow doesn’t matter. Only today, only this moment, and only me and her.
24
FRIDAY, SAYLOR IS strong enough to walk down for her treatment—stage-four blue Skittles. She is wearing a colorful head scarf, shorts to show off her smooth legs, and a hoodie. I brought a blanket with us just in case. The room is always cold, and considering Saylor’s attire, she is probably going to need it.
It had become tradition for me to leave and get candy, and this time was no different. They had already done the blood work in her room and had it sent down, so we were able to bypass that part. I kiss her at the door and leave to go on my weekly store run. I’m in the parking lot when I get a call from the hospital.
“Hello.”
“I need you to pick me up something else,” Saylor says, and her voice is sad.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, already making my way back inside to her.
“I’ll tell you when you get back. Will you please pick up some markers and a poster board for me?” I pause in the lobby.
“Saylor, will you please tell me what is going on?”
“Dirk, will you please just pick it up? And bring extra Skittles,” she adds, and the smile in her voice is enough to have me heading toward the car.
“I love you,” I tell her, knowing she can’t hear it enough and I can’t say it enough.
“I love you too. Hurry up.” She hangs up and I’m laughing.
—
I push open the door to find one of the reclining chairs empty. Someone has died, and the room is so melancholy, that even I feel depressed.
“Okay, guys,” Saylor says, addressing everyone and taking over the show. The nurses are staring at her like she’s lost her mind, and one is on the phone asking someone to come up. “The doctors here think that we shouldn’t talk about our friends when they pass. Well, I think that’s bullshit.” All the patients take turns looking at one another, probably thinking that Saylor has lost her mind.
“Marcus would have wanted to be remembered. I’m not saying we have to mourn his death, I’m saying we should celebrate his life. So, my handsome lover Dirk has been kind enough to pick us up some things to help us do that.”
I cross the room to Saylor, thinking that maybe she has lost her mind. No one says a word and all eyes are on me and Saylor and the bag in my hand.
“Ralph,” Saylor says, addressing the old man to her left. He looks at her with raised eyebrows, or what were once eyebrows, and looks nervous that she called on him. “What was your favorite thing about Marcus?” Ralph stutters before answering.
“Um, well. He was a nice boy. Said he worked on his daddy’s chicken farm. I like that he was a hard worker. He was respectful too.”
Saylor writes on the poster board with one of the markers as Ralph speaks. When I see her struggle with it in her lap, I locate a table next to the nurse’s desk and bring it to her—shooting a look to the nurse when she starts to object.
“Thank you, baby.” Baby. I like when she calls me that. “Hershel?” Saylor looks pointedly at the man to her right, and he looks around the room before answering.
“He had a good sense of humor. And he laughed at all my jokes, even the ones that ain’t real funny.” Saylor writes again, and so it goes until every patient in the room has said something they like about Marcus.
I take a minute to look behind me and find six nurses, some that I’ve never seen, and four doctors standing behind the desk. There are tears in the eyes of the nurses and curious stares on the faces of the doctors. Some are even smiling.
“Dirk?” I look back at Saylor, who is waiting for my thoughts on Marcus. Hell, I didn’t even know the boy. All I knew was that he couldn’t have been out of his teens, and always asked for extra Skittles.
But Saylor wants something, so even if I have to make it up, I’m going to give it to her. When determination steps in, she is impossible to argue with. But, I do remember something about Marcus, and it’s not a lie.
“He always made you smile.” I watch Saylor fall more in love with me. She nods, brushing her tears from her eyes and laughing before leaning down to write my answer.
“Yes, he did.” When she looks back up, she is even more determined as she looks at the doctors and nurses. I move out of the way so she has a full view of them. “I don’t care how long you say I have left. As long as I live, I will honor every person I share this room with if they leave here before I do. So, either you can jump on the celebration-of-life bandwagon, or you can be soul-sucking, coldhearted demons. It’s your choice.”
I feel my dick swell in my jeans. It’s wrong. Fuck, it’s wrong. But I can’t help it. When Saylor takes on bitch mode, it makes me horny as hell.
Dr. Marks, who I haven’t heard say one word ever since I’ve known him, walks up to Saylor and squats down at the side of her chair. “You, Saylor Samson, are an incredible young woman. The world needs more people like you.” He kisses her cheek, then shares his favorite thing about Marcus.
By the time her treatment is finished, Saylor’s poster board is full. On our way out, she stops to tape it to the wall for everyone to see. When I open the door for her, I glance up and see the signatures at the bottom, including my own, with a title above it that reads In Loving Memory of Marcus.