Incompatibly Yours: Charity Anthology Supporting Fertility Research (10 page)

Julie nodded, waiting for him to close the door. "Has he eaten?"

"No," Clay answered, crossing his arms across his chest. "Said he wasn't hungry."

Julie nodded again, then felt like an idiot for her continuous nodding. Clearing her throat, she looked up the steps. His probing gaze was driving her nuts. She really needed Clay Marshall to go the hell away and do something other than follow her every single move with his brother. He was way too distracting. "Can you make him some coffee, please? I'll go on up and start my reign of terror."

Clay laughed, but shook his head. "We'll go up together."

Even though her heart fluttered at his deep laugh, her chest tightened in anger. "You really need to cut the cord."

"Cut the cord?" He glared down at her.

"Yeah, you know…." Julie flipped her hand around. "Go do… whatever it is you do and let me take care of your brother. That is what you are paying me for, is it not?"

"Let's see how today goes."

"Not well, if you don't listen to me." Julie put her hand on her hip. "Now go and get him some coffee, and then you can see that I'm still alive and breathing when you bring it up. Oh, and if you don't mind I'll take a cup. I like mine black with three scoops of sugar."

Julie didn't even wait for him to reply, she just turned and hurried up the steps. When she didn't hear his footsteps behind her, she sighed in relief. It took nerve, she'd give herself that, to order Clay Marshall around, but her first priority was Bo and she had to remember that.

Stopping in front of Bo's door, she gave herself the normal short pep talk, cracked her neck back and forth, and knocked on the door. When Bo didn't answer, she knocked again. Still no answer.

"I'm not going away." She grinned when she heard him say "shit" behind the closed door. "Only knocking so I don't catch you naked or something."

"I'm naked," he growled. "Now go away."

Rolling her eyes, she opened the door and walked in. "I've seen little wieners before, so if you don't care neither do I."

"Little… wiener?" Not only did he look offended, he sounded offended. "Lady…."

Julie chuckled, noticing someone had cleaned his room. She highly doubted it was Bo. "Who cleaned your room?" When he remained silent, she glanced over at him. He lay propped against his headboard with a stubborn frown. "Well, I know it wasn't you since you're blind, but that's going to change."

"Why are you so damn mean?" Bo crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

"I'm not mean. My attitude is reacting to your attitude." Julie glanced over at a bucket with a frown. Walking closer, she looked in, knowing what she was going to find. Picking up a towel, she used it to grab the bucket. "And from now on, you will be using the toilet and not this bucket."

She walked out of the bedroom and headed down the hall, looking for the bathroom. Finding it, she emptied the bucket, placed it in the shower, flushed the toilet, and washed her hands. Heading back to Bo's room, she heard the brothers talking and slowed her steps.

"She took my damn bucket, Clay," Bo was saying in a low hateful voice. "She just up and took it."

"Guess she figures it's time you walked out of this room to take a piss, and honestly, I have to agree." Clay's voice wasn't lowered. She didn't even have to try to hear him.

"Oh, you do?" Bo snorted, then cursed. "She's here because you're paying her. She don't give a shit about me. Fuck you and that bitch."

"You need to watch your mouth, Bo." Clay's voice turned hard. "She is here to help you and I expect you to give her respect. And she's right. It's time you man up and stop feeling sorry for yourself."

"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch." Bo's anger radiated out to the hallway.

Julie sighed, quickening her steps since it seemed like a good time to interrupt, and was surprised to see Bo standing, punching toward Clay. "Will you look at that, you do have legs." Julie made sure he could hear the smile in her voice, even though it was a sarcastic smile. "And yes, he is paying me, because I have to make a living, but you're wrong… I do give a shit about you and what happens to you."

"You were listening?" Bo growled.

"Ah, yeah." Julie put her hands on her hips. "Now it's time to get a shower and shave."

"Oh, God." Bo felt for the bed and collapsed. "Please make it stop."

"You're pretty smelly, and that beard is unattractive. Now, where are your clothes?" Julie glanced around, her eyes meeting Clay's.

"He's been getting sponge baths and doing it himself." Clay's voice hinted something Julie couldn't really read.

"And that stops today." She responded with a cock of her eyebrow, daring him to disagree. "The only thing that doesn't work on him is his eyes. There is no reason whatsoever he should not be showering. The shaving he will need help with. I will help him with his first shower, and—"

"What?" Bo popped up at that.

Clay didn't say a word, but gently grabbed her arm and ushered her out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. "No."

"Excuse me?" Julie pulled her arm away, staring up at him.

"You heard me," Clay replied with a stubborn tilt of his head. "You will not shower my brother."

Julie rolled her eyes. "He is not the first man I have ever—"

Clay took a step closer to her, bending down slightly. "I said no."

"But…." Julie took a step back.

"Any showering, dressing, or undressing will be done with my help." Clay's tone sounded pretty final. "I will not compromise on this, Julie."

Okay, the way he said her name and his dominant tone sent shivers where shivers hadn't been in a long time. If she were being totally honest with herself, she liked it—liked it a lot—and that scared the hell out of her. Mentally smacking herself to think of Bo, her main priority, Julie frowned. "There are certain things that have to be taught, and it's best if I—"

"You tell me what needs to be done, and consider it taken care of." Clay finally straightened away from her. "Or he will continue with sponge baths."

She totally didn't understand why Clay would have an issue with this, but obviously he had a big issue, and Bo needed to shower himself, so she caved. "Okay, but if I'm not happy, then—"

"He will continue with sponge baths," Clay finished for her.

"Damn, you're stubborn." Julie huffed, walking around him and back into Bo's room.

"Yes, I am," Clay replied, following her.

Chapter Four

Clay sat on the toilet after cleaning up the remains of Bo's beard. He waited as Bo showered, wondering what in the hell was wrong with him. When Julie had said she was going to shower his brother, anger had consumed him. When she'd said he wasn't the first man she had showered, Clay had wanted to kill someone.

"You still out there?" Bo yelled from the shower.

"Yeah, not going anywhere," Clay yelled back, noting Bo had been in the shower for a while. "You good?"

It took a minute for Bo to answer. "Yeah, I'm good. I forgot how nice a shower felt."

For the first time real hope flooded his senses. "You can do this, Bo."

The shower turned off and the door opened. Bo took the towel Clay shoved into his hands and wrapped it around his waist. With Clay's help, he stepped out of the shower. "I want to brush my teeth."

"No problem." Clay tried not to sound too excited. He led Bo to the sink, grabbed his toothbrush and held it out to him. When he didn't take it, Clay suddenly knew what Julie meant. There were tricks she could show Bo that he couldn't. "I'm going to get Julie so she can show you how to—"

"I know how to brush my teeth," Bo said, but his voice didn't hold the anger like before.

Clay fumbled as he grabbed Bo's hand, placing the toothbrush in it, then grabbed the toothpaste. "You want me to put the toothpaste on it?"

"No, I can do it." Bo held out his other hand as he stared unseeing at himself in the mirror.

Watching his brother fail to do something he took for granted every single day brought tears to his eyes. Finally, Bo got a little toothpaste on the brush, missed his mouth on the first try, but finally managed to brush his teeth, all the while it remained silent in the bathroom.

"Don't feel sorry for me." Bo finally broke the silence. "Don't ever feel sorry for me."

"Never," Clay replied, turning Bo toward the door. "You're too much of an asshole to feel sorry for."

Both Clay and Bo laughed at that as Clay swung open the bathroom door, his eyes locking on Julie, wearing a pair of Bo's cowboy boots and stomping down the hallway. "What in the hell are you doing?"

★★★

Julie was so focused on what she was doing she actually jumped at Clay's raised voice. "I'm counting the steps from Bo's room to the bathroom," she replied, then frowned. "And you just made me lose count."

"Why are you wearing his cowboy boots?" Clay glanced down her legs to the oversized boots on her feet.

"So I get the count right." She gave him a
duh
look as she pointed to the boots. "Obviously his feet are twice as big as mine."

Clay chuckled with a shake of his head. "Makes sense."

"Of course it does." She eyed him before looking at Bo. "And don't we look handsome, Mr. Bo Marshall. You clean up very well."

Bo only grumbled under his breath as he placed one hand on the wall to head back to his room. Clay grabbed on to his other arm, leading the way.

"Once you get your pants on, call me before you put the T-shirt on," Julie ordered as she turned and stomped back to his room. Moving to the side, she let them pass into the room and then began her count again. Once she got it, she wrote it on the pad then headed back again to Bo's room. They hadn't shut the door so she stopped before nearing it and waited, tapping the pencil against her nose as she stared at the page of notes.

"He's dressed." Clay's voice interrupted her thoughts.

She wrote something down before looking up into Clay's intense stare. He had a way of making her want something more, which was not good. She wasn't here to get her heart broken, and she knew the man had the power to do just that. "Okay, thanks."

Clay backed away from the door as she stomped her way through and then stepped out of the boots, kicking them out of the way. Barefoot, she headed toward Bo, who sat on the edge of the bed holding a T-shirt. He looked a little pale and was breathing fast.

"Wore you out, huh?" Julie said before taking the shirt from him.

"I'm good," Bo replied, his tone not as hostile as all the other times he had spoken to her.

"The more you're up, your strength will come back, as will your cardio." She sat next to him on the bed. "With jeans it's pretty easy to know you are putting them on right. If you wear a belt, just make sure you count your belt loops before putting it on, and then as you're putting it on count them off. It's pretty foolproof unless you miscount."

Clay brought over a belt. "Here." He handed Bo the belt, but his eyes stayed on Julie.

Bo stood and counted his belt loops, then he proceeded to correctly put on his belt without missing a loop.

"Awesome!" Julie smiled, truly impressed. "That is harder than people think, but you did it with no problem at all."

"Wow, I deserve an Academy Award or some shit." Bo's sarcasm came back with force. "I just put on a belt, no big fucking deal."

"Tell that to the others I've helped," Julie replied without any emotion. Even though comments like that got under her skin, she would never let Bo Marshall know it. "It is a big deal and I think you know it."

"Actually, I agree," Clay added with a half grin. "I miss at least one loop all the time and I can see."

He lifted up his T-shirt and pointed to a missed loop. Julie laughed loudly. "Well, Bo, seems your brother can learn a lesson or two about belt loop counting also."

"That's because he's an idiot," Bo replied, but he was trying to hold back a smile. "Now how about giving me my lesson on the shirt so I can put it on. I'm cold."

Julie had watched the small grin Bo was trying to hide and her heart swelled. It was a start, a tiny start, but a start all the same and she was very happy with it. Seeing the smile and hope on Clay's face, she knew he felt the same. "The best way to make sure you have your shirt on the right way is to always have shirts with tags. All you have to do is feel for the tag; that way you can make sure it's not inside out and you have the front in the front."

As Julie talked, she made sure the shirt was inside out before handing it back to him. She watched in silence as he did what she had instructed, then put the shirt on, going as far as checking the tag once he had the shirt on without her telling him to do so. She wanted so badly to jump up and down with excitement, but bit her lip with a huge grin.

"What about socks?" Bo asked, feeling around for the pair on the bed.

"Honestly, socks are whatever." Julie shrugged, watching him finally find them without help from anyone. "Sometimes you can feel the toe seam and tell, but most of the time you can't. My sister always said if people worry about her socks being inside out, they can take a leap. No one usually sees your socks anyway."