Page 56

Jesse

Shit. Shit!

Jesse took in a sharp gasp, as he immediately shut off the faucet and yanked the little lever that opened up the drain.

He lunged over the side of the tub to plunge his arms into the water, sleeves and all, and wrap them around Jamie.

His first instinct was to lift him out and lay him on the floor, but the moment he tried, he realized he couldn’t.

Whether it was Jamie’s dead weight, the bad angle, or the sheer shock locking up his muscles, he didn’t know.

So he abandoned the attempt and shifted his grip, turning Jamie onto his side instead.

Carefully, he kept Jamie’s airways clear and held him up so that he didn’t slide down under the water, and didn’t hit his head against the porcelain as the seizure continued to rack his body.

Biting down hard on his lip, Jesse fought to force down the panic, and tried to recall what he’d learned about seizures as he wracked his mind to figure out what could have triggered Jamie so badly.

It couldn’t be the water, because this was Jamie .

And it couldn’t be that he’d overworked himself, because if extreme exhaustion could trigger a seizure, it would have happened after he’d pushed himself until he passed out at the lake.

And while febrile seizures did exist, they were relatively rare in adults, and typically indicated an underlining condition.

Though he couldn’t entirely rule it out of course. Still, maybe there was—

The medicine!

Was it possible that Jamie was somehow allergic to acetaminophen?!

Such cases were also very rare, but not impossible—and he had to keep in mind that Jamie was a unique case. There was no telling what his system might be sensitive to .

“Shit,” Jesse hissed, now recalling that strange moment when Jamie had said that his powers might be incompatible with Jesse. ‘Because I’m not what you are,’ that’s what Jamie had said.

The graver implications of this realization left him reeling. If Jamie’s body operated off different laws of biology, there was no telling what a ‘simple’ over-the-counter drug like acetaminophen could do to him!

Jamie whimpered as he continued to convulse in Jesse’s hold.

But at least the seizure seemed to be easing after a few moments, the tension in Jamie’s muscles loosening a little—while Jesse sat frozen, as the last of the water drained away.

The guilt struck deep, it cut through him with such force that tears burned in his eyes.

He was the one who’d given Jamie that damn pill.

He’d made that decision, and now Jamie was paying the price!

A sudden, overwhelming urge to make Jamie vomit and get that pill out of his stomach coursed through him, nearly overriding everything he’d learned.

It felt like the only way to undo his mistake.

But it could do more harm than good, Jesse knew that; it was risky and unpredictable.

Jamie wasn’t even fully conscious. If he threw up now, he could aspirate, or choke on the very thing Jesse was trying to save him from.

The rational part of his mind barely won out, though his muscles ached with the need to do something .

Fortunately—or, perhaps ‘unfortunately,’ depending on how you looked at it—Jamie’s body itself seemed to know what was wrong, as the tension drained from his limbs and the seizure subsided.

Right there in the tub, he began to retch and gag.

A choking, gurgling sound escaped his throat, and at least for this, Jesse knew exactly what to do.

Moving quickly, he stepped into the tub with one foot, crouching over Jamie as his hands steadied him, keeping Jamie’s head angled properly.

Each retch grew more violent than the last.

Jamie’s body wracked with dry heaves, and yet, nothing came up. Don’t induce vomiting, Jesse’s mind kept repeating, his pulse spiking as second after second passed and Jamie struggled harder and harder to suck in even the tiniest bit of air.

He looked as if he was about to suffocate.

Instincts took over. Climbing into the tub in full, Jesse braced Jamie’s chest with one arm and used his free hand to clap firmly between Jamie’s shoulder blades.

Once.

Twice.

Jamie’s body jerked with each hit—but it still wasn’t enough.

“Jamie! Jamie, breathe!” Jesse’s voice cracked, driven by sheer panic. A thin, wheezing sound that sent Jesse’s stomach plummeting hitched in Jamie’s throat. Then, to his horror, Jamie’s skin began to change, fading into an alarming shade of ashen gray.

“No! No, no, no,” Jesse exclaimed. This wasn’t something they’d ever prepared him for, not in the hospital, not in the classroom.

Don’t induce vomiting!

Don’t—

Fuck that!

He pressed two fingers against Jamie’s lips, forcing them apart, and slid them into the back of his throat. The reaction was immediate. Jamie gagged horribly, his body heaving harder in Jesse’s grip. Jesse grimaced, his other arm tightening to hold Jamie in place.

“Come on,” he urged, his voice low and desperate. “You’ve got to get it out!”

Jamie retched again, more frantic this time.

For a moment, Jesse feared it wasn’t going to work either, but then, with one final, gut-wrenching heave, Jamie’s stomach released.

A torrent of bile and fluid spilled from his mouth onto the tub’s cold surface.

Jesse quickly withdrew his fingers as Jamie shuddered and coughed and sputtered, wiping them on his soaked jeans as he adjusted Jamie’s position to help him breathe easier.

“Yes, that’s it,” he muttered. “Get it all out.”

Jamie coughed again, a little weaker this time. The grayish tint in his skin began to fade and was replaced by the more familiar feverish rush. Relief washed over Jesse as he perched on the edge of the tub, his arms still supporting Jamie, while his own body trembled from the adrenaline crash.

Jamie’s chest was rattling with each stained breath. “H-hurts…” he rasped, his voice raw and broken.

“I know…” Jesse whispered, his throat tight with guilt, and rubbed a shaking hand over Jamie’s back.

“I know, and I’m so damn sorry.” For a fleeting moment, Jamie’s eyes flickered open, clouded with exhaustion and pain as he seemed to focus on Jesse.

A faint spark of awareness lay in the haze—before his eyelids fell shut again.

But at least he’d stopped seizing…

Jamie’s breath, though still labored, evened out somewhat, now that the acetaminophen was out.

The acrid smell filled the air. Yet Jesse didn’t think of it as disgusting; it was nothing that he hadn’t ever seen or smelled before.

Besides, this was Jamie. He wanted to be here by Jamie’s side through the highs and the lows.

For better or worse. In sickness and in health.

After all, true love meant being here for the gross shit, too.

Jesse took advantage of their position in the tub to quickly clean him off, and then finally lifted him out and carried him back into the bedroom where he carefully dried him off and dressed him in a clean tee-shirt and a pair of shorts.

Then, with his training taking over once more, he shifted him into the recovery position; turning Jamie onto his side and tilting his head back slightly to keep his airway clear, and tucking one hand under Jamie’s chin for support.

Reaching for his wrist again, Jesse’s fingers pressed against the hot skin to find his pulse.

It was still racing, and the heat radiating from Jamie’s body betrayed that the fever hadn’t gone down a single bit.

If anything, it had climbed even higher.

Damn it, what now?!

All his medical knowledge meant nothing if Jamie couldn’t handle a simple pill! God, what would’ve happened if Jazmine had given Jamie just anything when they’d taken him to the hospital, the day Nate and Jesse had found him?!

But… that wasn’t going to help Jesse now. He needed some advice, he ne eded—

He called Austin.

The line rang through a couple of times before Austin finally picked up, his voice coming through groggily as if he’d just woken up—which, considering his preferred ‘graveyard’ work schedule, made perfect sense, even though it was late evening and most people were only just now preparing for bed. “Hello…?”

“Austin!” Jesse gasped out, just relieved to hear his voice. “I need your brain! I don’t know what to do!”

“What?” Austin immediately sounded more alert, a shuffling sound coming over the phone as if he was pushing aside blankets and getting to his feet. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

“It’s Jamie!” Jesse told him. “He’s got a fever, a bad one, and I can’t cool him off—and when I gave him acetaminophen, he had a fucking seizure and puked it up!”

“WHAT?!” Austin exclaimed.

“He’s better now, but he’s still got that fever, and I don’t know how to bring it down. I just— I know I’m the one in nursing school, but it’s different when it’s someone you love, you know?”

“Yeah, that’s why the Code of Medical Ethics said doctors and nurses shouldn’t treat family members, unless there’s no other option. So, how serious is it? What’s his temp?”

“I don’t know,” Jesse admitted, swallowing hard as he pushed a hand through his hair. “I don’t have a thermometer with me.” He stepped forward, putting a hand against Jamie’s forehead again and wincing at the heat. “But he’s burning up pretty bad.”

“Shit.” There was a pause, obviously Austin trying to figure out something, before he spoke again. “It’s too bad you didn’t unlock anything useful with this power transfer thing,” he said sarcastically. “If you could control ice like Jamie does, you could just cover him in it.”

“That… actually gave me an idea,” Jesse breathed. “I’ll call you later!”

“Wait, what’s the ide—”

Jesse hung up. He felt sorry about it, but time was of the essence and he needed to help Jamie now . Austin would understand .