Page 45 (1/2)
"It ht not be cancer, Nikolai," I said softly
Nikolai shook his head "He's been sick a lot this past year He gets lots of infections, has sto him to his pediatrician, but he says Maks is just one of those sickly kids and he'd grow out of it"
Nikolai downed the drink before adding bitterly, "We kneas more than that We knew, but that asshole just wouldn't listen"
"Have you taken him to see a specialist?" I asked
"Specialists costjust a little bit I figured there was no way he would have been telling me such personal infor so, but I wasn't about to leave him there by himself Even if he didn't need me, Nikolai needed someone
"What about insurance?" I asked
"You have to have it,” he muttered
Nikolai was silent for a moment before he said, "My parents tried to keep up with the pay up every year And it was that HMO shit so they don’t even cover everything… just the bare necessities”
I thought back to the day I’d met Nikolai When I’d done that initial research on him, I’d assumed his parents had been behind on their pay or they’d been financially reckless, but now I started to wonder if that wasn't the case at all If there was no insurance and the little boy had been sick for a while, that likelyjumped to the conclusion that Nikolai's parents were just bad at running their business
"Nikolai, I'm sorry," I said
I lost count of how many drinks Nikolai had consumed by then as he threw back another "S’okay," he said tiredly and then he was leaning into hter," he breathed, and then suddenly his head was dropping on ainst my skin as he succu advantage of the situation, of his closeness, but I couldn't help myself I reached up to touch the side of his face as he rested his head on my shoulder His skin was finally warertips as I ran ers over his jawline It would be so easy to turnthe boundaries of appropriateness
"He is strong," I murmured as I considered Nikolai's words about his nephew "Just like his Uncle Nikolai," I added The fact that Nikolai probably wouldn't remember any of this an to nod off, I leaned back against the couch and let hih his hair in smooth, rhythmic strokes to help him drift off
"Jude," Nikolai said drowsily