Driving Mrs Barker (BWWM)

Chapter Eighteen

It was almost frightening how still the human body could look when asleep. As if the person had already crossed over to the other side.

Tranquil.

Rested.

At ease.

Ariane's eyes never left Ms Betty's form as her frail chest barely rose with her shallow breaths.

The consistent beep reassured her. She was still here. She still had her.

As long as she kept hearing that, she would be okay.

Gerald was still AWOL and Beau's texts lit up her phone but right now she didn't feel like talking.

She needed to figure out what she was going to do. The thought of staying in that house with Gerald filled her with dread but the thought of abandoning Ms Betty upset her even more. The woman had been a constant factor in her life for numerous years. How could she leave her like that?

The prospect of finally being free and being able to live life as she had always wanted to excited her as it also meant that she could continue moving forward with Beau without the messiness.

Beau checked up on her hourly, offering to take her for drives to ease her mind. She had forgotten that he did still work for her and was supposed to be taking her to work but right now, Infinity was far from her mind. It wasn't a priority so she had given him the day off to do whatever he wanted.

The petty side of her thought about how he disappeared for 2 weeks so an extra day would be nothing but she pushed that thought away when she realised how childish that all sounded.

Ariane's head whipped to the left when she heard the door open but she relaxed when she saw Ms Betty's son Jax walk in with sheets of paper in his hands.

"She still sleeping?" The middle aged man asked as he stood on the opposite side of the room to Ariane.

"Yeah. She looks so peaceful."

He grunted. "It's kind of scary how peaceful she looks if you ask me."

She nodded in agreement, eyes drifting back to Ms Betty.

"How are you doing?" His question startled her. Was he asking her if she was okay despite the fact that it was his mother laying in the hospital bed? "You've been in your own world for most of the time you've been here."

Observant.

"She's like a mom to you too so I get that you'd be worried but..." His eyes fell to her fidgeting ringless fingers. "How are you doing?"

"I need to leave Gerald but I can't bear the thought of leaving Ms Betty there. Especially now."

Jax sighed heavily in a manner that instantly reminded her of his mother. "My mother is not going back there if she knows that's you're leaving Gerald." Ariane's eyebrow twitched in confusion. "She's only there to try and protect you. She used to say that while the money was good, keeping you happy and healthy was even better."

A lump built up in the back of her throat and her vision blurred. "She was only there for me?" Jax nodded.

"She's not going back there, Ariane. Even if you weren't leaving that bastard, there was no way I was going to let her go back to doing any kind of work."

Of course. She expected no less from Ms Betty's detective son. Fierce protective genes ran through his blood.

"It's about time you left that man though, Ariane."