Read Wheels of Steel, Book 1 for Free Online Page A

and caught the smile. He scowled.
     
     
    “Please put this away for me, Robin.” He said in a neutral voice. His words were slightly slurred but she could still hear the dislike in it. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she wasn’t his maid. He had gotten it out of the fridge with no problem, so she was sure that he could return it. But, it was also eighteen fifty and hour and well…for now he was the boss. She returned the milk, and then put away the cereal.
     
     
    A newspaper was on the table and for a moment he ignored her as he read and ate; scooping cereal into the gaping hole that was his mouth and not doing a good job of keeping it all inside...She looked at anything other than him eating.
     
     
    “Have you ever worked with anyone with Cerebral Palsy?” She looked at him quickly. He was still holding the paper but now watching her.
     
     
    “No.”
     
     
    “Have you ever known anyone with CP?”
     
     
    “No.”
     
     
    “Figures,” he muttered. “First, let me explain that there is not just one symptom associated with my disorder. Even though I slur my words and have less muscle control doesn’t mean that I’m mentally disabled. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that I am. I’m probably more intelligent than you.”
     
     
    “You are certainly more rude.” She glared at him.
     
     
    “It’s not my intent,” he said calmly. “Just making sure that you understand. Food falls out of my mouth not because I have no table manners but because I have little muscle control.” She guiltily bit back the sarcastic response that she had prepared. “When I eat I sometimes choke. You do know how to give the Heimlich maneuver, right?”
     
     
    She nodded.
     
     
    “Okay.” He sighed. “So I need you to watch me eat.” He gave her an icy look. “Hope it doesn’t disgust you much.” Her face warmed.
     
     
    They had started out on a bad note. She decided to be the bigger man and set things right. “Jason, I apologize for calling you rude.” She blew out a tense breath. “I won’t judge you if you stop judging me.” His eyes flinched. He turned back to this cereal.
     
     
    “Fine,” he said between bites of food.
     
     
    When he was done eating, he placed his dishes into the sink then wheeled out of the room. “I need a shave but there’s no time for that. I need you to pee me.” Her heart jumped in her chest. Pee him? What in the hell did that mean?
     
     
    “Um, how do I do that?” She followed him to a large bathroom.
     
     
    “You need to hold my penis while I piss.”
     
     
    Oh my god, this was a nightmare. She’d never been around a penis before! Her face was hot and sweat sprouted from her arm pits and dotted her forehead.
     
     
    “I-uh, you were holding that spoon just fine, Jason.”
     
     
    “I’m just messing with you Robin. I can hold my own penis just fine.” He gave her a long look and she almost fainted from relief. He smirked. “Have you ever been an aide for a male before?”
     
     
    She wanted to kick him in his smirking face. “Don’t worry about me,” she snapped. “I’m a fast learner.” She tried to hide her displeasure that he had known just what to say to cause her to shake in her shoes.
     
     
    He stopped the chair as close to the toilet as he could get. “I only need to use the bathroom three times a day. My body has been…I guess you would say, ‘trained’ to go once in the morning, once in the afternoon and then before bed. But I can’t use my legs much. If you can help me to stand, then I can take care of the rest myself.”
     
     
    Robin squeezed past the wheelchair and got in front of him. “How do we do this?”
     
     
    “Lean forward, bending at the knees. Use your legs not your back. I’m going to put my arms around your shoulders, your arms go around my body under my arms. Pull until my legs are locked beneath me. I’m wearing braces, so once I’m standing I’m ok.”
     
     
    She