We’d only taken a couple of steps when the woman yelled, “God damn, that’s some good shit. Isn’t that good shit, Doc? I need to get the name of this, ‘cuz hoo-wee!” And then she started singing Christmas songs.
Looking at me out of the corner of his eye, Alejandro murmured, “I’ve never in my whole entire life met anyone as insane as she is, and that says something.”
“Wanna hear something that’ll make your day feel better?” When he nodded, I chuckled, “She’s got a cat that needs looking after, so to keep her calm, I agreed I’d get someone to go and do just that. I called DB, and he’s sending Carter and Naomi to do it.”
A bark of laughter burst out of him again, making his legs crumple slightly, and I had to catch him carefully. “Fuck me, you gotta stop doing that. The next one’s gonna have my rib ricocheting through my body until it comes out of my ass.”
Yeah, the boy had been given some painkillers by the doctor, so he wasn’t thinking all that clearly, which was why he’d pretty much yelled that in a room filled with people waiting to be seen.
An old guy in a wheelchair with an oxygen thing in his nose nodded. “I feel you on that, man. Last night I had this frozen meal that left my ass bleeding. It feels like I shit out a rib.”
I was torn between being disgusted and my heart hurting because he reminded me of Bexley’s grandpa, Lawrence. He’d say something like that to make people laugh.
Not Alejandro, though. Nope, he went over and started talking to the old guy, asking him which meal it was because he had about fifty in the freezer in his garage and didn’t want a bleeding ass.
Deciding to give him a moment with the man, I pulled my phone out to see a text from Bexley asking what I was up to.
Me: In the ER listening to an old guy telling Alejandro about his bleeding ass. You?
Her reply came back quickly.
Bex: So many things I want to say to that. Gross. Ew. Why the hell do people like to share so much? Are you okay?
Me: I’m not the hurt one, and it’s fucking gross.
Bex: Are you free to meet me at the house later?
She could ask me to cut a kidney out myself, and I’d do it at this stage.
Me: Absolutely. What time?
Bex: Whenever you’re free. I’ll order pizza.
Me: Make it tacos.
Bex: Deal.
When I’d first seen her at the funeral, my grandpa had told me I needed to eat crow and get her back because my misery was making him miserable. My whole family and anyone who knew me could see that the last seven years had been hell without her.
The thing was, I’d already been planning to do it and was just hoping I’d get the chance. Now that things were easier between us and she was moving back, I felt like I was getting that missing part of me back again, but it didn’t mean I was going to stop eating crow, as Grandpa called it.
Hell no.
I was going to surprise her by picking up the tacos and bringing them with me. It didn’t matter what it took, I was going to get Bex back. Her friendship had been the best part of my life back then, and the last week had given me glimpses of what it would’ve been like if I hadn’t fucked up so badly.
I was a man on a mission.
I was also a man who’d been spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to analyze his feelings. I’d had a crush on Bex for years, but the feelings I had now were far different from that. Sure, it was still slightly strained between us, but it didn’t feel forced when we were together, and that had to mean something, right?
Every time I asked myself what it meant or tried to dig deeper into my feelings, my brain would scream, “I’m just a man!” at me. Trust me, I knew I was just a man—a specific part of me that was certain about its feelings for her definitely wasn’t confused. And that just confused me even more.
Time. We needed time to heal and time for me to sort my head out. Maybe I should have asked for the psych eval?
I had a key to her house for emergencies, but I still knocked before going inside with the food in a bag dangling from my hand. That big asshole Doyle would try to take me down if I just walked in, but I was holding a taco in my hand to throw in case he still tried after I warned him I was there.
Bexley might have come around to having me near her, but he sure as shit hadn’t.
Opening the door cautiously, I glanced around to make sure he wasn’t there, then walked fully inside. I don’t know what Lawrence had taught him about me, but none of it was good.
What I saw made me come up short. Bexley was on her knees, ass in the air, in a ridiculously short pair of cut-offs, hissing at whatever she was doing.
“Go in, you big bastard. You fit before, so why are you doing this to me now?” I didn’t say a word and barely heard the soft click of the door shutting by itself. “Why don’t you fit in the hole? You can’t just have miraculously grown in five minutes.”
Tell that to my dick.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she snapped, straightening up and pointing at the space in front of her. “I’m going to get you in, just watch.”
Licking my lips, I croaked, “Maybe try lube?”
Jumping, she squeaked and turned around with her arms out like she was going to attack me. “You shit head. Do you know the damage I
