by Marie Force
“Naming it for Marion is a nice touch,” Quinn said.
“Thanks,” Lizzie said. “I’m glad you agree.”
“Just FYI,” Jared said, “it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t agree.”
Lizzie elbowed her husband in the ribs, drawing a grunt of laughter from him.
“Ow.”
“Be nice to me, or you’ll regret it at bedtime.”
“Yes, my love.”
After staying with them over the holidays, Quinn knew how loud bedtime could be in this house. His phone lit up with a well-timed text from Mallory.
On the way.
“That’s our cue, Brutus,” Quinn said, standing slowly and giving his leg a second to adjust.
Brutus let out an enthusiastic “woof.”
“Is that code for booty call?” Lizzie asked.
“Jared, do something about her.”
“Sorry, bro. I’ve done what I can, but she’s incorrigible.”
“Thanks for a fun night, you guys,” Quinn said. “Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” they called as he walked toward the dark driveway. He was almost to his truck when he stepped into a small hole in the yard and pitched forward. It happened so fast, he didn’t have time to react and hit the ground hard, his shoulder taking the brunt along with his bad leg, which wrenched within the prosthetic and slammed against the ground, making him scream from the pain.
Brutus barked and then licked his face as he whimpered in concern.
“Quinn!” Jared called out to him as he ran across the yard. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
The pain was so intense, Quinn could hardly breathe, let alone speak. He held up a hand to let Jared know he was okay.
“Lizzie, go get David!” Jared dropped to the ground next to Quinn. “Tell me what to do. I don’t know what to do.”
Quinn was trying not to be sick from the pain. “Give me a second.”
In the background, Quinn heard footsteps pounding down the stairs that led to David’s apartment.
“Give him some room,” David said. “Talk to me, Quinn. What hurts?”
Everything? “I wrenched my bad leg. I’m okay.”
“You’re not okay,” Jared said. “Let’s get you inside where David can check you out.”
The one thing Quinn didn’t want was anyone checking out his leg. He could do that himself. But he was too shaken after the fall to get behind the wheel, so he let Jared help him up, and between him and David, they got him inside while Lizzie and Brutus followed. His prosthesis was still in place, but pain radiated from the stump for the first time in more than a year. Fuck.
Quinn hated having to rely on anyone for anything, especially mobility, but his leg hurt so bad that he ceded to them, letting them do the work to get him settled on the sofa.
“Your lip!” Lizzie said. “It’s bleeding!”
Quinn touched his fingers to his lip and discovered she was right. He must’ve bitten it when he fell. “Sorry, everyone. Stepped in a hole and lost my balance. Nothing to worry about.”
Despite his assurances, they hovered over him, and David asked if he could take a look. Here it was, the moment of truth he’d tried to avoid with his family. “So, um, here’s the thing… I lost my right leg, just below the knee, two years ago, and I have a prosthetic that was jolted when I fell, thus the screaming. Hurt like a motherfucker.”
Jared stared at him, his face devoid of expression. “You lost your leg?”
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t think to mention that to anyone?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“We’ve got all night, because you’re not going anywhere in this condition.”
Mallory. Damn it, he needed to text her. “I think I dropped my phone out there. Can you grab it for me, Lizzie?”
“I’ll be right back.”
Quinn took advantage of the reprieve to close his eyes and focus on breathing.
“Jared,” David said, “will you give us a minute alone?”
“Um, yeah,” his brother said, but Quinn could hear the reluctance in Jared’s voice.
“Why don’t you let me take a look?” David said.
Quinn would prefer that no one ever looked at it, but he gave a brief nod to give David permission to pull up the cuff of his khaki pants to reveal the prosthetic that sat just above where his knee should be.
David made quick work of removing the prosthesis. When he gently touched the stump to examine it, Quinn sucked in a breath and broke out in a cold sweat.
“You’re going to have some bruising that’ll make it painful to wear the prosthesis for a couple of days. Do you have crutches?”
“I’ve got some in my office.”
“How about I ask Jared to get them for you?”
“I think he’s been drinking.”
“I can drive,” Jared called from just outside the room. “I quit drinking a couple of hours ago.”
“So much for doctor-patient confidentiality,” Quinn grumbled.
David smiled. “He’s worried about you.”
“I know.”
Lizzie returned with the phone and brought it into the living room, stopping short at the sight of his prosthetic standing next to the sofa. Thankfully, David had covered his stump after he looked at it. Quinn watched as Lizzie tried and failed to not stare at the artificial leg.
“The phone, Lizzie?” he said.
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” She handed it to him. “I’ll, um, just be in the kitchen with Jared if you need us.”
“Thank you.” He wrote a quick text to Mallory. Took a damned fall and hurt my bad leg. Stuck at Jared’s. Sorry about tonight.
She responded right away. Oh my God! Are you all right?
I will be. Hurt my pride more than anything.
I’m so sorry. Let me know how you are later.
I will.
“So about the crutches?” David asked.
“Yeah, I guess I need them.”
“I’ll send Jared after them.” David got up and left the room, leaving Quinn alone to ponder the many ways this situation totally sucked.
Jared came into the room, car keys in hand. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me or any of us about this.”
“Sorry.”
“What did you think we would say?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about anyone but myself. Maybe that makes me a selfish bastard, but that’s all I was capable of at the time. Then a year went by and then another one, and there was never a time when it felt right to say, oh by the way, I lost my leg a couple of years ago, but I never told you about it.”
“You’ve always been a lone wolf, Quinn, and I’ve tried to give you the space you needed, but knowing you went through something like this all alone… Well, that makes me hurt for you.”
Before Quinn could reply, Jared turned and walked away. A minute later, Quinn heard the roar of Jared’s Porsche starting up outside.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. Despite what Jared had said, Quinn could tell his brother was hurt to have been kept in the dark about the full extent of his injury.
“Do you need anything?” Lizzie asked softly.
“How about a couple of painkillers and a glass of water?”
“Of course. Coming right up.” She returned a minute later with the water and pills, which he took right away. It’d been quite a while since he’d taken pain meds, and he hated that he needed them again. “Thanks.”
She perched gingerly on the far end of the sofa. “Do you need anything else?”
“Just a do-over of the last half hour.”
“I’m so sorry you fell. I told Jared he needed to fix that hole in the yard, and he was going to do it next week.”
“Not your fault, sweetheart. Don’t worry about it.”
“I… I’m really sorry. About your leg and everything you went through.”
“Thanks. Jared’s pissed.”
“He’s hurt more than anything and sad to think of you enduring such an awful ordeal by yourself.”
“I get that it’s hard for you guys to understand, but that’s how I needed it to be at the time. It wasn’t my intention to leave anyone out. It was more that I wouldn’t have been able to handle being invaded by my family when I had all I could do to deal with everything else that was happening. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but it’s the only explanation I have.”
“You don’t owe us an explanation, Quinn. You did what was best for you, even if it might not have been what was best for everyone else.”
“I’m glad you understand. Maybe you can help me out with Jared.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
Someone knocked on the back door, and Brutus let out a menacing growl.
Lizzie got up to answer the door. “That might be David coming back.”
Quinn couldn’t believe when she returned with Mallory in tow or how upset and concerned Mallory seemed to be. “What’re you doing here?”
He watched her eyes shift to the prosthetic and appreciated that she didn’t linger there. Instead, she gave him her full focus. “I heard you could use a qualified nurse,” she said with a small a smile.
Quinn appreciated her subtle attempt to make light of the situation. He held out his hand to her, and she came across the room to take hold of it.
She knelt next to the sofa. “Are you okay?”
He wondered if she realized that he could tell she was taking a visual assessment of him as a medical professional rather than potential lover. Once a nurse, always a nurse. However, she was here not as a nurse. She was here because of the relationship they’d been forming over the last few days, and that was what mattered to him. “I’m fine. Sorry to upset everyone.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Lizzie said. “We knew that hole was there, and we should’ve fixed it before now.”
“It was no one’s fault,” Quinn said. “Just a stupid accident.”
Lizzie’s phone rang in the other room, and she ran to get it.
Quinn could hear her reminding Jared of the code to the lock at the building.
“Come home with me,” Mallory whispered. “Let me take care of you.”
Moved by her offer as well as the caring way in which she looked at him, Quinn nodded. “I don’t need to be nursed, but I’d love to come home with you.”
“Good.” She leaned forward to kiss him. “Scared me to hear you were hurt.”
“That’s because you like me.”
“I never said that.”
“Yes, you did.”
“When did I say that?”
“When you came rushing over here in the middle of the night to check on me.”
“It’s hardly the middle of the night. It’s not even midnight.”
“You like me,” he said again with a cocky grin that had her rolling her eyes and calling to Lizzie over her shoulder. “He’s fine. Don’t let him tell you otherwise.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m fine now that you’re here.”
She let out a deep breath when she seemed to realize he was really okay. Seeing the prosthetic standing next to the sofa must have been a jarring reminder that despite the many ways he’d overcome his disability, a simple fall was anything but for him.
He relied on humor to defuse the tension, but he was sure she saw right through that to the strain that still gripped him.
She stayed right by his side until Jared returned with the crutches a few minutes later.
He came into the room, said hello to Mallory and leaned the crutches up against the sofa.
“Thank you, Jared,” Quinn said. “If it’s okay with you guys, I’m going home with Mallory.”
“To your home or hers?”
“Hers. I can’t manage the boat on crutches.”
“You know you’re welcome to stay here, right?”
“Yeah, I know, and I appreciate it.”
Jared gave a curt nod and left the room.
“He’s still pissed,” Quinn said to Mallory.
“Give him a day or two to get his head around it. He’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” Quinn said, and he meant that. He’d greatly enjoyed the time he’d spent with Jared and Lizzie since he’d lived on the island and had felt closer to his brother than ever. He’d hate to have something like this come between them now.
Mallory helped him up and held the crutches for him while he got his bearings.
He hadn’t touched the crutches in more than eighteen months, and using them now brought back memories he’d much rather forget.
Seeing him standing up, Brutus went crazy, running all around, darting between his legs and making a menace of himself.
Mallory grabbed hold of the dog’s collar. “Easy, buddy. You don’t want to knock Daddy down.”
“Would you, um, get that, too?” He tipped his head toward the prosthetic.
“Sure, no problem.”
He made his way slowly and painfully out of the living room and went toward the kitchen, where Jared and Lizzie were sitting at the table. “Sorry about all this,” Quinn said.
“Please don’t apologize,” Lizzie said. “It’s not your fault.”
“On the bright side, at least we know about your leg now,” Jared said with a bitter twist to his tone.
“Jared—”
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Jared said. “It’s late, and everyone’s tired.”
“Okay.”
Jared walked them out, staying on his left side while Mallory took the right.
This time Quinn stuck to the sidewalk and driveway rather than the lawn, which was what he should’ve done the first time around. It was habit to take the quickest path, and he was still learning that the quickest path wasn’t always the best one when you had a prosthetic.
Standing beside Mallory’s car, he handed her the crutches and got into the passenger side. He had a sudden memory of rehab, where he’d been taught to do the most mundane things, such as shower and get into a car, with only one leg. He’d been doing pretty well pretending he still had two good legs, until one wrong step brought him right back to reality.
Brutus leaped into the backseat and made himself comfortable. Lizzie brought the bag Quinn had packed with the dog’s food and toys when he brought him to their house earlier.
“I never asked you if it’s okay if he comes, too.”
“Of course he can come. I know you guys are a package deal.”
“Thanks for having us.”
“No problem.”
“You say that now…”
“You don’t scare me, and neither does Brutus.” They waved to Jared and Lizzie as Mallory backed the car out of the driveway and headed for her place in town.
“Thanks for coming. You didn’t have to do that, but I’m glad you did.”
“I had to see for myself that you were okay.”
“Because you like me.”
She huffed out a laugh that had him smiling in the dark. Without her coming to his rescue, he wouldn’t have had a single thing to smile about after his fall. But now the fall seemed almost secondary to her running to him when he got hurt, as well as offering to bring him to her house and nurse him.
“So what do these nursing services you offered include? I assume that sponge baths are a no-brainer, but what else can I expect?”
“Ice packs to help with all your swelling issues.”
“Are we still talking about my leg?”
“Depends. Are you having swelling issues elsewhere?”
“I might if you own one of those naughty nurse outfits.”
“No naughty nurses and no sponge baths.”
“I should’ve stayed at Jared’s.”
She gave him a haughty look that he loved. “You want me to take you back?”
“No, thank you. But the sponge bath is negotiable, right?”
Thanks to the streetlights, he coul
d see her roll her eyes. “I expect better from you than this, Doctor.”
“I’m not a doctor right now.” He rested his hand on her thigh. “I’m a patient, and I’m feeling very, very dirty.”
Chapter 19
It was one thing to know he was an amputee and another thing altogether to see stark evidence of it in the prosthesis that had sat on the floor next to the sofa, in the sag of his empty pants leg and in his need for crutches.
Overriding everything else was Mallory’s concern for him. From the second she’d gotten his text, she’d known she would never sleep until she saw him and made sure he was okay. She hadn’t driven there planning to ask him to come home with her. That had slipped out before she could actually think about whether it was a good idea. All she knew was that she didn’t want to leave him, so it had to be a good idea to take him home.
And now, he was showing her he was totally fine in the way he flirted with her, which was a welcome relief even as his hand on her thigh caused secondary issues.
“You’re a very pushy patient. Nurses have names for patients like you.”
“What kind of names?”
“Perv, for one.”
“Ha,” he said on a bark of laughter. “If I’d had a nurse as sexy as you while I was in the hospital, I would’ve been called a perv for sure. Most of my nurses were guys.”
“How boring for you.”
“No kidding. Just my luck that all the pretty female nurses had other patients.”
“Or just their luck.”
“Probably more their luck.”
“I’m sure they were all well aware of the sexy trauma surgeon on their ward. Nurses have been known to compare notes about their patients.”
“What kind of notes?”
“Oh, things like, ‘holy hell, that one is hung,’ to ‘poor guy, not a lot going on down there.’”
“No way.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I don’t think so.”
She started to laugh. “You’d be right. I’ve never had that kind of conversation, except of course when the reason they were there involved that area of their anatomy.”
He shuddered. “I’d rather lose part of my leg than be in the hospital for a penis injury.”
“You’d be surprised how many penis injuries we get in the ER. I’d be happy to tell you all about them if you’re interested.”