I’ll let it go for now. I move to the bed and take Jesse’s hand. “What happened? Whitaker said you got hurt.” I glance up at Whitaker and give him a small smile. “He didn’t give any details, though.”
Jesse makes a dismissive wave with his free hand. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a stupid burn. They’re telling me I need to take it easy for a while until it heals. Risk of infection, blah blah blah.”
“Third-degree burn,” Whitaker interjects. “It’s not small.”
Jesse gives him a look. I squeeze Jesse’s hand. “That must hurt.”
“Yeah, it hurts. They gave me pills, though. I’m supposed to take them for the pain, and I’m not supposed to drive.”
I nod. They’ve probably given him some pretty strong painkillers for a third-degree burn. “I’ll drive you home, then. Are you sure you’re all right to leave the hospital?”
“They gave me the all clear as long as I could get a ride.”
“Okay. But will you be okay at home by yourself?” I know this is a loaded question, but it has to be asked. I’m not going to drop him off and leave him there if he can’t take care of himself.
A familiar leer curls across Jesse’s mouth, and for the first time since I walked in the room, I’m sure he’s going to be all right. “I think I’m going to need some help. I’m not supposed to walk. So I’ll definitely need you to take care of me.”
“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Whitaker says, and gestures to the other man. They leave the room, telling Jesse to take care of himself.
When the door closes behind them, I lean down toward Jesse, who hasn’t let go of my hand. “I didn’t sign up to be your nursemaid.”
“Aw, c’mon. Isn’t that what girlfriends do? Take care of their men?”
“I’m not your real girlfriend.” Still, my gaze slides to his leg and the thick bandages there. He’s going to take some time to heal.
“Oh, I see.” He sounds put out, but his eyes are glinting with amusement, so I know he’s at least partially teasing. “You’re okay with taking advantage of my body but not so much with making sure it stays intact?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Got to admit, though, it kind of sounded like that.”
At this point I can’t tell if he’s serious or not, so I push to my feet. “Let’s call the nurse and get you home.”
In Jesse’s absence, Thor has apparently torn the stuffing out of an ottoman. It’s in a corner of the room, so I hope Jesse won’t notice it right away.
He has Thor for company, and the cat makes his presence known by jumping up onto the couch and making himself comfortable next to Jesse’s head. He starts rubbing against Jesse’s hair, like he’s scratching himself or asking to be petted, then he settles down on the arm of the couch and starts nibbling and licking at Jesse’s hair.
“Ow,” says Jesse. Thor has done a little more than lick him; he’s yanking at bits of hair like he’s trying to pluck Jesse bald. “What the hell is he doing now?”
I wave a hand at Thor, trying to dissuade him. I kind of like Jesse’s hair attached to his head, thank you very much. “It’s probably the hospital smell. He’s trying to rub it off and make you smell more like him.”
“I’d rather not smell like a mangy Maine Coon.”
“He’s only doing it out of love.” I poke around in a cabinet, trying to find a pillow and a blanket for him. While I’m searching, Thor meanders over Jesse’s chest and onto his legs. Jesse’s half sitting, and Thor works on making himself comfortable, kneading Jesse’s lap with his forepaws.
“Ow! What the fuck?” Jesse exclaims.
I hurry over to see what’s happening. Thor’s just kneading him, but I can tell his claws haven’t been trimmed in a while, because they’re catching in Jesse’s sweats. Presumably in the skin beneath, too. I carefully extricate Thor, who wiggles out of my arms and takes off toward the kitchen.
“He’s just kneading you. He’s trying to tell you he likes you. That he missed you.”
“Why does that have to involve bleeding?” Jesse straightens a bit more, wincing as he jostles his injured leg. “Oh my God. What did he do to the fucking ottoman?”
Damn. I was hoping he wouldn’t see that. He really needs to calm down, start focusing on resting.
“Don’t worry. You can probably get a new one at Goodwill or something.”
He makes a frustrated gesture toward the living room, still scattered with couch stuffing. “Why do you think this place is still such a goddamn mess? I don’t have time to deal with everything, especially when that piece-of-shit cat is tearing things apart left and right.”
I glance toward the kitchen, where Thor is helping himself to a drink out of his water dish. “I bet your sister would forgive you if you found him a new home.”
“Shit. My sister.” He seems to deflate. “That was always on me, too. I never had any damn help. Mom and Dad couldn’t deal with it—couldn’t stand to see her sick.” He looks as defeated as I’ve ever seen him. I wonder if it’s a side effect of the pain medication. I’d hoped it would mellow him out; instead it seems like he’s just getting more tense and upset. “I had to take her to chemo, watch her throw up, let her cry on me when she had to. They just couldn’t deal—let it all land on me. God.” He slams his fist into the arm of the couch, but the blow is far less than full strength. “I can’t even look at them anymore. Every time I do I get so fucking pissed off.”
He starts to get up. I put a hand on his chest, holding him down. “No. Stay put. You can’t be putting weight on that leg.”
“Fuck it.” In spite of my efforts, he pushes to his feet and takes a step forward. Then stops. The twisted look on his face is enough to make me hurt.
“Sit down.” I give him a slight smile when he glares at me. “Look, Jesse. I’ll help you out, but you’ve got to cooperate. You’re hurt. You need to get better. I’ll fetch and carry for you until you can walk again without damn near passing out. Okay?”
“Are you willing to ride my cock?”
“Yeah, I’m going to let that one go because you’re drugged,” I say as he gives me a toothy grin. “But if you were sober I’d smack the shit out of you.”
I go to the kitchen and fetch him a glass of water. “Here.” I set it on the side table next to his bottle of painkillers. “I’m going to go get some things for you and check in at work to see if I can take a day or two off.”
I lean forward and kiss him on the forehead then on the mouth. He tries to make it a deeper kiss, his tongue playfully sweeping my mouth. Blood careens through my veins when he pulls back, his hands circling my waist, thumbing my waistband.
He’s injured, you idiot.
I take his hands and pull them off me, blowing out a tense breath. “Don’t worry. I won’t be gone long.”
Jesse looks out of it. I snap my fingers in front of his face, and he nods to let me know he understood. Then he gives me a glazed look. “Show me your tits.”
10
Jesse
Jesse
Finally, after damn near a week sitting on my ass with Maddy waiting on me, I can finally walk well enough to leave the house. Okay, so it was three days. It felt like a week. And everything still hurts.
I’d probably still be back at the house except that the chief asked me to come in so he can debrief me about the fire. I ease into a seat in front of his desk, stretching my leg out carefully.
“You doing okay?” Chief asks.
“Fine. Sorry I fucked up your retirement stuff.” He’s the one who should be at home relaxing on his ass. I should be working. I can’t, though. Hell, I can barely walk.
He waves it off. “I’ll have plenty of time to be retired when I’m actually retired. The last month or so was just practice.” He points at the pile of paperwork on his desk. “For now, I need to take care of this stuff.”
“Is there an investigation into the fire?” There ought to be an investigation on Curry.
“I’m sorti
ng through the reports to see if there should be. Do you have something to contribute?”
“This wasn’t an accident.” I nod toward my leg, where fingers of pain are walking all up and down my shin.
Chief’s eyebrows go up. “Oh?”
“Yeah. Curry pushed the support beams down. If he’d left them alone, I would have made it through the room just fine.”
Chief is silent for a few seconds. “This is a serious accusation.”
“I know it is. I’m recommending that he be dismissed. He’s got some kind of beef with me, and if this is the way he’s going to take things then he needs to go before he kills somebody.”
There’s another long moment of silence. “Curry’s been with the department nearly twenty-five years. I find it difficult to believe he would do something that would jeopardize his career, especially now.”
I clench my jaw. No way is he going to just dismiss me. “I saw what I saw.”
Chief shakes his head. “You’ve had a lot going on, King. Right now, just focus on resting and getting that leg back in working condition. Don’t let yourself get paranoid over the election.”
“This isn’t me being paranoid, especially not about the election. I saw him take down the support beams. One of them fell on me.”
“Okay, King. I’ll look into it. But you need to stay out of the spotlight for a bit—keep your nose clean. After the election, things will be settled and Curry won’t be a problem anymore.”
I’m not convinced of that, but I nod. “Sure.”
“You’ve been through a hell of a lot the last few months, kid. I know it hit you hard, losing your sister. But you’re handling it well—bounced right back into the job. Just keep focusing on the now, like you have been. Enjoy that new girlfriend—let her take care of you.”
I nod stiffly. Mentioning Lacey should hurt more than it does. It hasn’t been that long—how can I be at the point where I feel like I’ve already accepted it? What kind of a piece-of-shit brother am I?
Slowly I push back to my feet, trying not to jump-start the pain again. “Thanks for listening.” It takes a physical effort to keep from lacing the words with sarcasm.
Chief nods. “I’ll look into it. I promise.”
I nod back. I know he won’t.
There’s not much left to do but head home.
Never seeing Curry again would be excellent for my health, but unfortunately he’s sitting across the table from me at the monthly pancake luncheon a week later. The mere sight of him makes pain stab through my leg, and it had been feeling quite a bit better up until now.
We’re not directly across from each other, which helps, and Maddy is next to me, which helps even more. Curry doesn’t even seem to have noticed me, though I’m sure he has. He’s studiously spreading orange marmalade on his pancakes, leaving a pitcher of perfectly good syrup untouched in front of him.
Maddy touches my elbow, and I realize I’ve been slowly shaking my head and glaring at Curry. I drag my attention away.
“I told you he’s a sick fuck,” I mutter to her. “See how he’s putting that orange crap all over his pancakes? What kind of monster does that?”
She laughs a little at me and pats my arm. Just then Curry’s gaze slices toward me. I’m sure he didn’t hear me, but damn it, he knows I’m here, knows I’m pissed about it, and worst of all, knows there’s not a damn thing I can do to him right now. Not in front of most of the department and the people from the local blood bank. I give him a withering glare and he looks away, a smirk curling his mouth.
“God, I want to kill that asshole.” Maddy can hear me, I’m sure, but nobody else. “Just…grab him by his scrawny neck and—”
Maddy pats me again, interrupting my building tirade. “It’s okay, honey,” she says. “Just focus on why you’re here.”
I turn to her. She’s wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt, except I’m pretty sure it’s a Spider-Woman kind of thing. Is there a Spider-Woman? I don’t even know. It doesn’t matter, because Maddy is super cute, and I want to do things to her that would be very inappropriate at a pancake luncheon. Things that in no way involve orange marmalade, by the way. Syrup, though? That’s negotiable.
The mutter of conversation at the big table falls quiet as Chief Pilsner steps up behind the podium. This is his last event before his final retirement ceremony, and everybody’s genuinely sad he’ll be going. Even me, even though I’m up for his job. He’s a good guy.
He starts talking about fire safety, and although he’s a decent enough speaker, I can’t concentrate long enough to absorb anything he’s saying. Instead I just stare at Maddy, who’s laughing in all the right places and applauding when appropriate. When she claps, her tits bounce. Goddamn, just looking at her makes me so hard I can barely stand it.
I must be staring at her a little too hard, because after a minute or so I can feel Curry watching both of us. I force the sensation out of my mind. He’s nothing in the long term—just a bitter old puke. When I win the election, I’ll have him tossed out on his ear.
Pilsner wraps up his speech by asking for donations, and a stack of envelopes starts making the rounds. I take one and pass it on down the table. Across from me, Curry breaks his silence, nodding toward my arm, which is covered in fresh and half-healed scratches.
“What the hell happened to your arm, King?” He glances at Maddy, as if he might think she had something to do with it.
“Cat,” I offer, hoping he’ll drop it.
He doesn’t drop it. “Man, it must really hate you.”
“Feeling’s mutual.”
Maddy’s smile wilts; she doesn’t like it when I talk bad about Thor. It’s hard not to—even after all the time and work I’ve put in, the damn monster still despises me.
“You like his cat?” Curry asks, apparently noticing Maddy’s reaction.
“I like all animals.” I can tell he’s put her on edge. He has that effect on people. “I’m studying to be a vet.”
Curry laughs outright. “Really? Why the hell would you want to do that?”
She tilts her chin, her mouth taking on that stubborn look I recognize all too well.
“Shit, you couldn’t pay me enough to spend the day covered in cat shit and dog vomit.” He shudders.
Maddy’s ears are turning red. I clench my teeth. Curry has no right talking to her like that. Plus he sounds just like her dick-bag father.
“You’re way out of line. Shut the fuck up.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Or what? You’ll report me to the chief?”
Diez, who’s sitting on my other side with a couple of empty chairs between us, tunes in on the conversation just as I half rise from my chair, leaning over the table toward Curry and his stupid face. “I said lay off her. You want me to say it a little louder?” I’m about a breath away from lunging at him and punching him into the dirt.
“Jesse,” Maddy says.
“King,” Diez says at the same time. She grabs at my arm, her fingers tight. “Not the time, King. Back off.”
I ease back, but I can’t look at Curry. If I do, I’m going to rip his balls off. “Fine,” I say to Diez. I reach for Maddy’s hand, and she takes it. “Let’s go get some air.”
My leg’s hurting again, every step a lancing pain as I stomp out of the building and toward the line of fire trucks. Some of the guys were doing demos with the trucks earlier—they were crawling with kids when I got here—but now pretty much everybody’s inside eating their pancakes and bacon.
“He has no right talking to you like that.”
She shrugs it off. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s not like I don’t hear the same thing from my father every damn time I see him.”
I shake my head. She’s so cool—why doesn’t everybody see it? “Curry’s an asshole.” I wince as my foot hits an uneven patch on the sidewalk, wrenching my leg once again. “I wouldn’t have even been in the hospital if it weren’t for him.”
“What do you mean?”
Damn it.
I hadn’t intended to say that. Don’t really want to drag Maddy into this bullshit with Curry. But it’s too late now. “I saw him knock down the support beam that fell on me. Pretty sure he did it on purpose.”
She stops abruptly, gaping at me. “Seriously?” Her voice is quiet but intense, and after she speaks, she looks around to see if anyone’s close enough to hear. No one is—this area’s mostly deserted right now. “Why would he hurt you on purpose?”
“He wanted to get the interim fire chief position. He hates that I got it instead.”
“That’s a shitty reason to hurt somebody. Did you report him?”
“I did. I don’t have any concrete evidence, though.” I sigh. “Maybe I’m just paranoid. Maybe he knocked the beams down to clear the area.” I keep rerunning it in my head, wondering if I really saw what I thought I saw. I’ve known Curry a long time, and he’s always been a dick, but would he really hurt me on purpose?
With a shake of my head, I abandon the line of thought. He’s gone bad. And he did this to me.
Maddy’s hand strokes across my back, soothing. “I hate this,” I tell her. “I can’t do my damn job. I can barely get out of the house. Even when I’m in the house, I can’t do jack shit. There’s nothing I can do about it right now. I’m just…I’m fucking useless.”
“Oh, Jesse, no, you’re not. You’ll get better, and then things will be back to normal.”
“Yeah, sure.” I know she’s right, but it’s hard to focus on that when I’ve got nothing but pain and frustration to look forward to in the foreseeable future. “What the hell is normal these days, anyway?”
She loops an arm through mine, drawing me against her. “Going home, sitting on the couch, cuddling your cat…”
I laugh outright at that. “That’ll be the day.” Then I give her a sidelong look. Other things have changed in my life recently aside from Thor not pissing in the house quite as often. There’s Maddy.
“You know what would make me feel better?” I ask her quietly.
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