Page 34 of Whiskey Shivers

He eased the tee over my head and I put my other arm through and it fell over me, butter soft and well-worn to just past my naughty bits.

He smiled at me and palmed my hip on my good side.

“We didn’t have a lot of money on our face when I was growing up,” he said. “My dad was a custodian for a local elementary school. Everybody liked him, but we were supposed to be poor so we had to act like it.”

“Supposed to be?” I asked.

“My dad ran shine as a side hustle. Was pretty damn good at it. Master distiller. When I was a teen, some dude got into an argument with my pops about some shit and shot him right in front of me. He died. Mom and I had enough money stashed in the walls of the old shed out back that she can live mildly decently the rest of her days. The house is paid off, and I try to send her a little extra when I can.”

He shrugged. “I spent my own fair share of time in the system. Not because of anything she did. Juvie type stuff. You know how it goes.”

I nodded. I did. I had some students with ankle monitoring devices as early as my ninth and tenth grade classes. I felt like I was letting them down by not being able to return to teaching. My doctors had ordered at least eight weeks off and I knew I probably would push to go back sooner if I could, but I had to relent about it. My collarbone did need more healing than just a couple of weeks to make that happen.

“What now?” I asked softly, after he’d pulled on a pair of shorts and a band tee with the sleeve cut out a way down his ribs. He turned to me and sighed.

“Now, I tuck you in and give you your meds, and I go in and make us some dinner.”

“I’m sick of lying around in bed,” I tried to argue, but the raised eyebrow and imperious look he gave me said I wasn’t about to get away with any shit under nursemaid Hex’s careful and watchful eye.

“You got the TV in here with a hell of a lot better service than in the hospital,” he said, leading me carefully to the bed by the hand. “And it’s been a real long, real brutal fuckin’ day for you. You need some peace and some good rest.”

I couldn’t argue that, as much as I wanted to.

“Tomorrow, we’ll work on getting your stuff out there squared away as best we can and figure some other things out.”

I nodded and let him tuck me into his big bed. He piled pillows around me and tried to make me comfortable, which was easier said than done with a broken collarbone.

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” he said. “Holler for me if you need anything, alright?”

“I promise,” I vowed. He put the remote in my hand and kissed me on the forehead whichgood Lord, why did that do the things it did to me?

I watched him leave, sorry to see him go, but had to admit I needed a bit of a respite just to get my damn hormones under control.

I looked up at the television, sitting on top of the tall dresser in the corner and sighed. I wonder what streaming services he had available.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

Hex…

I made us some steaks and some mashed potatoes, throwing a steamer pack of broccoli from the freezer into the microwave. I wanted something quick and on the easy side. The most time-consuming part of the whole process was the steak. I wasn’t too thrilled with serving up instant potatoes but I wanted to get some food in her stomach so she could take her pills.

I loaded her meds into a shot glass and brought her a tray with a cold can of Coke out of my mixer stash. I didn’t know what she liked to drink, so I’d have to remedy that.

I hadn’t hesitated to bring her into my home and now, while I wasn’t exactly having second thoughts, I was realizing there was still so much left to learn about each other. We were totally taking this whole thing backward by citizen normative standards.

That alone pleased me because fuck everyone’s expectations on how anyone should live their lives.

I digress, though.

“Hey.” She looked up from the middle of my bed and I set the tray I’d scared up into her lap after she struggled to sit up better one-handed.

She was hurting. It was way past time for a pill.

“I’ll be right back with mine. You just eat. Don’t wait for me.”

“Okay.”

She waited anyway, the little shit.

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