Page 3 of Digging Deeper

“What about him?” I snag the bowl of chips off the table and munch away on them.

“He’s still not listening to the PTs. He’s not even trying to get better.”

Holds’s three-legged pit bull, Peanut, climbs onto my lap, so I scratch behind his ears and grin at him. I love this dog. “Sometimes patients have a hard time accepting their new reality. Your brother went from being an independent badass who fights crime every day to being stuck in a hospital bed. That has to be hard to adjust to, you know?” Nala, one of the kittens, climbs on the back of the sofa and slides down to my shoulder, so I nuzzle her with my cheek.

Holds sighs. “I get it, but I don’t know how to help him. He’s only punishing himself by not listening. He’s never going to walk again if he doesn’t at least try.”

I nod as the other cat, Simba, kneads my thigh and I pet him. “It can be hard to figure out how to motivate certain patients sometimes, but I’m sure his PTs will figure it out.”

“Well, with you there now, I have more confidence in that.”

I shoot him an appreciative smile. “I love your face.”

He snorts and pokes me in the cheek. “I love yours, too.”

Jameson shakes his head at us, but I can see his small smile. It’s been such a relief that he isn’t weird and jealous with how Holds and I act together. I tried dating this guy two years ago and it was a nightmare. He acted like a crazy jealous madman whenever Holds and I were together, so I’d ended up dumping him after only a few weeks. It sucked, though, because he’s been the only guy I’ve even tried with since I was in college.

When Holds puts his arm around me and pulls me in to snuggle up with them on the couch, I tense and wait for Jameson’s reaction. But when nothing happens, I relax into Holds, and Jameson sends me a soft smile and pats my shoulder. I smile back and can’t help but think how lucky Holden is and how happy I am that he found his one person.

A memory tries to break free of its chain in my head, but I hold it back so the pain doesn’t cripple me. This is a happy day; I’m going to keep it that way.

* * *

My first shiftat Kindred Soul Rehabilitation Center went really well. I had easy patients all day, and the other physical therapists and nurses and everyone here seem like really good people. At least so far. We’ll see how it is after I’ve been here for a few weeks, but it’s looking good.

Since I’m off the clock, I head over to room one-oh-four and knock on the door. When there’s no answer, I crack the door a little and call out, “Hello?” I hear a huff of annoyance, but he doesn’t answer me, so I push the door open. “Can I come in for a minute?”

“What are you doing here?” He barely looks at me, making me frown.

“I came to say hi and… thank you.”

When Hendrix Weston finally faces me, I’m struck motionless for a moment. He looks exactly like Holden, but with shorter hair. His brown hair is cropped, but still manages to stick up in every direction from lying in bed all day; his face is unshaven and scraggly-looking; and his sapphire blue eyes are the exact shade as his twin’s. They’re identical, so duh, but somehow he still looks… different from Holds. The main difference is how hardened his eyes are, his whole face, really. Where Holden is kind and open and always trying to make me smile, Hendrix is grumpy, closed off, and from the looks of it, he’d like to punch my lights out. His arms are crossed over his chest as he glares, and even though I shouldn’t, I notice how big and toned they are. It’s like someone cut Holden’s hair and made a mean, grouchy version of him.

Hendrix scrutinizes me for a long moment before asking again, “What are you doing here?”

“I, um…” I walk farther into the room and hold up the bag of sour gummies—his favorite—I brought for him. “Um… I wanted to thank you for letting me stay at your place while you’re here, and… I wanted to see how you’re feeling.” I set the bag on the table beside his bed.

Hendrix eyes the gummies. “Thanks.”

I nod and bite my lip, unsure of what to say or do. Coming up here without Holden had seemed like such a good idea earlier, but now I was second-guessing my decision. “Thank you for letting me stay at your house. If there’s anything you need me to do while I’m there, just let me know. I mowed the lawn yesterday, and I plan on weeding your flower beds out front, but I wasn’t sure what else needed to be done. So…” I shrug because staring at those sapphire eyes when they’re all hard is making me want to squirm. I’ve always thought my best friend was gorgeous, but somehow seeing his face on another man and looking all rugged was… doing weird things to me. He was scraggy and grumpy, and pulling off the whole bad boy vibe well—totally a weakness of mine. Ugh.He might be even more gorgeous than Holds.I shake away the thought before it can grab hold and make me crazy.

“You don’t need to do any of that; you don’t need to do anything. I’ll take care of it when I get home.” Hendrix’s jaw ticks.

Instead of pointing out the obvious—he’s going to be here for weeks since he can’t walk yet and if I let the grass keep growing, he’ll come home to a freaking jungle—I nod. “Alright, well, if you think of anything, just let me know. Holds said he put my number in your phone already, so you can call or text me if you need to. And um… they said I can work with you even though we know each other, so… if you want, I can run you through your exercises tomorrow.”

If possible, his glare turns angrier. “I don’t care what you do.”

“Okay, well… Holds apparently requested me for you because he said, and I quote, ‘I want the best for Drix, and you’re the best.’ So it looks like he wants us working together. You know how he gets.”

“And what would you know aboutmybrother?”

Yeah, no. We’re not doing this. Hendrix can kiss my ass. I quietly say, “He’s my family, too, you know.”

Hendrix narrows his eyes at me, but doesn’t say anything—probably for the best since I’m sure it’d be something douchey.

With a single nod, I turn on my heel to head out, but I stop to face him in the doorway. “Your brother is really worried about you, Hendrix, so maybe you should stop acting like a dick and start trying to help yourself.”

His eyebrows rise on his forehead, clearing away some of the anger.

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