Page 22 of The Wounded Warrior

Luke chuckled. “You’re beat to hell. I can let it slide.”

“I appreciate it.” He found himself beginning to shake, the room seeming cold as fuck.

“Let me get you a blanket.” Luke wheeled away for a moment, then came back to toss a blanket around Rory’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” His teeth were chattering.

“You’re in shock. I need to get your feet up, but I have to get the wounds caredfor first.”

“What can I do?” Matt asked, ducking in the back door again.

“No beer.” Rory felt a little hysterical, and he set his teeth together to keep it in.

“Something warm, Matty. Hot tea? And I need to get him prone.”

“Coffee? Put him on the sofa. He can’t hurt it.”

What? Luke was going to give him a ride?

Luke must have felt the same way, because he snorted. “I have a leverage issue, bro.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, McConnell. Let’s get you up.”

“Up? Can I just crawl?”

Luke shook his head. “Way you’re tore up, that will hurt worse. Trust me.”

“Don’t be a pussy, cowboy. Get your ass up.”

Rory glared at Matt. “Screw you, LeBlanc.”

Rory growled and levered himself to his feet, stumbling toward the other end of the kitchen. His brain shut down everything not important, working his feet, one and two and three and four.

“You think we need to get an ambulance here, Luke?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.”

“Shut up,” both brothers told him.

“I don’t like that one cut on his leg, but I think if the blood stops flowing so hard under that bandage he’ll just need to see his family doctor tomorrow.”

He wasn’t sure, but he was beginning to understand these twins were bossy fuckers.

Matt helped him stretch out on the couch, and that put him at a level where Luke could tug off the rest of his clothes. There was hot water, some kind of pills he thought were Tylenol with something else in them, and some floating…

He wasn’t sure this was how his afternoon was supposed to go.

“So, did you accept my apology?” Rory finally asked through chattering teeth.

Luke finished the last bandage wrap and grabbed blankets to bundle him up. “I did.”

“Oh, good. I’d like to be friends.”

“Yeah? Stop trying to buy out my brother.” Luke winked at him. “I could use friends.”

“I’m trying to keep Harris’s hands off the land. If I knew Matt was going to be able to keep it, I’d be fine.”

“You got a thing against Harris, huh?” Luke tucked the blankets around him. “Want that hot drink now?”

---