Page 10 of Hold Me Down

"What are you talking about? Why bench us?"

Kalei narrowed his eyes. "Why do you think?"

There was a weight in Dave's stomach, which had been growing pretty much since he'd been loaded into the ambulance, and now it was almost overwhelming. He'd love to fall asleep and turn back time, to do this entire day all over again, but he couldn't. He had to deal with the consequences of his actions—and wasn't that a blast?

"The two of you have no off switch anymore," Kalei said, and Dave closed his eyes, because he didn't want to hear any of this. "You've been pushing it in training, and skirting the line on the job, and we've talked about this, Travis. We've talked about this more than once."

That made Dave open his eyes. He only remembered one conversation like that, about a month ago. He turned to his partner for confirmation, but Travis was staring at Kalei.

"I know," was all he said, voice quiet and defeated, and Dave's eyebrows shot up. He'd obviously missed something, and since when did they keep things like that from each other?

"Well, the fact that you know isn't helping any of us right now, is it?" Kalei glanced between the two of them again. "Like I said, I'm partially to blame for not doing more than just talking, but that changes now. While you," he nodded at Dave, "are on medical leave, you'll focus on resting and healing, andnotfollowing this one," he tilted his head towards Travis, "into trouble. I'll save a lecture on that for some other time when you're not on painkillers."

Then their boss turned to Travis.

"And you, I'm taking off the field, effective immediately."

It felt like a punch to the solar plexus, sucking all the air from the room, and Dave wasn't even the one it was happening to.

Travis looked crushed, his skin paler than Dave's was on a regular day.

"What—"

"With your partner not available for the foreseeable future, you'd be normally rostered into supporting other teams, but, frankly, Travis, I can't trust you in the field right now, which means you're desk-bound until I say otherwise. And," Kalei added when Travis opened his mouth again, "I'm not going to say otherwise until you get some therapy."

Travis straightened at that, curling his hands at his sides.

"For fuck's sake, man—"

"Watch it," Kalei warned, and Dave made a noise at the back of his throat that sounded pretty pitiful to his own ears, but at least it stopped the other two in their tracks for a second.

However, Kalei wasn't done.

"I'm doing this for your own good, but also, frankly, for my own, because I can't have you out there in good conscience. You're a powder keg waiting to go off, at this point, and I'm not saying this to be an ass, but to make you see you've been going down a dangerous path."

"Travis isn't to blame for what happened today!" Dave protested, unable to hold back any longer, but when Kalei's gaze settled on him, he slumped against the pillow.

"And would you have tried that stunt four months ago?"

Dave opened his mouth, ready to say yes—they were all competitive, Kalei knew that, he'd said so himself—but then he remembered the other training outings. Sure, they were always pushing it, but there had been times when they'd backed down, laughing how they were going to work on it for the next time.

"I was there, too, and I took the risk," he said instead, because this, at least, he was sure of.

"And trust me, if you weren't already laid out, you'd be desk-bound, too," Kalei told him. "I'm not currently requiring therapy from you, since I do believe you've been swept into the rush alongside Travis, here, but don't get me wrong—if I continue to see the problem after you're back on your feet, I'll do the same for you, too."

Dave burrowed even deeper into the bed. While he was closer to forty than thirty and should be immune to a disappointed authority figure routine, he wasn't. He respected Kalei a great deal, and it stung to hear all of that.

"You need to deal with whatever's going on with you," Kalei addressed Travis again. "The further details, we'll hash out in private. However, I expect both of you to spend the next weeks and months really working on yourselves, because I want you two back out there. I know what you're capable of, and I've been proud to see you grow over the years. This is a bump in the road—a serious one, but it's not the end, do you hear me?" He looked between the two of them, and Dave relaxed a bit. "Good, now I'll let you in the capable hands of the poor nurse who has been hovering right outside the door, likely waiting for me to finish my tirade. I'll go update the rest of the team."

With that, he left, and Dave could hear him apologizing to the nurse, who apparently had indeed been standing there for who knew how long.

Damn.

What a mess.

* * *

Getting home with a cast on was a pain—not so much literally, since the painkillers were doing their thing, but still. He'd gotten seriously hurt only once before, back in high school, when a bad fall during a basketball championship game had taken away his dreams of going pro. Through all the years in the service and then in private security, Dave had been lucky enough to avoid any injury that lasted more than a week.

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