Page 43 of Hold Me Down

He considered getting up again for a minute there, but then let it go, not wanting to take any longer than he'd already had.He would do one set and call it a day, especially since Travis should be getting back soon.

Hefting a plate on himself while lying down turned out to be harder than expected, however. He dropped it on the first attempt and winced at the loud bang on the floor, but finally managed to lift it all the way on the second try.

Dave took a deep breath, then released it slowly as he looked up at the bar above him.

This was it.

Finally.

"What was—" Travis's voice came from the door, loud enough to be heard over the music, which he quickly went over to turn down. "What are you doing?"

Dave clenched his jaw as his eyes fell shut.

Fuck it all to hell.

He could hear Travis walking closer, but he wasn't ready to face him. Not yet. Not like this.

Unfortunately, that didn't stop Travis in the slightest.

"Are you okay?"

The question came in a different, softer tone, but Dave didn't really care much about that at this point.

"I'm fine." He clenched his hands around the bar as he opened his eyes to glare at Travis. "I needed leverage to bench press, and I figured it out, so now I'd like to get a set in, if you don't mind."

"If I don't…" Travis lifted his gaze above Dave's head and his eyes narrowed. "Are you activelytryingto hurt yourself? What the fuck?"

A wave of anger rushed through Dave and he sat up, almost tossing the plate on the ground.

Travis caught it, of course. The asshole.

"I'm trying to exercise in peace without you hovering over me."

Nostrils flaring, Travis crossed his arms over his chest after putting the plate near the wall.

"Do we or do we not have a deal about lifting weights above a certain level on our own?"

Okay, so, yes, Dave had maybe upped the weight a little too much, but he'd needed a challenge instead of playing around.

"I can lift that, and you know it."

"That's not what our deal is about." Travis shook his head as he took a step back, then another, which was good, because Dave needed space or he was going to explode. "We agreed, better safe than sorry."

"Well, these days it's all about being safe with you, isn't it?" Dave clenched his hands in his lap. He didn't want to keep sitting when Travis was standing, but getting up seemed like even worse of an idea. "I should do nothing but lie on the couch and wait for you to bring me every fucking little thing, as if I was paralyzed and not simply had a broken leg."

Travis's stance changed as he shifted on his legs and lowered his arms.

"Okay, I get it, I've gone a bit overboard with—"

"A bit?!" Dave grabbed the crutch and got onto his feet after all, too furious not to move. "You go any further and you're gonna try taking a piss for me! Last night you watched me climb those fucking stairs as if I was going to fall off the side of K2 or something!"

"You fell and broke your leg when I wasn't looking!" Now it was Travis who raised his voice, clearly no longer interested in placating Dave. "Forgive me for wanting to make sure it doesn't happen again!"

Dave's chest ached, his leg ached, and he did not want to have this conversation. At all.

And yet—

"Yeah, well, I don't want you to, okay?" he snapped back. "I don't want you to protect me, and I don't want you to stand by in case something bad happens to me. It's not always about what you want or what you need, sometimes it's about me and whatIwant."

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