Page 14 of Durango

She takes my hand in hers. “If there ever comes a time when you can’t perform at your job, you have great friends who will be there for you. And we will all help you figure out your next steps.”

I squeeze her hand. “We?”

Her cheeks turn pink. She opens her mouth to say something, but Piper walks into the room.

“How are you feeling?” Piper asks as she hands me two ibuprofen pills and a cup of water with a straw.

“As good as can be expected,” I say. I take the pills. As I’m drinking the water, Willow grins at me.

“I think he’s tired. Apparently, your lovemaking is keeping him up,” Willow says.

I choke on the water. “Jesus.” I cough the best I can with broken ribs. “I said get me out of here, not tell them!”

She gives me a sweet smile. “Sorry.” But I can see from her grin that she’s not sorry. She knows I’d never say anything to them, so she thinks she’s helping.

“You heard us?” Piper’s hands cover her face. But then she lowers them. “Wait, you want to leave? Durango, you can’t.”

I frown. “Why not?”

Willow leans forward and kisses my forehead. It’s the most physical she’s been with me. “Because you need a place with an elevator that is near your soon-to-be physical therapy appointments. This is it.”

Ozzie steps out of the bathroom, his hair wet from his shower. His eyes move to the three of us. “What’s wrong?”

Piper turns away from Durango. “He heard us having sex and wants to leave.”

Ozzie grins. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Sorry, my ass. Why are you smiling?” I ask.

“I’m just realizing how lucky I am. If you weren’t in all those casts, you’d probably have punched me by now.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not going to punch you. I gave you my blessing. But dammit, I don’t want to hear it.”

Ozzie’s smile drops. “You’re extra grumpy today. Are you overdue for medicine?”

“Just gave it to him. Give it twenty minutes.”

Ozzie nods. “Willow, are you still okay to stay here for a while?”

“I am,” she says.

Ozzie and Piper get ready and leave. They’ve been cooped up, taking care of me in the evenings and part of the weekends. They hired someone to help me out during the day for the first few weeks. I couldn’t stand being fussed over and fired her. Something I regret because I’ve been living off protein bars forlunch ever since. Willow comes over a couple of days each week, and I appreciate that. The boredom when you can’t do anything can be intense.

I finally told Ozzie and Piper to go on a date or something. It can’t be good for them to always be stuck helping me during their free time. They agreed to take a Saturday afternoon for themselves if Willow was here looking after me. I don’t need supervision. But I’ll take any excuse to spend more time with Willow.

Although I don’t want her to think she’s looking after me. Like I’m some kind of child. “I hate this,” I say.

“Hate what? Me being here with you?” Willow asks.

Yeah, I stuck my foot in my mouth again. “No, not that. It’s that you all think you have to take care of me. I’m so sick of not being able to do anything myself. I can’t wait until Thursday when the casts come off.” I shift in my seat. “And this itch is going to drive me crazy!”

“I don’t think of it so much as taking care of you. I’m happy we’ve had this time together to get to know each other again.”

I take a deep breath, something I couldn’t do weeks ago. “We were getting to know each other just fine before.”

She shrugs. “Yeah, but I’ve never seen this side of you before. I like seeing your soft side.”

My brows shoot up. “Are you making fun of all my lost muscle?” I’ll admit I’m a bit self-conscious about it.

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