24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Grayson
M y body riots against the movement as I’m assisted from the bed to the wheelchair. It’s not the first time I’ve done this, but I hate that River is here to watch it this time.
Memories of my ex hating seeing me injured keep pushing to the forefront of my thoughts. My consciousness pushing back, insisting that River is different. She’s built different. Built for this. Only for that same dark devil to remind me she doesn’t want a patient for a boyfriend.
“You good?” she asks, squatting in front of me to lift my feet onto the rests.
“I can do it,” I grunt. Though the energy to do so might fucking kill me.
“Gray, not today. Just…” She blows out a heavy breath, her curls flying out of her face as she rises.
I want to argue with her, but something in the set of her features tells me to keep quiet. Dr. Thompson is here today, and she’s not in the mood.
It’s been eight days laid up in that hospital bed. I’ve been trying to convince them to let me leave for the past three.
After I woke up long enough to hold conversations, it was like I’d nose-dived over a hump. I was up and moving around, with a lot of help, eating and talking. It was time to get out of this germ-infested injury treatment center, but River and my doctor both agreed to monitor me for a few more days.
River and I have had this tension between us since she made that decision for me. I’m not mad at her, per se, I just wanted to go home. She knows how I feel about hospitals, so it feels cruel to keep me here when I’m doing fine.
Then to treat me like I’m an invalid today has my sharp tongue firing at her.
“River, please call me if you need anything,” my doctor voices from the desk as the transporter wheels me past it, River at my side.
“Thanks, Joe. I will.” They smile fondly at each other, and something tells me this isn’t one of the men she has to prove herself to. Their dynamic was very different from what I witnessed with her partners. There was collaboration and mutual respect. Even a joke or two shared when they thought I wasn’t paying attention.
For that reason alone, I like the guy.
That same transporter and Tate help me into the passenger seat of River’s SUV before she takes off, guiding us home.
She says nothing, her hands poised at ten and two as if she’s a new driver taking to the open road for the first time. She follows every speed limit and even refrains from tearing down the dirt portion of my drive the way she often does.
“Don’t move,” she orders before climbing out of the driver’s seat and coming around to open my door. “Put your arm around me.”
“River, baby, I can do it myself.”
Her head drops, an arm still around my back. “Gray, please just for one damn day can you not do this!” There’s something so broken in her voice. A plea intertwined with the watery quality of her words. I’ve watched her cry so much since my injury, and it’s breaking my heart.
“Okay, baby. Just stay there, and I will lean on you.”
She nods but doesn’t say anything more. Swinging my legs out of the car only makes my head pound more, but I push to standing, bracing my hand against the seat so I’m not leaning my weight on her.
I’ll let her pretend she’s carrying me, but I’ll be damned if I let her carry us both through this. My injuries aren’t a burden she should feel like she has to carry all on her own.
“Nice and slow,” she coaches as we take the five steps one at a time. I admit it’s harder than it should be, but we make it, her breaths leaving in panting huffs as she reaches for the front door.
Quickly unlocking the door, I wait for our dogs to rush us, but I don’t so much as hear them.
“Where are Bronc and Bull?”
“Out back. I didn’t want them to tackle you when we came in.”
I only nod. It wasn’t a thought that occurred to me. Not once have I not come home since rescuing them and they weren’t there to greet me.
River is quick to park me on the couch before disappearing outside to get my bag and then stepping out onto the back patio, calling the boys in. The click clack of nails on the hardwood ricochets through my head, my wince barely hidden before River is in front of me again.
Both charge me, climbing up onto the sofa and licking my face, then the bandage still wrapped around my head. River insisted on it until my staples come out in about a week.
Staples, she volunteered to remove herself because I refused to go to the office for that sort of torture.
“I missed you guys, too. Your mommy said you were good boys, though,” I make a baby voice as I talk to them. “Come sit down, baby.”
But River doesn’t sit, instead, I hear her jogging up the stairs before slamming our bedroom door.
I sit there in silence, hoping to hear what’s going on upstairs. There’s not a single sound.
Pushing up from the couch, I shuffle my way up to our shared space. It takes longer than it should, my breaths coming in heavy pants by the time I reach our door. But they’re not loud enough to drown out her sobs.
Knocking lightly, she sniffles loudly before calling out. “Just a minute. I’m just—”
I don’t give her a chance to answer before twisting the doorknob and stepping inside. I close the door behind me, effectively keeping the dogs out. Something tells me we’ll need this moment alone.
“Gray, you’re not supposed to be doing the stairs,” she angrily wipes beneath her red, puffy eyes.
“I’m fine.”
“Stop saying that!” she shouts. “I knew you were going to do this. You were going to act all big and tough because that’s what you do, but you didn’t see it. You didn’t watch your body slam into the gate, then the dirt. You weren’t waiting there hyperventilating, wondering how the surgery went and then still not able to see you until your brother lied and said I was your wife.” My brow quirks high. “So, Gray, no, you’re not fine and neither am I. Will you be? Yeah, I think so, but not if you keep living life by your own rules.”
Sitting beside her, my palm drops to her thigh. “River, I—”
“Please don’t. I just need a minute, and then I’ll make us something for lunch.”
“Listen to me. I know my body. Maybe this injury is a new one for me, but it’s going to be okay. I’m not going to lie to you and promise I will obey orders because I won’t. But baby, please stop crying over me.” My arms wrap around her, only for her to shove out of my hold.
“Gray, it’s not just you this time.”
Then she’s racing down the stairs, and I’m left staring at the wall.
I think back to similar fights I had with my ex. Yet every single one of hers ended with leaving me if I kept riding and getting hurt. Not once did River ever tell me to stop. She just wants me to take care of myself, something I know I do an equally great and poor job of.
But at least for today, I’ll try.
“River!” I call from the hallway. “Doctor’s order says I can’t do the stairs alone.”
She appears at the bottom moments later with an angry scowl, but she stomps up toward me, wraps an arm around my waist, and guides me down each one.
“I’m trying,” I whisper before she leaves me in the living room. Even the dogs don’t seem to believe my words.
Truthfully, neither do I.