Chapter 29 #3
“I don’t need two phones. Did you even see the doctor?” I asked, completely overwhelmed.
“It was the first thing I did,” he answered. “He said he’d be your primary care doc, and I made you an appointment at his office. He also gave me a couple names for some rheumatologists in the area that he thinks are good.”
“You were supposed to see him for you,” I pointed out.
“I’m a multitasker,” he replied. “I’m freshly bandaged and got a clean bill of health.”
He was also clearly a moron. “Being bandaged does not mean you have a clean bill of health.” He was just shot yesterday!
“I’ve had hangnails worse than this,” he argued.
“Let me get this straight,” I said as he carried me and the bags back to the dining table to sit down. “You went out to see the doc and ended up finding me a doctor, getting phones, and buying a house?”
“Saw Haz’s uncle too.”
My mouth dropped open. “The mafia boss?”
“He’s not so tough. I made him bleed. Twice.”
“That is not something to be proud of.”
“You’re focusing on the wrong part of the story.” He redirected me. “The only thing I didn’t find was an eye doctor, but I didn’t know you needed one until now.”
“I don’t need an eye doctor,” I argued.
Hiro leaned forward to snatch the manual off the table. Holding it in his lap, he pointed to one of the highlighted sections. “Read this to me.”
I reached for the book.
“Ah-ah-ah,” he said, pulling it back. “Read it from here.”
“Fine,” I snapped and glanced down at the words. They looked like black blobs on a sea of white, so I leaned forward a little. It didn’t help. “The font in this book is too small to read from this far away.”
Without moving the manual, Hiro read the paragraph out loud. When he was finished, he said, “I’d rather watch grass attend a staff meeting than read this shit again. Could it be any more boring? Maybe you don’t need glasses. Maybe your eyes are just in mutiny.”
“Give me that.” I snatched the book and lifted it closer. His thick fingers curled around the top, stopping it halfway to my face.
“Read it from there.”
I glanced at the words and squinted and thought longingly of the magnifying glass the librarians would give me when I went to the library.
“You need glasses,” Hiro confirmed.
“No, I don’t,” I refused.
“There’s nothing wrong with wearing glasses. Four eyes are better than two.”
“Is that supposed to be helpful?”
“I thought it was,” he muttered.
I shrank in on myself.
He tossed the manual onto the floor and pulled me in, gently carding his fingers through my hair. “Tell me.”
“I don’t want glasses!” I burst out. “Why can’t one thing on my body work the way it’s supposed to?”
“There isn’t one thing about you that doesn’t work for me.”
“My body likes you better than me,” I purred, pressing farther into his stroking hand.
His laugh was a deep rumble. “You’ve spent way too long not having the things you need.”
“I don’t need that much.”
“I know it’s a lot to take in. And I should probably go slower, but I can’t do it, Pip. I should have done this two years ago. I’m already late.”
Sitting back, I said, “It’s not your job to take care of me.”
“I know that. My job usually doesn’t require keeping things alive.” Cradling my face in his palms, he said, “I want to take care of you. Please let me.”
No one had ever wanted to take care of me before. He’d done more for me in one day than anyone else had in my entire life.
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because I love you.”
“I’m scared.”
“Me too.”
Surprise had me looking up. He was the strongest person I knew. No way he was scared.
He half smiled. “You aren’t the only vulnerable one, Pip. Turns out living is way scarier than death. It’s a lot more… uncertain.”
A deadly hitman showing his vulnerable side? Frankly, if he got any hotter, he’d be a public safety hazard. And he is mine. “I’ll let you take care of me if you let me take care of you.”
“Deal.”
There was officially no room left in my stomach. The butterflies had taken over.
Turning back to the laptop, I hit a few buttons, and through the speakers, a line started to ring. Moments later, my supervisor answered.
“I just got off a very disturbing call, Redding.” He greeted me. “What’s this about you threatening a customer—”
“Mr. Wilson.” I cut him off before I could lose my nerve. “I quit.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I quit. Effective now.”
“Now just one minute—”
I disconnected the call and closed the laptop before he could even finish.
Oh shit, I quit my job. The panic was swift, a surge of adrenaline so forceful that my hands began to tremble, and the urge to call back my supervisor and tell him I didn’t mean it was strong.
“Thank you.” Hiro’s voice cut through the polarizing wave of worry.
“W-what?”
“Thank you for trusting me to take care of you,” he said, wrapping around me from behind and burying his face in my neck. “For choosing me.”
All the panic gnawing away at my insides vanished just as fast as it had appeared. It was probably a skewed and oversimplified way of looking at it, but he was right. I did choose him.
Just like he’d chosen me.