Unexpected (The Protectors 10)
I nodded. “He hides it well, but the pain from the burns alone…” I didn’t even want to finish the thought. “It’s a struggle to get him to take his pain pills. Says they make him feel too foggy. I think he doesn’t like not being in control, you know?”
“Yeah, I do,” Nash acknowledged.
I thought back to the information I’d seen in his foster care records. If anyone yearned for control, it was someone like Nash, who’d grown up without it. I was starting to wonder if I was even the right person to be talking to Reese. I suspected the two younger men had more in common with each other than they realized.
Nash began to shift uncomfortably before he said, “I should go check the perimeter. Thanks for the beer.”
I nodded and took the bottle from him. I would have much rather just sat there with him, whether we’d continued talking or not, but I suspected Nash wasn’t the kind of guy who could sit still for too long. “Dinner’s at six,” I said.
He didn’t answer me, but I was okay with that. If the invitation for dinner had just been directed at Nash, I doubted he’d have even considered it. But weave Everett’s well-being into the mix, and he’d barely hesitated.
It wasn’t ideal, but I could work with that.
My eyes drifted to Everett, who was watching Nash head toward the front yard. Then his haunted gaze landed on me before quickly dropping back to the ground.
Yeah, it was Nash’s turn to run the next play. Hopefully he wouldn’t fumble it like I had.
Chapter 16
Everett
Two weeks.
Two weeks of complete and utter silence.
God, what if he never came around?
I’d been so certain that Reese would at least budge a little, but after this afternoon’s fiasco, I’d started to accept that it was looking less and less likely. I’d been working in the garden as usual when I’d looked up to see Reese rolling his wheelchair out the patio door that led onto the back deck. Gage had built Reese a wheelchair ramp, so I’d thought maybe he was planning to explore the yard a bit. The pathways were wide enough that he could have checked out the gardens and some of the animal pens without too much trouble. But the second his eyes had landed on me, his jaw had pulled into a frown and he’d turned around. Unfortunately, in the act of maneuvering back into the house, he’d hit his arm on the door and some of the bandaging covering his burn had snagged on the locking mechanism for the sliding door. Seeing that Reese was hopelessly stuck and dealing with the blinding pain, I’d run up to the house to help him.
But the second I’d reached him, he’d snarled at me to stay away from him, then he’d yanked his arm so hard that the gauze bandaging had torn. He’d somehow managed to stifle the shout of pain he must have felt and had rolled himself inside. I’d wanted so badly to go after him to make sure he hadn’t injured himself even worse, but in the end, I’d sent Gage’s father in my place.
My hands shook as I thrust them under the water. We’d just finished dinner and were supposed to play some kind of board game that Charlie had ordered online. Even Nash, who’d made a habit of bolting right after dinner every night for the past seven days, hadn’t been able to say no to the little girl.
In truth, I would’ve begged off if Charlie hadn’t been so excited about the game. We hadn’t played a game since the night Gage had kissed me.
God, that felt like a lifetime ago.
I finished washing my hands, then dried them on one of the guest towels. I was using the small guest bathroom near the kitchen, since Phillipe was making use of the one by front door. We’d all worked together to clear the table, though Phillipe had announced that he’d do the dishes later. I’d long ago learned that despite who I was, Phillipe had no issue with giving me orders. I’d already come out the loser when I’d tried to argue with him that Nash and I weren’t really guests, so we should help out with all of the chores, like doing the dishes.
As I neared the kitchen, I heard a loud crash, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Worried that Charlie might have hurt herself, I rushed to the room, only to find that it wasn’t Charlie lying among a pile of broken glasses and dishes.
It was Reese.
“Reese?” I called as I hurried to his side. He was covered in food debris, since we hadn’t cleared the plates off before stacking them by the sink, but luckily, I didn’t see any blood on him.
“Don’t touch me,” Reese snapped as I put my arms beneath his armpits to try to lift him up. I ignored him and tried to reach for his wheelchair with my foot so I could drag it closer. I could only surmise that he’d been trying to reach for something in the sink, which was too high for him while he was in the chair. He’d likely tried to stand and his legs had given out on him.