“It means you put everyone before yourself and you’re ridiculously emotional about it.”
“We fought.” Landon crossed his arms over his chest and slumped in the uncomfortable vinyl hospital chair.
“Tell Daddy Jack what happened, Landon,” Jack teased him with a surprisingly alert sparkle in his eyes.
“He was talking about getting a collar…for me. Well, I mean, even before that, he told me he hadn’t been with anyone serious since we’d been together in school. Then yesterday, he’d left for work and I was getting a pair of socks and I found a collar in his drawer.”
“Oh, you’re like one of those women who ruins her own engagement by snooping,” Jack said with a laugh, followed by a pained wince.
“Well, there was definitely a ring there, too. But the collar wasn’t mine.”
“How do you know?”
“It wasn’t like the one he told me he wanted me to have.”
“Weeeellll, did you ask him about it?” Jack tilted his head in question.
“Of course.”
“Did you ask, or did you get crazy?” Jack huffed.
“I don’t get crazy,” he protested.
“Verity said you got crazy.”
Landon threw his arms in the air. “When did you even talk to Verity?”
“They called yesterday after I got out of surgery to let me know you were coming. They said you were upset.”
“Of course I was upset, I thought your blood was going to fucking poison you to death, asshole.”
“About Gregory.”
“I don’t want to talk about him right now,” Landon said with a pout.
“I literally have nothing else to do besides enjoy this chilly air conditioning and draw conclusions while my insides drain. So, if you don’t want to tell me, I’ll guess and you can tell me if I’m right.”
Landon gestured for Jack to carry on.
“The collar is yours.”
“He says,” Landon protested.
“You believe him.”
“Do I?”
“Of course you do, or you wouldn’t be so desperate to be mad at him.” Jack shook his head. “You know, Landon, for someone who spends so much time on his knees, you sure have a lot of pride.”
Landon opened his mouth to explain to Jack the exact way his pride was linked to his ability to be in that place on his knees, but snapped it closed. He couldn’t think about any of that right now without thinking about Gregory—sleeping on the floor, and having a fucking fist up his ass, and whatever else his mind would find it appropriate to focus on.
“I do,” he said in lieu of the rest.
“You do believe him, or you do have pride?”
Landon chewed his bottom lip between his teeth and glared at Jack. “Yes.”
“Ha!” Jack barked out a laugh, then clenched his teeth with another pained grunt.
