“Did he always have those?”I thought as I redirected my gaze from his arm to his face.
Jace must have caught me staring because he looked at me funny.
“You ready, sugar?”
“Quit calling me that,” I warned as I closed the passenger door.
After sitting in the waiting room for what felt like an eternity, Jace finally came out, paperwork in hand and a black boot on his left foot.
Oh shit.
“Doc says it’s a clean break. Gotta wear this cast for six weeks until it’s all healed up,” Jace announced as he limped out.
Part of me still hoped that it was a bad sprain and he would be better in a few days. If I felt bad before, I felt really bad now. Jace was a pain in my ass, sure, but I never meant to break one of his bones.
“He also gave me a prescription for some pain medicine,” he said, holding up the prescription paper.
Alarm bells went off in my head. I knew firsthand how fast one innocent prescription could turn into a lifetime of struggles, but that was my own trauma creeping up, not Jace’s. He was a big boy; he could do what he wanted to in the end. He didn’t need me to trauma dump on him when I had apparently just broken his foot.
“At least it’s not my driving foot,” he said, looking down, slowly turning the boot from side to side.
“Do you want me to take you home? Or back to your truck downtown maybe? I can drop off dinner for you tonight too. That way you can rest it as much as possible. It’s the least I could do for causing this,” I said, still looking down at the black medical device in disbelief.
“Actually, can you take me to Colt and Ellie’s? I want June Bug to sign my cast with one of her glittery pens.”
Okay, that was the sweetest thing I had ever heard.
Too bad I’d never admit it.
Chapter 4 – Jace
“Oh, look, June, Uncle J is here… and Auntie Cassie?” Ellie said confused as she opened the front door to the guesthouse, noticing me first, then Cassie right behind me.
As we walked in, Ellie looked down and noticed the black boot on my foot.
“What happened?” she asked, motioning for me to sit on the couch.
“Cassie ran me over.”
“Shewhat?” Ellie gasped, looking over at Cassie.
Just then, Colt walked in. “Did I just hear you say someone got ran over?” he asked, looking around, expecting someone to be laying on the ground dead.
“Yep, me—by Cassie. Ask her for yourself.” I snickered, pointing at Cassie, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“He was walking through a crosswalk downtown, and I didn’t see him until the last second. By then it was too late. I broke his foot,” she said, lowering her voice on the last part, probably hoping no one would hear her admit I was telling the truth.
“Are you okay? Did you break anything else?” Ellie asked, looking me over frantically.
“No, I’m fine. Just a clean break. Doc says it’ll heal in a few weeks and I’ll be good as new.”
“How did you drive here with a broken foot?” Ellie asked.
“I didn’t. Cassie was kind enough to drive me here from the doctor after they confirmed that she did in fact snap my bones with her car tires,” I explained before making a breaking noisewith my mouth as I looked over at Cassie who squinted her eyes at me in annoyance.
“I think the craziest part is that you got in the car with her afterwards knowing her driving skills,” Colt said, laughing.
“Oh, come on, guys. I already feel bad. Don’t make it worse than it already is,” she said, flopping down next to me on the couch, covering her face with her hands.
