“Come on, the suspense is killing me.” He tightened his hand on my thigh.
“It’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But I never expected you to live in something like this.” When I turned my attention over to him, I found him squinting at me.
“What, you expected me to live in a dump?”
“No, just a frat house.”
He slapped my thigh, sending pleasant tingles racing to my dick. “Funny. That was college.”
“I knew you came across as a fan of keg stands.”
He grinned. “Careful, Blake. I may just talk you into getting drunk with me. We’ll see how far my hands wander. I’m told I’m quite the flirt.”
“Can’t imagine what you’re like with loose inhibitions.” If that was even possible. A part of me suspected he was more the type to getotherswasted than let himself get too hammered to not be in control.
“Guess you’ll have to find out.”
Shaking my head, I slipped my hand under the handle of the door to pop it open, stretching once I was out in the fresh air. Silas had been weirdly nice enough to retrieve Marlow’s car forme early this morning, literally throwing the keys at me on his way in for his shift.
‘Don’t crash it or Avery reallywillsue you’was the only thing he’d said to me before disappearing beyond the staff doors.
I had yet to meet Marlow’s other friend officially, but from the sound of it, the man was just as terrifying as Silas was. Maybe even more so with the amount of money and resources he apparently had.
Shoving my door closed, I came around to the other side where Marlow was already trying to struggle his way out of the car, completely ignoring the crutches that were tucked into the backseat.
I shoved him back into the car, smiling a little at the grunt I received in return as I opened the back door.
“I don’t want those things,” he complained.
“I’d love to carry you but you weigh too much for me to properly balance you.” The rubber stoppers on the bottom slammed against the side of the door as I pulled them out, forcing me to hold back a wince while slamming it shut.
What were the chances Avery did an inspection on Marlow’s car to make sure I wasn’t fucking it up in other ways outside of crashing it?
He gasped dramatically. “Blake, are you calling mefat? What the hell, I thought you were supposed to be all about body positivity.”
“Nice try.” I shoved the crutches into his hand. “You want help standing up?”
“No.”
I eyed him carefully. “You sure?”
He seemed to think about it for a second, moving the crutches to his sides while measuring how exactly he was going to get himself from sitting half tucked inside of his car to rolling up onto his feet and fitting each pad under his arm.
Silas had forced him to practice a few times while still in the hospital but now he was all on his own.
Thankfully, the only thing that had actually come out broken was his leg that had needed to be reset surgically. Pins and screws were holding it together while it slowly healed, carefully protected under his cast, which reached all the way up to above his knee.
A miracle, really, that the rest of him had only been badly bruised and sprained, and by now, was on its way to healing completely.
If that wasn’t sheer luck, I couldn’t fathom what was.
“Okay,” Marlow mumbled, finally tugging himself out from the car.
I stood back to give him room, keeping my arms out to catch him if he ended up tipping over from the weird displacement of weight. The way his cast was fitting around him had his leg permanently bent at a slightly odd angle, remnants of how truly bad his fall had been.
According to his x-rays, his leg had taken the brunt of the impact, saving him from completely shattering his ribcage and arms on the way down. He’d be in a cast for at least three months, with the possibility of having permanent screws in his leg for the rest of his life afterward.
At the time, he’d joked about being half robotic, his spirits barely taking a hit when he’d been given a close-up view of his x-rays after Silas had personally brought them to his room to show him the work he’d done.
