“Ace, stop!”
His warning came too late.
Ace jerked the extension cord with all his strength, and before Gio could get to the other side of the room, the ladder the cord had been wrapped around toppled to the floor, crashing down with Sacha tangled in it.
CHAPTERTWO
This isnothappening.
The amount of loud cursing that came out of Joker’s mouth was enough to have King swiftly clearing everyone who wasn’t family out of the ballroom. Joker would have been grateful if his leg didn’t feel like asteamrollerhad driven over it. He lay curled on the floor on his right side, his hands wrapped around his bent left knee because he didn’t dare touch the rest of his leg.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Gio asked worriedly as Chip pranced frantically around him, whining and poking his nose into various places, which meant Cookie was the one braced against Joker’s back. Duchess…well, Duchess just stood there staring at him, her expression very judgmental, which was about right. She always looked like she had no time for their nonsense.
How the hell had this happened? In all his years of combat as a Green Beret, this kind of thing had never, ever happened to him. Not even during his many years of working in private security had anything like this happened. Because this kind of shit didnothappen tohim. He was the most athletic, agile, and fit of all of them.
Gio ran a hand over Joker’s hair. “Sweetheart, talk to me.”
Joker shook his head, his lips pressed together. He couldn’t talk because only more cursing would come out if he opened his mouth.
It’s fine.Just breathe through it.
Joker shut his eyes, breathed deeply through his nose, and then let it out through his mouth. When he opened his eyes, Red was there.
Fuck my life.
“Don’t say it,” Joker gritted through his teeth.
Red’s deep frown confirmed what Joker already knew.
“Son of a bitch!”
“What is it?” Gio asked.
“We need to get him to Urgent Care,” Red said gently. “He’s fractured his leg.” He carefully pulled up Joker’s pant leg. “It’s already swelling.”
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”
Why was his boyfriend sorry? He didn’t do this. Joker turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Ace, who looked all pouty and worried and pathetic.
“I’m sorry, I should have checked. It was stupid and reckless, and…I’m so sorry.”
And now Joker couldn’t even be mad because as much of a pain in the ass as his brother was, when Ace wasreallysorry about something he looked like a sad puppy who’d been abandoned out in the cold. Asshole.
“It’s fine,” Joker said through a grunt as Red took hold of one arm and Gio the other. They helped him up onto his uninjured leg. This was a nightmare, and he wasn’t referring to the pain. Pain he could deal with. It was everything else this damn injury was about to unleash that terrified him.
“It’s not fine,” Ace muttered. “You’re hurt, and it’s my fault.”
“Can we go?” Joker asked. He could feel his leg getting more swollen by the second.
How many members of the Boyfriend Collective did it take to dress Joker for the cold?
All of them.
Oh God, they’d beenactivated. It was too soon. He wasn’t prepared.
Mason ran over with his coat, handing it to Colton, who slipped one of Joker’s arms into a sleeve while Laz slipped Joker’s other arm into the opposite sleeve. Leo wrapped Joker’s scarf around him, and Fitz put Joker’s hat on him. Oh fuck! This was bad. Very bad. They were going to want to…take care of him. No. Oh no, no, no.
Joker clenched his jaw so he wouldn’t tell them all to fuck off and hurt their feelings because each one was like a baby bunny carrying a cinnamon bun surrounded by sunflowers and the glow of the summer sun.
