“Yes, because there aren’t millions of people, billions even, who hate jobs that they keep doing.”
“Forget it,” I said with a sigh, rubbing my face.
“And you’re...” he stopped and stared out the window. “I don’t know how, and I don’t know why I want it to continue since it’s just adding more trouble to my life, but...what you’re doing here is reminding me who I was...making me feel human again.”
That stopped me short. “I...what does that mean?”
“It means...stay here for a while?” he said softly, and I realized it took a lot more out of him to say that out loud than he wanted to admit. “Let it just be...you and me?”
Damn him.
LEVI
“So this is how someone high up in The Family chooses to live, huh?” Dom asked as he looked around my home.
“Not all of them,” I said with a snort, relieved to see his anger and frustration take a back seat. It wasn’t gone, of course; I didn’t expect it to be. He had plenty to be angry about. But then again, Dom had never really been free of his anger. He had eventually learned how to get it under control and make it work for him, but it was always there beneath the surface. “I could certainly come up with names that would mean nothing to you, of people who would choose a far more extravagant and ostentatious home.”
“Yeah, well, this suits you better,” he said, walking over to the fireplace and picking up one of the shells on the shelf above it. “I see you’ve been to the beach again.”
“It was the one thing about living in Seattle I missed the most,” I admitted. “I didn’t realize I missed it until I got here.”
“Really? That’s on the coast.”
“Yes, but it’s not the coast around here.”
There was something...dangerous about the coast here that had always felt right. A pleasant beach walk was all well and good, and you could still find that further south. What youcouldn’t experience was the sheer cliffs and precipices that threatened to drag you into the sea if you didn’t watch your step. You could stand on the cliffs, and the wind felt completely different as it blasted across you, howling like a furious animal as the waves crashed below.
“True,” he said and looked around, unsure whether he was supposed to sit down or stand around looking lost.
“The furniture is functional,” I told him dryly. “Make yourself comfortable. I need to change the bandage before I forget.”
He raised a brow. “Really?”
I stopped “What?”
“Let me help,” he said. “I don’t think you’re going to do a good job if you try to do it yourself.”
“I can manage,” I told him with a frown.
“It’s your shoulder, Levi. Just let me help you. I’m no doctor, but I can put a bandage on.”
I hesitated, but there wasn’t any reason to say no. It would be easier with help, which the no-nonsense nurse had told me when I’d left the hospital. “Fine, but don’t fuss.”
“Me? I don’t fuss, Moira is the fusser.”
“You always fussed when you thought I was going too hard at something, or God forbid, I was injured,” I reminded him as I walked into the small bathroom. It wasn’t like I needed a whole lot of space, especially when I figured I wouldn’t be spending much time here anyway.
The smallness of the bathroom was made more obvious when Dom followed me in. It was a decent size for me, but for Dom alone, it would have been tight. With me? It was positively claustrophobic as I stood at the sink, wondering what I was doing.
“Are you going to do anything, or do I have to do everything?” he asked, raising his brow and gesturing impatiently.
Sighing, I opened the cabinet next to the tub, pulled out the wraps they had given me, and handed them to him. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to keep the shirt on, and I hesitated. If it had been someone else helping me, I wouldn’t have thought twice, but we were already bumping into each other as he struggled to open the packaging.
Deciding I needed to get moving before he stopped being distracted by what he called ‘cursed’ packaging, I grabbed my shirt. My shoulder and arm sang a dirge of pain as I forced the skin to stretch, pulling the shirt over my head, but I kept my reaction to myself as I dropped the shirt onto a hook next to the door. I was already going to have to deal with Dom giving me shit for the damage, I didn’t need him to know I was in pain as well.
“Huh,” he said as he balled the packaging up and threw it into the trash can next to the sink.
“What?” I asked, trying not to give away how self-conscious I was feeling. Not that I had any reason to be self-conscious about exposing my body. I had done it around plenty of people, and sure, in the early years after I’d left Cresson Point, I’d been a little self-conscious, but I had also been a scrawny kid. I had grown since then, and I had been careful to take care of my body. If anything, I was proud of what I still managed to do with my body despite spending most of my working life at a desk.
