I didn’t mind, though. I’d drawn a blank there for a sec, and it was nice to have a task.
“He wants to help you. He simply needed a nudge.”
“Well, don’t nudge him.”
“That’s your job?” Channing’s tone sounded teasing and it made my stomach flip.
I stopped at the bathroom door, pill bottle in hand, to hear what Perry would say. Because honestly, that usually was how Perry handled me and that was fine with me, even if he would never admit it.
“It’s not yours,” he said in the voice I almost recognized as his growly one, except it was too soft to be very convincing.
I don’t know why those three little words made my stomach drop. It wasn’t like I wanted Channing telling me what to do. Or Perry, for that matter. I’d just needed ten seconds to think, then Channing had handed me a simple task to get me moving. It was fine. Wasn’t it?
“Not currently,” Channing said.
The sound of a chair scraping over the floor grated through the apartment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sit down,” Channing said, his voice as calm as ever. “It means nothing. Until it does.”
I could understand why Perry would be losing his mind over what Channing was saying. It was riddles, nonsense, and he hated that. But it was also vaguely promising things Perry wouldn’t love to think about. Until he would.
I shook my head and hurried back to the main room, placing the bottle on the table, and a hand on Perry’s shoulder. “Sit,” I whispered. “He’s okay.” I kissed his not-hurt cheek. “We’re okay.” Then I passed him to the fridge and fetched him an ice pack.
“He’s not in charge of you,” Perry grumbled as he took the pack.
“No. But he’s taking charge right now, and that’s okay. We can talk about what it is later. When you’re less hurt and tired.”
He sighed and sat down, accepting a glass of water I handed him.
After a few attempts at opening the bottle, Channing took it from him and opened it, tipping two of the pills into his palm.
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“You don’t have to hang around.”
Instead of leaving, Channing took the chair across from him. “We don’t have to play tomorrow. My team is happy to concede the tournament on the grounds of poor sportsmanship. No one would think anything of it.”
“I would. You and the others didn’t do anything wrong. You kicked those who did off the team. Which, by the way, I approve of.”
Channing snorted softly. “Thank you for your approval.”
“Not that you need it, but I agree with whoever it was at the club. We don’t need guys like that representing us on the national stage. Jason’s main beef with us was that if we won it would make your team look bad. He did that all on his own.”
“Agreed.”
“And personally, I don’t want anyone thinking that’s how a Canadian curler acts, win or lose.”
“Agreed.”
“So no, you won’t be conceding. We’ll play and see what happens.”
“Agreed.” Channing held out a hand and Perry shook with him.
“Is that why you came up here?”
Channing looked from him to me and back again. “Only partially. A very small part. Mostly, I wanted to be sure you both settled in alright.”
