“Whoopsie,” she intones as she pulls the plunger back and pushes it down. “Didn’t mean to stick you that hard, but I wanted to make sure it took.” Then she presses a bit of gauze to the injection site to keep the medicine from working its way out, just like a pro.
“Sorry for the language, but I think you might have hit bone.”
“Oh, no.” She giggles. “Plenty of fatty tissue here, like you said.”
I scoff, and she replaces the gauze with a Band-Aid. “For the record, you lied to me before,” she continues, pulling my boxers and my pants up one at a time and making me gulp hard, which fortunately makes my throat hurt enough to distract me from the feeling of her hands on my skin. In fact, it’s not until this exact moment that I realize I’m literally bent over the table, baring my ass for her. We’re on a whole different level of trust now.
“Wait, I didn’t … when did I lie?” And now I’m the one who’s flustered.
“You said I wouldn’t like the view from back here because it was too hairy,” she reminds me, leaning in to whisper next to my ear.
I swallow again and wince at the pain. “If you think that’s completely hairless, then you need to get your eyes checked, Blondie.”
“It’s not as bad as you made it sound, though,” she replies before turning and backing away, leaving me to either force my tonsils together on purpose or start reciting a list of commonstreptococcusinfection sites.
“I know you don’t want a sucker, so am I supposed to give you a sticker now?”
“What?” I ask, rising from my position at the table.
“You were a big boy today, Landry. You deserve a reward,” she adds with a smirk, and I groan.
CHAPTER 30
daisy
“Thank you,”Landry says as I tuck him into bed.
“No problem,” I mumble somewhat bitterly while I set a glass of water and his next dose of medicine on the side table.
He tries to clear his throat and winces before he reaches out to grab my arm. “I mean it. No one has ever …” He shakes his head before he continues. “I can’t remember the last time anyone’s taken such good care of me.”
But I catch what he didn’t mean to say. “Your parents never tended to you when you were sick?” I ask, furrowing my brow.
He shrugs, his hand still wrapped around my forearm. “Not this well, no.”
My insides feel heavy. “How did that work, then?”
“After Lilley left home, I did most of that stuff for Loren and myself, I guess.”
“Oh,” I say softly. “Well, I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is,” he replies. “But I’m grateful for your help, especially since I’m probably not your favorite person at the moment.”
I press my lips together before I answer. “Is this supposed to be your attempt at another apology for last night?”
He smiles ruefully, and his thumb softly strokes my arm. “Maybe.”
“The sympathy card was a dirty move,” I pull away and cross both arms over my chest.
“To be fair, I only planned on playing the current-sickness card. I was forced to put down the shitty-childhood card when you called my hand.”
“Mm-hmm.” I glare at him skeptically. “That all you got?”
He pats the bed beside him, and I reluctantly sit at the edge. “I think I understand what I said to hurt you last night.”
“You do?” My heart immediately begins beating faster, making my head pound.
“Is it because I made it sound like I could never want a physical relationship with you?”
