Blaine settled his hands carefully on Marrick’s flanks.He rolled them both very gently to the side and laid Marrick tenderly on the mattress.
Marrick smiled up at him in response, wondering if the expression looked half as forced as it felt.
Chapter Six
Ouch!
Marrick opened up the boot of the taxi and heaved his bike out.It wasn’t an easy a task to accomplish when it already felt like someone had set fire to his shoulder.
Leaning the bike awkwardly against his side, he dug through his backpack until he finally found his wallet.Taxi driver paid, Marrick watched him drive away while half-heartedly trying to build up the energy to walk into the house.
He eventually turned around, just in time to see Luther and Blaine jerk open the door.They hurried toward him with long, sweeping strides.For once, Marrick just stood there, content for them to do all the running.
As Luther reached his side, Marrick handed him his backpack.The lion took it, but he didn’t stop frowning.
“You’re hurt.”
Marrick didn’t say anything sarcastic, despite a very strong temptation to do so.“I’m fine.”
Blaine reached out and caught hold of Marrick’s arm, stopping him from wheeling his bike past them.Marrick’s breath stalled in his throat.He made a very firm mental note to not try to fight anyone for possession of that arm until his shoulder had stopped throbbing.
Very slowly, Blaine released Marrick’s arm, confusion filling his expression as he seemed to realised he’d somehow hurt him.
Handing his bike over to Blaine, Marrick made his way into the house.
“You’re hurt,” Luther accused again as they both hurried into the den’s meeting room after him.
“I’m fine—”
“The truth,” Blaine demanded.
“Oh, the truth?”Marrick managed a chuckle.“I feel like I was run over by a lorry.”
“You were run over by—”
“Ifeelas if I was.I wasn’t actually—” Marrick shook his head, rubbing at his temple.His cycle helmet might have stopped him cracking his skull open on the kerb; it hadn’t stopped him getting a blinding headache.“A car tapped my back wheel.I fell off my bike.That’s all.I’m fine.”He carefully lowered himself down onto the sofa and slumped gratefully against the blessedly soft cushions.
“You’re in pain,” Luther said, crouching down in front of him.
Marrick met his eyes; he saw the concern for him reflected there.“A headache and a wrenched shoulder.That’s all.I’ll be fine by Monday.And my bike’s—”
“No.”
Marrick stared up at Blaine, completely blanking.“No?”
Blaine glared back down at him, eyes full of anger.“No.You can’t keep riding that contraption around the city all day.It’s not safe.”
“It’s a perfectly normal mountain bike and—”
“No.”
Marrick took a deep breath and let it out very slowly.“It’s my job.You can’t be a bike courier without riding a bike.”He was amazed how calm the words sounded.
“No.”
Sounding and being calm weren’t actually the same thing.Anger brought with it enough adrenaline to mask his exhaustion and dull his pain.“Sorry, but I must have missed the part where I gave you the right to decide what I should do for a living.”
“There’s no reason why you need to work at all,” Blaine snapped.“We both have good jobs.You could just—”
