“No climbing, no abseiling?”
“Just a bushwalk today. Although—”
“No althoughs. I’m happy with an easy hike, but you know me, Harv, any of that other more adventurous stuff isn’t my thing.”
“And didn’t you agree not to do anything risky?” Ravi piped up. “Didn’t you promise Rafe?”
Harvey rolled his eyes. “Hmm… promise is an exaggeration, and life’s all about taking risks.”
“Really?” Ravi’s brows nearly hit his hairline. “Taking risks, huh?’
“I—” The doorbell chimed, and Harvey jumped up. “That’ll be the Woollies supermarket delivery.”
Harvey couldn’t leave the room fast enough.Yeah, there’s definitely a story there.But instead of quizzing Ravi, no matter how much he wanted to, Parker followed Harvey to the front door. A guy in a bright green hi-vis T-shirt was bringing in bags of groceries, placing them in the entrance hall before heading back out the front door, only to return with more bags.
“Jesus, Harvey. How much did you order? You’ll be leaving soon.”
“Enough to last till the end of the week. Plus Ravi’s thinking of staying on, minding the apartment while I’m away, so I figured I’d stock up.”
That was definitely news to Parker. He’d had no idea Ravi was staying in Sydney, the two of them having booked tickets to return to Perth mid-next week.Curiouser and curiouser. The delivery man placed a case of bottled water on the floor near the door, running out of room in the entrance hall that was now crammed with grocery bags.
“I’ll take some of these through to the kitchen.” Parker hefted a few bags, the plastic handles cutting into his hands. What on earth had Harvey bought? Whatever was in the bags weighed a ton.
He placed the bags on the kitchen floor, the cans and bottles inside rattling when they hit the tiles.Whoops.
Parker contemplated putting the groceries away, but he had no idea where anything went. He shrugged at Ravi, who started rummaging through the bags, and headed back to the front door to grab another load of shopping.
“Thanks, mate.” Harvey nodded to the delivery guy, then closed the front door. “Thank fuck for home delivery, I can’t stand facing the supermarket, especially if I want to run in for a quick trip. Much better to stock up than have to brave the recognition that turns a five-minute trip to grab milk into an hour-long photo session.”
“Well you sure proved that today. What’d you do? Buy out half the shop?” Parker chuckled as he and Harvey loaded themselves up with more of the overflowing bags—from the looks of things, fruit and veggies in the ones Parker had grabbed.
Parker was halfway down the hall towards the kitchen when he heard an almighty thump followed by a sharp yell. His heart beat into his throat at the sudden noise echoing in the space.Jesus!He turned quickly to see Harvey sprawled on the hard floorboards surrounded by apples, the loops of the grocery bag handles still in his hands.
“You doofus.” He laughed as he placed his own bags on the floor and bent to collect the stray Granny Smiths that were rolling at his feet.
“Parker?”
“Hmm?” Parker looked up.
Harvey was white as a sheet and hadn’t moved his position. His eyes were wide, and his jaw trembled. His gaze shifted downward, and Parker followed his line of sight. Harvey’s left hand was flat on the floor, but there was an obvious deformity of his wrist, and his thumb was at a weird angle.
“Bloody hell!” He dropped to his knees besides Harvey. “What can I do to help? Can you stand? Do you need an ambulance?”
“Hang on. Give me a minute.” Harvey sucked in a deep breath, then another. He focused on his breathing for a minute as he untangled his hands from the bags. He finally got his knees under him and manoeuvred himself until he was kneeling, at the same time drawing his damaged arm to his chest. He used his good hand to support the injured one.
Parker resisted offering him a hand because he was scared shitless he’d do more harm than good.
Harvey wobbled slightly and groaned. “Shit. That hurts.”
Parker had no doubt about that, given Harvey’s pallor and the shake to his voice.
“What’s— Shit! What happened?” Ravi rushed down the hall and skid to a stop in front of them. “Fuck, Harvey. That looks bad.”
Ravi’s colour nearly matched Harvey’s, enough so that Parker worried Ravi was going to faint. “Help me get him to the car, Rav. Actually, go grab his stuff. His phone. The keys.” Hopefully giving his friend something to do would stop him freaking out.
Ravi swallowed heavily, and for a moment Parker thought he was going to puke, but he swallowed again and nodded. “Sure.” With a backward glance at Harvey, he sped off towards the bedrooms.
Parker focused back on his brother. Harvey groaned again as he stood, but he was stable on his feet, although still white as ghost with an obvious tremor. He held his arm tightly to his chest.
