“Let me know if you need anything,” Dawn says before shutting the door and leaving me with Garrick.
He is sitting in his wheelchair staring out at the window.
“Hey,” I say, dumping my purse on a table and walking toward him. “I bet it feels good to be home.”
“Does it?” He lifts his head to look up at me.
“Look at that gorgeous view.”
“It’s torture,” he says, swiveling in his chair and giving me a good look at his injured face. It’s as Dawn said. He has a Band-Aid over a gash on his cheek and large bump on his brow.
“Torture?” I frown, purposely not commenting on his fall because he’ll probably just shout at me.
He waves agitated hands in front of the window. “It’s not like I’ll ever go hiking or camping again. It’s a reminder of everything I’ve lost. I should have stayed in Medina.”
I want to tell him he’s wrong. That there are ways he’ll be able to enjoy a lot of the things he used to enjoy again, and he’s much better off here. But I don’t bother pushing it. When he’s in a pissy mood, there is no convincing his stubborn mind of anything. “Maybe I should go and come back at a better time,” I suggest.
“Or maybe you should just suck my dick,” he snaps, glaring at me as my heart sinks. “Oh wait. You don’t want to touch it, do you?” He grabs my wrist. “Well, tough luck, baby. I need cheering up. I need to blow a load, and you fucking owe me.”
I yank my hand back and stumble away from him. “I’m not doing this again with you, Garrick. We already discussed it.”
“You owe me, you selfish bitch!” he yells, and I clamp a hand over my mouth as he lowers his zipper and pulls his cock out. “Get on your knees, Stevie, and suck me off.”
Tears well in my eyes. “Stop this, Garrick. This isn’t you.”
“News flash, sweetheart,” he yells. “I’ll never be me again! You made damn sure of that when you refused to accept the BMW. My life is ruined, and it’s all because of you! Fuck you, Stevie! You don’t get to walk away unscathed. You fucking did this to me, and the least you can do is suck my fucking dick!”
“That’s enough,” Hudson says, charging into the room. Shock splays across his face when he sees Garrick sitting there with his cock in hand and venom bleeding from his eyes.
“Stevie, sweetheart.” Hudson clasps my face, but I can barely see him through my tears. “Go out to Dawn, and leave me to talk to Garrick for a few minutes.”
“Just fuck off,” Garrick snaps. “Unless you’re going to suck my cock, you’re no good to me.”
“Shut your fucking face, Garrick,” Hudson bellows. “Or I’ll shut it for you.”
“Hit guys in wheelchairs a lot, buddy?” Garrick retorts.
“There’s a first time for everything, and the chair has nothing to do with it. Someone needs to knock some sense into you, and it’s going to be me.”
Hudson holds me close as he takes me out of the room and into the kitchen where Dawn is waiting with tears in her eyes and open arms. I fall into her embrace, and we both cry for a little bit.
“I’m so ashamed you heard that,” I admit as we nurse hot sweet tea around the kitchen table while Hudson attempts to calm Garrick down.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, sweetie. Garrick is an entirely different matter.”
“He can’t help it.”
“Yes, he can.” Dawn splits a cookie in two and passes half to me. “How long has he been speaking to you like that?”
I shrug, not wanting to rat him out.
“I want the truth.”
“He’s like Jekyll and Hyde with me,” I explain, dunking the cookie in my tea before taking a bite. Dawn waits me out. “There are times when he’s the Garrick I remember, and we chat about everything and anything, and it’s normal. It feels like we’re true friends again. Then there are the times when he’s a person I don’t know. He wasn’t like that before the accident. He gets angry quickly, and he has a tendency to blame me for everything, and it’s okay because it is my fault.”
“No, no, no, Stevie.” She shakes her head as tears pool in her eyes. “It is not your fault, sweet girl. I would not be surprised if Ivy has been filling him with nonsense about the accident.”
“She hates me, and we all know she never has anything good to say about me. But why would Garrick listen to her?”
