Especially considering I felt like I was more than healed enough to fuck, or at the very least eat out Ryan’s perfect freckled ass.
My bullet wound still hurt if I twisted in certain directions or if I pressed on it, but the constant dull throb was nearly gone.The brand was doing even better. After a few days of antibiotics, the excruciatingly hot sting of pain I had been suffering dwindled and died. It had blistered over in the first week, and now it was just an ugly fucking scab of Damian’s initials. I hated looking at it. Once it was fully healed, I planned to find a way to cover it up with ink somehow.
“You have a phone and an Amazon account, Callum. Order yourself whatever you want,” Ryan muttered absently as he dug around through the trunk at the end of the bed for a pair of pants for me to wear.
Vox brought all my shit from my old house, considering Naomi and I couldn’t live there anymore. Ryan had immediately dragged an antique trunk in here to store all my things.
I’d watched him fold my clothes for over an hour and diligently put my things away. His little disgusted scoff every time he found a wrinkled T-shirt amused me to no end. It took him forever to get my shit in the trunk because he insisted on using his tiny handheld steamer to iron every single piece of clothing before neatly putting it away.
“Nothank you,”I grumbled. Ryan knew I wouldn’t look at my phone. He’d been trying to get me to check it for days, telling me I needed to rip the bandaid off and message Damian myself.
But I couldn’t. I knew if I checked my messages and Damian had sent threats against Ryan, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from returning to Apex. It was easier to pretend there were no threats or messages.
The unread messages that Ryan had sent me when I was being tortured were another reason my gut swirled with anxiety when I thought about checking my phone. I was sure they would break my fucking heart, and I just wasn’t ready for any of that.
I wanted to pretend none of this was happening and bury my face in his ass to make up for being mean to him, but the stubborn fucker wouldn’t let me anywhere near him. Not until Iwashealed.Which is the only reason I was listening to any of his stupid fucking rules.
“Well, then I guess the crutch will have to do for now.” He smirked at me, handing me a pair of shredded black jeans. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I pulled them on, batting his hands away when he tried to help me. I scowled at him as I did up the button and gingerly got to my feet.
“When I’m healed, you’re going to get fucked so hard you won’t be able to sit for a week,” I threatened, and Ryan snickered.
“Promises, promises,” he chirped, handing me the shitty crutch. Giving him my grumpiest look, I snatched it out of his hands and tucked it under my arm. I would never admit it to him, but itdidmake it a little easier to walk.
It was slow going, but we made our way down to the kitchen, where the whole gang was hanging out. We were using Fairview as a sort of base until I was healed enough to help Vox figure out what to do about Damian. This meant that there hadn’t been any funeral services for two weeks, and Cassandra had been forced to take a vacation for the first time since she started her career as a lawyer. Vox was sprawled out at the kitchen table with his laptop in his lap. He didn’t even look up as we entered, as his computer screen seemed to be commanding one hundred percent of his attention.
Naomi was helping Iris with breakfast, and Cass and Theo were bickering by the coffee machine.
Jeez, it was a full house.
Naomi was the first to notice I had joined the land of the living, and she beamed at me as she whisked eggs in a stainless steel mixing bowl.
“Cal! You’re out of bed!” She beamed, and I nodded, slipping into a chair next to Vox. I leaned the stupid crutch against the table and sighed.
“Yeah. Out of bed but still under fuckinghousearrest.”I scowled at Ryan, who just gave me his usual smirk that he used whenever I complained about being bored.
“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Cass said, rolling her eyes and distancing herself from Theo.
“Not that bad!?” I growled. “I haven’t murdered or fucked anything in two weeks!Two weeks,Cassandra!”
She made a face and raised her coffee cup to her perfectly painted lips.
“Okay, I don’t need to hear about how blue your fucking balls are, little brother,” she grumbled, taking a sip of her drink.
Ryan came to stand beside me, running his fingers through my hair gently.
“Come on, angel, I refuse to believe those are your only two speeds. There must be something else we can do to keep you busy while you’re on the mend.”
The way his fingers brushed against my scalp was doing nothing to get my mind off sex. My dick tented in my pants as he scraped his blunt fingernails down the back of my head, and I nearly purred out loud at how fucking good it felt.
“Keep doing that, ginger snap, and both our families are going to find out real fucking fast exactly what speed I run at.”
“Callum!” Naomi and Cass simultaneously exclaimed while Theo and Vox both snickered.
Chuckling in amusement, Ryan pinched my chin between his fingers and tilted my head up so he could brush a kiss over my lips.
“If you can hold out just a little bit longer, I promise to make it worth your while,” he murmured against my mouth.
Wrapping my hand around his nape and pulling him closer, I rubbed the tip of my nose against his.
