I brush my knee against her thigh making her shiver, a soft blush blooming across her cheeks.
“Levi.” She mutters, narrowing her eyes playfully. “Watch it.”
I shrug my good shoulder. “I’m not doing anything.” I mock innocence.
She rolls her eyes at me, silence encasing us as she continues to soothe me with her fingers softly stroking against my skin. In fact, she soothes me so much that I start to feel my eyes grow heavy.
I jolt awake when a shrill ring splits through the room. It takes my brain a second to catch up to where I am, realising I must have fallen asleep while Scarlett held the ice to my shoulder.
Scarlett gently guides my good arm over so that I now hold the bag of ice against my shoulder before murmuring, “Sorry, I have to take this.”
She jogs out to grab her phone, leaving me sitting alone with my thoughts icing my shoulder that just doesn’t want to heal. Great. This is exactly where I want to be right now.
I hear Scarlett’s soft voice growing closer as she walks back in. Taking her place in front of me once again, she tilts her head so she can hold her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she takes the ice from me again, giving my shoulder a quick look before holding the ice back on it.
“Okay. Yeah, I’ll watch the game. I promise. Okay. Bye.” I narrow my eyes. Who the fuck is she talking to? She hangs up before lifting the ice to peek at the damage. “Not too swollen, Levi. You should be good. We’ll just have an easy stretch tomorrow when it calms down.” She walks off to dispose of the ice leaving me sitting there to roll out and loosen up my shoulder.
Fuck. This is so painful - more mentally than physically, though.
When she returns, she pins me with a look that I wouldn't dare disobey. “Don’t you even try anything, Levi. Take it easy for the next couple of days.”
“Thank you.” I whisper, leaning back against the couch.
I hate sitting still. I hate sitting alone with my thoughts. But at this point, I don’t really have any other option. I just have to wait this out.
Though, being here with Scarlett now certainly makes that feel a lot easier.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SCARLETT
Isit on the couch on the wraparound deck, drinking my tea while watching the sun rise over the lake. The world is quiet. Peaceful – which was needed after yesterday.
God, he scared the shit out of me.
Maybe his shoulder just wasn't ready for that movement, but I feel terrible. I mean, really awful. I should have been more careful with my plan for him. His situation is delicate. He is delicate. I can only hope that today, he’s feeling slightly better.
Sighing, I lean my head back, relaxing until I’ll have to deal with Levi when he wakes up.
I hear the door open behind me. Speak of the devil.
I turn and meet his eyes.
His wavy brown hair all messy and ruffled, piercing blue eyes still sleepy. Not to mention he’s only wearing plaid pyjama pants that are slung low on his hips showing off his defined torso. And I thought that I had a good set of abs.
God, how does he look that good just after waking up?
“Morning, Carter. I didn’t expect you to be up this early.”
He just grunts, walking across the deck and slumping down on the other side of the couch.
“Couldn’t sleep?” I ask, hoping to get to him to open up, even just a little.
A small shake of his head. Better than nothing.
“Is your shoulder bothering you?” A small nod. Of course.
We went our separate ways after I iced him up yesterday –I didn’t see him for the rest of the night.
