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I roll my eyes.

This man is going to be the death of me.

Jumper helps Dalton hobble over to the chair and deposits him in it before turning back for the door. “I’m going to go get the doctor.”

“I’m fine.”

“The fuck you are,” Jumper snaps, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. “You crashed your fucking bike, dickhead. You need to get looked at.”

A fist squeezes my chest.

“What?” I breathe out, memories of my mom getting that damn call circling my brain. Images of my dad come at me from every direction—his smile, his laugh, that twinkle he’d get in his eyes when he was messing with someone— all of it just gone in an instant because he crashed his bike.

And now, I’d almost lost Dalton the same way?

Tears sting my eyes and I shake my head, my chest aching at the thought of Dalton being gone. I wouldn’t fucking survive it.

“It’s fine,” he rumbles, meeting my eyes with a nod. The look in his eyes is so reassuring but the fear is choking me. He tries to readjust himself in the chair and his lips press into a thin line. “I’m okay.”

“Fucking dumb motherfucker,” Jumper grumbles as he stalks out of the room, closing the door behind him as he goes in search of the doctor. Dalton lets out a hiss just before his body relaxes into the seat, finally.

A tear slips down my cheek.

“What the hell—”

“I need to tell you something,” he says, cutting me off. His brows knit together and he looks up at me with a frown. “This isn’t going to work.”

“What isn’t?”

He looks down at his body before releasing a heavy breath and gesturing between the two of us. “This.”

My stomach drops like a stone as I stare at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“I can’t,” he says, shoving himself forward in the chair, a grimace on his face the entire way. “Tell you what I need to tell you while I’m sitting here and you’re laying up there.”

“Okay…” I say, letting the word hang in the air because I’m still not sure what the hell he’s doing. He scoots all the way to the edge of the chair and sucks in breath before forcing himself to his feet.

My eyes widen.

“What the hell are you doing?” I point to the chair behind him as I wipe away my tears with my other hand.

Oh, this stubborn man.

If I could move right now, I’d kick his ass.

“Sit back down.”

“Give me a minute, sweetheart.”

I scoff. “No. I’m not going to give you a minute. You crashed your fucking bike and you—”

“Yeah,” he says as he puts one hand on the bed and shuffles towards it. “That shit sucks. Definitely wouldn’t recommend it.”

“No shit, Captain Obvious.” I shoot him a look that he doesn’t even see as he continues shuffling closer to the bed. “Now, sit down.”

Once he’s at the side of the bed, he sucks in a breath and swings his hip up onto the mattress, his whole face scrunching up from the pain.

Oh.