Chapter Thirty-One

Derek

Just one look at her had me hard as anything again.

With a shuddery groan, I twisted the shower knob all the way to the right and forced myself to dance under the icy spray.

But even a literal cold shower wasn’t enough to drive the image of Aria standing there in my doorway - naked under my sweater - and handing me a cup of coffee with a smile on her face.

I closed my eyes and gripped my cock.

Then released it.

Aria and I hadn’t made love yet. But when we did, I knew it would be better than any fantasy of her I could conjure. I wanted the real thing.

And the real thing was waiting for me. I felt her. Everywhere around me and inside of me too. Her presence was so overwhelming that I pulled back the shower curtain just to check that she hadn’t slipped inside the door. Then laughed at myself.

I had it bad.

And it felt really good.

I soaped up quickly and rinsed just as quickly. Then turned off the water and listened.

She still wasn’t in the bathroom.

Maybe she was already in the bed.

That thought sent me tripping out of the tub, nearly wiping out on a wet patch of tile. I debated whether I should wrap a towel around my waist, but decided this was a mere formality. We were both going to be naked in about two seconds…

I turned out of the doorway. I was right. She was waiting for me. My cock stiffened the second I saw those long legs…

Then I saw the thunderous expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, wishing like hell that I’d elected to wear a towel.

She pressed her lips together and lifted her chin. Folding her arms she fixed me with a glare that should have struck me dead. “I’ve already called the police.”

My heart stopped, started and then stopped again. I was still hard, but not for long. “What the hell?”

“I found your workshop,” she said coolly. Then her eyes snapped and she launched herself at me. “What is it?” she cried, smacking me in the chest. “Drugs? Are you making drugs in there?”

I held up my hands to ward off her blows. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Forget it.” She threw her hands up. “I’m not going to ask questions, because you’ll just lie to me. You can tell the police.”

“I have nothing to hide.” I looked down at my naked self. “Clearly.”

There was a loud knock on the door. The unplowed driveway was clearly no obstacle for the County Sheriffs. Aria looked ecstatic. “Tell it to them.”

“Can I at least put on some pants before you open the door?”

She glared at me and then started to count to three. Shaking my head, I lunged for the sopping wet jeans I’d thrown to the floor. Wincing as the cold, wet fabric clung to my legs, I yanked them up to my waist and was just closing my fly when Aria opened the door.

My heart plunged down to my toes. “Hi Nick,” I said warily.

Nick Butler sauntered through the front door followed by a blond, baby-faced kid that looked like one of the Abbotts, though I couldn’t figure out who. Both of them looked all around my place with a critical eye before looking right at me. “Someone call about a meth lab?”

“Yes. Me.” Aria stepped forward and shot me another death glare. “Over there, behind the doors.”

“It’s not a meth lab. I’m fucking sober, Aria, I’m not making drugs.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to open that door.”

“Nick, really? Back when you were a metalhead with long hair, I used to hold it back for you while you puked your guts out. Are you really going to pull this kind of power play with me?”

Nick’s eyes softened, then hardened again. “Open the door, Granger.”

“Granger, even,” I sighed. “Fine. I have nothing to hide,” I said loudly, for Aria’s benefit. “Behold. My meth lab.”

As I rolled the doors open, my heart skittered around in my chest like a rabbit caught in a trap. I knew they wouldn’t understand. I’d have to explain what I was doing, how I was trying, trying so fucking hard to have my actions speak louder than my apologies.

Game and Whatshisface Abbott peered into my space.

I’d cobbled my workshop together over the past year. I knew what every piece of lab equipment and every finely tuned scale was used for, but to a lay person it had to be nothing more than a confusing jumble of computers and beakers.

“What’s that?” Nick pointed to my biggest acquisition.

“3-d printer.”

“What are you doing with a 3-d printer, Granger?”

I looked at Aria and then back at my old friend. The guy who’d seen me drunk off my ass more than I’d ever been sober. After the accident, he’d blamed me just like everyone did.

And now I had to tell him. “Prosthetics,” I said, squaring my shoulders.

“Prosthetics?” Nick repeated.

“Prosthetics?” Aria echoed.

I nodded. “I design them using all this equipment here. Then I 3-d print them and give them to the hospital.”

“Give?”

I nodded again. I could feel Aria staring at me.

“Wait, I know about this,” Whatshisface Abbott piped up. “My buddy up at the VA was telling me.” He turned to face me with a dumbfounded look on his face. “That’s you, Wreck? The anonymous donor giving all of those amputees new legs and arms and shit?”

“And shit.”

“It’s you?”

“Yes,” I sighed. “That’s what I’m doing up here. Mr. Dolan - your grandfather, Aria - he and Sy Tarrington down at the County Hospital are the only ones who knew. That’s the way I wanted it. I didn’t want to tell anyone. Words are kind of meaningless, don’t you think? It’s your actions that count.”

Nick blinked several times. “Jesse just got a new prosthetic. His old one hurt so bad they had to make him one custom.”

I swallowed hard. “I know.”

“That was you too?”

I nodded.

“How many have you made?”

“No idea. But I’m going to keep going.”

“Granger that’s…” He blinked a few more times. “Not sure what I want to say.”

“Don’t tell Jesse. If you see him. I don’t want him thinking he owes me anything. If anything I owe him.”

“Sure thing man,” he said, but I wasn’t sure he heard me. Then he socked the Abbott kid in the shoulder. “Looks like we’re all set here.”

Aria crumpled against the wall. Slowly she slid to the floor. “I’m real sorry I wasted your time, guys,” she whispered.

“No problem, Aria,” the Abbott kid said. “Hey, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Will.”

Will. That was his name.