I groaned and limped through the door. I still couldn’t believe I’d come off my fucking bike. It’d been a long time since that happened, and I was feeling it.
I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had a shiner already and a cut on my lip. My leg was grazed and I’d fucked up my elbow.
“You doing okay? I mean, you’re not as young as you used to be, those old bones are probably brittle as fuck,” Riff said, following me in.
“Fuck off. Some painkillers and sleep, and I’ll be good as new.”
“Think you’ll need more than that, brother.”
I grunted.
“Though, one good thing might’ve come from you riding like Turnip and coming off your bike,” Riff said, following me inside.
Turnip was one of our prospects. I had hoped that name wouldn’t stick, but the poor fucker seemed to be stuck with it now. “What’s that?”
Riff’s grin slid from his face and he scrubbed his hand over his dark-blond hair. “Addie heard about the crash and she’s on her way here with Lila.”
I spun on him and groaned. God, everything fucking hurt. “How the fuck did she find out?”
He actually looked sheepish. “I texted Lila after it happened. Didn’t realize she was with your girl.”
“Fuck. I told you I didn’t want her finding out.” She was probably freaking out right now. “Fuck.” This could set her back. I’d been reading up online to try to learn what she was dealing with, and something like this could trigger her.
Riff kind of winced. “That’s not all. When Lila told her, Adds collapsed—”
“What the fuck do you mean, collapsed?” I wanted to strangle him. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t his fault.
Riff planted his hands on his hips. “I don’t know, man. Lila said Adds freaked out and fainted.”
We heard Lila’s car outside a few minutes later.
I limped to the door and yanked it open. Addie was already striding up the path.
“Baby, I’m okay,” I said before she could reach me.
She stopped and her gaze sliced over me. I looked down at myself and held in my groan. Fuck. My jeans were torn at the knee and there was blood. My jacket was off, and there was no hiding my messed-up elbow. That’s why I didn’t want her to know, at least not until I’d cleaned myself up. “Looks worse than it is, cupcake.”
She looked up at me. “Have you been to the hospital?”
Her voice sounded small, shaky. “It’s just a few scraps, baby. I hit some ice, but got thrown onto grass. There’s nothing to worry about.” Besides the texts and her slipping into bed with me at night, we hadn’t really talked. This wasn’t how I envisioned it going down when she was finally ready.
Lila threw me an apologetic look.
I grinned. “All good, Ly.” I needed to keep things light and make Addie see it wasn’t a big deal.
“This isn’t goddamn funny, Levi,” Addie said and stormed inside.
I sobered. “I know that.” I took her in from head to toe, looking for any sign she’d hurt herself when she’d fainted. She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Addie?” I strode forward and pulled her into my arms. “I’m okay, baby, I promise.” She tried to pull away, but I couldn’t bring myself to let her go. “Fuck, you’re shaking.”
“We’re gonna head out,” Riff said.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Ly said, then they left, and it was just Adds and me.
“I scared you, I know that, but—”
“But you’re fine, right?” The look in her eyes turned distant. “Take off your pants. Let me clean you up.”
I froze. “You don’t have to do that. I’m used to patching myself up.”
Her gaze shot to mine, and I bit back a curse at what I saw. Why the hell had I said that? She’d shut down, like the day she’d sent me away.
“So this happens often?” she asked, and fuck, her hands were shaking harder now. She clutched them together to hide it, but I saw.
“Only a couple times, but a long time ago, when I first started riding. This was a freak accident. My pride’s hurt more than anything else.” I chuckled, another shitty attempt to keep the situation under control.
Addie didn’t laugh, and she was breathing faster than normal. “A freak accident’s all it takes.”
Fuck. “Baby—”
“Are your first-aid supplies in the bathroom?”
“Yeah, but Addie, let me—”
“I said, I’ll do it.” She rushed off.
She was determined to do this. Maybe it’d help for her to see for herself that I was okay? I didn’t know what the right thing to do was. I didn’t want to freak her out, but if this is what she needed to feel better, then I had to let her.
I tugged off my shirt, tossed it aside, and waited.
Addie
When I walked back into Manic’s living room, he was shirtless. His huge muscled and tattooed upper body looked unscathed, besides his elbow. It was grazed and swollen.
I felt off balance and embarrassed. I’d collapsed, I’d been too shaken to drive, and he was standing there like nothing had happened. As if it was no big deal that he’d been thrown from his bike. Maybe I shouldn’t be here, but that’s all I’d been thinking, getting to him. Getting to Manic.
Taking a deep breath to keep myself calm, I walked over to him, and when I got closer, I could see bruises darkening his skin here and there that had been harder to see under all the ink. “Take off your jeans and sit on the couch.”
He winked. “You trying to get me naked, cupcake?”
He was teasing, trying to make light, but I wasn’t in the mood to joke around. I needed to do this for my own peace of mind. I had to make sure he was okay.
His grin dropped a little, and he did what I asked, standing there in only a pair of boxer briefs that hugged those monster thighs, perfect muscled ass, and the oversized package in the front. I swallowed thickly, gave his chest a shove, and he didn’t resist, sitting on the couch.
I crouched and examined his knee. It was badly bruised and grazed, but nothing too deep by the looks. Dirt smeared his leg, grass stains on his skin. “This’ll need to be thoroughly cleaned.”
He was silent for several beats. “Baby, are you okay?” His voice was soft, concerned.
Ignoring the flutters in my belly because he’d called me baby again, I grabbed the antiseptic. “Yep. This might sting.” I carefully cleaned around the big graze, then dabbed and worked out the dirt as gently as I could. He didn’t complain, didn’t even twitch, he watched me closely.
I finished his leg and checked out his elbow. “It’s swollen. Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I can move it fine. Nothing’s broken. A couple painkillers and I’ll be good to go.”
He was totally playing it down, but I nodded and cleaned that up as well and taped a bandage over it. “I’ll get you some painkillers.”
I brought them back and handed them over with a glass of water. He swallowed them and put the glass on the coffee table, then wrapped his arms around my waist, tugging me closer. My hands went to his broad shoulders automatically.
“Thanks,” he said, watching me closely.
“No problem.”
He winked. “You gonna take advantage of my fragile state now?”
“No, you’re going to rest.” I pulled away, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. But I felt confused and scared, but surprisingly steady. I wanted to stay right there, with him to hold me. But what if tomorrow I wasn’t so steady?
God, coming here every night like I had, had been messed up. I’d been giving him all kinds of mixed signals.
“Can you stay for a while?” he asked, taking my hand.
I needed him as well, but that wasn’t a good idea. “I have a lot of work to do. Baking for tomorrow. I ah…need to go.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah,” I rasped.
He sighed and dragged a hand over his head, then tried to smile, attempting to hide his disappointment.
His disappointment in me.
Disappointed that I was going, that I was running away from him again like I had at the start. But I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t ready for this.
“You can take my truck if you’re okay to drive,” he said. “I’ll call a prospect to pick it up later.”
He wasn’t going to ask me to stay again. Was he just respecting the space I’d asked for? Or had he given up?
Isn’t that what you wanted?
It was never what I wanted. It was how it had to be. Or at least how I thought it had to be a few weeks ago. “Thanks,” I said, instead of all the things flying around in my head.
“Keys are by the door,” he said and watched me, waiting.
What else could I do?
“Thanks.” I spun and rushed from the room.