Page 15 of Damaged

I tried to pretend I wasn’t watching Silver as he reached for his glass of water and took a healthy swallow. I failed miserably. My hungry eyes clung to the way his lips curled around the glass, the way his Adam’s apple bobbed gently as he swallowed, and finally, the tiny drop of water that danced along the corner of perfect lips. But it was the moment his tongue darted out to collect the wayward liquid that my entire body went rock hard.

And not because I was having any kind of episode related to my injuries.

My dick never stood at attention during those kinds of episodes.

It was only the waitress’s appearance to ask if we were ready to order that kept me from leaping over the table and crushing my mouth to Silver’s. I could practically hear the little whimpers he would let out as I slid my tongue between those soft, plump lips and laid claim to his sweet body.

“I’ll have the cheeseburger with fries and a Coke,” I managed to grate out as I fumbled with my menu so I could hand it to the lady.

She and I both looked at Silver expectantly. His eyes went wide as he sat there like a deer in headlights.

“Maybe give us another couple minutes,” I suggested to the waitress as I saw Silver’s body begin to tremble.

As the waitress disappeared, Silver’s eyes shot to the menu in front of him. He opened it like it was a ticking bomb and then just stared at it.

It didn’t take me long to figure out what the problem was.

“Silver, do you know any kinds of American food you like?”

I swore I saw his eyes pool with tears, but he managed to blink them back while he shook his head and continued to stare at the menu.

“I’m sorry, sweet—” I caught myself before I could finish the endearment because I sure as hell had no right to be using those kinds of words on him. My brain and tongue needed to get in sync on that fact. “I’m sorry, Silver. I didn’t even think about the fact that you might not have eaten a lot of American foods while you lived… overseas.”

Silver didn’t even look up from the menu, but I could tell he wasn’t actually reading it.

“It’s okay, I’m not really hungry,” the young man across from me murmured as he closed the menu. His stomach chose that moment to betray him with a loud rumble.

“Why don’t we get you something and if you don’t want to eat it here, we can have them wrap it up for you to have later?”

My suggestion seemed to fall on deaf ears because Silver was jerking his head all over the place as he seemed to finally remember that the restaurant was swamped with people. Despite my promises that no one would show up and grab him, he clearly hadn’t believed me. I passed the tightening in my chest off as a normal reaction to the pain the rest of my body was feeling.

Just leave it alone, Dalton. He’s not your problem, remember?

I ignored my inner voice and called “Silver” loudly enough to get his attention. His head swung back in my direction as his whole body jolted.

“Is there any particular kind of meat you like? Did you have a favorite meal?” I asked.

He relaxed a tiny bit and said a word in German that I didn’t understand. I pulled out my phone and looked up a translator website. I handed my phone to him. “Can you type the name of it in the first box?”

Silver didn’t ask questions about why I wanted him to do it and he didn’t seem surprised when the translator immediately changed the words into English.

“Haferbrei,” he began. “Por-ridge,” he added carefully.

“Porridge,” I said with a nod. Since I doubted this restaurant served porridge, I asked, “Anything else?”

This time Silver replied without hesitation, “Pastry with meat, cheese, cab… cab…”

“Cabbage?” I supplied. I reached for Silver’s menu and scanned it. “How about a pot pie?” I asked. “They have chicken or beef. It’s like a pie with meat and vegetables baked inside of it.”

Silver nodded and then handed me my phone. Since he didn’t say which one he wanted, I chose the beef, then the waitress reappeared and I ordered him a couple different kinds of soda, some juice, and another glass of water. I also ordered cookies and cream milkshakes for both of us but in to-go cups.

“No, it’s too much,” Silver whispered as he leaned across the table after the waitress had gone to put in our orders.

I actually thought it wasn’t enough since Silver clearly hadn’t had a square meal in a long time, but I didn’t say as much. “It’s fine,” I responded. “I’ll eat and drink whatever you don’t like.”

My words seemed to mollify him.

We sat in silence for several minutes before Silver loudly said, “You can take my portion of the bill out of the two hundred dollars.”

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