Page 96 of Fire & Ice

“This is boring,” Tripp complains from his place on Lee's couch. His back and his left leg are propped up with pillows from the playroom bed, his left arm is in a sling across his chest. Not a sling the hospital gave them, mind you, but one that Lee finally fashioned out of satin scarves when Tripp wouldn’t stop trying to use his injured hand. Itmightbe securing his arm to his chest atouchtighter than is strictly necessary.

“This is the worst,” Tripp adds, when Leander doesn’t rise to his bait, allowing his head to loll dramatically against the pillow behind him. To be fair, Leander doesn’t disagree, especially regarding the misuse of BDSM equipment. All they’re missing is the ball gag, not that he hasn’t considered it.

“You’re a terrible patient,” Leander deadpans from the recliner next to Tripp, replying without so much as looking up from the book lying open in his lap. “I’m taking care of you. Catering to your every whim. You should be grateful. Falling at my feet to worship my benevolence in thanks. Instead, you’re whining. You know how much I detest whining.”

Tripp scoffs. “I’dratherdo that first thing,” he agrees, and Leander stifles a smile, still focused on the pages of his book but no longer actively reading. “C’mon, Lee,” Tripp needles. “My limbs might be broken but my mouth ain’t.”

When Leander glances up and catches Tripp’s eye, he knows that he’s been caught. “Anymore,” he says pointedly, trying and failing to not look amused at the way Tripp bites his lip and waggles his eyebrows suggestively. “God, you’re awful.”

“I think I’m adorable,” Tripp retorts.

It’s not as if Leander isn’t planning to give in—eventually—but being unable to physically turn Tripp over his knee andspank him, he’s had to get creative with keeping the bratty attitude in check.Especiallynow that Tripp’s injured and stuck in one place, completely at Leander’s mercy (though not exactly in the way they’re used to). That dynamic shift has been…interesting, to say the least.

Unfortunately for both of them, dramatic, life-threatening events that end in sweeping romantic gestures only go so far towards softeningreality,and theirs has been tough.

Three weeks have passed since Tripp’s release from the hospital, and while Tripp might enjoy being Leander’s submissive in the bedroom—and perhaps occasionally outside of it, when the mood strikes—hehatesbeingdependenton anyone for anything. Which means that Leander is constantly walking an incredibly fine line betweencaringfor Tripp and pissing him off. More than one evening has devolved into Leander storming out of the living room and onto his own balcony to cool off, shutting the sliding glass door behind him and knowing full-well that it’s a dick move because Tripp can’t follow.

Although, knowing Tripp, he’d crawl across the hardwood floors hand over fist if he thought it would drive home a point. That awareness has Leander perpetually ensuring that—even when he’s angry—his phone remains charged and tucked in his pocket...just in case. Tripp always lets him have his space, though, and likely needs his own. It’s such that usually, by the time Leander ventures back inside, Tripp is ready to push past whatever it is they were bickering about and let it go.

Usually.Sometimes he’s not, choosing instead to ignore Leander and pout on the sofa like a beer-drinking toddler well into the early hours of the morning. Meanwhile, Leander retreats to their bedroom and screams his frustrations into a pillow.

Even then, he unfailingly plugs in his phone and leaves it on low volume by his bedside—just in case.

If Leander thought that he loved Tripp before, he’s really beginning to understand what thatmeans,and it’s not all sunshine and roses.

Still, Leander wouldn’t trade it. If anything, their struggles make the quiet, peaceful moments they share together taste that much sweeter. Life is not perfect, and Leander never expected it to be.

So they’re fine. It’s all temporary, and they’ll get through this. In a few more weeks, Tripp’s casts will come off, Leander will return to work, and Tripp will start intensive outpatient physical therapy in the name of eventually being cleared to do the same.

All in all, Leander has no regrets about this path he volunteered to walk—both personally and in regards to Tripp’s recovery. In fact, he’d do it again in a heartbeat. He’s not remotely sorry for shouldering the primary caretaker responsibility (notthat he would ever admit to Tripp that’s what it is), or for not passing Tripp off to Beau, back when he had the chance.

That’s another thing Leander doesn’t ever plan on admitting to Tripp—that he and Beau held a post-intubation conference with just the two of them regarding what would come next. A heated back and forth outside of Tripp’s I.C.U. bay while he was still down for the count inside, snoring away on his painkillers. It’s probable that Tripp would disown them both if he knew, and hedefinitelywould do so if he found out that the argument involved who was best suited to care for him in his (however temporary) infirmity.

As far as the conversation itself went, it honestly surprised Leander that Beau evenwantedthe job, never mind the fact that he was willing to raise his voice to Leander in pursuit of it. Beau's aggressive insistence that heneededto bring Tripp home to the Truett’s apartment, needed to look after his brotherhimself,raised Leander’s hackles and resulted in him snapping off a comment or two about the inappropriateness of that entire scenario. It’s possible that Leander implied that he was the obvious andonlysuitable choice, which only made Beau increasingly irritated and prickly.

The whole encounter felt strange and left Leander feeling completely off-balance, especially when Beau abruptly cut himself off and stormed away in a veryun-Beau-like manner. Stomping down the hall holding one hand high, like he justcouldn’twith Leander anymore. It’s the most Tripp-like Leander’s ever seen him act, which was quite terrible, because Beau is definitelynotTripp, and Leander’s usual tactics for coping with Truett dramatics would certainly not have been welcomed.

He briefly contemplated texting Beau to apologize, but in truth, Leander wasn’t sorry in the least. Beau's actions didn’t make any sense to him, outside of the theory that Beau perhaps didn’ttrustLeander to care for Tripp, which hurt too much to seriously consider. Whywoulda just-married young man want to postpone his entire life—and his honeymoon—to play nursemaid to hisbrother?Especially when there was a superior, sensible alternative for everyone involved?!

It was odd, no doubt, but Leander didn’t dwell too much. He simply chalked his confusion up to a severe lack in both familial bondsand /or romantic awareness. It’s not as if he was in any position to judge whatever worked for Beau in his relationship with Bri. Not when Leander’s behavior was a solidpart of the reason he and Tripp were so messed up in the first place.

Ultimately, Leander opted to let Beau storm off in his self-righteous huff without protest, only to watch him be escorted right back down the hallway by his ear—in spirit if not in practice—by his wife, less than sixty minutes later.

“Tell him,” Briana demanded, flipping her curly blonde ponytail back over her shoulder and crossing both arms over a stained, white sundress. The outfit was jarring to Leander’s eye, totally out of place for the cold weather, and only then did he realize that she was probably dressed to go to the airport. Dressed for herhoneymoon,having changed out of her scrubs once her shift ended. The dried reddish-brown smear marring her torso caught his notice, but Leander didn’t say so. It would appear that he and Beau weren’t the only ones having a rough day.

Looking like a chastised puppy, Beau was busy averting his eyes and pulling at his own fingers, eventually revealing that he wasnotactually upset at Leander, he was feeling guilty. Apparently, he’d been planning to move out of the shared Truett apartment and into a brand new condo with Briana within the next couple of months, but had never gotten around to tellingTrippthat.

“Our lease is up soon,” he mumbled. “Tripp can afford the place on his income alone, but I figured if he wasn’t cool with me leaving, I’d just continue paying my share until he found somewhere new. I can’t spring that on himnow,though! We’ll just have to stay. We’ll lose our deposit on the condo, but that’s not a huge deal. Tripp needs me, anyway.”

With an exasperated grumble, Briana leaned in and used her elbow to nudge Beau’s ribs, making him grimace. “And?”

“And…” Beau sighed, tipping his head back and rolling his neck. “And I feel like I owe it to him,” he reluctantly explained, raising his hands before allowing them to drop and clap against his thighs.“Lee, Tripp practically raised me. Changed my diapers, got me dressed for school, always made sure I had something to eat, and that my homework was done. I can’t just…” He shook his head. “I wouldneverleave him like this, the one time he really needs me.”

That, at least, made heaps more sense than whatever Leander was previously assuming, but if Beau expected unconditional support for his unnecessarily self-flagellation, he had another thing coming.

“Beau,” Leander said gently, catching Briana’s eye and receiving a reassuring nod. “Trippwantsyou to live your life. You spoke to him this morning, he told you so himself. He wouldhate itif you skipped out on your honeymoon because of him, after he told you to go. In fact, I think you know that he would never forgive himself if you did, warranted or not. I do think you’re probably right to be concerned about the apartment news, because you know how he hates change and loves you, but you can’t possibly believe that Tripp would actuallywantyou to give all that up?”

Somewhat sadly, Beau hung his head, lifting a hand to swipe somewhat angrily across his face before shaking his head in the negative. “No, I know,” he replied softly.

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