Page 45 of Love Me Dangerous

“I’m Rowdy, Sofie’s dad.” His tone is firm but kind. “Where you hurt, son?”

“My back,” I grit out, still shifting slowly.

“One of them had a baseball bat.” Sofie sounds worried, and I hate being the cause.

“If you’re bleeding internally, you’ll need a doctor.”

“I just need to lie down.” I shake my head for emphasis, but everything is stiffening up. “I’ll be fine.”

“Let’s get you inside.” He and Sofie position themselves on either side of me so I can rest my arms over their shoulders. We move slowly, with me panting through the pain until I’m upright. The night sky swims as I breathe through a wave of nausea. I lean on them as we shuffle from the driveway, then through the gate.

The dog comes to sniff my pant leg, then darts into the house like she’s leading the way.

“We’ll use Jesse’s room,” Rowdy says as we get through the doorway.

The hallway off of the living area is narrow, so Sofie slips from under me and races ahead, turning left into a bedroom. A large bed in the left corner faces a large window, the shade half lowered. Sofie flicks on the bedside table lamp, then hurries back to my right side.

Getting onto the bed and finally prone is torment but once I’m there, a welcome dose of relief spreads through me.

“Let’s get him a glass of water and some Advil,” Rowdy says quietly. “I wish we had something stronger, but?—”

“It’s okay,” I say.

Sofie disappears.

“I’mno doctor but I can at least make sure you don’t have a serious injury. That all right with you?”

My body betrays me by stiffening up, which makes me grunt in pain.

Rowdy leans back, his eyes wary. “Will you let Sofie have a look? Just so we know what we’re dealing with.”

Sofie returns, and with her and Rowdy’s help, I sit up enough to slide the pills through my lips and take a small sip of water. I have to talk myself into swallowing. Finally, the pills go down, and I can lay back.

“If it’s too painful, we can wait until the Advil kicks in,” Rowdy says in that same calm voice.

That he’s giving me an out somehow signals to my brain that it’s all right. I roll to my front side, but tugging my shirt free makes the pain jolt up to my shoulder. My fingers hurt too. Probably from when I clawed at the fencing. Something feels sticky, like I might be bleeding.

“Zach, let me help,” Sofie says.

Every nerve ending of my skin fires, making the sensation of her fingers at my lower back feel foreign. I’m scared yet there’s also the very new idea that I’m safe here. Maybe safer than I’ve been in a long time. The opposing realities are at war while Sofie gently pulls up my shirt, exposing my back.

She sucks in a breath. “Oh, Zach.”

“You’ve got a bruise forming on your right flank,” Rowdy says. “But it might have missed your kidney.”

We’ll know as soon as I take a piss if this is true.

“Can you wiggle your toes and fingers?” Rowdy asks.

I comply.

“Any tingling?”

“No.”

“Can Sofie check your spine?”

“It’s okay.” I’m barely holding onto the emotions crashing through me. Because trusting them is like coming in from a brutal storm, frostbitten and empty to find a hot meal waiting and a comfy chair to rest in.

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