Page 85 of All Along

Maya’s words of love give me the extra boost of confidence I need to push down my zipper. I lift up my ass and she helps to draw my jeans down my legs.

I can’t look at her face. I don’t want to watch the disgust form there when she realizes how badly injured my leg was. When she sees the mottled skin, the scorched area where the bullet exited my thigh, the jagged edges around the bullet hole.

“Who did this to you?” She growls.

Growls? I slowly swivel my head to catch her gaze. There’s no disgust there. She’s angry. No, not angry. She’s pissed.

“Those mo-fos.”

I chuckle. “Mo-fos?”

“Mother f-ers. I hope you busted a cap in their ass after this.”

Laughter bursts out of me. “Busted a cap in their ass? Am I gangster now?”

“Do not make fun of me. This is not a funny situation.”

I sober. “You’re right. It’s not.”

“What happened?”

“I can’t tell you.” I’m a coward. I’m hiding behind operational security. But I don’t want to tell the woman I love how I failed. How I caused a fellow soldier to lose his leg. Guilt swamps me but Maya huffs and I focus on her.

“I know you can’t tell me where you were or who you were fighting. We’ve been pen pals for over a decade. I know the drill. I’m not an idiot. But you can tell me the broad strokes.” She caresses my thigh. “How did this happen?”

“I was trying to escape with my squad when I was shot by an AK-47. The bullet hit me in the back of my thigh and exited in the front.”

She gasps. “Sounds painful.”

The worst pain in my fucking life. “The bullet shattered my femur and tore my muscles all to hell.”

“Wow. I can’t believe you can walk.”

I grunt. “Didn’t walk tonight, did I?”

“Stop the smugglers! You’re in pain. I’m a selfish cow. I forgot.”

She lays the ice pack on my thigh and pain shoots through my leg. I grit my teeth to stop myself from groaning.

“Do you have any pain medication?”

“The stuff the hospital gave me makes me groggy.”

“What about over-the-counter pain meds? Do they help?”

I debate lying and saying I don’t need anything. But if I don’t take at least the edge off of this pain, I won’t make it to the bedroom on my own. It wouldn’t be the first time I slept onthe sofa. But I can’t sleep on the sofa with Maya here for the night.

I point to the kitchen. “I have some Tylenol in the drawer next to the refrigerator.”

Maya jumps up and rushes to the kitchen. She returns seconds later with two pills and a glass of water.

“Now,” she says once I’ve swallowed the pills. “Hudson said I should massage the area. What do you think? Will a massage help?”

Despite the pain rushing through my leg, my cock twitches at her question. My cock might be on board with a massage but I’m not. It’s bad enough Maya saw my injury. She doesn’t need to touch it. Her skin is smooth and soft. My thigh feels rough and hard. It’s the opposite of sexy.

She narrows her eyes on me. “Are you being all weird again?”

“Weird?”

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