Page 19 of I Blame the Club

His scruff brushes my cheek as he gently lowers me onto the bed, “But you do.”

“Hell yeah, I do.” Sinking into the mattress, I watch the man who can’t stand me carefully pull the comforter over me.

“Get some sleep, Montez.”

“I’ll do my best.” I watch him walk across the room, his stride just as confident as the rest of him. He pauses at the door, and for a moment, I think he might say something else. My eyes start to close as Mo shakes his head and turns off the lights.

And for the second time tonight, I let the darkness take me.

Chapter 6

Mo

“Understood.”

I hang up the phone as soon as I see Nico limping towards the kitchen. Holding back a wince, I take note of the purple bruises covering every bare inch of his torso and legs.

“If you’re done checking me out, could you point me in the direction of some food?”

Nico limps closer and I smirk, raising my brows at the maple leaves decorating his underwear.

“How patriotic of you. Breakfast is in the blender.”

He winks, “Just being a good citizen, babe.”

Ignoring the taunt, I look back at my phone when Nico groans loud enough to wake my neighbours.

“Are you trying to kill me, Maurice? This shit is green.” He holds up my state-of-the-art blender where I’d thoughtfully left half of my protein shake inside.

I frown, “There’s spinach in it. Of course it’s green.”

Nico takes a cautious sniff and pretends to gag, “I wouldn’t give this to a dog.”

Tamping down the urge to roll my eyes, I walk over and take it from him, “Then don’t drink it. Make yourself something back home.”

“Don’t you have pancake mix or something?” His dark eyes flick to my chest, “What about eggs? You look like you eat a lot of eggs.”

I open my mouth to snap back, but then Nico turns and my words disappear. Massive welts run down his spine, the tender skin bruised and ripped all the way down to the black elastic band of his briefs. The same horrible bruising runs down his arms and legs, fading only around Nico’s face. His nose looks a little more crooked than normal and I had to stitch up the deep cut above his left eyebrow last night, but overall, his body took the worst of the beating last night.

Guilt hits me unexpectedly, and I find myself biting back an apology. The closest hospital is over in Lethbridge, and given that I'm CPR certified, it only made sense to bring him back to my place last night. But looking at Nico now, I’m wondering if there wasn’t a way I could have stepped in sooner…

“Earth to Maurice.”

A swollen finger snaps in front of my eyes and any feeling of remorse vanishes as his signature smirk blocks my line of vision.

“Thought I’d lost you there. Listen, this green sludge-

“Shake. It’s a protein shake.” I interrupt him, but Nico doesn’t pause to take a breath.

-isn’t going to work for me. So, how about we swing by McD’s on our way to morning practice?”

I cross my arms, leaning against the granite countertop, “You aren’t going to morning practice.”

He mimics my position on the opposing counter, “I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“But I am.”

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