Page 50 of Last Chance Love

He grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m not holding a grudge, and I’ll get some rest, but I am going to harass you about hitting me whenever there’s no one else around.”

Which laid to rest the other unspoken fear I had, which was that other people would find out what had happened today. The last thing I needed was for the guys to think I would somehow present a problem or a threat somewhere down the road. Sure, it might gain me some ‘respect’ from new guys who came in fresh from the culture of being behind bars, but that wasn’t the kind of respect I was looking for.

However, as I tried to assert the thought further into my head, I ran into difficulties, and my mind struggled to make sense of anything. The worries that had been there were starting to dull around the edges, losing the weight and substance that had been so pivotal only a few minutes ago.

I snorted. “I wonder if I’m the first person at the ranch who can say they had a building fall on them.”

“Part of one,” Reed corrected, but I could see and hear that he was smiling, even with my vision getting a little muddled.

“That’s gotta be a record. Think I’ll get a medal?”

“I think Mona will have a few things to say about what happened today and is just waiting until you’ve recovered enough.”

“God, not Mona. That woman is up to something.”

There was a pause. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, it just feels like she is. She’s alwayspushingme, trying to mess with me, and I-I don’t know, it’s weird. She’s up to something.”

“That your intuition speaking or your paranoia?”

I snickered, laying my head back and looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s a difference sometimes, you know?”

“I remember you saying that once.”

“And I remember you said you were off in la la land when you almost got smooshed.”

“Smooshed.”

“Like a little bug. But then I get smooshed like a…bigger bug. Got me a good exoskeleton, though, huh, there’s a word I never use. Exo…skele…ton. Skelly ton. Weird word. Skeleton on the outside. Skelly.”

“We can talk about la la land another day when you’re not the one currently visiting it,” he said with a chuckle, laying a hand on my forehead. “Close your eyes and try to rest.”

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled as I closed my eyes to make him happy. “Too much going on in my head. Little…thoughts.”

“Have those little thoughts. Just try to rest. That’s the important part.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Thank you.”

After a moment, I felt a chuckle bubble up in my throat. “Hey, Reed?”

“Yeah?”

“You know how you said sometimes I check you out?”

“Pretty sure I only accused you of it once, but yeah, I knew there were other times.”

“Itotallywas.”

“Good to know.”

“Yeah,” I said brightly, “it is.”

At that point, though, the lightness in my head was pulling me away from the conversation. Not that I was bothering to fight it, I simply relaxed and let it take me up and up, to where my thoughts melted away, and I was left in blissful silence.

* * *

---