Page 109 of The Wounded Warrior

“I get it. That sort of attack, you have to get somewhere safe.” Besides, Luke could only imagine how fucking mortified Rory was.

“They sent it to my mom,” Rory said. “My goddamned mother.”

“Not the brightest move. Moms are vicious.” He thought about his mom being right there at the McConnell placetoday, bringing muffins and cheering him on. “Your mom was totally like, take my car, go get my boy.”

“Dude, she gave you the Caddy? Impressive. She loves that car.”

“She insisted. My momma freaked.” Luke moaned when Rory began to rub at his calves. His thighs might kill him.

“I have you.” Rory was careful, knowing where to touch, how to make it better, make it right.

“Sore.” He panted through a wave of cramp that finally relaxed, leaving him a little limp.

“I’m sorry.” Rory leaned down and kissed his thigh, the touch gentle, careful as anything.

“Well, you can make it up to me later when we both feel better.” Luke raised his head to grin. “Rub.”

“Taskmaster.” Rory didn’t manage to smile, but the touch of his lover’s hands was gentle as hell.

“Yep.” He tensed when those hands found his left thigh. His right was stronger, and even with all the driving he was less sore there. That left leg was gonna be a bear the rest of his life. He hated it, but it could be way worse and Luke knew it. Even with the drama, these days he felt lucky.

“Tensing isn’t going to do you any good, honey.” Rory’s hands were like feathers, just skating over his skin again and again until the muscles relaxed.

“It’s totally not voluntary. Thank God for cruise control, at least between Waco and Austin. Man, it’s not a lot of country out there anymore. Everything is growing up.”

“The world is changing. That’s one of the reasons I bought the land, to keep our home, to keep our bit of Texas.”

“I like that. I mean, I really do.” He thought he actually got it now, and Luke was happy to do his part. Besides, the Rocking W was becoming a real thing, kind of. The barns were up, he had the one house almost livable.

The work blistered his hands and made him sleep hard atnight, but it made Luke proud. “Did I tell you the VA finally called back? They’re wanting to work with us.”

“I told you they’d like the idea. It’s great PR.”

“Yeah. I mean, they’re super-enthusiastic. They assigned me a caseworker.”

“Excellent. When did you find this out?”

“Right before I went to see Jake, so I guess we haven’t talked.” Luke sighed, the knot in his left leg giving way. Goosebumps rose on his skin, “Oh, good. Babe. Good.”

“There we go. I knew it would happen.”

Luke wasn’t sure if Rory was talking about the VA or his leg, but it didn’t matter. Rory was talking, was there with him and breathing. They both needed this.

“You need me to return the favor and rub your neck?” Rory got a terrible headache if he drank more than three beers. Lord knew, Luke could tell he’d had way more than that.

Rory looked over to him, bloodshot eyes just miserable. “My head is going to bust like a ripe watermelon.”

Luke slid up to lean against the headboard. “Get up here.”

“You sure?”

“Rory, don’t be any dumber than you have to be, man.”

Rory chuffed out a tiny laugh and slid up between his spread legs, which Luke could do now that his muscles had relaxed some.

He reached up to press against the sore spots, because Rory always held his tension in the same spots. Oh, his poor lover. His poor man. “I want to kill him, Rory.”

“Me too. I’m so embarrassed. I’m never going to be able to go home.”

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