Page 89 of Fear of Love
Me: Guys make it seem so easy to hit someone.
I’ve seen the guys throw a few punches during hockey games and none of their hands looked like this afterward.
To distract myself from the cold of the ice pack, I opened my photo album, remembering that I took some pictures throughout the night.
I wasn’t surprised to see a ton of pictures of us at the Magic Mike club. Josie getting a lap dance.A group picture our waiter took. Then all of us at the bar next door. Despite being drunk, they were good pictures of us.
For the next ten minutes, I texted back and forth with the girls, checked my emails, and iced my hand until it went numb. The medicine was doing little to ease the pain, though, and I swore it was getting worse. I was about to flex my fingers when the door to Landon’s apartment opened.
My heart jumped in my throat as Landon appeared. I peeked over the couch at him as he shut the door. He wore a pair of black joggers paired with a dark blue pullover, and he had on a backwards hat that did weird things to my stomach.
He caught sight of me curled on the couch and walked in my direction. I bit my lip as I watched him. It wasn’t the time to get turned on, but the backwards hat look was insanely hot.
“Hey. Feeling a bit better?” Landon asked, taking a seat on the edge of the couch in front of me.
“Yeah. Thank you for the medicine and the coffee.” His eyes dipped to my hand cradled to my chest. Without a word he reached out, his touch soft as he gently brought it toward him.
“Did you ice it?” His voice was low.
“I did.” My own voice was soft as I answered. “I just took it off.”
Landon hummed in his throat. He kept his eyes on my hand as he gently moved my fingers to straighten them. I whimpered and tried to yank my hand away, but he held onto it.
“Need to make sure it isn’t broken.”
“But it hurts.” I couldn’t hide the discomfort in my voice. I was trying to hide the amount of pain I was in, but I wasn’t doing a good job at it. Landon glanced up at me, eyes searching mine. Something flickered across his face before he quickly masked it.
He cradled my hand in his, and with a gentle hand on my elbow, he helped ease me up off the couch. I wanted to groan out in annoyance. I had just gotten so comfortable.
“Let’s get you dressed.”
I stayed quiet as he led me to his bedroom. He wasn’t saying anything, but I had a feeling we were going to the hospital. The thought sent a chill down my spine. I hated hospitals. They always felt so clinical and depressing.
I didn’t say a word as he reached into his closet and pulled out a pair of sweatpants.
“These will be a bit big, but it’ll be better than your dress from last night,” was all he said before he kneeled down in front of me. He tapped my leg as I placed my good hand on his shoulder to steady myself.
Landon made quick work of sliding the sweatpants up my legs, tightening them at my waist, but when he stood up, thefabric slid down my legs a little. Landon shook his head, making me snort.
“What did you expect? You’re a giant.”
“You’re elf size.”
“I’m five-six!” I’d never been told I was small since I was a little above average height, but next to Landon, I guess I was a bit short. “I think we’re going to have to stop at my place to change.”
“You’ll just have to hold up the pants until we get there.”
With one hand holding the waistband of his sweats, I stood there as he moved around the room. He surprised me when he grabbed a pair of socks and had me sit on the edge of the bed. The same feeling from last night came back in full force as Landon slid the socks on my feet with a look of concentration.
“These will have to do for now,” he mumbled to himself.
Landon moved around the room to grab my things. My dress from last night was slung across his arm. He held the strap of my heels, as well as hung my purse on his wrist as he glanced around his room to make sure he had everything.
I didn’t know if it was the pain in my hand or having Landon care for me, but my chest grew tight. The bar had been set so low that just simple actions like these were enough to make me want to cry.
“Come.” With a gentle but firm hand on my lower back, he led me out of his room and to the front door.
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t trust what would come out if I did. Landon was being too sweet, and I didn’t know how to respond to it. He kept one hand on my lower back as we rode the elevator down and got to his car. I went to pull myself into the passenger seat, but he grabbed me by the waist and put me in his truck.
