Page 31 of His Reward
I stopped her as well by saying, “I happen to like Lucien. I would never accept money as a bribe to get close to him. I’ve been here day in and day out because I feel responsible for him, because I feel drawn to him.” I hoped desperately that neither of Lucien’s parents would question that statement or ask for more details. “Yes, I do want to be here, now that he’s awake, and toget to know him better. If we become friends, great. If something more develops from there, then let it develop in its own time.”
“Oh, something will develop, alright,” Mr. Monteverdi said, as if he knew I was being noble on purpose but I actually agreed with him. “Even I can see that the two of you have potential.”
That gave me pause. Could he really see that? Everyone knew that bonded alphas and omegas could see the bond of other couples, though single or unbonded people and betas couldn’t. Had Mr. Monteverdi seen something around me and Lucien from the way we’d almost bonded? Of course, that begged the question of whether Mr. and Mrs. Monteverdi were actually bonded. Not every married couple formed a bond. I couldn’t imagine anyone as sweet as Bea wanting to be bonded to someone as selfish as Pietro. Then again, the only people who knew the real dynamics of any relationship were the people who were in it.
Which brought me back around to Lucien.
“I’m not going to promise you anything,” I said. “You aren’t a part of whatever friendship or connection Lucien and I might or might not develop.”
“Understood,” Mr. Monteverdi said with a nod. “But just imagine your children standing on the top of the podium, having a gold medal put around their neck.”
I frowned. There was no way to explain to the man that I didn’t care about those things.
The thing was, I wondered if Lucien might. He’d been so upset when he’d told me his skating career was over. I couldn’t actually say with any certainty whether it was or not. I didn’t know enough about skating or recovering from burns or anything. I just knew that my alpha wanted Lucien’s omega more than anything in the world.
“I have to go back to the firehouse,” I told Mrs. Monteverdi, “but I’ll swing by tomorrow. Call me if anything changes or if you need me.”
“I will,” Mrs. Monteverdi said with a tired smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Bos.”
I managed a smile for her before leaving the room. Then my face dropped into a frown. I wanted to be with Lucien and nothing would stop me from doing just that. But it was clear to me that Mr. Monteverdi was going to be a problem.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lucien
The first month of my recovery, the first month I was conscious, at least, was hell. Part of me wished I’d known more about severe burns and scars and how bodies healed from those sorts of things. A bigger part of me figured it was probably a good idea that I didn’t know what I was in store for before it happened.
Burns healed into scars. Scar tissue had an entirely different consistency from regular skin. It was thicker and way less flexible. If you didn’t constantly work on it with massage and moisturizer and silicone gel sheets, it tightened up and reduced mobility. As I’d told Dr. Barber and the recovery team at the rehab hospital I was transferred to once I’d proved to Dr. Wendel at the hospital that I was able to walk and eat on my own, I needed to maintain as much flexibility in my left side as I could if I was going to get back on the ice and win gold at the Winter Games…someday.
The fact that winning gold at the Winter Games “in three months” had changed back into “someday” was a blow that hurt almost as much as the scar massages.
“Just a little bit more, Lucien,” Gemma, the kind young beta therapist who came in to do my massages every day said, giving me a sympathetic look as she massaged my thigh near my hip. “You’re doing great.”
I gritted my teeth against the intense pain of her digging into me and stretching tissue that definitely didn’t want to stretch. “You’re going to owe me some serious aftercare when we’re done,” I growled through gritted teeth.
Gemma laughed, but she knew I was at least a little bit serious. We’d become friends in the month since I’d landed in the rehab hospital. She’d seen and tortured every part of me in my desperate efforts to recover as quickly as possible. You didn’t spend every day with someone in that kind of close proximity without spilling all your secrets to them.
“I might have to investigate this Dark Fantasies Club of yours,” she said as she reached for another pump of moisturizer from the bottle on the table next to my bed. “I might just have a little Domme in me after all.”
I laughed, then sucked in a breath as she worked over the most painful spot on my hip. “You’re definitely a sadistic bitch.”
It was all said in fun and Gemma knew it, but my mom walked into the room before I’d noticed or could take anything back.
“Lucien!” she scolded me through her surprise. “Is this how you’re talking to the people who are trying to help you now?”
Gemma laughed, which did more to diffuse my mom’s indignation than I ever could have managed. “We were just joking around, Mrs. Monteverdi,” she said, finishing up, and then standing and turning to the table to tidy it.
I’d had to undress for the therapy and only had a blanket to throw over the lower half of my body as Mom approached my bed and said, “You really shouldn’t talk to the people who are helping your recovery like that, even if you are joking.”
She leaned over the bed to kiss my forehead, which was both aggravating, given that I was sitting there naked, and so, so wonderful. I hadn’t been completely joking when I’d said I needed serious aftercare these days. Pain was hard to endure no matter how it came, and I’m not gonna lie, whether I was a grown man of twenty-five or not, it felt good to have my mom there to care for me.
Mom had been there every day since I’d been moved to the rehab hospital, but she wasn’t the only one. “Bos says he’s going to be a little late today,” she told me as she stepped away from the bed and set her purse on the wide windowsill off to one side of the room. It had an amazing view of downtown Barrington from the ninth floor. “He and the gang were called to put out a kitchen fire over on the west side first thing this morning. Someone burning their breakfast, I suppose.”
I nodded and slipped out the other side of my bed, reaching for my underwear and sweatpants. "Admire the view for a moment, Mom, while I get dressed, okay?”
Mom made a scoffing noise behind me. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before, sweetie.” She peered out the window at bustling Barrington all the same.
I dressed with lightning speed, not minding that Gemma was still in the room, but glad Mom had shut the door on her way in. Gemma really had seen it all.
