Page 27 of Danger Close
Ezra shrugged.“Probably.But desperate times and all of that.”
Ricky was already shaking his head.“You need to heal.”
“I am.”Ezra’s gaze held him steady.“But that’s not the only thing I’m trying to heal.”
Ricky didn’t answer.Just stared down at the floor like it might give him an escape route.
“Will you sit down and talk with me?”Ezra moved forward, pressing his fingers under Ricky’s chin and gently forcing him to lift his gaze to meet his.“Please?”
Ricky swallowed, then nodded.He couldn’t keep going on like this.Sleeping late and taking all the crappy late shifts so that he could watch over this man as he slept, might be medicinal now, but once he was out of hospital, it would be considered creepy.And it was probably illegal.
He waited while Ezra climbed back onto the bed and had to force himself to stand still when he flinched.Yeah, the man might think he was healed, but he was far from a hundred percent.
Once Ezra was seated, Ricky slid into the armchair against the wall.It was comfortable, and he had already spent many an hour on it.
Silence stretched tight between them until Ezra broke it.
“What did I say?”
Ricky frowned, a little confused as to where this conversation was going.“When?”
“In the warehouse, after you found me.”Ezra’s voice was steady, but there was a tremor underneath.“I’ve been trying to remember.I was out of it, I know that—but I said something that hurt you.Didn’t I?”
Ricky’s mouth went dry.
He tried to dodge it.“Ezra, you had a punctured lung and more morphine in your system than an ER crash cart.You weren’t exactly making sense.”
Ezra sat forward, voice sharper now.“I don’t care if I was drugged out of my skull—I said something.You’ve been avoiding me ever since.So, what was it?”
Ricky stared at the floor for a long second.Then he leaned forward, placed his elbows on his knees, captured Ezra’s concerned gaze and took the leap.
“You grabbed my hand,” he said quietly.“You squeezed it really hard, looked me in the eye and said that I was your biggest regret.”Fuck, even saying it now hurt like hell.
Ezra inhaled, sharp and pained, like Ricky had just hit him.
“I didn’t mean—” Ezra started.
“Doesn’t matter what you meant,” Ricky said, cutting him off, his voice tight.“It’s what you said.And if I’m honest, and I always try to be, I’d been carrying that one since the morning I woke up alone in your bed.I figured you left because you regretted what happened between us.”
Ezra looked wrecked.
Not from his injuries.
From this.
“I was trying to say I regretted leaving,” he said.“That walking away from you—that’s the part I hate myself for.”
Ricky swallowed.“That is not what you said.”
“I’m saying it now.”
Ricky didn’t speak.Not at first.Just looked at him—this man who had crawled into his life, into his chest, and detonated everything.
“Don’t ever say something like that again,” Ricky said finally.“Don’t leave me wondering if I was just a mistake.”
Ezra nodded, his distress clear to see.“You weren’t.You never were.You never will be.”
Ricky exhaled, some of the pressure in his chest loosening.Just enough to breathe again.
