Page 22 of Desire

“You’re thinking too hard over there,” she teases. When I glance at her, I see she’s spotted my erection and I smirk.

“I’m hard all right,” I state. “Constant thing with you in my life, Jussie.”

“We could’ve figured out a way, Sebastian. I mean, you’ve taken care of my needs quite well, but you won’t let me reciprocate.” No, I wouldn’t let her because she loves to run her hands up and down my thighs when she gives me head and I wasn’t willing to risk doing any damage to her newly repaired arms.

“Let’s get you inside so the doctor can tell you what’s next,” I tell her as I park the truck. Once I’ve helped her out, I throw my arm over her shoulders so that I can at least touch her. I’ve never been one who was big into handholding, but I’m finding that with Justine, I crave her touch. If that makes me a pussy, so be it. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted and now that she’s mine, I’m happy to tell the world just how ‘whipped’ I truly am.

She quickly checks in and we sit in a crowded waiting room. Hopefully, they’re seeing other people since this is a large practice. “I’m so going to do you when we get home,” she whispers, leaning in so no one can hear her. “I need a ride, hot stuff.”

“You do, huh?” I ask. “I guess we can talk about it when we get home.”

She’s about to reply when a nurse calls out, “Justine Wilde?”

Standing, I follow behind her as we’re taken into an exam room. The nurse removes the much smaller ace bandages and gauze from each arm, and I see the healing surgical sites. “They look pretty good,” she muses, turning her hands over and flexing her fingers. “And it feels fantastic, Sebastian. Wait, I thought he’d be removing stitches or something,” she says, looking closer.

“No, Jussie, they used the stitches that dissolve. Today’s visit is to check your progress and tell you what you’ve got to do next.”

“Oh, I must have missed that or something.”

“I think he told you when you were still kind of out of it from the anesthesia.”

“Well, that makes sense. I still can’t believe I really don’t remember anything after telling you I didn’t feel well, but you said I was talking until I passed completely out.”

I shudder because the reminder of that day has my blood pressure soaring when I think about how close I came to losing her. If she hadn’t said anything, would I have noticed something was wrong? “You did, sweetheart, but let’s not go there, okay?”

She pats my hand and leans into me, kissing my shoulder. “Okay, honey. Thank you for taking such good care of me, Sebastian. You’ve gone above and beyond what I expected.”

“It was my pleasure, pretty girl. You’re my everything and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make sure you don’t do without or deal with anything on your own. I’ll take on anyone who tries to fuck with you.”

“Even my brother?” she teases.

“EvenBillie,” I retort. She giggles because Billie is the hardass of the sisters. She’s got a take-no-prisoners attitude and sometimes, it comes out in ways that hurt. When she told Justine that she was milking the situation, I nearly came unglued. Thankfully, Jacey was there, and she reamed her out and told her that Justine’s injury was severe, she should’ve had the surgery done years ago but didn’t because of the band’s constant tours and Billie should be grateful since her bank account increased substantially due to Justine’s sacrifice.

“Oh good heavens, that was something, wasn’t it? I know Jacey can be feisty as hell but good grief I thought they were going to come to blows.”

We’re still laughing when Dr. Albritton comes in and says, “You don’t seem to be any worse for the wear, Sebastian.”

“No, sir. She’s been a model patient,” I reply. Justine starts laughing harder then snorts.

“I was horrible, Dr. Albritton! Hopefully, you’ll release me so this poor beleaguered man can get some much-needed respite from my demands,” she says, grinning over at me.

“She wasn’t. If anything, she was stubbornly independent,” I advise. He sits on the rolling stool and looks at first one then the other arm.

“I’m well-pleased with how these look, Justine. Curl your fingers in,” he commands. After she does that, he says, “Now wiggle them. Good, good. Straighten them out and stretch them a bit.” When she does as he asks, he questions, “Any pain? Discomfort?”

“No! Damn, it feels good not to have any throbbing or tingling going on with simple finger and hand movements. Will I need therapy?” Despite my advising her not to, she checked online about what to expect after surgery and many people talked about enduring physical therapy. I personally feel it depends on the severity and while hers was pretty bad, she wasn’t completely incapacitated and unable to use her hands at all, which is why I suspect those other patients went through therapy since they had lost some functionality.

“You shouldn’t, but one thing you can start using is one of those stress balls before you play. It’ll warm up the muscles a bit. Now, I’m going to release you but that doesn’t mean you don’t still need to be careful as far as picking up things that are too heavy for a few more weeks as the tendons and ligaments are still healing on the inside. I do want you to wear your splints at night for the next two weeks just to give them some stability, but other than that, you’re good to resume the rest of your normal activities.”

“Even playing?” I hear the excitement in her voice; she’s missed being able to play and the days I took her to the studio, she would cry on the way home because she wanted to be involved in the latest album’s creation. Rayne told her that she had already been a huge part since she played her parts and they taped them, but she felt it wasn’t quite the same as doing it live.

“Yes, even playing. You may get a little achy which is normal while you’re still healing but if you feel any actual pain, call the office. I’ll see you in a month for a final check.”

“Thank you, Dr. Albritton. For everything.”

She turns to me and says, “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.” I catch her underlying reference and can’t hold back my smirk.

“Whatever you want, Jussie,” I reply as the doctor leaves the room. “Let’s get your next appointment scheduled then we’re going home. We’ve got some lost time to make up.”

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