Page 5 of Heart of Glass

“You’re sweet, but I doubt it’s the same.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. I slept on my couch for an entire week once when I found a spider in my bedroom. I paid over a hundred dollars for an exterminator to come and get rid of it.”

Lachlan didn’t know how much he believed of that story, but he appreciated Xeno’s effort to make him feel better. Arm in arm, they walked along, swapping embarrassing stories of lameness all the way to the front doors of Lachlan’s apartment building. “Thank you.” Taking a step back, he pressed his palm to his stomach and bowed. “And now, I bid you a very fond farewell.”

Handing over Lachlan’s bag, Xeno mirrored the bow and tipped an imaginary hat. “Put a heating pad on your hip. It’ll help with the pain.” Then he stepped forward and placed a soft kiss on Lachlan’s check. “Goodnight, handsome. I hope I see you again.”

No heavenly light or singing cherubs accompanied the kiss. No fantasies of happily ever after spun through his overactive imagination. Lachlan didn’t stand in the glow of the lonely streetlamp and watch Xeno walk away.

As he stepped into the warmth of the lobby, however, he did press his fingertips to his cheek and smile.

“You look better today.”

“I’m sweating like a fucking pig,” Lachlan growled.

Grady laughed and crouched down beside the weight machine. “It looks hot on you, but that’s not what I meant. You’re still a skinny little shit.”

“We can’t all be muscle-bound idiots.” Squeezing his eyes closed, he gripped the edges of the cushion beneath him and extended his right leg, gritting his teeth against the pain in his hip as the weights rose on the pulley system behind him. “I kind of hate you. You know that, right?”

“You love me. Who else looks out for you like I do?”

Thinking back to the previous night, Lachlan might actually have an answer for that, but he wasn’t ready to share yet. “Okay, I give. How do I look better today?”

“Well, for one, you don’t look like such a morose bastard. Did you get laid?”

Releasing the weights and returning to the starting position, Lachlan turned in his seat and glared. “Are all physical therapists evil? Or did I just get lucky with you?”

“See, I knew you couldn’t resist my charms.” Grady winked as he pushed to his feet. “In all seriousness, though, your hip is looking a little stiff today. Have you been alternating the heat and ice like we talked about? Walking at least twenty minutes every day?”

“I am. I’ve been walking three blocks twice a day.”

“Okay, well…” Trailing off, Grady picked up a clipboard from the nearby tray table and flipped through the pages of Lachlan’s chart. “Continue alternating the heat and ice and keep doing your stretches. If the pain gets worse, though, I want you to see your doctor.”

“I will.”

“Are you still having trouble sleeping?”

“It’s getting better,” Lachlan lied. He hadn’t slept for more than two hours at a stretch since the accident without being plagued by nightmares. The last he’d heard, no one had developed a pill to fight against bad dreams, so he saw no reason to bring his doctor or even his physical therapist into it.

“The dark circles under your eyes say differently, and you’re losing too much weight.”

“I feel fine.”

Returning the clipboard to the tray table, Grady rested his hands on his hips and sighed. “You’re not going to get better if you don’t take care of yourself. I know you get lost inside your own head and forget the rest of the world, but I need you to try. Set an alarm on your phone and try to eat at least three times a day.”

Lachlan echoed the man’s sigh as he climbed off the weight machine and blotted his face with a hand towel. “Yeah, okay, I can do that. C’mon, Grady, you worry too much. What’s next on your schedule of torture today?”

“Lachlan, this isn’t a game.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Lachlan snapped. Grady hadn’t been hit by that car. Grady hadn’t broken most of the bones on the right side of his body. No one could possibly understand what Lachlan lived with every day, and not a single fucking part of his life was a goddamn game.

“Whoa, easy. I’m just trying to help.” Grady held his hands up in surrender and shook his head. “I can’t do that if you won’t let me.”

Lachlan’s anger abated almost as quickly as it had flared. His problems were his alone, and he felt like an ass for taking out his frustration on Grady. “I know my body’s limitations, and I know what I need to do to get better. I’m working on it.”

“Have you thought about talking to someone?”

“Like a shrink? Grady, I told you, I’m fine. Let’s just keep going.” The sooner he finished his exercises, the quicker he could retreat to the solitude of his apartment.

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