“You’re a mess and in more pain than I thought if you’re not going to give me hell for checking up on your work. I’m gonna go find some wet rags to see if we can clean some of that blood up and see how serious those gashes are. Then we’ll decide if we need to take a side trip to the ER. The way you keep blinking, I’m guessing at the bare minimum, you’ve had your bell rung and have a concussion. How’s the knee?” He looked down at it, but it was covered by Chris’s jeans.
Chris could tell by the way that it felt that he was probably lucky Colton couldn’t see it. He had a feeling it was looking pretty rough and swelling rapidly. He’d make an appointment with his orthopedic doctor tomorrow to have it checked over to make sure that none of the components of it had been damaged.
“It’s okay.” Chris flexed it to show his big brother that it was still working. He really didn’t want to go to the hospital tonight. “Can I borrow your cell phone? Mine is dead and I need to text Julie that I’m going to be late, just in case she’s still awake and worried.” They still had to do the police report with Brian. It was liable to be a few hours before he got to head home. Weariness pulled on him at the thought.
* * *
Two and a half hours later and Chris finally managed to drag his sore body inside the door of Julie’s house and dragging was the only word for it. He was bone-tired exhausted, even his fingernails hurt.
Julie had obviously been waiting up for him because when he opened the door, she popped off the couch with a gasp and rushed to his side. She was dressed for bed in a small t-shirt and sleep shorts, although he couldn’t see any signs that she’d slept at all yet.
“Oh my God. Are you okay?” she asked him but looked to Colton, who walked closely beside him so that he didn’t do something girly like faint to the ground. Not that that would happen. Probably.
“I’m fine. I’m sure it looks much worse than it feels.” Lie. It felt like hell spawn had beat on him tonight, but he didn’t want her to worry. As it was, he felt bad enough that she was still awake. She was recovering from a serious illness. He was supposed to be taking care of her, not the other way around.
Colton pushed him toward the couch, but addressed Julie. “He refuses to go to the ER. I think he’s okay. Maybe a mild concussion and he took a pretty good kick to the knee. I figure you’re as qualified as anyone to know when that needs attention.” Colton waved his hand toward Chris’s knee.
She nodded and frowned, her eyes widening when she looked down. His battered knee pressed against his jeans where it swelled.
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, it looks like it probably needs some attention. Thanks Colton. I’ll take care of him. Get home to Penelope.”
“Okay, call me if you need anything,” he told Chris. “I have your truck since we left my motorcycle inside the hangar, not that you’ll need it tomorrow. You officially have the day off.”
“Thanks Colton.” Chris leaned his head back against the soft couch cushions and shut his eyes as the door clicked shut.
Suddenly he became aware of tugging at his feet. Cracking his eyes open, he looked down at Julie. “What are you doing?”
“Taking off your boots.” She finished tugging, taking extra care with the removal of the left one. She rested her warm hand on his right thigh and immediately a spasm of arousal shot directly to his groin. “Okay, now off with the jeans.”
“I don’t think—”
She plucked at the fabric tightening around his knee and he hissed in response. “Yep, that’s what I thought. In about another five minutes, we’re going to have to cut these off of you, so either take them off now, or I will be cutting them off of you then.”
He frowned at her. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re bossy?”
“Yep, and stubborn, so you might as well give in now.”
He shook his head at her. She wouldn’t be so cocky when she caught sight of his erection, although when he thought about how painful just removing his jeans was going to be, it flagged quite a bit. Damn, this wasn’t going to