Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,107
hurt her and it might still not work?”
A muscle in Dillon’s jaw ticked, but he nodded.
“Then we’re not doing it.”
“Jake,” Dillon said tightly, “you need to go in the other room.”
“Unless you can guarantee that she’s going to be all right, you’re not doing anything,” Jake said, his head and chest aching.
“There are no guarantees that she’ll always be perfectly fine,” Dillon said, giving Jake a look that said he knew things were more complicated for Jake than Avery’s shoulder injury. And that Jake needed to chill out.
But Dillon’s words hit harder than anything else.
There were no guarantees that Avery would always be fine.
Jake wasn’t sure he could deal with that.
He knew he was being unreasonable. He knew he was overreacting. He hated it. But he couldn’t stop. And he, Avery, Dillon, and everyone else were going to have to get used to it because he didn’t see it changing anytime soon.
Dammit.
He hated being out of control—of a situation, of an outcome, of his own emotions.
But he was tonight. For sure.
Just when he’d fixed things for Avery, just when the town was getting back on its feet and she was back together with Heidi and she’d been happy again, safe and secure, confident and strong, a freaking bolt of lightning had shot from the sky and reminded him that he couldn’t control everything, and he couldn’t protect her every minute.
Of course, cognitively, he knew that. But when he wasn’t here, when he was in Kansas City or Washington, DC, he didn’t have to face it.
Now he was here. Right in the middle of it all. And he was going to have to decide if he could stay front-row center and watch Avery sometimes struggle and hurt. He was also going to have to decide if he could stand by while others took care of her. Tonight, she’d put her life in the hands of her crew. Right now, Dillon was the only one who could take care of her arm.
There would be many more nights like this.
Jake pulled in a breath. Fuck. He wasn’t a firefighter, he wasn’t a doctor, he wasn’t even that good at fixing cars. There were lots of things that Avery would need that he couldn’t do. There were things she was going to have to do for herself. And there were things no one could fix. That was life.
And if he wanted to be a part of hers, he needed to deal with all those things.
He felt Avery’s good hand tighten on his arm. “Jake, you have to let Dillon try to fix this.”
“Fine, do it,” he told Dillon. “But I’m not letting go.”
“Good. I need you to hold on to her anyway.” Dillon focused on Avery. “I’m going to hold your arm here and here.” He put his hands on her. “Then I’m going to—”
“No!” Jake interrupted. “I changed my mind. Are you sure we can’t wait?”
“No,” Dillon said firmly. “We can’t wait.”
Avery shifted on Jake’s lap so she could look at him. “Stop. It’s fine. This is Dillon. You trust him with your life.”
“Yes. My life,” Jake said, looking into those big green eyes that had been his downfall for so long. “Not yours.”
“This isn’t my life, Jake. It’s my shoulder. I’m not going to die from this.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s going to hurt. And the pain might be for nothing.”
“You’re being melodramatic,” Avery said.
“I’m being concerned and protective,” he insisted. “I realize you don’t have a lot of experience with it, but this is how someone acts when he loves you and you’re in pain.”
“Crazy?” she asked, but her expression was gentle.
“Yes, crazy. It was crazy for me to make love to you while a tornado was coming, and it was crazy for me to stand outside while you went into a burning building. You make me crazy. But I want—”
“Ahhh!”
Avery yelled out as Dillon popped her shoulder back into place.
She grabbed her arm with her other hand. “Fuck, Dillon,” she said, tears in her eyes.
“Sorry. But it was best to do it while you were distracted. Made it a lot easier. On both of us.” Dillon looked up at Jake. “You can breathe now. She’s fine.”
Jake blew out the breath he’d sucked in when Avery screamed.
“I guess our ability to forget anyone else was around helped that time,” Avery said with a tiny smile.
Jake stared at her.
She was fine.
His heart, on the other hand, felt like it was about to explode.
He honestly wasn’t sure if he was going to survive loving her.