My Grumpy Old Bear - Jayda Marx Page 0,10

that was it. I thought it was odd he didn’t have any photos in his home, but he did say he wasn’t close to his family. “The house is kinda small and nothing fancy, but I like it,” he shrugged.

“I think it’s great,” I answered honestly. “It’s a lot bigger than my apartment; cleaner, too.” I was (sort of) joking, but the way Brooks’ eyes widened, he wasn’t impressed. Another note to self; cleanliness is very important to my man.

“Thanks.”

“Are you ready?” I asked, holding out my hand. Brooks stared at it for a moment before taking it, linking our fingers together.

“Ready.”

I led him out to my car, a silver Cruze hatchback that was a few years old. I opened the passenger door for him and he blinked in surprise. Whoever his last boyfriend was, I decided he needed a good swift kick in the nads for not treating Brooks how he deserved to be treated. Everyone needs to be pampered from time to time.

He groaned slightly as he sat down into the low car, but didn’t say anything. I waited until he was seated and buckled before shutting him in and taking my seat behind the wheel. “Are you okay?” I asked, looking across the console at him. He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “I heard you moaning a little when you sat down. Does your back hurt?”

“How did you know?” he asked, still looking puzzled.

“I heard that same moan from lots of guys who ended up on my massage table.”

He shook his head. “I still don’t understand why you gave that up to be a waiter.” He flinched. “I mean...not that you’re not a good waiter. And not that I think you’re stupid or something.” He ran his hand down his face as I chuckled. “Do you want me to just go back inside?”

“No way! I worked hard planning this awesome date; I’m not going by myself.” I started my car, backed down his drive and pulled onto the street. “There’s a reason why I got out of massage, but it’s kind of a long story. And I asked you about your back first.”

“That’s kind of a long story too.”

“Well, good thing we have about an hour drive then, huh?”

From my periphery, I could make out Brooks’ stony expression. I bit my cheek to keep from laughing. “An hour? Where are you taking me, Sunshine?”

“It’s a surprise.” I reached over and nudged his knee. “So spill it.”

Brooks let out a long sigh. “Well, eight years ago I was in a bad accident that basically shattered my spine and it’s been jacked up ever since.”

“Jesus.” I wasn’t expecting that. “What happened, a car accident or something?”

“No.” Brooks seemed hesitant to give more information, but I wanted to know what he’d been through. I rested my hand on his knee in support.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, but I’d like to hear about your life. I promise it’s not out of nosiness; I care about you, Brooks.” Even if he and I were just friends, I’d care and want to help him any way I could.

“Thanks, Sunshine,” he whispered, and covered my hand with his. He was silent for a few minutes and I’d just written off any hope he’d tell me when he started, “Like I told you, I worked as a lineman for the power company. Well, Nebraska is famous for tornadoes, so we were always busy restoring power after they’d rip through.”

I flipped my hand over and tightened my fingers around his. “So, one March the 22nd, it wasn’t a huge surprise when a tornado came through. Luckily, it didn’t do any property damage; it was just a small twister, but it jacked up the power lines. I’d been on the job for a while, so I usually was the first man up the poles to secure the safety restraints and make sure the other men were safe.”

My heart sped up, not liking where this story was going. “Our company had just purchased new climbing gear; supposedly some top of the line shit from a new supply company. They said it’d been ‘tested vigorously for quality standards’.” Brooks paused his story to huff a humorless laugh. “Tested vigorously my ass. I made it up the pole and was securing the protection anchors when my whole damn harness snapped.”

“Oh my god,” I muttered, squeezing his hand so hard I was sure I was hurting him, but he just squeezed me right back.

“I fell thirty