placed a hand on his partner’s forearm.
“You’ll go to work,” Matt said. “But I’m calling Natalie so she knows what happened.”
With a sting in his eyes, Ben shook his head.
Matt’s expression softened. “She’s going to know something happened the moment she sees your face and hands.”
The headbutt had resurrected the black eye and added a small lump to his forehead. He looked down at the bandages. His knuckles were swollen and badly scraped under the gauze wraps. Neither of which would allow him to work with food. Besides, he needed his hands to communicate with Natalie, either by signing or texting. Both of which hurt too much now to even think about the pain that would likely flare up by tomorrow. He deflated, wanting to kick at the unfairness. A touch to his shoulder forced him to glance up.
“I’m sure she can have you do something in the shop until your hands heal. Okay?”
Ben nodded with a sigh. Natalie’s bakery had caused his old self to return. He craved the happiness and the excitement that had been elusive over the last few years. He didn’t want to abandon a single moment of being there if he could find a way.
“You still have a few hours before you start. How about you try to take a nap on the couch?” Matt raised his hands before Ben had a chance to protest. “I’ll wake you in time for breakfast. Promise.”
Resigned, Ben nodded. Between the lack of sleep of the last few days and the exhaustion working its way through his body, he could barely keep his eyes open. He rose from his seat and walked into the living room. He stood by the couch, his chest and throat tightening with a swarm of emotions. Every second replayed again in his mind. Every what-if scenario of how the night could have played out.
Quickly turning, he threw his arms around Julian’s midsection and buried his head against Julian’s broad chest, refusing to let the welling tears in his eyes escape. He didn’t want to think of what would have happened had this man not been close enough to hear him and jump in before things got worse. He couldn’t let his mind go there and deep-dive into the abyss. If it did, coming back from that would be a battle he wasn’t sure he could win.
Strong arms wrapped around him and the hard thump of the heartbeat pressed against him gave him the strength he needed to steady himself. Ben exhaled a heavy breath and pulled out of the embrace, determined to focus on anything but what had happened. He glanced up at Julian and gave him a weak smile of gratitude, then settled on the couch. He curled himself on the soft cushions and carefully pulled the throw over himself, smiling when both Julian and Calvin sat in the large side chairs at each side of the living room and planted their feet on the matching ottomans. Ben typed out two short words on his phone and turned the display toward his housemate to read.
A half smile pulled at Calvin’s lips. “You’re welcome. Try to get some sleep.”
Ben set his phone on the table and pulled the throw tightly under his chin. With a quick glance at Julian and another at Calvin, he knew a cloak of safety surrounded him as he finally let sleep pull him into the darkness.
Bull shoved his shoulder against the door, holding it open as he rolled his suitcase inside. Finally, after a week of paperwork, interviews, and follow-up doctors’ visits, he was back in Miami. He threw his keycard and wallet on the table by the entrance as the door slid shut behind him. Sighing, he folded his garment bag over the kitchen counter and lumbered to the couch, dropping onto the soft leather. With his arms spread wide across the back of the sofa, he stretched his long legs out onto the center table, thankful to finally be home.
Shifting in place, he winced when a jolt of pain traveled through his body. The knife slice to his side would heal, as would the cuts on his arm and various scrapes throughout. The pain would keep him company for a few weeks, but there was a comfort in knowing the job was done. He released a deep breath as he scanned the room, wondering why he had been in such a rush to return to this empty place. Everything was exactly how he had left it three