Read Online Accidentally in Love by Jane Davitt, Alexa Snow - Free Book Online

injuries. The prod of her fingers had been painful, but only in the way pushing against any bruise was, and when he’d peed into a bottle for her, there had been no sign of blood.

    “Your nose isn’t broken,” she told him, briskly enough to make him feel like apologizing for bothering her. “Very swollen, yes, and you’ll have two nice black eyes, I’m sure. But it’s not broken.”

    “That’s good.” It came out muffled, as if he were suffering from a cold, but she seemed to understand him.

    “ Don’t blow it, just clear it the old-fashioned way, with a basin full of boiling water and a towel. Steam it. And ice it tonight, as much as you can. I’ll give you a prescription for some painkillers, and if your stomach hurts more than you think it should—any stabbing pains, any blood in your urine—you know what to do.” She hesitated. “Whoever did this to you…”

    “They won’t be doing it again,” Cal said, stretching the truth a little. “It was a…disagreement in a bar. I don’t even know his name.”

    “Well, all right. I’m glad you had a friend to bring you in, at least. I hate to think of you trying to drive for the next couple of days. In fact, I’d strongly recommend against it while you’re on the painkillers, just to be on the safe side. You don’t want to put someone else in a state like the one you’re in now.” She gave him a stern look, and he agreed with her hastily.

    “Sure, okay. Right. Thank you.”

    They swung by the all-night pharmacy on the way home, and Tom helpfully went inside with Cal’s insurance card and wallet. That was Tom—helpful. Cal felt guilty for taking advantage of the man’s kindness, especially after having trampled all over his feelings the night before, but Cal was grateful for it all the same.
     
    “Still conscious?” Tom asked as he got back behind the wheel.

    “Sadly, yes.” Cal didn’t turn his head. “Can I have some of those?”

    “No,” Tom said. “You can only have one. That’s what the prescription says.” He got a pill out and handed it to Cal along with a bottle of cool water he’d bought inside.

    “Thank you,” Cal said, meaning it. “You’re good at this. Taking care of people, I mean.”

    “I am?” Tom sounded startled by that. “I’m not doing anything special. Just what needs to be done, I guess.”

    “Even though you’re pissed off at me.” Cal swallowed the pill and a mouthful of water, chugging more when it soothed his rasped throat.

    “That’s true, but it’s separate. It doesn’t come into this.”

    “So you’re still throwing me out?” Cal wasn’t sure why he wanted to deal with that right now, but he did. It was possible he was running the risk of Tom seeing it as manipulative, the injured guy asking for some sympathy. He trusted Tom to read it better than that. It was an uncertainty that Cal needed cleared up one way or another. Even lost in the discomfort and shock of being beaten up—God, it could’ve been so much worse—he needed a decision.

    “I hadn’t decided. That was why I was running. It clears my head. It was a coincidence I was on the bike path running behind that parking lot tonight. Lucky for you.” Tom fell silent for a few minutes, and Cal let himself drift away, willing the painkiller to kick in. “The guy using you as a football… He wasn’t going to stop, you know.”

    “Yeah, I got that impression.”

    “And the other man—the one you slept with? He was just standing there letting him do it.” Tom paused, then said, “I should have called the cops.”

    “That’s what you threatened to do,” Cal said, realizing. “I was too out of it to wonder how you got their attention.”

    “It shouldn’t have been just a threat.” Tom sounded serious and possibly irritated with himself.

    “I’m glad you didn’t.” Cal drank a little more water to stretch time. “I don’t want to have to deal with that. And it’s not like he’s going to come