Read Online LifeOverLimb by Stephani Hecht - Free Book Online Page A

okay?” Ricky asked.
    He gave an internal wince. Duh! Of course Tanner wasn’t okay. One look at the guy screamed that fact . Approaching closer, Ricky reached out to touch Tanner only to have Tanner pull away from him.
    “Get the hell out of here,” Tanner snapped.
    Ricky froze, hurt going through him. He shook it off, telling himself that it was only the grief talking. “No, I won’t leave you. You need me.”
    Tanner turned on him. “Surprise, Ricky, not everybody in life is lost without your precious guidance. There’s some things that not even you can fix.”
    Ricky took a step back, his gut twisting with emotion. “I didn’t say that you needed to be fixed, I just wanted to be there to support you.”
    “How? You have no idea what I’m going through. You don’t know what it’s like to lose a patient. You’re a radiology tech, so the only thing you ever are in danger of losing is a damn X-Ray.”
    “You don’t mean that?”
    “It must be so easy to have a job where you can just tuck yourself in a room and never take the risk of having somebody under your care die.”
    “Hey, I was in that room, too. That kid was every bit as much as my patient.”
    “Not really, since we didn’t need you to work the X-ray machine. After all, that’s the only reason you were there. It certainly wasn’t to invest yourself into his care.”
    Oh, no he didn’t! Ricky took a deep breath as a heavy dose of anger hit him. “Are you trying to say that I’m nothing more than a glorified portrait photographer?”
    “Yes! No! Damn it, I don’t know. I just need you to leave me alone.”
    Holding his hands up, Ricky backpedaled to the bay doors. “No, problem. You can stay here with your misery for the rest of your life for all I care. I’m done being your verbal punching bag.”
    Ricky then turned and walked through the doors. The entire time, he hoped that Tanner would call his name, maybe even give chase and apologize, but it never happened.
    * * * *
    Tanner finished marking patient charts before he tossed the pen to the side and let out a tired sigh. Actually, he was more than tired, he felt sad, depressed, miserable, dejected and every other synonym for gloomy.
    All because he’d fucked up, big time. Worse yet, he hadn’t been able to make things better between him and Ricky. Tanner had tried numerous times in the past three days to talk to the man, but Ricky refused to talk. When Tanner called, his lame ass was tossed into voice mail. Knocks to the front door went unanswered. Shit, Tanner couldn’t even see the guy at work because Ricky called in every shift since their argument.
    He buried his face in his hands as he wondered what he was going to do. While he and Ricky had only been officially together for a couple days, Tanner realized he’d fallen for the man a long time ago. Now that they finally came so close to having a real relationship, Tanner didn’t want to lose it.
    A tiny fist came from his right and slammed into his arm. “You stupid jerk! I told you not to break his heart!”
    Jerking in pain and shock, Tanner turned to find a very furious looking Carla.
    “Shouldn’t you be in school?”
    “And shouldn’t you be on your knees, groveling to my brother for forgiveness,” she countered before giving him another punch.
    “Ouch! Easy there, tiger.”
    Ben came rushing over. “What’s going on here?”
    Carla shot Tanner a filthy glare. “I’m just giving this DB here a piece of my mind.”
    “What do you want me to do?” Tanner demanded, letting the DB comment slide for the moment. “I’ve tried apologizing, but he refuses to talk to me.”
    “That’s because you’re a—”
    “Okay, we get it,” Ben cut in. “Tanner’s a great big meanie butt. “
    “Yes, he is,” Carla snarled.
    “But Ricky’s being a stubborn brat, too,” Ben added.
    She let out a gasp of shock. “How can you take Tanner’s side?”
    “Because I know Ricky better than anybody and I know how bullheaded