Read Online Wild Raspberries by Jane Davitt - Free Book Online Page A

and wide, was covered in a patchwork quilt. Not one like Dan’s grandmother had pieced in neat patterns, with a fancy name and a story behind each one, but a muted rainbow of scraps, cut in the traditional geometric shape, sure, but sewn together randomly, blue velvet next to a garish orange, scarlet silk surrounded by mint green paisley. It shouldn’t have worked, but somehow it did. A bedside table in the same honey-pine as the bed held a lamp, a book Dan couldn’t see the title of, and a glass of water on a coaster. No alarm clock.
    A small walk-in closet led off the room, the door open wide enough that Dan could see that it held clothes and some neatly stacked boxes, taped shut.
    And on a desk was a computer, sleekly efficient, a world away from the outdated, over-sized ones Dan had used at school and the local library. Maybe Tyler was a writer? Or one of those people who played the stock market from home?
    Tyler, like Dan, had gone to bed in shorts — Tyler’s were black cotton, riding up high on his long, tanned legs — but he’d kept his T-shirt on. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, the T-shirt clinging damply to his back, the bedside lamp throwing out enough light for Dan to see that Tyler’s hands were clenched into fists so tightly that the skin over his knuckles was stretched thin and pale.
    “Get the fuck out of my room.”
    “If I thought you had the energy to make me, I would,” Dan countered. He couldn’t see the bottle of painkillers anywhere, but they had to be in here; he’d have noticed them in the bathroom, or when he tidied up. “Have you taken the stuff the doctor gave you?”
    Tyler shook his head. “Don’t want to take more unless I need them.”
    “If you can’t sleep, then you do need them,” Dan pointed out, reasonably enough, he thought.
    “I’m hot,” Tyler said. “If I can cool off, I’ll sleep. If you get out, I’ll go back to what I was doing, which is stripping off so I can cool down. Happy now?”
    “I’ve cracked my ribs before,” Dan said, “and I didn’t wear a T-shirt or anything that went on over my head for the first couple of days because it hurt too much getting them on and off.”
    “Your point would be?”
    “You tried to take it off and you couldn’t, could you?”
    There was a short sizzle of silence, and then Tyler took hold of the hem of his T-shirt in one hand and tugged it up level with his armpits, exposing a flat belly, a wide chest dusted lightly with dark hair, and some wide, white bandages.
    “Nice,” Dan said approvingly. “Now what?”
    He got a goaded look and then, mouth tight, Tyler widened the armhole of the T-shirt and raised his arm to guide it through, elbow first.
    “You’d really do it, wouldn’t you?” Dan took a step forward and stopped Tyler before the man bit through his lip trying to keep quiet. Dan peeled the T-shirt out of Tyler’s fingers and drew his arm back down. “Shit, save the macho crap for someone who gives a damn and let me help you. That’s why you let me stay here, remember?”
    Tyler looked close to hitting him, but Dan was getting used to that reaction, and after a moment Tyler gave him a grudging nod. “Okay. Help.”
    “Okay. Good.” Dan cleared his throat and considered strategies. “Umm. We could cut it off you?”
    “Oh, for God’s sake —” Tyler grabbed Dan’s hand and pulled it to his chest. Dan watched his fingers curl into the soft fabric as if they belonged to someone else. “Boy, I can take some pain, trust me, but I’m about ready to drown in my own sweat here. Get it off me.”
    “It’s not that hot in here,” Dan said. He put the back of his other hand on Tyler’s forehead. “You might be running a fever.”
    “I’m just hot.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “Do you always talk this much?”
    “When I’m not using my mouth for something else, yeah.”
    “Stop flirting with me.” Tyler sounded tired. “I told you: I’m not interested.”
    Dan was. He’d never