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I should let this go. I’m tired. He’s tired. These are not good ingredients unless you’re dead set on making a shit sandwich.
“I’m aware,” I say. Reasonably. “Now give me the fucking plate,” I snap. Unreasonably.
“Stop babying me,” he grits through his teeth.
“I’m not babying you,” I say. “You’re injured. You need crutches to walk. Just let me take care of it. It’s why I’m here.”
His jaw hardens, and he swallows hard.
“Yeah, that’s why you’re here,” he says and lets out a cold laugh. “Thanks for the reminder. Nobody asked you to stay.”
Somewhere in the back of my head, I’m aware this is getting out of control. That I should shut up and calm down.
I take a deep breath. “I told you I’d stay with you.”
“No,” he says bitterly. “You promised my mother you’d stay. Why did you do that, anyway? You hoping she’ll pay you for a job well done?”
Another stab.
I step back and raise my hands.
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “Fine. Go ahead.”
I turn on my heel and start for the bathroom. I’ll brush my teeth. I’ll calm down.
The loud clatter from behind me makes me turn around again. Ryker is standing in the midst of the shattered remains of his plate.
He’s practically vibrating with tension. I can see it in every muscle of his body.
“Don’t move,” I say.
He jerks his head up. His breathing is too hard, his chest falling and rising rapidly as he looks down at the shards that have rained down all around him.
It’s like watching a tsunami approach. A deadly wave of tension, anger, pain, and desperation is going to sweep right through this place, and there’s nowhere to run.
Every muscle in his body is taut. His fingers, still clutching the crutches, have turned white.
“It’s my mess,” he says. “I’ll deal with it.”
“Can you just stop being so needlessly stubborn?” I blurt as I watch him try to lean down to pick up the pieces and wince from pain.
“Can you just fucking go away!” he says. One of the crutches tumbles to the floor, in the middle of the mess that’s already there. “Leave. You were never planning to stay in the first place, so why won’t you just do what you were always going to do and leave?!”
“Why? So you can go back to pitying yourself?” I ask. “You know, for a person who’s so against anybody else pitying you, you sure as fuck do a hell of a lot of it yourself!”
“My fucking leg is broken!” he roars so suddenly I jump. His palm slaps on the counter. “My future is fucking gone.”
“The fuck it is! It’s just the first time you’ve actually had a real problem appear in your way. It’s all been smooth sailing for you so far, but now at the first sign that something isn’t immediately going your way, you’re ready to bail! Well guess what? This is what the real world looks like for the rest of us, golden boy.”
I’m being unfair, but I can’t seem to stop.
“You’re gonna lecture me about bailing. Really?” he shoots back.
“I’m here!” I explode. “I’m right fucking here!”
We’re both breathing like we’ve just run a marathon.
His jaw clenches.
