ChapterOne
His ride share pulled up in front of the house, and JP sighed at the sight of all those stairs.Fuck-a-duck there were a lot of them.More than he remembered.A lot more than he wanted to deal with.
He hurt.Everything hurt, but his leg hurt the most, and he wanted a pain pill in the worst way, but they were somewhere in his suitcase, and he needed to get up those stairs and somewhere he didn’t have to move again for a while before he took one anyway.
“This is it, eh?”his driver asked.
“Yeah.Sorry, yeah, this is it.”Man, he felt hoarse as hell.He also didn’t want to have to move.Getting out of the car was going to suck.Going up those stairs was going to suck more.
“I’ll grab your bag for you.”
“Thanks.”He was going leave a big damn tip.
He heaved in a deep breath, let it out, and then opened the door before he grabbed his bad leg, gritting his teeth as he half-turned to lift it out of the car.
The house looked the same, mostly.A two-story home, roses on one side.A huge stained glass window in the front.Rocking chairs on the porch.
Of course, now there were two tricycles in the yard and chalk drawings on the driveway.
The kids were old enough to ride tricycles and draw… How had three years gone by with no contact?Okay, that was an easy one.When he’d been traded to Florida, Ian hadn’t wanted to come, and they’d had the mother of all arguments.They’d both said some nasty shit, and he’d packed a bag and gotten on that plane on his own.
And now he was back, his tail between his legs, one of which was smashed up - the doctors had said they were pretty sure they could save it - needing somewhere to light, someone to take care of him.
“So do you need help getting out?”the driver asked.
He gave a brief shake of his head and grabbed the crutches, standing them on the pavement and using them to help haul himself up and out of the car.
“Cool.Good luck.”The guy dipped his head and got back in the car before driving off.
He stood there, looking at the stairs, his huge duffel on the ground next to him.Okay.How was he going to do this?
“Can you make it up the stairs if I get your bag?They can’t put the ramp up yet.”
He hadn’t even heard the door open or his husband coming down the stairs, he’d been concentrating so hard on his dilemma, but now Ian stood there, lips tight.
“If not, I’ll get you a hotel room.”
“I can do it.”He wasn’t going to let Ian see him fail.
“All right.I’ll grab your bag.The kids are napping.I put a hospital bed in the formal dining.”Ian looked old, tired, pinched.
“I wouldn’t be here if I had anywhere else to go.”He didn’t want to do this to Ian, but what the fuck was he supposed to do?
“I know.This is your house.I’ll keep the children quiet and out of your hair.”
“The pain pills knock me out pretty good,” he admitted.“You could probably run a heard of elephants through, and it won’t bother me.”Okay.Enough awkward conversation.His leg was killing him.His head was killing him.Everything hurt.He felt like a total asshole, and he just wanted to take a pain pill and to make everything go away for a couple of hours.He took the first step toward the stairs, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out.
“Are you not going to be able to do it on your own?I can’t lift you up the stairs.Maybe I can call Michael…”
God, his best friend and Ian’s brother.Faboo.
“I’ve got it,” he growled.“Why don’t you just go ahead with my bag and leave me to it?”Damn it, this was embarrassing and awkward as hell.
“Because if you fall, you’ll crack your skull open and die in my front yard.It’ll make a mess.”
He growled and started crutching his way to the five billion stairs he had to climb, each step jolting through his entire body.Falling and dying was starting to look like a good option, but he just kept going, determined not to look any weaker in front of Ian than he already did.
Ian, to be fair, stayed right with him for every single step.Right there.
