Page 94 of The Fighter

And inside, I laughed.

THIRTY-TWO

Tav

Seeing Con injured hurt more than I ever thought possible. But dealing with him as he healed was an absolute fucking nightmare. A horror show. I was pretty sure taking a bath in bleach would be more pleasant than dealing with him.

He wouldn’t rest. He didn’t like to be doted on. It made sense when I thought about it, that the entire situation made him feel out of control, but that didn’t make taking care of him any easier. He wanted his laptop brought into the bedroom, but then he didn’t like the angle of the screen, so he tried to go to his office, only to nearly fall in the living room. He refused most food and insisted on making work calls while woozy on pain meds, which hadn’t ended well for anyone involved.

Dr. Rosen came to check on him, and she told him he might need physical therapy to repair the muscle in his stabbed thighs, and that sent him into his final Absolute Assholetmform for two full hours.

I sympathized, I really did, but that didn’t mean I had to like him at the moment. When the doorbell rang, and I peeredthrough the peephole to find Ben and Nik, I let out a sigh of relief and opened the door. “I tap out for an hour.”

Ben clapped my shoulder. “That bad?”

“The worst.”

Nik just shook his head, a smile curving his lips, as he made his way into the apartment and toward the bedroom. As I closed the apartment door, me on the other side of it in the hallway, I could hear Con snapping at his friends like a caged raccoon.

I headed down to my sister’s apartment, finding two men outside her door. While Con healed, Nik had been in charge of the aftermath of Devlin’s dethronement. While we didn’t think there were any threats to Amara, we were being cautious, at least until Con said otherwise.

I had texted her while Con was gone but hadn’t given her any details, only that Con had some business stuff that came up that had kept us busy. But now she deserved to know what had gone down.

I knocked on the door, and she swung it open quickly, a smile on her lips. “Hey, big brother.”

Inside, Holden raced around the small coffee table wearing nothing but underwear. He stopped when he saw me, hollered, “Uncle Tav!” and leaped into my arms. I caught him and spun him in the air.

“Hey buddy,” I dropped him on the ground where he took off on a run down the hallway to the bedroom. I turned to my sister with a raised eyebrow.

She blew out a breath, sending a lock of her hair flying. “He has cabin fever. I think I might lose my mind if we can’t get out of this apartment soon.” Her clothes were wrinkled and stained, and she looked like she hadn’t brushed her hair for a day. “He’s like you were as a kid. He has to be moving at all times.”

Holden streaked out of the bedroom, his bare feet slapping the floor and slammed into my thighs. I grunted as I hauled himinto my arms and draped him over my shoulder. He let out a squeal of delight and pounded my back with his fists. “Go lay down in the bedroom. I’ll entertain him for a while.”

“You sure you have time?” She bit her lip, but looking longingly at the bed down the hall. “Weren’t you busy the last few days?”

“Go,” I said. “I’ll explain later. You need a break.”

Her entire body sagged. “Thank you. If you wear him out in the next two hours, he might nap.”

“I’ll run him ragged.”

Her fingers curled around my wrist. “You okay? Conrad okay?”

Conrad was on his way to okay, but I’ll tell her about it all later. “Yeah, we’re good. Just don’t worry about anything right now. I got it all covered.”

Holden began to kick his feet. “Helicopter!” He screeched. Which meant he wanted me to spin him until we were both dizzy.

I laughed and eyed my sister. “On second thought, maybe?—”

Amara was already down the hallway, each step dragging. “No take backs!”

While Amara slept, or watched TV, or whatever she wanted with the bedroom door closed and locked, I entertained Holden for the next two hours. First I did so many helicopters that I wanted to hurl. Then we played hide and seek. Then we made a cake for Amara. Then we tried to frost it, but it wasn’t cool enough, so the frosting melted everywhere. Then we played pretend dinosaurs. Then I made him lunch, and his eyelids drooped before he even finished his plate.

As soon as I laid him on the couch with a blanket over his small body, he passed out, his little lips fluttering with soft snores.

Amara emerged fifteen minutes later while I sat on the other end of the couch watching a baseball game. Her hair was all smashed on one side, and a bit of dried drool clung to the corner of her mouth. I smiled at her. “Sleep well, Mar?”

She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “The best. And you’re the best. You even got him to nap?”