Page 45 of Loving a Warrior

“I can’t find the head,” he muttered groggily, bumping once again into the dresser.

Shane put his hand on his shoulder and wordlessly guided him toward the en suite bathroom, waiting while Matt noisily used the toilet before helping him lie back down.

“Oh, shit,” Matt groaned as he sank into the pillows. “Everything hurts.”

“I know.” Shane pulled the covers over him. “I’m sure you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Why’d you quit?” Matt asked suddenly, his dark eyes intent on Shane’s.

“We’ll talk about it later, okay? Get some sleep.”

Matt heaved a disgusted sigh as he turned on his side away from him. “Whatever.”

At midnight Shane slipped into bed beside him. He was sleeping peacefully, his breaths slow and even. Shane watched him for a while until he drifted off, too, only waking when Matt rose to make another head call around dawn.

Not sure if he wanted to go back to sleep or not, Shane kept his eyes closed, opening them when Matt collapsed back down and said, “Stop faking it. I know you’re awake.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Like hammered dog shit.” Matt’s voice was stronger, clearer, his eyes not so glassy. “Sleeping definitely helped.” He paused, his next words sounding grudging as all hell. “And having a decent bed. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Shane turned on his side to face him. “Did you sleep at all during the Week?”

Matt stared at the ceiling. “I tried, but I couldn’t get my mind to turn off, you know? After forcing myself to stay awake for so long, when we were finally allowed to rest, I couldn’t.” He grimaced. “A couple of guys who slept the first time said the pain of waking up was so bad, they refused to sleep the second time. It wasn’t worth it.”

“Shit.”

He fell silent. Shane was wondering if he’d passed out again when he asked, his voice hard, “So why’d you quit?”

Here we go.

Blowing out a breath, Shane sat up and propped some pillows behind him. “Well, Alexis got into a bad car accident on Tuesday night.”

“What?” Matt gasped, rolling to face him. “Is she all right?”

“Yeah, but she was pretty messed up. Broken ribs, broken collarbone, shattered wrist.”

“The baby?”

“She was in the car, of course, but luckily didn’t have a scratch on her.” Shane’s voice wobbled and Matt reached over to grip his arm with strong, comforting fingers.

“Thank God.”

Shane leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes. “One of the instructors pulled me out of the water at that steel pier because there was a cop on the phone. Alexis had told them where to find me.”

Matt kept rubbing his thumb in soothing circles over Shane’s wrist.

“They put me in the ambulance and rushed me back to the training center. Bernson was already there and he was—everyone thinks he’s a hard ass and he doesn’t care about us, but he was amazing, Matt. He personally drove me to the hospital, stayed with me until I knew she was gonna be all right…” He choked off.

Matt squeezed his arm. “She’s gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. She had surgery on her wrist and they released her from the hospital this morning.”

Matt blew out a relieved breath. “So where is she? Here with you?”

“No.” Shane shook his head. “My parents flew out and took them both back to Florida this afternoon so she can recover. Bernson put me on emergency leave so I could take care of Libby till they were able to get here.”

“Fuck, Shane.” Matt let go of his arm with one last squeeze. “I’m glad everyone’s okay.”