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I put my arms around his neck and kissed him gently. “Okay. You get one of each, and I’ll go wait in the truck with Nacho. Ask Nicki’s Norm where we can get takeout in this one-horse town.”
When Nine finally joined me in the truck, he blew out an annoyed sigh. “Sorry that took so long. Apparently I had to hear about every takeout restaurant and their owners and their backstories and what that place used to be.”
“What’s the verdict?”
“Sounds like there’s a health food place you’d like down one of these side streets.” He backed the truck out of the parking spot and shifted into Drive.
“Fuck that. Let’s get something better. Fried chicken or pasta. I’m starving.”
“He said there was a great pizza place just past the gas station.”
“Perfect.” I searched through my phone to call our order in, but the place was so close, we arrived while I was still on the phone with the guy. “He said it won’t be long. Wake me up when it’s ready.”
That was the last thought I had until I felt the cool breeze on my face from the open passenger door. I blinked my eyes open to see the clearing and the RV. “We’re home?”
Nine helped me out and got me inside. The numbness had definitely worn off, and my side hurt like a bitch. I regretted not taking the doc up on her offer of a pain pill prescription. “Hurts and I’m hungry,” I said, trying not to whine too much, but I was feeling sorry for myself now because I truly was in pain and I truly was hungry enough to eat the dog.
“I’m going to fix all of that for you. Go pee and then get in bed.”
“Love it when you boss me into the toilet,” I muttered under my breath.
He went back outside while I moved around like a snail. I finally stripped down to my underwear and crawled in bed, propping myself up in hopes of food. Sure enough, he brought the pizza in. “It’s still warm, but I can heat it up more if you want.”
“It’s fine. I like cold pizza anyway. How the hell is it still warm?”
Nine looked away. “Um, well, I kind of drove fast.”
He was so fucking sweet. “Get in here and sit with me.”
His beard split with his grin. “Let me grab our drinks and some pain meds for you.”
When he got back to bed with everything we needed, including a big bath towel to protect the sheets, we had ourselves a bed pizza picnic. The pizza was amazing, and we both agreed we’d have to order from the same place again when we went back to town next.
After I finished and wiped my hands on the paper towel he’d given me, I reached for my phone to see if I’d missed any messages from home. I had, but there were also a ton of notifications from our Instagram account. I clicked into it and saw a picture of the two of us in the truck. I was asleep on Nine’s shoulder, and Nacho was licking my ear. The caption said, “My poor baby had an accident and needed stitches, but don’t worry, Nacho and I will take good care of him. #Owie #DocsRule #SnitchesGetStitches #CoopedUpWithNine #DogsOfInstagram #DIY.” There were a ton of other hashtags I recognized from many of the posts I’d made on our account.
The outpouring of love and support on the post blew me away. There were hundreds of comments. I looked over at Nine. “You did this?”
He glanced up to see what I was talking about and winced. “Oh. Yeah. Is that bad? I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s good. It’s really good. First of all, it’s important to show the good and the bad. We’ve talked about that. But also, it’s… really fucking sweet.”
He shrugged and went back to eating his pizza. “I was worried about you, and I kind of felt… I just wanted you to have some nice well-wishes to wake up to, I guess.”
I read through the post again. “You even put in the hashtags.”
He laughed and tossed his paper towel in the pizza box before closing it. “Yeah, you said it helps us find new followers. I still don’t know what I’m doing there, but I tried.”
I leaned over and kissed his shoulder before smiling up at him. “I especially like the snitches get stitches one.”
Nine huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not as funny as you are. You’re better at those things.”
After shoving everything farther away, I climbed onto his lap and straddled him.
“Careful,” he warned, reaching for my hips as gingerly as possible.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him. “Thank you for taking such good care of me, but I’m fine.”
“I like taking care of you.” He nibbled on my collarbone before nipping at my earlobe.
