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Gray almost seemed disappointed by that and Luke felt a pang of guilt go through him though he wasn’t sure what he should feel guilty for. “Gray-”
“How’s that?” Gray asked as he tied off the last stitch. Luke looked down and saw that the edges of the wound were once again closed and the stitches Gray had put in looked surprisingly straight and tight.
“Perfect,” Luke said. “Thank you.”
“Well, you’re a pretty good patient,” Gray said lightly though the comment sounded forced and unnatural.
“Gray, I didn’t mean to upset you…”
“You didn’t,” Gray said with a light smile but before he could stand, Luke snagged him by the wrist and pulled him back down so their knees were touching. He ignored the flash of heat that shot from his fingers down to his belly.
“Liar,” Luke whispered.
Gray’s eyes held his and then dropped to his mouth for the briefest of moments. It was enough to have Luke’s whole body drawing up tight as his nerve endings began to sizzle with an undeniable reality. He wanted Gray.
The truth hit him so hard that Luke released Gray’s arm and he leaned back in his chair to try and put as much distance between himself and the other man as he could. The move seemed to snap Gray out of his daze and he quickly stood and began cleaning up the bloodied gauze on the table.
“I think I’m going to skip dinner,” Gray said. “This stomach flu is really kicking my ass. You can use the guest room next to mine or there’s one at the end of the hallway.”
“I’m actually going to head out,” Luke murmured as he tracked Gray’s movements throughout the kitchen.
“Okay,” Gray said coolly as he began heading towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms but he stopped after just a few steps. He finally turned around and then took several steps until he was leaning heavily against the chair on the opposite side of the kitchen table. “I…I liked the idea that you didn’t know who I was. It’s been a while since I didn’t have to worry about…”
Gray’s voice dropped off and then his eyes fell to the floor. “I just wanted to help you, Luke, the way you helped me yesterday. You could have left me in that ditch. You could have cleaned me out after you got me back here. You could have done a whole lot of shit...guys like you don’t exist in my world.” Gray fell silent for a moment after that cryptic statement and then he finally pinned Luke with his gaze. “Whatever happened to you…you can trust me.”
With that, Gray turned and left the room and Luke looked down at the wound. The jagged tear in his flesh was proof of what happened when you trusted the wrong person. So why then did he so badly want to believe the words when Gray said them?
ChapterThree
“Gray, wake up.”
Gray tried to roll away from the hand that was shaking him gently but the hand wouldn’t let him so he had no choice but to open his eyes. His gut clenched when he saw Luke sitting on the bed next to him, the curve of his ass actually brushing against Gray’s hip through the light comforter. Luke’s presence was surprise enough but his body’s reaction was even more of one. While the most important part of his body might not be taking notice the way he would have liked, all the other tell-tale signs of desire that a beautiful man like Luke would stir in him were there – heated flesh, sweaty palms, increased breath.
“What is it? Is everything okay?” Gray asked and he quickly dropped his eyes to Luke’s side to make sure his wound wasn’t bleeding again. He never in his life wanted to have to put a needle through another person’s skin but he’d do it in a heartbeat if that was what Luke needed.
“Everything’s fine. You need to come eat.”
“What?” Gray asked in astonishment. The man had woken him up for fucking food?
Gray forcibly rolled onto his side. “Not hungry,” he muttered tiredly.
“When was the last time you ate?”
Gray tried to think back but his silence seemed to be the motivation Luke needed because suddenly he was being hauled to his feet. At least he’d had the sense to change into pajama bottoms yesterday before he’d crawled into his bed but he hadn’t bothered with a shirt.
“Any nausea?” Luke asked as he began dragging Gray unceremoniously from the room. Ripley had been sitting next to Luke and pressed her cold nose against Gray’s hand as he was pulled out of the room.
“Um, no,” Gray said in surprise as he yanked his hand free of Luke’s hold. The metallic taste was still in his mouth but it wasn’t as prominent as before. He was about to tear Luke a new one for his high-handedness but his traitorous stomach chose that moment to growl.
A small smile caused the corners of Luke’s mouth to pull up and Gray wanted to both kiss and punch the man at the same time. “Come on, I made eggs.”
Gray was glad when Luke didn’t reach for him again because one more touch and he probably would have gone with his first instinct to kiss him. He followed Luke to the kitchen and was surprised to see the table set with two places and a pile of eggs on each plate. There was also toast and coffee.
“You didn’t have much in your fridge,” Luke said as he went to the counter and grabbed the nearly empty container of milk off it.
Gray sat down and began picking at the food on his plate. As hungry as he was, his stomach still rolled at the sight of the scrambled eggs.
“Maybe just start with some toast?” Luke suggested.
