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“So I assume that means you’re well enough to fight with?” she asked.
Well, now that she knew, fighting about it was inevitable. He lifted his not-as-sore shoulder. “Yeah.”
“I’m gonna head out,” Mitch said. He gave Beau a sympathetic look. “Call me when you need me to come back.”
Beau nodded.
As he passed Becca, Mitch bent close and said something softly, then kissed the top of her head, before heading out the door. Beau hoped he’d said something like, “Just don’t punch him in the left side.”
His ribs fuckinghurton the left.
As soon as the door closed behind Mitch, Becca said, “Dammit, Beau.”
He sighed. “I know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I…” Why hadn’t he told her? There were several reasons. He decided to give her the most innocuous ones first. “I was swamped with stuff when I got back. This bullshit—” He moved his arm and sling. “—on top of my truck and then B and B stuff. I was exhausted. Just trying to get it all straightened out. There was nothing you could do. And I knew you’d just be worried. I would have wanted to tell you everything was fine. And, mostly, I was. But I couldn’treallysay that. Things were not fine. But I didn’t want you to freak out.”
“I'm not freaking out.” But she was.
“You don't think driving home five hours in the middle of the week when you should be in class just to confront me about this isn’t freaking out?”
“No. It’s getting answers. It’s…making you talk to me about it.”
“Bec…” He blew out another exasperated breath, then crossed the floor to where she stood. He stopped in front of her and took her hand. “There’s nothing you can do. It’s paperwork and phone calls and insurance companies and hoops to jump through—”
“You could have been killed,” she said softly, her voice broken.
Then the tears started.
His heart squeezed.
Yeah, okay. There was that.
He put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed into him.
“God, Beau. My heart stopped when Toby told me your truck went into a ditch. You fell asleep! You could have died!”
He stroked his hand over her head. She wasn’t wrong. He’d been ignoring all of that because ithadn’thappened and the results of the accident had been such a pain in the ass and had made the other pains in his ass even worst. But yeah… the accident could have been really bad.
“Shh,” he soothed. “I’m okay. I’m fine. I’m right here.”
Her arms tightened around him and she sniffed.
He just let her hug him, holding her as best he could—even not being able to fully enfold her in his arms was frustrating as fuck—and cry.
When she finally quieted and lifted a hand to wipe her cheeks and then looked up, he gave her a smile. “Better?”
She sniffed. “I’m really pissed you didn’t tell me.”
“Upsetting you wouldn’t have made it better.”
She pulled in a deep breath and loosened her hold on him. He let her step back. She wiped a finger under her nose and then met his gaze. “Yeah. I know. But it feels weird that you didn’t tell me.”
“I know. I would have. Eventually.”
“When you were totally healed up and everything was taken care of.”
