Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

Frankie

The prognosis could have been worse. Sebastian's leg had accepted the various pins holding it together and started knitting the bones back together around them. Everything structural within the leg seemed to be aligned properly and it should be able to bear some weight by now, with the help of a partial cast.

The problem came with actual movement. Sebastian's leg didn't seem to want to move, and when it did, the movements were sporadic and uncontrolled. I suspected damage within the muscles, perhaps even deeper nerve damage, but such things were hard to diagnose with one hundred percent certainty.

All we could do was wait and work with the leg to get it moving again. Only time would tell if the limb could be retrained for more control, or if it would remain partially paralyzed.

Our first goal was to get Sebastian standing again. With the help of Gabe and Newt, we set up a pair of support bars for Sebastian to hold onto while he practiced putting weight on the leg. Several different pairs of crutches sat stacked in a corner of the safe house, like a hopeful reminder, but Sebastian hadn't even glanced their way since returning from the hospital.

"Keep your weight on your legs even," I reminded Sebastian when I noticed him leaning slightly to one side. "You need to train your leg to move properly. If you get in the habit of favoring one leg over the other, then your leg will learn that motion and you'll have to retrain yourself later."

Sebastian grit his teeth so it looked like he was snarling at me. "If I don't rely more on my good leg then I can't stand for long." His voice came out growly and labored, betraying the effort it took the man to stand.

I crossed my arms and stared him down with the most unimpressed look I could manage. "Then you don't stand for very long. I'd rather you stand for one minute properly than five minutes lopsided."

Luckily, we'd tested the bars several times before trusting them to support Sebastian, even going so far as to have Gabe, Newt, and myself all hanging on them at once. If they weren't so secure, they probably would have collapsed from how hard Sebastian's arms shook as he struggled to hold himself up. At least seventy-five percent of his weight was being supported by his arms, yet even that was a challenge for his leg.

It had only been a few days since we returned from the hospital, yet it seemed Sebastian had expected to be able to immediately start walking again. The fact that he couldn't do so was obviously frustrating the man, but we had to be patient. Healing such a devastating injury took time, and it was going to be an even longer journey if Sebastian was already fed up. He needed to stay positive and keep working slowly, but for a man of action, such gradual progress was unbearable.

At Sebastian's current strength, he could only work for about an hour before he needed a break. I let Newt tend to him by fetching him water and a snack and massaging the muscles in his leg to keep them from cramping up.

Meanwhile, I sought out Gabe, who was hiding in our bedroom. He was on the phone talking to someone with a serious look on his face, so I closed the door quickly behind me.

"I know you're worried," he was saying as I sat next to him. "I've looked into it and have some leads to follow. When I've got more concrete information, I'll let you know."

I placed my hand on his knee in a silent question.

He blocked the phone with his hand and spoke so quietly that he was basically just mouthing the words. "Miss Bell."

For a moment, it looked like he was going to say more, but his attention suddenly snapped back to his phone. "What do you mean?" Whatever Tansie Bell said was too quiet for me to hear, but a shadow fell over Gabe's face. "No, don't. If you see anything else, don't engage on your own. Send me what you have, and I'll look into it."

The rest of the conversation mostly consisted of half sentences from Gabe that I couldn't follow. All I could tell was that he seemed to be talking Miss Bell out of doing something.

I waited for the conversation to end before I asked what was going on, but it turned out I didn't need to. The minute Gabe hung up the phone, he let out a harsh sigh and then told me everything on his own.

Apparently, Miss Bell had been patrolling the streets of Baton Rouge, searching for any sign of her son, and she'd just caught another glimpse of the boy.

Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose like he was getting a headache. "It's lucky that the boy disappeared inside a locked building before she could approach, otherwise she would have made a target out of herself just like us. Although this does confirm our suspicions. The area where the boy was seen is near where the Senator's charity fundraising event is going to be held. We definitely need to attend the event, though I have no idea what the boy is doing there in the first place."

I absently rubbed my hand along Gabe's arm in a show of support. Under his shirtsleeve, I could feel the raised edges of his scars like tiger stripes. In the chaos of everything happening, I'd never asked about them. My curiosity was piqued but there were bigger things to worry about.

"We'll figure it out," I said, even as I never stopped my hand movements. "First, we need to prepare for this charity event. When is it again?"

Gabe told me the date and I ran through a calendar in my mind. We had some time before the event, but not enough.

"Sebastian is insisting on coming, but I don't know if he'll be healed enough by then."

I hadn't even finished my sentence before Gabe was shaking his head. "If he's not healed enough, then he should stay here where he is safe. We don't need another liability to look after."

Groaning, I flopped back on the bed. "I know, but try telling him that. Especially, since Newt is insisting on coming to the event as well, and I don't think we can afford to turn him down. The two of us alone may not be enough to cover the entire event and keep an eye on everything. There's no way we'll convince Sebastian to stay behind if Newt comes."

The mattress shifted as Gabe leaned over to plant a hand on either side of my shoulders, so he was kneeling over me.

"Maybe we can find a compromise that'll keep him happy."

My laughter came out as more of a snort. "Compromise? You? Since when do you even know that word?"

"Perhaps you've been rubbing off on me."

I had a joke all lined up about "rubbing off," but I never got the chance to say it.

Gabe kissed me hard enough to press my head back into the mattress. I responded by pulling him closer and wrapping my arms around his neck. He slid his hands over me, pushing my shirt up and my pants down to reveal as much skin as possible.

I tried to do the same, but our position didn't allow us to undress very well. Aside from opening a few buttons, we remained mostly clothed.

I'd never been with a man who liked kissing as much as Gabe did. All of my previous partners treated it as a necessary step on the way to what they actually wanted, like putting coins into a vending machine. If they put enough intimacy in, then they eventually got sex in exchange.

It never really bothered me until I met Gabe, but now that I knew what it was like being with a man who actually enjoyed the intimate side of sex, I wouldn't settle for anything less.

Was I spoiled for any other man?

Probably.

Was I going to consider what that meant for my future love life?

Not right now.

Maybe, once everything else was settled and we were safe and no longer in hiding, then I could think about it. For now, I was just going to enjoy being alive and take advantage of the few pleasures my situation brought me.

Eventually, Gabe grew impatient, and he sat up so he could properly divest me of my clothes. I let him, but only because I was too busy trying to remove his at the same time. In the end, all of our clothing ended up in a scattered pile over the floor. I could see the slight twitch in Gabe's eye as he was struck by the urge to properly fold our clothes, but after weeks of sleeping together, I'd gotten better about distracting him.

I lay back on the bed, my body on full display, and ran my leg over his hip.

"Come on. You're not going to leave me waiting like this? Are you?"

I thought Gabe would come closer and let me wrap my arms around him again. So, I wasn't prepared for the cold rush of air that hit me when he stood up. Without the heat of his body, I shivered against the sheets and couldn't control the whine that slipped past my lips.

"No. Come back."

I reached out desperately for him, but all he did was laugh at me with a smug little grin on his otherwise stoic face.

"Impatient thing, aren't you?"

I sat up so I could reach him. "Yes. Now, come here."

"No." With one hand, he pushed me back onto the bed. "Stay there. The only thing you need to do is concentrate on staying quiet."

Before I could ask what he meant, I yelped when he suddenly knelt at the end of the bed, perfectly positioned right between my legs. I had just enough time to clamp my hands over my mouth and silence myself before he took my cock into his mouth.

Damn, the man seemed to have gotten better at controlling his gag-reflex. There was no hesitation this time before he swallowed me almost all the way to the root. The intense pleasure that surged through me was too overwhelming. My own hands clamped over my mouth were the only things keeping me quiet, otherwise, I definitely would have been shouting.

Sebastian and Newt were just in the other room. They would hear if we made any noise. While they probably wouldn't mind—the fact that Gabe and I were sleeping together was no secret—I wasn't into exhibitionism. The noises I made during sex were for only me and my partner to hear.

It took all of my concentration to keep my hands over my mouth and not make a sound. My whole body trembled with the effort.

Gabe, on the other hand, seemed to take it as a challenge. He did everything he could to make me lose control, alternating the movement of his head between quick and slow and using his hands to stroke lightly over the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. All the things he knew drove me crazy.

I squeezed my eyes closed and dug my fingers into my cheeks, completely ignoring the fact I might bruise my skin with how hard I pressed my hands over my mouth. The need to moan and make noise welled up in me, like water filling up behind a dam. I would burst eventually. Even the best self-control had limits, and mine was hardly the best, but I refused to give up so easily.

With his mouth and hands, Gabe drove me right to the edge of pleasure, but before I could tip over, he suddenly stopped. I nearly broke, and a low groan managed to escape past the iron grip I had over my mouth.

"Shhh," Gabe scolded me, letting his breath tease over my aching arousal.

I squirmed but didn't say a word.

After a minute, when my breathing had calmed down a little, he swallowed me again and picked up right where he'd left off.

"Bastard," I hissed through clenched teeth, though I barely removed my hands enough to speak, so I wasn't sure he heard me.

Through the tears of frustration that had gathered in my eyes, I looked down the length of my own body at him to find him looking up at me.

He'd definitely heard me.

I would have said more, but the sight of him staring at me with a smug glint in his eyes even as his mouth continued to pleasure me was surprisingly erotic.

A new wave of arousal washed through me, and I shivered. My stomach felt weak, and I couldn't continue to hold myself up enough to keep looking at him. I collapsed back on the bed, my head thrown back as I stared up at the ceiling and kept my hands firmly locked over my mouth.

There was no telling how long that went on, though I could hear the ticking of a clock somewhere in the distance beyond the wet wounds Gabe was making. Over and over again, he'd bring me right to the edge of orgasm, then stop before I could finish, only to start again after I'd calmed down. The man could have kept edging me like that forever and I wouldn't have complained, but denying me also meant denying himself, and even Gabe's iron will had a limit.

I could tell when his patience began to run out. He started to growl low in the back of his throat like he was angry, sending the vibrations right up my aching cock and into my brain. I thrashed my legs, and he gripped my thighs hard enough to leave bruises, the thought of which only ramped up my arousal more.

His movements sped up, pushed me toward my end faster than before. For a moment, I thought he would finally let me finish this time, but I was wrong. Just as the pleasure started to tighten in my stomach and I was literally seconds from orgasm, he stopped again, and then pulled away from me completely.

I let my hands fall away from my mouth. "You fucker," I gasped, though I didn't have the energy to speak more than a whisper.

Somewhere in my peripheral vision, I noticed Gabe pulling out a condom, but I didn't bother paying attention until he was literally spreading my legs and shoving his fingers inside me. It was a quick and rough preparation. We were both too eager to wait much longer.

The moment I was deemed ready for him, he grabbed my legs behind my knees and lined himself up with my hungry hole.

The whole bed shook from the force of his thrust as he sheathed himself inside me, and I quickly covered my mouth again to stifle my moan.

His thrusts came hard and fast, and I trembled as I lay there and took the pounding. I couldn't even wrap my legs around him since he kept his hands hooked behind my knees.

After being kept on edge for so long, it was no surprise that I came quickly. It was also no surprise that Gabe didn't even slow down as I shivered and whined through my orgasm, coating my belly in my own hot spend. During these last few weeks together, I'd gotten used to the man's endless stamina. More than that, actually. I might even say I loved it. There was something erotic about being taken so relentlessly, abandoning all hesitation, that satisfied a deep primal urge.

I really was spoiled for any other man. It was probably too early in our relationship to make such declarations, but I could no longer picture myself with any man other than Gabe. Somehow, in such a short amount of time, I'd become addicted to him.

Just like every other time we'd been together, Gabe took a while to reach the edge of his own pleasure. He was ruthless in his pursuit, claiming me over and over again until he'd completely wrung every drop of pleasure from me. Yet even then he kept going.

Before Gabe, I'd never experienced a dry orgasm before. To be struck with the electric thrill of climax, yet produce nothing to show for it, was an odd sensation the first few times it happened. However, I'd quickly grown used to it. I now even looked forward to it. It was an overwhelming type of pleasure that I only experienced with Gabe, like a signature he left branded on every inch of my skin.

I knew when Gabe was close, because he suddenly started thrusting harder and faster, chasing that edge that was just out of reach. My muscles twitched from over-stimulation, milking him each time he drove deep into me.

Unlike me, he didn't make a sound, even when he came. His eyes became glassy, and a flicker of several different emotions danced over his face all at once. Even after my own pleasure faded, the urge to moan remained until Gabe finished as well. I didn't dare release my hands from my mouth until we'd both calmed down.

Gabe separated us carefully and handled the clean up like usual. I'd tried to help before, but he always insisted. He seemed to treat it as a ritual, like he was slowly adjusting himself from the haze of sex back into reality.

I didn't mind. It meant I got to lounge around and be taken care of. I'd never considered myself a pillow princess before, but Gabe was quickly turning me into one.

We lay together on the bed as the afternoon sun shone through the window. We were still on top of the sheets, but I wasn't cold as Gabe lay overtop of me. His head was on my stomach, and his arms casually draped around my waist like I was a pillow or a stuffed animal for him to snuggle.

I watched the sunlight dance on the ceiling each time the wind blew through the trees outside, and idly ran my hands through his hair and over his shoulders.

My fingers found the raised edge of the highest scar on his left arm, and I was reminded of my question from earlier. Tracing the scars one by one, I debated if I should ask or not.

Was it the right time?

Would it ruin the mood?

In the end, I decided to ask. If we had reached the point where I couldn't imagine myself with any other man, then we needed to keep an open line of communication between us and not shy away from difficult questions.

"How did you get these scars?"

I waited for his reaction. To my relief, he looked up at me with mischief in his iron gray eyes.

"You're a physical therapist. How do you think I got them?"

I studied the scars more closely, although I didn't actually need to. I knew exactly what they looked like and had already run through the many options in my head.

"At first, I thought they were knife wounds, based on their long slashing shapes, but they aren't quite smooth enough. Some of them have ragged edges, and don't follow the line that a knife would. Plus, they all seem to be the same age, so unless you were attacked by Edward Scissorhands, getting that many knife wounds in one place at the same time seems unlikely."

I couldn't reach all of the scars on his left arm from where I was laying, and I didn't want to get up, so I started back at the top, near his shoulder, and started tracing them again.

The glimmer left Gabe's eyes as he listened to my deduction process, but his expression was still warm.

"Whenever people ask, I tell them I was attacked by a lion."

"And they believe you?"

"You don't?"

I shook my head and one of my braids fell across my neck like a choker. "They aren't clustered together enough to be claw marks. Despite working in the city, I've seen a surprising number of patients who have been attacked by wild animals to know what those look like. I didn't know that bears could live in swamps, but apparently they can, and people are dumb enough to try and approach them."

This time, Gabe didn't say anything as he waited for my final verdict.

"Shrapnel," I eventually declared. "Probably razor blades, or something equally sharp. You probably weren't too close to the bomb when it went off, since there are no burn scars, but the shrapnel still reached you."

Laughing quietly under his breath, Gabe buried his face against my stomach.

"I shouldn't be surprised," he said against my skin. "You are good at what you do." He looked up at me again with a complicated expression. "My last mission with the Army Rangers, an IED went off and nearly took my arm with it. If I'd been any closer, I would have lost the limb, and it took several years of physical therapy to get a full range of movement again. Ended my active military career."

He fell silent for a moment, and I could see him weighing different words in his mind. His gaze darted side to side, like he was reading the sentences as he considered them before speaking.

I would have been satisfied with that answer, but I left it up to him if he wanted to tell me anymore.

Eventually, after several minutes of silent debate, he found his voice again.

"I should have seen the IED before it went off. Looking back on it now, it was obvious, but I was distracted."

"Distracted?" One disbelieving eyebrow journeyed to the top of my forehead. "Since when are you ever distracted?"

"I was distracted that day. I'd just gotten a message… I told you about how my sister died, right? Well, that was the day I was told about her death. I shouldn't have been out in the field after getting that kind of news, but we were in enemy territory. We couldn't just turn around and go home, even if we wanted to. I thought I could hold it together, but I wasn't paying as much attention to my surroundings as I should have been. This is the result."

I left his scars behind to wrap my arms around him instead. "I'm sorry. To hear that kind of news about your sister, and then immediately get injured, it must have been horrible."

He slipped his hands under me so he could wrap them around my waist. "It was. I won't say it wasn't. For years, I hated the sight of the scars, but now, they're a reminder."

"A reminder of your sister?"

Gabe shook his head and let his chin rest on my stomach as he looked up at me. "A reminder to hold on tight to the things I care about."

Moisture gathered in my eyes, and a knot in my throat kept me from speaking, but I didn't need to. All I needed was to hold him close as his arms wrapped tighter around me and bask in the feeling of safety that he brought.

We lay there for several hours until Newt knocked on our door to announce that dinner was ready. There was a lot to do. My stomach was growling, Sebastian would need another round of physical therapy before the end of the day, and we still had preparations to make in order to investigate the upcoming charity event.

However, I used that moment to hold Gabe close just a little longer, clutching each other tightly until our fingers left identical bruises behind.