I lie there in pained silence while she keeps going, her thumbs digging into muscle that feels like it’s just one big bruise.
“I’m sorry you can’t have kids,” she murmurs quietly after a while.
I bark a laugh, half-real, half-reflexive-pain-response. “Oh, that’s the least of my problems.”
“You don’t want kids?”
“Nope. Never wanted them. Can’t see children in my future.”
Not that I have a future anyway,I think but don’t say.
Piper presses her palm down into the joint of my hip and grinds into it, and a raw, involuntary curse claws its way out of my throat.
She winces. “Sorry, tight as hell there.”
“No shit,” I grit out, my jaw clenched so hard it aches. “What about you? Do you want kids?”
“Sure, with the right man.”
“The right man like… my brother?”
Her cheeks pinken. “I really said that, didn’t I?”
I smirk. “You so did.”
“Did he… say anything?”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “But he’s still sick as fuck, so maybe you’re lucky, and he thinks it was a fever dream.”
“You’re only saying that to make me feel better.”
“Yep.”
She groans. “He’ssogoing to remember it, isn’t he?”
“Absolutely.”
“Fuck.”
“Hey.” I rest back on my elbows as Piper digs into another knot. “I mean, shoot your shot. He’s single, he’s a nice guy. And honestly, girl, you’re pretty cool yourself.”
I don’t say the rest aloud. That I’d be glad,relievedto know somebody is there for him when I’m not anymore.
She exhales through her nose. “I’ll think about it. But maybe not. Maybe we just go our separate ways from now on.”
“Not gonna happen.” I raise an eyebrow. “I need you, and I need him. So, you’re kinda stuck.”
“Stuck with the hot-as-fuck Dane Crews,” she muses. “Yeah, there are worse fates.”
“Ew,” I mutter. “He’s still my brother.”
“Sorry.” She lifts her hands in mock surrender. “Anyway, there’s nothing I could reallyfind. I mean, aside from theobvious, your muscles are all in tension, rock hard around the hips. But for the new pain, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it’s period stuff.”
“It hurts like a motherfucker though.”
“Yeah, it does. Want painkillers?”
“Already on them. Thanks.”
