“Doing it, huh? Aren’t you rushing?” I asked with a wink.
She rolled her eyes, but I couldn’t miss the flush in her cheeks.
Placing her hands on her hips, she asked, “Are we in high school, Malcolm?”
“No ma’am, we most certainly are not.”
She ignored me as she continued to talk. “Take your time walking, but the faster we build up the strength in your leg, the better.” She pointed to a bench that faced the water. “Let’s walk over there and then sit for a bit.”
The distance to the bench looked easy, but by the time we got there, my leg felt like a ten-pound bag of cement was attached to it.
I sat down and moaned under my breath.
“How’s it feel?”
“Like I just dragged a fuck ton of weight with my leg. It’s still feels numb up the side here.”
The way she was looking at me had me worried. “What? Why are you looking at me like I just lost my puppy or something?”
Her eyes lit up. “You have a puppy?”
With a frown, I replied, “No. I mean you’re giving me a fucking pity look. I don’t do those well, so if you could knock that shit off I’d appreciate it.”
She folded her arms and narrowed her left eye at me. “Listen, if we’re gonna make this work we need to get something straight right now. You’re going to be in pain and it’s not going to be fun, but if you’re going to be a complete derk when we do this, I won’t be sticking around. I don’t like being treated like that.”
“You mean jerk,” I responded.
“No. I mean derk. You’re being both a dick and jerk at the same time.”
My head flinched back slightly as I frowned. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s like double the assholeness.”
“That’s another made up word, Paislie. You can’t describe a made up word with another made up word.”
Her lips twitched as she held back her smile. “Who says so?”
With a blank look, I said, “Everyone!”
She rolled her eyes and sat down next to me. “I read through all your medical notes. I need to ask you something.”
My heart dropped as she stared at me with a concerned expression. “Okay. What?”
“Has anyone talked to you about the excessive amount of nerve damage you sustained and the possible lasting effects?”
“That explains the weird tingling sensation.”
“You’ll also have random pain as they heal.” She turned her body to face me. “I want to be one-hundred-percent honest with you, Malcolm. I don’t think anyone has up to this point and I’m not sure if it’s because they were trying to keep you positive or what the reasons are.”
I swallowed hard as my heart felt like it was about to pound out of my chest. “Jesus Christ, tell me, Paislie.”
“Don’t use God’s name in vain like that.”
She was stalling. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing. “Please, tell me.”
“You’re going to keep an open mind and not fly off the handle and say something mean?”
I sighed as I looked at her and was held captive by how beautiful her emerald eyes were. “Yes.”
She looked down and fiddled with her hands before looking back at me. “With as much nerve damage as you have, coupled with the knee damage, you could have lasting effects. Such as pain that radiates in your leg, numbness on the side where a good portion of the nerve damage was, or you might not regain full strength of your leg and will need a cane to walk.”
Bile moved into my throat as I stared at her. Not one fucking person had said anything to me like this. Not one damn word.
My hands shook and Paislie noticed right away. “Are you saying I might not ever be able to drive a racecar again?”
“I swear to you, Malcolm, I will do everything in my power to get you back to one hundred percent, but I need you to know we might not be able to get past ninety.
I locked my jaw down and clenched my teeth together as I balled my fists. The anger was moving through my body at warp speed and all I wanted to do was hit something.
Hard.
Paislie saw it immediately and her next response was not one I was expecting.
She stood and then sat down on me, straddling me as her warmth pressed against my dick.
“Malcolm,” she whispered as she pressed her lips to mine and the surge I felt the first time we kissed flowed through my body again. This time it was ten times stronger. My hands gripped onto her hips as I dug my fingers into them, trying to release the anger somewhere.
“Kiss me back, Malcolm. Kiss me!” she demanded against my lips. My hand came up to her neck as I pulled her closer. Our kiss turned rough as I sucked her lip into my mouth and bit down on it while she gasped.
The moment she rocked her hips against me, everything vanished and all I could think about was her . . . sitting on me, pressing her * against me and both of us getting worked up.
My grip on her lessened as she ran her tongue along my lips before pulling back and leaning her forehead to mine. Her chest heaved along with mine.