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I was extremely comfortable, and excited even, about the ride

Until I wasn’t

The dull throb of my shoulder started to make itself known about ten minutes into our ride, and by the ti so heavily into hi him nervous

That knowledge was confirmed about five minutes later as he pulled into his place, which was beautiful ht er Not without a whole lot of help, anyway

CHAPTER 8

Roses are red, violets are blue, it don’t always be like that, but sometimes it do

-Laric to Catori

LARIC

She went froreat’ to ‘bad’ in the span of our roundabout trip to my cabin

I picked up her prescriptions, I swung into Salsaritas, got her a burrito, me two, and then ere headed home in no time

I noticed her start to lean a little harder into my back about ten minutes into the ride home

That lean went into a visible plaster of her against my back in the next ten

And by the tis, not for the burritos, or her bag, but the bottle of otten from the store

Pulling out a flask that I kept in there, I opened her pill bottle and sloalked the bike into the space beside my place

When I turned the bike off, I was already ready for her to down the pain pill

“Here,” I said as I got off the bike and handed it to her all in one smooth movement

When she blinked at me, I saw the pain

“Good stuff wore off,” I guessed

She grimaced and nodded “They said it would I hoped it wouldn’t”

I gave her the pill, but she dropped it just as quickly as she took it

I bent down, blew it off, then tilted up her head with a knuckle underneath her chin, and pressed down on her lower lip with my thumb “Open”

She did, and I had to fight the urge to growl as I dropped the pill onto her tongue, then unscrewed the flask before pressing it to her lips