“Bullshit, Kitten. There are a couple things better than sex, but a goddamn cookie ain’t one.” Neil actually sounded affronted.
He was inclined to agree, but then again… “I would put nothing past Alain. If he says that cookie is better than sex, it might very well be. He did make it with those amazing hands, didn’t he?”
“Nope. Not true. It might be better than sex with strangers, but sex with y’all? That’s in my top three.”
He was right. Nothing was going to top the way they connected. “Top three? What are the other two?”
Neil glanced at him, and his boy actually smiled. “Sleeping together and having scenes together.”
He returned the smile, nodding slowly in total agreement. “You make my heart full, boy. You focus on those important, necessary things, and you’ll breeze through all of this.”
“I’m not very breezy, Guapo.”
“Oh, I heard you fart, Chou. You breeze.” Alain managed to keep a perfectly straight face, somehow.
He let his eyes go wide. “Neil doesn’t fart. Surely.” Alain was going to make sure the two of them didn’t sink too deep into their thoughts, wasn’t he?
“Oh, he can be a bag of poots, and we all know it.” Alain settled on the windowsill. “You ’member that night when the blankets and sheets flew off the bed like they was spooks?”
Neil’s eyes went wide. “That was you! I threw them off because you were trying to kill us all by keeping it under the covers!”
“Nice try, Smokey. You blamed it on him then too, and we set you right.” They’d sent him off to open a damn window.
The laughter started soft, but it didn’t take long before they were howling with it, all three of them, just rolling.
Mitch came in somewhere in the middle of it all, shaking his head. The man was bigger than all three of them and towered over Neil in his wheelchair. “I can hear you nutjobs all the way down the damn hall. Who said you were allowed to have fun in the hospital?”
“It’s my secret plan to be thrown out. Constant, irritating laughter.” Butter wouldn’t melt in Neil’s mouth.
Mitch crossed his arms not even cracking a smile. “Well you tried ornery as fuck, and that didn’t work out great for you, so I’m not surprised.”
“I’m ready to be out of here. I need to be home.” Neil was determined.
“I know.” One big hand landed on Neil’s bare shoulder. “We’re going to make it happen as fast as we can.” Mitch gave Neil’s shoulder a pat. “First though, I’m here to get you settled in bed.”
Neil wrinkled his nose, even as Alain moved the table out of the way.
“I’ll get his good side, Mitch, you get the bad one. I’m pretty good at this by now.” Alain moved like a pro, muscling Neil into the bed.
“You sure are.” Mitch and Alain worked to get Neil settled and his boy managed not to do much more than wince. “All right. You good?”
Isaac stood and put an arm around Alain’s waist, holding him close to whisper in his ear. “Good boy.”
Alain leaned toward him with a smile. “I’m here to take care of my men.”
“You do it well.” He kissed Alain’s cheek. This is how they were going to get through this. Hard work, as much laughter as they could manage and making sure to take care of each other.
19
Alain parked Chou’s truck, his head pounding. They finally had Chou settled into rehab, but they wouldn’t let them spend the night.
Chou was pissed, and had thrown a goddamn hissy fit, and they’d asked Alain to leave. Isaac wasn’t back from his office yet, and he needed ten minutes just to cry.
Maybe fifteen.
He sat there in the cab, listening to music, head on the steering wheel as he let himself sob.
He thought he heard his phone chime, but he ignored it until it happened again, screen lighting up with a text message. He really wanted to be left alone for a minute but what if it was Master Isaac? What if it was Chou?