“You didn’t.”
“When was I supposed to do that? You saw this house and decided to discharge yourself from the health centre. You didn’t give me a chance to prepare. A notice is supposed to be sent out a month before you move in.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I handled the paperwork every time you moved.”
“And now? What happened? You always have everything under control.”
“I’m glad you noticed,” Lars said flippantly.
“I’m serious.”
Lars groaned in frustration. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m going through a lot right now. My fighter almost died and stayed in the health centre for a whole year. Excuse me if I don’t have my shit together. I’m trying to stay sane and keep you from hurting yourself. And you’re not the most cooperative patient. Dr Micha was happy to let you go because you were the worst patient ever. As soon as you could move you were a pain in the ass!”
Adew looked down at his feet. He felt like a dick for giving his manager a hard time. He hadn’t stopped to think how the whole thing was affecting Lars.
“Sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be sorry just…” the alpha shook his head and walked out the door. “I’ll send out the notice tomorrow. Make sure Calla doesn’t go out before the thirty-day period is over or we’ll be in trouble.”
Adew nodded. Though he didn’t know how he was going to keep Calla entertained for that long. Shit.
“Okay,” Adew said. “I’ll keep him inside.”
Lars hesitated at the door. Adew slammed the door in his face before he could say anything.
“You have an appointment tomorrow with the physical therapist, don’t forget,” Lars said. “Do you want me to take you there?”
“No,” Adew shouted.
“Selfish bastard,” Lars called before Adew heard his retreating steps.
Finally, Adew sighed as he slowly turned around to walk down the tiny hallway to the cooking station. He groaned as his body protested, even though he tried his best to move as slowly as possible.
“Fuck, my body is trying to kill me from the inside,” Adew sighed as he braced his elbows on the counter, taking most of his weight off his body. He took a couple of deep breaths and wiped the sweat off his face. It felt like he’d gone a round in the sphere and lost.
Well, he had lost the last time he was in there.
Adew rubbed an achy spot in the middle of his chest. He wasn’t hurt there, but his heart ached every time he thought of his fight with Djohn Moulekk. It had been epic. The best fight of his life. The sphere had been full to capacity, buzzing with energy from the crowd. And when the fight began, the crowd had gone crazy.
Adew felt the rush he’d felt then. He clenched his hands into fists, reliving the moment. The back of his neck tingled where Djohn had held him and applied pressure he’d never felt in his entire life. He should have tapped out then, but he’d wanted a title shot so badly he couldn’t give up. The whole planet believed Djohn Moulekk let his aggression get the better of him and almost killed him, but that wasn’t the case. Adew had tried to get out of his hold and almost decapitated himself in the process. It was the worst moment of his UA career. He should have known when to quit, but he couldn’t take knowing Djohn had beaten him.
He still couldn’t.
He had to find a way to get back into the sphere again. He wanted that title. Adew slammed his fist down on the counter. Pain stabbed the back of his neck, a reminder of what he could and couldn’t do.
Shit.
Calla came and nudged his thigh to get his attention, breaking him out of his morbid thoughts. The animal’s razor-sharp claws scraped the floor as he moved around him, bumping into him with every pass, challenging him.
Fuck. He wasn’t in the right condition to do this with him.
“What?” Adew asked, planting his legs to keep from falling. Calla stared up at him curiously, as if he could sense there was something wrong with him. He wasn’t reacting like he used to. They would normally be playfighting right about now, but he couldn’t do that. Adew clenched his jaw feeling bad.
“I’ll be fine soon, I promise,” he told the okie. Calla licked his hand with his black tongue and turned away, already interested in something else. He looked at the chilling compartment where Lars had packed his dinner earlier.
“You want your meat? You’re not going to comfort me even a little? I’m hurting here, man.” Adew playfully nudged his head and regretted it a second later as the animal caught his hip with his horn.