Boldly by Elise Faber

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Oliver

He’d donehis best to work but knew he hadn’t made much progress.

Even though Kailey had sent him a beta version of the program he’d asked her to create for tracking player development. Even though it looked awesome, and he wanted to dive deep into it. He couldn’t concentrate when he tried to.

Because he was sitting on a chair he’d carried into the hall, staring into the darkened room while Hazel slept.

As she’d been sleeping all day.

In the hall because he knew light was a trigger, and he didn’t want to add to her pain with the glare from his laptop screen.

He’d called Marcel, let him know about Hazel’s headache, and he’d been periodically checking in on her all day as she slept, making sure she was sleeping—she was—and that she wasn’t in pain—the lines creasing her face even as she slept told him enough about her pain level, even unconscious, that he was ready to punch a hole in the wall.

But that would make noise. Another trigger.

And he wasn’t going to do anything else to hurt her.

Now the sun had gone down, he still hadn’t turned on lights, and he was considering making another quiet trek to her side just to ensure that she was still breathing.

Nearly twelve hours she’d been out.

Part of him was glad of that. He knew his fair share about pain, both from the normal wear and tear on his body that came from being a professional athlete before he’d lost his leg, and in the time afterward with all the surgeries, the rehab, the phantom pain.

Her sleeping through this was a gift.

On that thought, he saw her body shift, the sheets sliding over her legs as she rolled. He shut the laptop and quietly made his way to her, studying her face, seeing the towel had slipped and her eyes were open.

“Babe?” he whispered.

“I’m okay,” she whispered back.

He took in the tired eyes, the skin that appeared pale with only a sliver of moonlight illuminating the space through the narrow strip of curtains he’d opened once the sun had gone down. But the grooves lining her mouth, digging into her forehead, creasing the skin next to her eyes were gone. “Need more meds?” he asked almost silently.

“No,” she said, starting to sit up. Her voice approaching normal. “I’m really okay. It’s gone. I just…need to eat something, stay away from screens, go back to sleep, and I’ll be good.”

“Okay. I’ll make you something to eat. Any requests?”

“Cereal?” she asked. “I—it always makes me feel better,” she added when his brows rose.

“Got it.”

She moved to adjust the pillows behind her, but he reached in and helped her. Then tugged the covers up for good measure. Then went back into the bathroom and wet the towel for an additional good measure. Then placed it on her head. Then tucked in the covers a little tighter. Then—

“Honey,” she said, her voice a little rough, though her fingers were gentle on his arm. “I’m really okay.”

He nodded.

“And I’m sorry I ruined your day. I—I should have known better than to try to keep working when I felt it come on, but then I didn’t realize the fan was whirring on my computer, and I shouldn’t have had those last drinks with Luc and Lexi, and…” She swallowed. “I’m just really sorry I inconvenienced you.”

Fuck.

One, he needed to sort out that fan.

Two, he needed to understand why she thought that she was inconveniencing him because she got a headache. Even if it was because she’d had too many drinks—which wasn’t too many from his experience with her. They had drank that and more many times without issue. If anything, it was his fault because his fix for the fan didn’t stick, and that he’d let her work when he knew she was tired.

Yes, he knew letting her do anything sounded douchey, but also, he’d known she was tired, so he could have found a way to “encourage” her into bed.

Barring that, he could have stayed up with her.

Upon which, he would have noticed the fan, or at least noticed that she wasn’t feeling well.

So, this was on him, too.

And her being sick wasn’t an inconvenience. God knew she’d gone out of her way for him many times, too. They mostly stayed here because everything that made it easier for him to get around was here. But she’d also bought an extra pair of crutches and a seat for her shower for her place. Without a word, without commenting.

He’d just gone over one evening and it was there.

Along with his brand of coffee in the cupboards, extra apples and oatmeal, since that was his preferred breakfast of choice.

He’d done the same here—and was why he now had a box of Lucky Charms in his pantry when he hadn’t eaten them since he was fifteen, why she had makeup at his place, clothes in his closet, a blow dryer beneath his sink, and a towel thing she wrapped around her head to properly dry her curls.

That was just part of being in a relationship.

Taking care of each other.

So why she had to apologize for getting a headache made him wonder, made him make a mental note to discuss it with her. Because if her ex was an asshole who made her feel bad for getting sick, Oliver was going to make damned sure she knew that he would never be inconvenienced by her in that way.

She saw him as more than a man who’d lost his leg.

So, she needed to understand that she was more than a fucking headache.

But she had just slept twelve hours after that headache had knocked her on her ass, her eyes were tired, her skin pale. She needed rest and food, not an emotionally heavy conversation.

“You’re not an inconvenience,” he told her, patting her leg and standing, knowing from the short conversation he’d had with her mother, the ones he’d overheard in the weeks since, that it wasn’t her parents making her feel like an inconvenience.

Which meant he had a solid idea of precisely who’d done that.

And his name was Trevor.

The fucking ex.

The one who hadn’t given her romance or candles or music, who’d left her after a bachelor party because he wanted variety.

Oliver repeated, the fucking ex.

“Baby?” Concern in those pretty brown eyes.

He bent and kissed her forehead. “Not an inconvenience when you love someone, babe.”

And then he walked from the room to get her some cereal.

Because she wanted it, and it was within his power to give it.

Simple as that.