Tessa Teevan - Incinerate

“Like I said, nothing I’ve never seen before,” I tell him, shrugging with indifference when really I want to strip down and join him.

“Mmmhmm. I saw you checking me out, sweetheart. You don’t have to deny it.”

I’m not admitting shit to him, so I cross my arms and lean against the wall, my eyes not leaving his. As much as I’d like another peek, I’m not letting him win this round.

“What the hell do you want, Knox?” As much fun as it might be to flirt with him, I know better than to go there. For all I know, next time I stop by he’ll be a grump again, and after Drew, I have no desire to be with someone with mood swings.

“I’m out of soap. Can you grab me a bottle from under the sink, please?” he asks, looking innocent. I look around the shower to see if he’s just pulling a fast one on me, but I only see an empty bottle.

“Oh, wow. He does have manners,” I say to myself as I go to get him a new bottle. When I hand it to him, our hands touch and his fingers linger on my skin.

“Thank you, Charlie,” he tells me. “For everything. I know this probably sucks as much for you as it does for me. Well, let’s not go that far. It really sucks more for me, but still, I appreciate you doing this.”

I wave him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s what I signed up for.” I pause, looking around the bathroom. “Well, maybe not exactly what I signed up for, but I’m here to help and that’s what I’ll do. In a few weeks, your brother will be back and I’ll be out of your hair.”

With that, he takes the bottle out of my hand and gives me one last look, a strange shadow crossing over his face. “Yeah, right. Just doing your job. Got it.” And with that, he shuts the glass door in my face, leaving me, once again, baffled at how hot and cold he’s turning out to be.

Knox

“COME ON, Knox. You need to get out of this house,” Jace tells me, Lexi nodding as she sits next to him on my couch.

Apparently it’s her weekend to visit, and instead of spending it alone with each other, they’ve ambushed me, wanting to go out. It doesn’t help that they’ve recruited Kale Montgomery, another one of the guys who was in the explosion with us. He got away with mostly cuts, bruises, and a few burns since he was far enough away, and his ass has been hovering over me every chance he has. I figure this is Jace’s doing since Kale only lives a few doors down. He’s probably been given the watch dog title, and I’m thankful that he works swing shift and hasn’t been able to bug me too much.

“I’m still supposed to wear my brace, guys, and I’m not going out to a club with that thing on,” I tell them, hoping they’ll drop the subject.

Jace scoffs at me. “Dude, you took it off when we went out last week. And Charlie told me the doc said you’d probably be out of it in two weeks. She also said you haven’t left the house this week except to go to your follow-up at the hospital. Man, that’s not healthy. You’re going to get cabin fever and really freak out.”

What the fuck? “When the hell did you talk to Charlie?” I ask, because I know they haven’t crossed paths at my place.

Jace and Lexi exchange glances before he answers me. “I’m thinking of putting my G.I. Bill to use and finishing my degree. I was surprised to see her when I showed up at the VA office at Austin Peay, but apparently she’s the liaison there. We got to talking and she may have mentioned you might be bummed about still being in your brace and that I should try to get you out of the house.”

Knowing that they talked about me, I want to ask more questions about him seeing her, but I don’t want to seem disinterested in his pursuing his goals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy for Jace if he wants to finish his degree. There’s no reason to let the free education benefits go to waste. But I don’t care about that part right now.

“What do you mean she may have mentioned that? How in the hell would she know if I need to get out or not? She doesn’t even know me.”

Jace just shakes his head at me. “Despite what you might think, you’re not that hard to read, Knox. And I think Charlie’s more perceptive than you’re giving her credit for.”

“What’s the big deal? I think it’s actually kind of sweet that she’s looking out for you. She could’ve not said anything and just let you continue to mope around here all by yourself. Instead, you get to hang out with us. Consider yourself lucky. We’re pretty damn good company,” Lexi chimes in before turning to give Jace a kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah, well, if you’re going to be doing that all night, you can count me out,” I tell her, and she just grins at me. I can’t help but smile back. She’s grown on me the past few times she’s visited since I woke up in the hospital. Although I give them crap about their PDA, she isn’t an annoying, clingy, over-the-top girlfriend. She’s actually pretty chill and down to earth, and the fact that she loves sports means she’s even cooler in my book.

“Aren’t the Reds playing on national television tonight? Let’s just go to a sports bar or something.”

Lexi grins, and I know I have her. Jace once told me that she can never say no to the Cincinnati Reds, and I’m not above using her obsession to my advantage. She looks at Jace and he groans, shaking his head. “Of course my girl would want to go eat wings and drink beer rather than go out dancing. Hey, fine by me. It’s not like I can dance anyway, but I was hoping for a little bump-n-grind action. I may not be able to use my leg, but I can still shake my hips.” He gives a little demonstration in the chair, causing Lexi to giggle.

Kale looks at me in horror. “He did not just do that, did he? Can I un-see these things?”

Laughing, I just shake my head. “I’d like to tell you that you get used to them, but that’d be a lie. You just have to learn to tolerate it. Fine. I’m okay with a sports bar, but if I have to watch Jace give a lap dance, I’m putting my tab on his. Give me thirty minutes so I can get cleaned up and then we can go.”

Jace’s forehead wrinkles. “Thirty minutes? Dude, it barely takes Alexa that long to get ready, and her hair’s a lot longer than yours.”

I look down at my brace, my broken arm, and then back him. “Yeah, dude, unless your girl there wants to help wash my back in the shower, it’s going to take me a while. If she agrees, I might be able to speed things up a little.” I cock my eyebrow up at her suggestively, and I see her laugh.

“That’d cost you, Knox, and you already made it clear to me once before how you feel about paying women for their services.” Lexi winks at me, and remembering that night, I know I’ll never live it down.

Grinning, I look at Jace, and he’s just laughing at her. That’s one thing I love about these two together, not that you’ll get me to admit it to Jace. If the roles were reversed, I’d be ready to kick his ass just for joking about getting my girl naked, but there’s something so secure about their relationship that they can just joke about it. And in this moment, I realize I want that. Maybe not right now, but eventually, in the future. I thought I had it once with Megan, but when I really reflect on it, our relationship was nothing true or easy like theirs seems to be, especially after everything they’ve been through. Ours was high school love, if you can call it that. And somehow, for the first time in ten years, I actually find myself wanting more. And maybe once I’m fully healed, I’ll finally start looking for it.

“Okay, okay. I’m sure I can’t afford you or the hospital bills I’d get after Jace kicks my ass for using your ‘services.’ But if you can do one thing for me, that’d be great.”

His eyes narrow, and I want to laugh as the look on his face changes, but Lexi responds before I can say a word. “Sure, Knox. As long as it doesn’t involve anything pervy, I’m in.”

“Nothing pervy for you, I promise. I just need help getting this brace off, and I don’t keep like having either of these guys that close to me.” Kale flips me off and Lexi just laughs and complies, removing my brace and handing it to me.

Chuckling, I make my way back towards my room to get ready, thinking that maybe a night out with good friends is definitely what I need.

AFTER ABOUT an hour, we finally pull up to the sports bar. I made sure that I took more than thirty minutes to get ready, but it wasn’t just to spite Jace. I won’t admit this to Charlie, but if I take my time, I can push my shorts down just enough so I can slide them down my legs. It’s getting them back on that’s a bitch. I didn’t want to have to ask anyone here to help me put on jeans, so I pulled a pair of khaki cargo shorts out of my dresser and sat down on the bed. I hooked my feet in the top of the shorts, used a hanger to grab the belt loop, and pulled them up. It was kind of a bitch, but I was more than happy that I’d just gained back a little self-sufficiency. Not to mention I was proud of my MacGyver-like skills. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that impressive, but at least I didn’t have to have Jace dress me. Well, he did have to help me with the dark colored t-shirt I’m wearing, but I couldn’t help that. He’d refused to let Lexi help me, but she did enjoy the show.

Reaching into the glove box, Jace pulls out a box and throws it back to me. I catch it, looking at him questioningly.

“Chief asked me to give those to you next time I saw you. He also said to pass along a message.” He pauses, checking the rearview mirror to see if I’m listening.

Opening the box, I see a brand new set of dog tags, shiny, silver, and most importantly, not banged up and covered with my dried blood from an explosion like the last set. “Thanks, man,” I tell him as I slip them over my head, finally feeling a little bit like a soldier again. “What’s the message?”