Faith and Fidelity by Tere Michaels

Author:Tere Michaels [Michaels, Tere]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * * *

In the hospital room, now in this moment, he blinked his eyes clear and glanced at the doorway. Matt stood there, a shopping bag in one hand and the world's ugliest fern in the other.

“Hey,” Matt said, brightening when he saw Evan was awake.

Evan smiled, confused for a moment that it wasn't Sherri standing there— but she would have known where his gym bag was and used that instead of the Macy's bag that Matt had dug out of the pantry closet.

“Hi.” His voice sounded a little worse. Too much use from the morning.

Matt's grin nearly split his face. “You sound as bad as you look.” He dropped the bag on the floor, put the fern on the tray next to the bed.

“Bad?”

“Like shit.” Matt came to stand right next to the bed. His hands tightened on the railing and for a second Evan was distracted by his hands. Men's hands, strong and dark, with swirls of hair and calluses and scars. He remembered what those hands had done to him.

“Hey. You okay? You want me to come back later?”

Back in the moment, Evan looked up and shook his head. “Stay.”

Matt nodded happily. He leaned down after hesitating for the smallest second and pressed a kiss against Evan's mouth. It made him shiver. His lips were so dry they hurt, but the kiss made the ache worth it.

“You want some water?” Matt was asking. His hand had some how found Evan's, and he was stroking his wrist.

“Huh?” Water. Yeah. Evan nodded. He felt so foggy. So fucking tired he could sleep forever.

Matt released Evan's hand and poured him a cup of water from the pitcher on the tray. There was a straw— thank God— because Evan was sure he was never going to be able to lift his head.

But Matt helped with that too, one strong hand under his neck, one holding the straw steady against his lips. He took a small drag on the straw, the effort pulling at the stitches in his chest, but it was worth it. His mouth felt so much better.

Gently, Matt laid him back down on the pillow, put the glass on the tray.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Anything else?

“The kids... ”

Evan watched a weird cloud pass over Matt's face, a split second of time. He thought he might have imagined it.

“Your in-laws showed up and took them home. I called this morning before I came here. They're okay. I think they're going to be here tonight.”

“Think?”

Matt looked uncomfortable. “Couldn't get a firm answer.”

Evan didn't like the sound of that one bit. He understood the kids were upset— they had every reason to be— but that just meant they should be with him as much as possible.

“I'll call... myself... later.” Evan spit out, his voice tight.

“Mr. Tough Guy.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Where did you stay last night?”

“The house. Kathleen gave me her spare key when I brought them here to the hospital.”

“Thanks again, for that.”

“No big deal. Shit— I was just working, you know. Making a living.”

Evan chuckled, the action causing more tightness in his chest.

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