He sighed. “That much is obvious. Another question. Was this Red Thorn related? Or random?”
Max snickered. “Is it ever random, in our lives?”
I furrowed my brow. “What does that mean? You think someone intentionally did this to you? Why? What possible reason could they have?”
Max wrapped his hand around my leg. “Support, gorgeous. Keep it that way.”
I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw to keep myself from flying off the handle. I hated it when people told me my place. Especially when I wanted to help. My parents did that to me a lot. Shooed me away whenever things were getting too rough. Or too heated. Or too angry for me to supposedly witness. They treated me like I was weak. Like I was some porcelain China doll. Like I was some bumbling baby deer just birthed…
Bambi.
Did everyone around me see me as weak?
“You got anything to go on?” John asked.
Max coughed. “No. But Dani’s right about one thing. This pain is getting to be a bit too much. You got something here I can take? Or are we really gonna have to ring up that damn doctor?”
My eyes flew open. “Yes. Doctor. Now.”
John shook his head. “I’ve got something you can have for the pain. And since you don’t need stitches, I can clean you up. The rest is just, well, rest. Sleep. Food, until your body heals itself. Except for this tooth shit. You’ll have to find a dentist or something for that.”
Max sighed. “Great.”
John shrugged. “At least you didn’t lose your front tooth.”
Were these guys being serious right now?
“Dani, got a job for you. Gotta get out from behind Max.”
John’s voice pulled me from my trance. “But you said--”
He nodded. “Uh huh. And now I’m telling you different. I need you to go into the bathroom. Right there in the hallway. Underneath the bathroom sink is a big first aid kit. Grab it, go into the kitchen, grab the red bottle off the top of the fridge, and bring it all back to me. I need to get Max out of his clothes and look him over.”
Max chuckled. “Don’t worry, gorgeous. I’ll let you have a look before he patches me up.”
I snickered. “Last thing on my list right now, Max.”
John started chuckling as I gingerly moved myself. As I slipped off the couch, John’s chuckling grew to laughter. Which grew to guffawing. And as I made my way into the bathroom, I heard him practically fall out of his chair. Max’s voice mumbled, but I didn’t know what he said. All I knew was that once I gathered everything up and came back, John was wiping tears away from his eyes.
“Someone want to fill me in on what he’s laughing about?” I asked.
Max rolled his eyes. “Another time.”
John held up his hand. “Holy shit. Oh, man. That--I needed that on camera.”
I paused. “Needed what?”
His finger pointed between Max and me. “You rejecting him. Holy shit. I’ve never--never, ever seen a girl just--HAH!”
I blinked. “Can we fix him up now so he doesn’t die on your couch?”
Max grunted. “I’m not dying.”
I dumped the stuff on the floor at John’s feet. “We’ll see come morning, I guess.”
John immediately stopped laughing and glared at me. I didn’t know what the hell was so funny, but it seemed like I was the only one taking this issue seriously. And I wouldn't have these idiots botch things because they were laughing while Max could hardly move!
“What next?” I asked.