She flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “Too pretty, huh? Yeah, I could see how you’d be intimidated.” Then she ruffled his shaggy hair. “Get a haircut while you’re out, Phantom.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good. I want to see that gorgeous face.” She winked at him, then sashayed down the sidewalk, waving over her shoulder.
I stood there, watching her go in disbelief. Julien wasn’t as stunned. He pushed himself up on his crutches and swung into the passenger seat of my truck. His low groan as he tried to get his legs in snapped me to attention. I moved the seat back as far as it would go and helped him get situated—a thing he hated but silently accepted.
It was hard to be pissed for Julien when he didn’t seem to give a shit about the way he’d just been treated. Maybe that was why I was pissed. The guy was so beat down, he didn’t even care about being mocked and talked down to.
I squeezed the steering wheel until it squeaked under my palms. Julien turned, and in my periphery, raised an eyebrow.
“You good?” he asked.
“Yeah. You?”
He scoffed. “Better than ever. Obviously.”
Like I’d done twice a week all summer, I parked in front of the physical rehabilitation facility, helped Julien into his chair, and told him I’d see him in an hour. Then I pulled into a spot and waited.
It was supposed to be just Theo and me in the house. But our place had a first-floor bedroom, and the house Julien had been living in prior to his accident had too many stairs, so I built a ramp leading up to the porch, and he became our third roommate. He kept to himself. I got the feeling he was in a good amount of pain, but he didn’t like people fussing over him. I wasn’t one to fuss anyway.
So, I drove him because I had the time and he was in need. We did it in silence. He always came out of his physical therapy sessions looking like death warmed over. I never asked how it went. He never offered.
Today, he was shaking, his face red, T-shirt stuck to the sweat on his body. All I could fucking think about was the shit El gave him. Shit he didn’t need or deserve.
I didn’t get that girl. Didn’t know that I wanted to get her. Not when she could be so casually cruel. She reminded me of girls I knew growing up. Girls I never wanted to see again. I’d dismissed her the first time I saw her. Put her in that vapid, rich, pampered category and erased her from my mind. Except she kept showing up when I was around, and sometimes, the things she said gave me whiplash. Things that made her seem human, and maybe even kind.
“You wanna stop anywhere before we go back home?” I asked.
He grunted. “You have better things to do than chauffeur me around.”
“I really don’t.”
I did. My hours working campus maintenance were close to full time, and I still had responsibilities for the family business I completed remotely. I had a pile of shit to do back home, but I’d gladly ignore it if it meant Julien went somewhere outside of home and rehab.
Silence followed. Always silence. I didn’t mind that, except I could practically hear him screaming on the inside.
“Think we could grab something to eat?” he asked as we drove down Main Street.
“Hell yes. Something in Savage River, or you want to drive?”
He turned his head, eyeing me. “You good with driving for a while?”
“I am.”
His head fell back on the rest. “Let’s drive then.”
We ended up at a dive on the beach, one I’d discovered freshman year on an aimless drive. I got the sense Julien didn’t like being seen in his chair, but he’d had another surgery last month, and his leg couldn’t take any weight at all right now. Plus, his shoulder was jacked, so his crutches weren’t easy for him to manipulate. Luckily, the deck was basically empty, and it had a ramp, so we were golden.
We ate our sandwiches to the soundtrack of the waves beating into the sand.
“Are you ready for classes next week?” I asked, wiping my mouth with my napkin.
“Not really.” He put down his sandwich, looked out at the waves. “You?”
“Mmmhmm. That's why I’m here.”
His head cocked in my direction. “Not for the parties and the girls?”