Chapter 46

It was a long ride up to Bryn’s floor and a slow walk to his door. Once they were inside with the locks reengaged, Bryn hobbled to a chair and perched on the arm. Ellis walked around like he’d been coming over for months. He dropped the bag in the entryway, put the pill bottles on the kitchen counter, turned on some lights, and leaned Bryn’s crutches nearby. He looked Bryn up and down. “Shower?”

“Bath.”

Ellis’s face transformed with concern. “The heat won’t do good things for that knee.”

“I can’t even tell you how little I care.”

“But—”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Bryn groaned with less venom than intended. “Are you always like this? So goddamned eager to obey the rules?”

Ellis, ever surprisingly, merely shrugged. “Yeah. Pretty much.”

“No wonder you’re fucking single,” Bryn snarled and immediately regretted it.

Instead of storming off or yelling, Ellis gave Bryn a wry smile. “Well, the guy I want to be my boyfriend’s kind of a prick, so there’s that.”