Chapter 72

Gabe stopped the machine instantly. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Jake nodded. He closed his eyes. “It’s fine. You can keep going.”

“Okay.” Gabe started the machine again. He still didn’t get how easy it seemed for Jake to handle the pain. He was pretty sure Jake wasn’t getting off on it, but sometimes Gabe didn’t even know if he was hurting Jake or not, and that reminded him too much of what Rob had told him to be comfortable. “I still think that after this I should leave your back alone until Saturday or Sunday. If I do too much too fast it’s not going to heal right, and I don’t want you to get an infection.”

“I’m fine,” Jake said, which Gabe already knew was pretty much his only response to anything about his body. “I don’t mind doing more before then.”

“Well, I do.” Gabe wiped some more blood from Jake’s back. “I wasn’t thrilled about doing more now, eh? Even if you feel fine, you’re still stressing your immune system. If you keep this up you’re going to get sick.”