Page 23 of Falling Stars (Wild at Heart #2)

MAVERICK

Searing pain runs down my arm, and I jerk awake. “Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” Baylee’s sleepy voice calls out from the other side of the bed.

“Sorry I woke you.” I groan and rub my shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”

It’s dark out, and she has to get up in a few hours. She was just up a little while ago feeding Leo. I try to roll over, but my whole shoulder pulses with pain. This is what I get for not icing it.

Baylee rises up over me. “What hurts?” Her hair is a wild tangle over her shoulders.

“Everything. From my neck down my back and arm. I’m okay. I just… I just need a minute.”

“We never tried that CBD. Let me go grab it. I looked it up, and it’s THC-free, so you won’t flag a drug test.”

“I’m open to anything at this point. Over-the-counter painkillers don’t usually put a dent in this, and I don’t want to rely on the stronger stuff.”

She hops off the bed and returns to my side with a small bottle in her hand. “Can you sit up and take off your shirt? Otherwise, we’re going to get oil everywhere.”

It takes everything in me to get upright, and then I can’t really lift my right arm. “Who am I kidding? There’s no way I’m playing football if I can’t catch the damn ball.”

“Here, let me help.” She has to undress me like I’m a fucking child. Her eyes meet mine. “Maybe I should get some ice? It’ll help the inflammation.”

This is why I dragged my sad ass back to Wild Heart. Because I felt helpless in New York with roommates who were never home in a city where I didn’t know anyone.

My throat closes as I stare at my best friend, who’s barely slept all night.

Yet here she is, running around, doing shit to help me.

I don’t know what I did to deserve this woman in my life, but I never want to lose her.

“Thanks, Bay. If you don’t mind.” It’s been torture sleeping so close to her but not being able to touch her.

My penance for being a dickhead, I suppose.

She returns a minute later with the plastic bag the Thai food came in, filled with ice cubes. “Where are your ice wraps?”

“In my freezer in New York.” She raises a judgmental brow, and I chuckle, then groan because the movement hurts. “I promise I’ll take better care of myself, Doctor.”

“Where does it hurt?” she asks, her voice husky and low.

I almost let out another groan because everything about Baylee turns me on these days, even now when I’m in pain, but I somehow manage to rein that in and focus. “My whole right side, but I’m guessing it’s from pinched nerves in my neck.”

She wraps the ice pack with my t-shirt. “Sorry, but you don’t have any kitchen towels. Here.” She gingerly places it on my neck. “Can you hold it?”

Not with my right arm, so I try with my left. “I won’t be able to do this for very long. Let me lie down and turn on my side. Can you brace the ice with a pillow?”

“Sure. ”

She helps me recline and roll over and then tucks it to the back of my neck, using a throw pillow to keep it in place.

Coming around the other side of the bed, she slides under the covers.

Facing me, she scoots closer and tucks her arm under her head.

“Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll rub in some CBD. ”

“Go to sleep. I can rub some in later.”

“Mav, you could barely reach up to hold the ice. Don’t be stubborn.”

I smile at my equally stubborn friend. “I’m going to remind you of this the next time you won’t let me help you.”

She snickers. “Being difficult is part of my charm.”

I stare at her beautiful face. At her pouty lips I’m dying to kiss. “It’s nice to know you don’t kick anymore.”

Her nose wrinkles. “What do you mean?”

“Remember our slumber parties when we were little? I used to swear you were part donkey because you kicked in your sleep. Even when we were each wrapped in our sleeping bags, you’ve always been a kicker.”

She snorts. “Amara and I used to share a bed, and she was always hogging it. I guess I started kicking as a defense mechanism so she’d stay off my side.”

“And look at you now. All up in my space.”

“It’s so we can talk without waking Leo, doofus.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that.”

“I can’t even smack you right now for fear of hurting you.” Shaking her head, she smiles. “It’s not fair.”

“I won’t always be laid up in bed. You’ll get your fun.”

A pulse of heat passes between us, and I’m glad she threw the comforter over me so she can’t see the boner I’m sporting.

We shoot the shit about nothing for the next twenty minutes, just catching up in the dark.

She sighs. “Remember when my parents divorced? You let me drag you through the fields of wildflowers every weekend like we were two little vagabonds. You were the only person who could get me to smile back then.”

“I remember.” Baylee was distraught when she found her mom crying one day because her father had cheated on her.

She draws circles on her pillow. “And those times we’d hide out in your barn and try to come up with the scariest stories?”

“I’d have to hold your hand the whole way home because my horror stories freaked you out.”

She sniffs. “I wasn’t scared.”

“Chicken. Cluck, cluck.”

“Shut up.”

Smiling, we stare at each other. I motion to my shoulder. “I think I’m ready for that CBD.”

She takes my ice, dumps it in the kitchen, and grabs that small bottle. “How do you want to do this? Sitting up? Or can you roll onto your stomach now?”

“Maybe lying down. Is that okay?” Now that my neck doesn’t hurt so bad, I can roll more easily.

“Sure.” She hops on the bed and crawls up to my side. “Will it hurt if I rub your neck?”

“It shouldn’t, but just be gentle.”

“So I shouldn’t throw you around?” she teases.

I laugh into my pillow. “Sorry, you’re gonna have to hold off on that for a bit.” I press my suddenly aching dick into the mattress. Thanks to my injury, I went almost three months without an erection, and now every other sentence out of Baylee’s mouth has me sporting wood.

“This is a hundred milligram strength, but this company makes stronger stuff too, so if it doesn’t work, we can try a higher potency.” Her oiled hands smooth over my neck and shoulders, and I groan. “Does that hurt?”

“No, feels good.” Maybe too good. As she massages the CBD into my skin, I think about the crackhead in New York who tried to mug me, so I don’t come in my pants. Finally, I start to relax. “It’s working. That and the ice really help.”

She puts the bottle away and tucks herself next to me again. “I’m so glad. Let me know if you need more.” Bay yawns, and I feel bad that she’s been up half the night catering to me.

“I’m good, sweetheart. Go to sleep. Thank you. I really appreciate everything you’ve done.”

Bay gives me a sleepy grin and closes her eyes. I stare at her beautiful face, wishing I could pull her into my arms.

One thing is sure. There’s no way in hell I’m leaving Wild Heart again without her.