Page 4 of Hold Me Down (KRK Security #4)

The weight of the day was crashing on Dave pretty badly and the last thing he needed was to get schooled by his boss, but it didn't seem like he'd have any choice in the matter.

He knew he deserved it, anyway.

"How bad is it?" Kalei stepped into the room, stopping at the foot of the bed and clasping his hands behind his back.

Damn , Dave knew that pose.

They were in it, now.

"It's a clean break," he said after clearing his throat. "Two or three months to heal, then however long it takes to get back into shape. The doctor didn't want to give any estimates, but I'll try my hardest to make it as quick as possible, you have my word on that."

"Trying your hardest to make things as quick as possible is what landed you in this situation, so spare me, please." Kalei glanced between him and Travis. "I'd ask what the hell the two of you were thinking, but I can guess."

Ouch . "This was an—"

"I know I fucked up, and I'm sorry," Travis cut in, and Dave turned his head to see his partner staring at the floor. "We shouldn't have scaled that wall, or I should've stayed on his side to see it through. Even better, I should've been the one to do it."

"And maybe you'd be the one hurt right now," Dave protested. "It was an accident."

"It was an accident that would have been avoided if you stopped and thought things through.

" Kalei took a deep breath and let it out slowly, which was a weird sight for someone who usually looked unruffled no matter what.

"And I'm not blaming you for falling, by the way," he told Dave.

"I know accidents happen, and any day we train may be the day we get injured.

But this was preventable, and that's partially why I'm so pissed. "

Dave pressed his lips together, afraid to ask what the other reason was.

He didn't have to wait long to find out, though.

"Mostly, however, I'm pissed because I should have seen this coming. Hell, I did see it. I should have benched you a while ago, and I didn't, I let it play out, and here we are."

Before Dave could protest, Travis spoke up first.

"What are you talking about? Why bench us?"

Kalei narrowed his eyes. "Why do you think?"

There was a weight in Dave's stomach, which had been growing pretty much since he'd been loaded into the ambulance, and now it was almost overwhelming.

He'd love to fall asleep and turn back time, to do this entire day all over again, but he couldn't. He had to deal with the consequences of his actions—and wasn't that a blast?

"The two of you have no off switch anymore," Kalei said, and Dave closed his eyes, because he didn't want to hear any of this. "You've been pushing it in training, and skirting the line on the job, and we've talked about this, Travis. We've talked about this more than once."

That made Dave open his eyes. He only remembered one conversation like that, about a month ago. He turned to his partner for confirmation, but Travis was staring at Kalei.

"I know," was all he said, voice quiet and defeated, and Dave's eyebrows shot up. He'd obviously missed something, and since when did they keep things like that from each other?

"Well, the fact that you know isn't helping any of us right now, is it?

" Kalei glanced between the two of them again.

"Like I said, I'm partially to blame for not doing more than just talking, but that changes now.

While you," he nodded at Dave, "are on medical leave, you'll focus on resting and healing, and not following this one," he tilted his head towards Travis, "into trouble.

I'll save a lecture on that for some other time when you're not on painkillers. "

Then their boss turned to Travis.

"And you, I'm taking off the field, effective immediately."

It felt like a punch to the solar plexus, sucking all the air from the room, and Dave wasn't even the one it was happening to.

Travis looked crushed, his skin paler than Dave's was on a regular day.

"What—"

"With your partner not available for the foreseeable future, you'd be normally rostered into supporting other teams, but, frankly, Travis, I can't trust you in the field right now, which means you're desk-bound until I say otherwise.

And," Kalei added when Travis opened his mouth again, "I'm not going to say otherwise until you get some therapy. "

Travis straightened at that, curling his hands at his sides.

"For fuck's sake, man—"

"Watch it," Kalei warned, and Dave made a noise at the back of his throat that sounded pretty pitiful to his own ears, but at least it stopped the other two in their tracks for a second.

However, Kalei wasn't done.

"I'm doing this for your own good, but also, frankly, for my own, because I can't have you out there in good conscience. You're a powder keg waiting to go off, at this point, and I'm not saying this to be an ass, but to make you see you've been going down a dangerous path."

"Travis isn't to blame for what happened today!" Dave protested, unable to hold back any longer, but when Kalei's gaze settled on him, he slumped against the pillow.

"And would you have tried that stunt four months ago?"

Dave opened his mouth, ready to say yes—they were all competitive, Kalei knew that, he'd said so himself—but then he remembered the other training outings.

Sure, they were always pushing it, but there had been times when they'd backed down, laughing how they were going to work on it for the next time.

"I was there, too, and I took the risk," he said instead, because this, at least, he was sure of.

"And trust me, if you weren't already laid out, you'd be desk-bound, too," Kalei told him.

"I'm not currently requiring therapy from you, since I do believe you've been swept into the rush alongside Travis, here, but don't get me wrong—if I continue to see the problem after you're back on your feet, I'll do the same for you, too. "

Dave burrowed even deeper into the bed. While he was closer to forty than thirty and should be immune to a disappointed authority figure routine, he wasn't. He respected Kalei a great deal, and it stung to hear all of that.

"You need to deal with whatever's going on with you," Kalei addressed Travis again.

"The further details, we'll hash out in private.

However, I expect both of you to spend the next weeks and months really working on yourselves, because I want you two back out there.

I know what you're capable of, and I've been proud to see you grow over the years.

This is a bump in the road—a serious one, but it's not the end, do you hear me?

" He looked between the two of them, and Dave relaxed a bit.

"Good, now I'll let you in the capable hands of the poor nurse who has been hovering right outside the door, likely waiting for me to finish my tirade. I'll go update the rest of the team."

With that, he left, and Dave could hear him apologizing to the nurse, who apparently had indeed been standing there for who knew how long.

Damn .

What a mess.

* * *

Getting home with a cast on was a pain—not so much literally, since the painkillers were doing their thing, but still.

He'd gotten seriously hurt only once before, back in high school, when a bad fall during a basketball championship game had taken away his dreams of going pro.

Through all the years in the service and then in private security, Dave had been lucky enough to avoid any injury that lasted more than a week.

Until today, when he broke his leg during a fucking training exercise.

It was so stupid that he would laugh if he could, but he just…

He didn't have it in him. The reality of spending months off work was bad enough, but the weight of Kalei's anger and disappointment on top of that made Dave wish to burrow under the covers and not come out until he was ready to get back out there.

"Here we go," Travis murmured as he lowered Dave down to sit on the couch now.

"Thanks."

Staring at his leg with a frown and a sick feeling in his stomach, Dave missed Travis picking up a pillow from the armchair, but he definitely noticed him lifting Dave's leg to put said pillow under the cast on the coffee table.

"You need anything?"

Travis's question seemed to be directed at Dave's foot, and Dave was tired of his best friend avoiding his gaze, but he was also tired in general and had no energy left in him to have that conversation right now.

Kalei's tough love had been more than enough for one day.

"A do-over would be nice," Dave finally said, and he winced at his grumbling tone.

He was not going to be a model patient, that was for sure.

"You and me both." Travis patted him on the thigh. "But I meant more like water or soda before I order us some dinner. What would you prefer?"

Biting back the first, and the second, response that came to mind, which were nothing more than bitching and moaning about his fate, Dave forced himself to come up with a real answer. He might not be hungry, but he should eat—and so should Travis.

"I'm voting Indian. And I'd love a glass of water, thanks."

It felt weird. He felt weird. They should be shooting the shit, or maybe laughing it up, instead they were talking like two very polite robots.

Once Travis headed to the kitchen, Dave closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the couch.

Maybe if he didn't look, he could pretend his life wasn't suddenly a complete shambles.

Damn it , he should probably tell people, shouldn't he? If he didn't text his brother, at least, there would be hell to pay.

Dave tilted to the left to pull his phone out of his pocket, only to hiss in pain, because the move put pressure on his leg.

"You good?"

He almost dropped the phone at the sound of Travis's voice, but, thankfully, it was one humiliation he managed to avoid today.

"I forgot myself, it's fine." He waved his phone. "I figured I should text Colin before he finds out and kicks my ass."

His brother had the unbelievable ability to know stuff, somehow, and Dave had stopped trying to hide things from him a long time ago. It never really worked.

Travis usually teased him for the brotherly confessions, as he called them, but not this time.

"I'm pretty sure it's my ass he'll want to kick," he said instead, handing Dave the glass of water.

"Hey." Dave stared at him, waiting, but when Travis still didn't meet his gaze, he pressed. "Hey, look at me."

And, damn , whether Dave had energy for this or not, he needed to clarify things, because seeing the anguish in Travis's eyes was… Well, it was absolute shit.

"I'm not blaming you, okay? I'm not." Dave shook his head. "It was an accident, and the move could have worked. Oh, and also, a small detail—I agreed to the plan, so how about we don't treat me like a child who is only following someone else's directions, huh?"

Something shifted in Travis's eyes as he listened, and while it wasn't clear what he was thinking, at least he wasn't looking like a guy walking freely towards the shooting squad anymore, so Dave would take it as a win.

Everything else, they were going to figure out.

Somehow.