Healing Gabriel (7 page)

“Here, let me take your shoes off.”  Morgan bent in the
hallway of the farmhouse and tugged his shoes off.

“Okay?”  She asked anxiously as she popped back up.

He nodded.  “Yeah, I’m good.” 

He wasn’t.  His side was aching and throbbing and he really
wanted to lie down but he smiled grimly at her. 

“I can tell when you’re lying Gabe.  Come on, let’s get you
into bed and then I’ll give you some pain relief meds.”

They had sent him home with two morphine pills, one for this
afternoon and one for this evening and she was glad.  Gabe was pale and sweaty,
and she had a feeling that he was in much more pain then he would admit.

She put her arm around his waist and steadied him as he
walked down the hall to his bedroom.  “Where are the dogs?”

“They’re with the sheep.  I didn’t want them in the house
when I first brought you home.  They’d be way too excited, and I’m pretty sure
they’d trip us both.”  She laughed.

They were at his bedroom now and she helped him inside,
glancing curiously around.  She had never been in his room, although she’d
spent more time wondering about it then she cared to admit to herself.

“This is nice.”  She glanced at the large bed and the gas
fireplace built into the wall opposite of it.  The room was painted a dark
green and it gave the room a warm and cozy feel to it.  It would be nice in the
winter, she mused, although right now it was a bit stuffy.  As Gabe sat down
gingerly on the bed, she crossed the room and opened the window, hoping to
catch a breeze.  It was hot out and the farmhouse didn’t have air
conditioning. 

“Bathroom?”  She pointed to the door to her left and he
nodded.

“Do you want to use it before I tuck you into bed?”

He shook his head no and she turned the ceiling fan on over
the bed, stretching on her tiptoes to catch the cord.

“Tired?”  She gave him a look of sympathy as she stood in
front of him, and he nodded.

“Hold on a minute.”  She dug into her purse, pulling out the
small bottle of pills and went into the bathroom.  She came back with a glass
of water and held out one of the pills to him.  “Here, take this.”

He took it without argument, drinking the entire glass of
water in three large gulps.  It was hot in the room and he could feel the sweat
sticking to the back of his long-sleeved shirt.  She had brought him a change
of clothes to wear home from the hospital, just a pair of lightweight shorts
and his usual long-sleeved shirt.

“Shorts on or off?”

He blushed.  “On.”

There was no way he was letting her see him in his
underwear.  He’d gotten the nurses to help him dress while she was getting her
car and even with his side aching, he didn’t entirely trust that he wouldn’t
get an erection if she took his shorts off of him.

He realized with a start that she was unbuttoning his shirt
and he grabbed at her hands, groaning with pain when it pulled at the staples
in his side.

She frowned.  “What?”

“I’ll sleep with my shirt on.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.  It’s like a million degrees in here. 
You’ll be much too warm.”

He tried to protest again but it was really warm in the
bedroom, and the thought of trying to sleep in his shirt was an unpleasant one.

“I can do it.”  He muttered, brushing at her hands again. 
“I don’t need your help.”

“Yes, you do.”  She said firmly.  She finished unbuttoning
his shirt and he closed his eyes as she slipped the shirt off his shoulders and
arms.  He couldn’t look at her.  He couldn’t stand to see the disgust and pity
in her eyes when she saw his ravaged body for the first time.

“Holy Hannah.”  She breathed quietly.

His heart dropped to his feet and he could feel the heat
rising to his cheeks.  He forced himself to open his eyes. 

“You’ve got a six pack!” 

He twitched a little in surprise.  He realized that Morgan was
staring at his abdomen.  The left side was covered in scarring, the muscles
hidden beneath the scars, but the right side of his abs were perfect.

“How the heck do you have a six pack?  You sit at a computer
all day.”  She gave him a look of indignation.  “I’m constantly moving and
standing and lifting chubby little kids all day and I don’t have a six pack.” 

He blushed furiously as she continued.  “Do you get this
from working the sheep farm?  Because I will take over the farm for you if it
means I’ll get stomach muscles like that.”  She reached out to trace the firm skin
and then thought better of it. 

She looked up at him.  “Seriously, Gabe.  How did you get so
muscular?”

Still blushing, he said.  “I have a home gym.  I work out
for two hours nearly every morning.”

Her face fell.  “Rats.  I should have known it would be from
the gym.”

“You don’t like going to the gym?”

“Oh I liked it.  I belonged to a gym in the city.  But after
I fell off the treadmill for a third time and nearly broke my leg in a zumba
class, they banned me.  They said they didn’t have enough liability insurance
to cover me.  I tried going to a couple other gyms in the area but they
rejected me.”

She frowned.  “They denied it, but I’m pretty sure the other
gym faxed them a picture of me with a big ‘Do not admit’ sign on it.”

He laughed loudly.  The pain meds had kicked in and he
didn’t wince when the staples pulled.  She crouched down and studied the
incision on his right side.  “It’s looking pretty good.”

“Thanks.  I asked them to keep the scarring to a minimum,
told them I didn’t want my perfect body ruined with scars.”

She gaped at him and then giggled when she realized he was
making a joke.  It was a lame joke but she’d never heard him kid about his
scarring before.  He was probably a bit high from the pain meds, but it was
still good to hear him attempting to find humour in his scarring.

“Let’s get you into bed.”  She paused.  “But first, I have
to know.  You spray tan don’t you?  You wear long-sleeved shirts all the time.  That
tan can’t be natural.”

He laughed again.  “No, I don’t always wear my shirt.  When
you’re not around and I’m working outside, I take it off.  I tan easily.  I
swear.”

She gave him a suspicious look.  “Alright, but you should
know that the minute you fall asleep I’m going to search through your bathroom
for hidden bottles of spray tan.”

He snickered as she helped him lay back on the bed.  “And
Gabe – you don’t have to wear your shirt around me all the time, you know that
right?  We’re friends.  If you want to take it off, just take it off okay?”

He nodded and closed his eyes as she pulled the sheet to his
chest.  “Go to sleep.  I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”

* * *

He woke in the dark, disoriented and needing to pee.  He
took a deep breath and touched his incision lightly.  The pain meds played hell
with his thought process, but he was starting to remember where he was and what
was going on.  He had slept most of the afternoon.  Morgan had woken him around
dinner and helped him sit up.  She had made him eat some soup.  Even though it
was still warm in the room and he didn’t have much of an appetite, he had
gamely eaten half of it before pushing it away.  The meds had worn off by then
and he was feeling grumpy and out of sorts.  She had given him another pill and
tucked him back into bed before leaving to bring the sheep in from the pasture.

He rubbed his face with his hand and glanced at the alarm
clock.  It was just after one in the morning and he stared up at the ceiling,
steeling himself to sit up.  He hadn’t tried to sit up on his own yet; Morgan
had always been there to help turn him on his side and then pull him into a
sitting position.  She was surprisingly strong for her size.

He shifted onto his side.  Pain flared along his body and he
cursed loudly.  Now that Morgan was back in her own house, he didn’t feel the
need to be as stiff-lipped about the pain.  He took another deep breath and
then released it in a soft scream when Morgan’s voice came whispering out of
the darkness.

“Do you need some help?”

He whipped his head around as she sat up in the bed beside
him.  She grinned.  “You scream like a girl.”

“You scared the hell out of me!  What are you doing in my
bed?”  His heart was thudding loudly in his chest, and he had damn near wet his
shorts.

She slid out of the bed, she was wearing a long shirt and
her pale legs glowed in the darkness, and came around to his side.  “It’s only
your third night after surgery Gabe.  I wasn’t going to leave you alone.”

She leaned over him and slid her hand under his shoulder. 
“Ready?”

He nodded and she helped him sit up on the side of the bed. 
She walked him over to the bathroom and opened the door.  “Do you need help in
the bathroom?”

He shook his head immediately.  “God, no.”

“Okay.”  She rubbed his back.  “I’ll be right out here if
you need me.”

* * *

He sighed and relaxed against the bed.  After he finished in
the bathroom, Morgan had helped him back to bed and given him a glass of water
before tucking him back under the sheet.  He half-expected her to go back to
her own house or, at the very least, the guest bedroom next to his room.  Instead
she climbed into the bed beside him and curled up on her side.

“Are you too warm?”

He nodded.  “A bit.”

She reached out and pulled the sheet down to his waist.  He wanted
to pull the sheet up to hide his scarred body but he had just told her he was
too warm.  He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling.  After a few
minutes she leaned over him, her breath warm on his face.  “Go to sleep Gabe.”

“I’m trying.”

“Here, turn on your side and I’ll rub your back for you.”

He frowned.  “No, that’s okay.”

“Don’t be silly.  It’ll help.  My mom always rubbed my back
when I couldn’t sleep.”  She was pushing on him, and with a soft grunt he
turned on to his left side.  He inhaled sharply at the first touch of her soft
hand on his back.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Just try and relax.  There isn’t any more of the meds from
the doctor, and you can’t have some Tylenol until later today.”

He closed his eyes as she rubbed his back with her warm
hand.  She didn’t shy away from the scarred side, rubbing and circling and massaging
his entire back as he stared into the darkness. 

“Is it helping?”  She whispered.

“Yeah.”  He lied.  His cock was as stiff as a board in his
shorts and he thanked God for the darkness.  He closed his eyes and allowed
himself to imagine what it would feel like to have her hand slide around his
front.  To feel her soft fingers on his stomach before they slipped under his
shorts and gripped his cock firmly.

His cock jumped in his underwear and he opened his eyes in a
hurry.  If he kept thinking that way he’d come in his pants.

He squirmed a little and she paused before continuing to rub
his back.  “Relax Gabe.  Go to sleep.”  She whispered softly.

He took a deep breath.  He knew he should tell her to stop
touching him, he’d never fall asleep with the feel of her hand on his back, but
he couldn’t bring himself to tell her to stop.  Her hand felt too good on his
skin.  He ignored his throbbing cock and curled his hands into fists.  It would
be a long night.

* * *

Morgan stared worriedly at Gabe.  He really hadn’t slept at
all after he woke up at one, and she didn’t like how tired he looked.  She had
made him nap in the afternoon and that had perked him up a bit but about an
hour after she had returned from herding the sheep into the shed, he had
started to withdraw and grow quiet.

“Gabe, is the pain really bad?”  She was starting to wonder
if she shouldn’t call the hospital and see if she could get more pain relief
for him.

He shook his head.  “No, it’s not bad.”

“You seem quiet.”

“I’m just tired.”

“Okay, well let’s get you tucked into bed for the night.” 
She helped him stand and led him to his bedroom.

Gabe stepped nervously into the bedroom.  He hadn’t been
lying when he said the pain wasn’t that bad.  In fact, it was much better than
it had been yesterday.  What worried him were the sleeping arrangements.  He
didn’t know if Morgan was planning on sleeping in his bed again, and he wasn’t
sure he could stand to lay there in the darkness with her soft body next to
his.

He sat on the bed and took a deep breath.  “Morgan, about
the sleeping arrangements, I think – “

She smiled at him.  “I’m going to sleep in the guest room
tonight Gabe.  I have a feeling you didn’t sleep very well because I was in the
bed with you, so I’ll take the guest bed and we’ll leave the doors open.  If
you need me in the night, just holler okay?”

He nodded, feeling relief and disappointment flood through
him.  “I’m sorry Morgan.  I’m uh – I’m not used to having someone else in the
bed with me.”

“It’s fine.”  She gave him a cheerful smile.  “I’ll see you
in the morning.”

She squeezed his shoulder and left his bedroom.

* * *

She woke a few hours later.  She frowned, wondering what it
was that had woken her, until she heard Gabe’s low voice crying out in the
darkness.  She was out of the bed and running into his room before she was
fully awake.

Gabe was lying on his side.  His hands were clenched into
fists and he was moaning loudly.  She climbed on to the bed beside him and
rested her hand on his shoulder.

“Gabe?  Honey, wake up.”

He continued to moan and she flicked on the bedside lamp. 
His face was contorted with pain and fear and her heart constricted in
response.  “Honey, wake up now.”