by Marla Monroe
“Is he willing to make the adjustment to his lifestyle that having a dog will require, like walking him, providing exercise time, bathroom time, vet care, and things like that? Will he understand that this is a commitment much like marriage is or maybe even more serious than they are today? He can’t just decide one day he doesn’t need the animal anymore. Even if he stops having episodes, he’s forged a strong bond with the dog and severing it would be just as devastating on the dog as a divorce or death in the family would be to anyone else.” Ellie was obviously serious about making sure a veteran was going to be committed to the animal if they decided to pursue the therapy canine angle.
Abby liked the other woman. She was compassionate but steadfast and strong when it came to what needed to be said. By the time Abby had finished going over all the other things that were available and might help Heath learn to cope and hopefully one day overcome it. Armed with a handful of pamphlets about the various programs and what they offered, Abby left the hospital feeling a little better.
Glancing at the clock on her dashboard, she realized she needed to hurry so she wasn’t late for work. She’d volunteered for more of the later shifts so she could keep as many hours as possible, actually working the floor instead of just catering to those wanting to decorate or redecorate their homes. Floor work wasn’t that hard, but it was boring when you weren’t busy and left her with sore feet and an aching back after eight hours of it.
Abby parked her car beneath one of the lights in the employee parking area and climbed out of her car, making sure she locked it before heading across the concrete lot. She’d brought several of the pamphlets on the various canine therapy organizations with her to look through when she wasn’t busy. She knew Heath well enough to know he would just pick the first one or pick the one Clark was using without really finding out anything about them. She’d do all the leg work and investigating then tell him her opinions. That normally worked well with him. It made her smile as she clocked in to start the evening shift.
* * * *
Kermit sighed as the hot water sluiced down his aching shoulders and back. The fucking therapist needed a dose of his own medicine sometime. He’d just about put Kermit in the ground this session. Just how much fucking weight did he need to be able to lift and move in order to walk around on a pair of fake legs? He was doing just fine with the metal sticks they’d given him to use.
Yeah, I’m not real steady on them yet, but it’s only been a few days. I’ll get the hang of them soon enough.
Maybe he got tired a little faster walking around on them then he did rolling the wheelchair, but well, maybe that was the point of the stupid lifts the bastard forced him through. He sighed and enjoyed how good it felt to be able to maneuver in the shower alone on the crazy-assed rolling stool instead of sitting on a shower chair where someone else’s hairy ass had sat earlier.
Yeah, they supposedly sanitized them in between people, but Kermit knew all about being a new grunt and hating your job. No, he was much happier with his own personal stool that only his hairy ass had ever set on or ever would.
An image of Abby straddling him on the chair in the shower hit him like a ton of bricks. She moved up and down, using her legs to pump his thick shaft deep into her cunt. Another image hit him of her sitting on the stool, her arms wrapped around his thighs as she sucked on his engorged dick while he knelt on the bench at the back of the shower. Kermit imagined the feel of her sucking his hard shaft in her mouth then swallowing around it as she took him deep into her throat.
Fuck! I’m going to blow right here in an open shower just thinking about her going down on me.
“Kermit! Man, hurry up in there. We need to get going so we can stop by the pharmacy before they close, man.”
Heath’s unwelcomed voice shattered both the image of Abby’s eyes staring up at him with her mouth full of his cock and his hard-on.
“Son of a bitch!” he snapped and finished rinsing off.
“What’s wrong? Did I interrupt something?” Heath’s amused voice sounded as if the man was just on the other side of the shower stall.
“Fuck you, you nosey bastard,” he said under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Did you find out what to do about your shoulder?” he asked instead of answering him.
“Yeah. I guess,” came back the noncommittal answer.
“What did Lucifer suggest?” He really wanted to know what sort of torture he would want to put his friend through. Hey, misery loves company.
“I’ll tell you later. Just hurry your ass up. We need to go.”
Kermit chuckled. That sounded like whatever it was it would be painful. He turned off the water and quickly toweled off then transferred over to the bench to continue drying off before he started the arduous process of pulling on clothes and wiggling his ass into his cutoffs without ending up sliding off the damn bench in the process. God knows it had happened enough already to him that he was extra careful to avoid that bit of embarrassment.
Once he’d managed to get dressed, Kermit made sure the wheelchair seat was dry before transferring to it and rolling out of the stall. Heath was leaning just outside the stall with a pained expression on his face. He looked both aggravated and stressed at the same time.
“Okay. Let’s go.” He had his sticks in the basket behind him and wasn’t too keen on putting them back on right away. His stumps were tender and he’d forgotten to bring a clean set of stockings.
“Mind if I push you so we can hurry?” Heath asked without looking at him.
“Um, no man. That’s fine. What’s wrong, Heath?” Kermit was worried now.
His friend wouldn’t have said anything like that no matter how much of a hurry he was in unless something was really bothering him.
“Nothing. We just need to hurry so we don’t miss getting to the pharmacy before they close.”
Kermit frowned but didn’t push it. Heath, on the other hand, pushed the chair pretty damn fast. His friend was just about jogging through the hospital on his way to the pharmacy. How late was it? He looked at his watch and noticed that it was close to five. With it being Saturday, they did close early, but this early?
When they reached the outpatient pharmacy, Kermit had to hold on to the chair to keep from flying out when Heath slid to a sudden stop.
“Sorry. They’re still open. Good. Did you need anything?” He asked.
“No. I’m good with my meds.” Kermit watched as his friend hurried inside, leaving him sitting outside in the wheelchair.
What was going on? Was his friend in pain and needing the pain medicine that badly? It worried him. Heath had never been one to take a lot of pills. Even when he had a headache while they’d been taking a lot of heavy fire he rarely popped the pain pills the medics handed out like candy on those days. They were going to have to have a talk once they made it back home.
A few minutes later, Heath returned with a small white bag with the VA’s logo on it and hurried over to where there were some drink and snack machines. He quickly shoved his money in the slot and banged on a selection so fast that Kermit wondered if he even knew what he’d chosen. An instant later, Keith had his answer, he hadn’t. He poured something into his hand from a bottle out of the white bag and swallowed it using a gulp of green tea from the bottle he’d just gotten out of the machine. Kermit winced in sympathy but Heath didn’t even seem to notice.
When he returned after throwing the remainder of the tea away, he didn’t look any less frazzled, but at least he didn’t look stressed anymore. Just before his friend turned the chair around and started back toward where they’d parked at a much slower pace, Kermit noticed that the hours on the pharmacy door said they were open till eight PM on Saturday nights.
Chapter Fifteen
“Why didn’t you say anything? You could have gone and gotten the fucking medicine while I showered then come back and get me after you’d taken it.” Kermit wanted to throttle his best friend. “You know I can take ca
re of myself, and if I had needed help, there are twenty or so other guys out there who could have helped me if I got into trouble.”
“Yeah, well. At the time, I couldn’t do that. We watch each other’s backs—always and with the damn episode riding me, that wasn’t an option for me. I thought if I could get one of the damn pills the shrink’s been trying to shove down my throat I could handle it before it got bad.”
“Heath. It takes at least thirty minutes for anything to start working in a pill form. You know that. Are you feeling better now?” Kermit asked his friend.
“Just really dopy is all. That’s why I don’t take the damn things as a rule. Most of the ones he’s given me knock me out so I take them at night, but then the next day I can barely function. This one isn’t as strong but it pretty much always does the trick.” Heath rubbed his shoulder over and over as if it was bothering him. “At least most of the time.”
“Is your shoulder still bothering you?” Kermit asked as he eased his weight to the edge of Heath’s bed to relieve the sore spots on his stumps.
“Huh?” he looked at where he was rubbing his shoulder and stopped doing it. “No. I guess it’s just nerves from the medicine. I kind of get focused on something sometimes.”
“So what happened to trigger this one, man?” Kermit asked.
“I think it was the therapy making my arm hurt, but I’m not sure. All I know is that it was hurting a lot worse and the therapist was telling me I needed to get signed back up for sessions until I could consistently do them on my own at home. Next thing I knew was that I was following you to the showers telling you I’d wait on you. I think I just walked off in the middle of the man talking to me, too.” Heath shrugged then winced.
“Do you think the pain triggered it?” Kermit asked.
“I don’t know. I honest to God don’t know. I’m sick of this, man. I need to be able to function so I can work.” Heath pushed himself up to one elbow then groaned and dropped back down, covering his eyes with one hand. “Fucking dizzy when I do that.”
“Then don’t do it.”
“I need to get up so I can fix us both something to eat.”
“What am I? Worthless or something?” he asked with a snarl. “I can fix something for us to eat. Do we have bread and luncheon meat?”
Heath chuckled. “Yeah. We have bread and luncheon meat. Are you sure you want to try it?”
“Screw you, asshole. I can spread some mayo on a slice of bread and throw some meat on it.”
“Mustard,” Heath said with a smile.
“Mustard then. Now close your pretty multi-colored eyes and rest while I make dinner.”
“Multi-colored? They’re hazel, man. At least get the color of my eyes right if you’re not going to remember how I like my sandwiches. Some boyfriend you’ve turned out to be.”
Kermit grinned and popped him on the arm before easing off the bed to walk across the room with a slight wince each time his left stump pushed against the stick he was walking on. He needed to stop and put on more of the lotion and change stockings before he fucked up his stump so that he couldn’t walk at all for a few days.
“I’m going to run change my stockings before I make the sandwiches,” he said.
“Run?” Heath asked with a chuckle. Before he could set him straight, he added. “Wear the sheer ones tonight, lover boy.”
“I’ll show you lover boy,” Kermit growled and grabbed his crotch right when Abby walked into the bedroom with a harried expression on her face.
“I thought something was wrong! I hurried over as fast as I could and you two are playing with yourselves? What in the hell is wrong with you? I had to leave work early for this,” she snapped, staring at the two of them.
Kermit quickly let go of his junk and smiled at her. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t know you were at work or I wouldn’t have texted you. Heath said you didn’t work nights and I didn’t realize I’d made it sound like an emergency.”
She stared at him and blinked once before opening her mouth then closing it again. Then she looked over at Heath lying on the bed without a shirt on. Kermit saw something flit across her face even as a light shined in her eyes for a brief moment.
“So when were you two going to tell me that you were an item? I mean if you didn’t want me anymore, Kermit, you should have at least told me there was someone else instead of making feel like a failure.” She planted her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I should have known you were seeing each other. I mean all those late nights out together and both of you having taken showers before you made it home. I guess stripping down to bare skin with each other day in and day out just got the better of you one day. But you really should have warned me.”
“Abby. Stop it. You know that’s not true,” Kermit said, smiling at her joking with them.
“Oh, but I don’t. I mean the two of you have been inseparable for years. Everywhere one goes the other is soon following. Even when you and I messed around on dates, Heath would always be nearby. What were the two of you doing when I had to leave to go to work in the mornings? Huh?” She walked over and ran a hand lightly down Kermit’s arm, licking her bottom lip as she did.
“We were thinking about you, babe. Always thinking about you.”
“Really? Did you talk about me while I was gone? Laugh about how you’d pull the wool over my eyes about what you were really doing? I bet you two look good together. Will you let me watch?” she teased.
“Naw, Abby. We talked about you. We aren’t into each other, babe. We’re into you and only you. Come on and give us a kiss,” Heath said, staring at her through half closed eyes. She was the hottest thing when she was in a teasing mood. It didn’t bother him or Heath one bit when she teased them about being lovers. They knew otherwise and so did she. Anyone else didn’t matter.
“A kiss, huh? You’re going to fuck each other but spare a mere kiss for me? I don’t think so, boys.” She kicked off her heels and stalked closer to Heath’s bed. “Move over, darling.”
Heath moved over with a startled look on his face. They’d teased and tormented each other before just for the hell of it, but had never gotten so physical before, Kermit realized. Yeah, he and Abby would pick on each other, but she’d always been damn careful not to do anything that would give crossed signals before. Was she thinking the same thing he was or had she really been so worried by his text that she wasn’t really aware of what she was doing? He needed to reread that text he’d sent.
Abby sat on the bed next to Heath and lay back, reaching up for Kermit with both arms. “Show me that it’s me and not him you really want, Kermy. Do you want me?” she asked, poking her plump wet lips out at him.
Fuck, he wanted to sink his teeth into them or better yet, sink his dick between them.
“Hell yeah, I want you, babe. So does Heath. He wants to kiss you just like I do. Let me show you.” Kermit leaned down, bracing his hands on the bed and kissed her.
He couldn’t believe how much he’d missed this. Just a brief brush of his lips across hers and a nibble of that plump bottom one had him wanting so much more. The kiss from the other night had nearly screwed them all up but in the process, it had cemented what he wanted for all three of them. He just had to convince them that it was right.
Her soft moan as he deepened the kiss fueled the fire that was beginning to burn in his gut. He found one of her hands and pressed it against the bulge of his cock straining against the cutoffs he wore. He couldn’t help but grind against her hand, wishing there was nothing between their skin.
“Fuck, baby. So good. I’ve missed you so damn much,” he breathed against her lips.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she whispered back.
Kermit took her other hand and before he could second-guess himself, shoved it down on Heath’s crotch. From the resistance he felt as he did, the other man was just as hard and horny as he was. To his surprise, Abby didn’t immediately react. He started to think that his plan was going to work better than his
sniper’s rifle right after he’d cleaned her.
“Kermit!” Abby jerked at her hand, making Heath grunt in pain. “Oh, God, Heath! I’m sorry.”
Kermit removed his hand and immediately felt the sting of hers across his cheek with her bucking against him to get up. He’d been smart to release her other hand that had a death grip on his balls but in the chaos that followed, Kermit ended up on the floor, cursing the damn sticks and his sore stump.
Abby cursed him and worried over him in equal measure, all while apologizing to Heath for hurting his goods. Kermit wasn’t sure if he started laughing first or if Heath did, but by the time it was over with, the three of them were rolling on the floor laughing like a bunch of lunatics. After a few quiet seconds that followed, Kermit cleared his throat to speak.
“Why, Kermit? Why did you do that to me and to your best friend?” She turned and looked at the other man. “I’m assuming you weren’t in on it.”
He spoke up when Heath didn’t immediately answer. “He wasn’t. I took him by surprise just like I did you. Hell, I pretty much surprised myself, but it was low and heartless. I’m sorry. Both of you.”
He’d just wanted to push them all in the direction he wanted to go and that was the entire problem. It was his direction, not theirs. Why had he done it? He wasn’t sure other than it was such a perfect opportunity that he didn’t want to miss even though they hadn’t talked about anything. He screwed up.
“What is going on, Kermit? Did you send that text just to get me here for that? I needed to work,” Abby said.
“No! Heath really was having an episode and I thought maybe you would call and we could talk about it so I was sure he was going to be fine.”
“You need to work on your texting skills then. I thought something was really wrong.” She sighed and repositioned herself so that she could see both of them.
Kermit’s stump was killing him. Hell, the entire right leg was killing him even though he knew part of it wasn’t there. He struggled to a sitting position, trying to turn so that his back was to the bed for some support. He needed to get the damn sticks off of him.
