Home > Color Me Lucky (The Monroes Book 4)(2)

Color Me Lucky (The Monroes Book 4)(2)
Author: Jen Talty

Knock. Knock.

“Excuse me.” One of the nurses stuck her head in the door. “There’s a young man here to see you. He said he flew all the way from the States to be at your side.”

Navy wasn’t expecting to see Casper for another week. Then again, knowing Casper, if he was off to some disaster site in this part of the world, he’d make a pit stop to say hello.

“Send him in,” Navy said.

“I’m not finished with your exam.” O’Leary lifted the covers, exposing Navy’s feet.

Let the poking and prodding begin.

“That’s okay. I’m sure it’s my buddy who paid for this privacy and who is going to remind me of that fact for the rest of my life.” Navy stared at the ceiling. It struck him as odd that his legs ached and burned, and yet he barely felt a pinprick at the bottom of his feet. “I felt that one. Pinprick pain level at about a three.”

“That’s progress,” O’Leary said. “Wiggle your toes for me.”

“This shouldn’t take so much brain power.” He focused on his feet, hoping more than his toes moved.

“Excellent. You’re making—”

“Navy? Oh. My. God.” The sound of Shamus’ voice smacked Navy’s gut like a ton of bricks.

“Shamus? What the hell are you doing here?” Navy swallowed the thick lump that formed in his throat. He tried to adjust to a more upright position. A sharp pain shot from the center of his back to his neck. He groaned.

“You thought I would just sit stateside after hearing this news?” Shamus raced to the side of the bed and took Navy’s hand, cradling it between both of his.

“Sorry. That hurts.” Navy quickly shrugged. “You shouldn’t have come.”

Shamus drew his lips together in a tight line, folded his arms across his chest, and glared.

Navy knew that look of disdain well. He’d only been dealing with it on and off for the last two years.

“I couldn’t sit around and do nothing when my…” Shamus tilted his head and arched a brow.

At least he didn’t shout boyfriend.

“Flying across the country when I’ll be shipped home in a couple of weeks seems to be above and beyond the call of duty for a close friend.” Navy gritted his teeth, waiting for one of two things to happen.

Either Shamus was going to storm out, cursing under his breath.

Or he would out Navy as a gay man.

Shamus did neither, which terrified Navy on a different level. For the last two years, he tried to explain to Shamus why it had been so important to him to keep his sexuality to himself, but especially when it came to all things military.

“Well, truth be told, I didn’t fly here just for you,” Shamus said. “I was in Paris with my family when I got word on what happened.”

“That’s right. I forgot about your sister’s wedding.” Fuck. Sometimes Navy could be a self-centered ass. “How is your sister?”

“Fine,” Shamus said with an exasperated sigh.

“Excuse me for a moment,” O’Leary said. “I’ll be back in about ten minutes.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Doc.” Navy fluffed his pillow and did his best to adjust his disposition, but it was hopeless. No matter which way he twisted his body, pain ricocheted across his muscles.

“Why do you do this shit?” Shamus asked, not changing his stance. As a matter of fact, he puffed out his chest even more. “You almost fucking die. I have to find out from a text message from goddamned Casper of all people, and when I do what most people would think is a normal thing for a man in love to do, you act like we’re buddies. And not even fuck buddies.”

“Keep your voice down.” The last thing Navy needed was a knock-down, drag-out fight with a drama queen. Not that he’d classify Shamus as a queen, which was one of the many reasons he’d been attracted to him in the first place. However, Shamus demanded things of Navy that he just wasn’t capable of giving him, and if they had a chance, Shamus needed to figure out how to accept them, or Navy needed to walk.

Navy nearly laughed out loud. Shamus might just do that anyway if Navy never walked again.

“Why? Are you ashamed of me? Of us. Hell, of yourself.”

“I’m not.” God, Navy was tired of having this fucking discussion with every man he became entangled with.

But it especially bothered him with Shamus.

“The military got rid of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy a while ago. You can be loud and proud all you want.”

“No. I can’t.” He lifted his good arm and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If I come out with my crew, I might as well be a dead man walking. You don’t know what it’s like for me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t know what it’s like to be a gay man in an intolerant world that pretends they accepts us?”

“Oh, please. You own a goddamned gay bar. You were raised by a single mother who is bisexual.” Navy kept an eye on the tiny little window in the door. He’d have to shut this conversation down when the doctor came back in, and he knew what that meant.

He also knew he should have ended this when he left on his last deployment three months ago. Stringing Shamus along had been selfish on his part, and now that he was, for all intents and purposes, paralyzed, having someone waiting for him to return was pointless.

“Your family didn’t stare at you with blank expressions, wondering where they’d gone wrong when you told them you were gay,” Navy continued, though why he bothered he had no idea. Maybe Shamus would just put him out of his misery. “I, on the other hand, was made to feel as though there was something wrong with me. As if I wasn’t man enough.”

“And you’ve been building up testosterone ever since,” Shamus said under his breath. “As if being macho makes up for finding the same sex attractive.”

“Please, try for once to put yourself in my shoes.”

“I get it. I was picked on and got the shit kicked out of me a couple of times for being gay. There are a shit ton of pricks out there. But I don’t understand why I can’t sit at your bedside and hold your hand and help you through this.”

Navy let out a long breath. “Even if I asked you to stay, which I’m not, I wouldn’t want you to take care of me or cater to my needs, and you know it. I’m not a touchy-feely kind of man. I don’t like public displays of affection. And I sure as hell don’t like my love life out there for the world to judge. Besides, I have to do this on my own.”

“No, you don’t. And if this were one of your team members lying in this bed, and their girlfriend or wife came, you’d think wow, look at the kind of support his family is giving him. But you can’t see past your own homophobic issues to see that.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Navy could taste the bitter lie and the older he got, the more foul it became. “I’m tired of the same old argument. If you can’t respect me and my wishes, then why the hell are you even with me?” Well, Navy had gone and done it now. That was it. He knew he’d hit below the belt and he knew exactly what Shamus would do.

“I don’t have a fucking clue,” Shamus said. “I’m glad you’re alive and I suspect you’ll recover just fine. Have a nice life, Navy.” Shamus turned. He reached for the door but paused and looked over his shoulder. “I feel sorry for you. And not because you’re sitting in that hospital bed. I have faith that you will do what it takes to walk out of here. But you’re a broken man who refuses to accept who he is, and until you do that, you’ll never find real happiness.”

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