Chapter 9
Serves you right for breaking the iPad, Casper scolded himself and hugged his chest as he scowled at the shattered screen. He thrashed as he dragged himself across the room so he could eavesdrop on Hawk and the pretty Latino boy from the house. Casper remembered the boy from the miserable episode on the stairs but he didn’t want him in the house. Or talking to Hawk.
“Why didn’t he say yes?” Casper wondered out loud. He pulled himself onto the mattress and rolled back to the wall so he could sit against it. I don’t buy the age excuse. Casper snorted at the door as the kettle whistled. Hawk was fifty-one but he was still built like he was ready for his next Special Forces mission. Casper knew fuck all about pop culture but he had a vague idea who Trent Reznor was. He suspected the comparison might be flattering but that didn’t make sense. He knew you were listening and he’s lying! Why would he say no? That kid was beautiful. Hawk’s playing hard to get and fucking with both of your heads.
That made much more sense but it didn’t seem right from what Casper had observed. It had only been a few days since he barged into Casper’s lab and fixed his hip but every encounter was spiked with Hawk’s blatant and at times brutal honesty and pragmatism.
“You said no but I was already making myself a cup and I thought you might be out of things to throw,” Hawk announced as he arrived with two cups and saucers. Casper rolled his eye but he was kind of thirsty and a cup of tea would be just the thing. “It’s still steeping so I thought I’d see how your hip is doing while we wait.” Hawk held up his hands as he approached but Casper pulled the covers up to his chin and pressed his back against the wall.
“What are you going to do?” He asked nervously and Hawk shushed as he lowered and set his knee on the bed. Casper’s eye widened in terror as Hawk reached for him.
“Relax. The head of your femur settled into the socket and there’s no other damage there. The X-ray looked good but I want to make sure you have good range of motion, now that the swelling’s gone down,” he explained quietly but Casper slapped his hand away when he reached for his thigh. “Knock it off!” Hawk hissed as he slapped back and Casper stilled. He didn’t breathe as Hawk hauled him to the middle of the bed and found his hip. Casper was utterly paralyzed as Hawk leaned over him and squeezed around the joint. “That hurt?” He asked as he stared at the wall. Casper shook his head quickly but he had no idea. His entire body and his brain were numb. Hawk hummed and nodded faintly as his hand slid around Casper’s thigh and eased it open as wide as it would go. “We’re going to have to do a little PT for that hip to get it ready for a prosthetic. It’s going to be a lot of work in the beginning. We have to make sure it can carry your weight comfortably and you can walk as naturally as possible but we need your hip strong, first,” he explained as he slowly rotated Casper’s thigh. “Just tell me if there’s any pain.”
“Ok,” Casper mouthed. Hawk raised Casper’s leg and draped it over his shoulder so he could stretch it back as far as it would go and it was a whole different type of pain. Warmth pooled in his groin and his cock started to get heavy as Hawk exhaled and Casper felt it against his cheek. “It’s fine! Can I have that tea now?” Casper gasped as he shoved against Hawk’s chest.
“Are you sure?” Hawk asked as he lowered Casper’s leg. Casper used his left knee to push Hawk away and yanked the covers over his lower body.
“It’s fucking better than it was before, isn’t it? And it won’t matter if it’s comfortable. Nothing’s ever been comfortable and I’ve made do with a hell of a lot worse,” he muttered. Hawk snorted as he stood and went to the desk to retrieve their tea cups. He handed Casper his before lowering and sitting on the floor.
“I know you’re used to using whatever you can find to fix yourself and you’re brilliant at making your own assistive devices but that’s not going to work anymore. Not while I’m here.”
“Is that so?” Casper asked as he took a cautious sip of his tea but it was just right. Hawk never asked but he seemed to know just how sweet Casper liked his tea and that he didn’t like milk or lemon in it.
“That’s how I work. We’re going to fight until you let me fix your leg and anything else you break while I’m here.” It wasn’t a threat, just a matter-of-fact statement of the way things were. Casper opened his mouth to argue but his eye dropped to his tea. It was so alien for someone to care, let alone care enough to fight. Blink said he cared but Casper knew that was a lie. Blink saw Casper’s leg as a liability and considered it a sound investment when he hired Hawk to fix it. Casper was useless to Blink if he couldn’t kill. Don’t fool yourself. Hawk doesn’t care about you either.
“Your ego won’t let you walk away from a wreck,” Casper accused. Hawk spit his tea into his cup and laughed.
“My ego? That’s been wrecked and burned to the ground. I’m a really good surgeon but at the end of the day, I’m just a mechanic who works with body parts and blood, instead of metal and oil. Does it get to me if I can’t fix someone or save a life? Absolutely. But, ultimately, I have to respect the patient’s wishes. Even if they’re fucking insane,” he said and saluted Casper with his cup. Casper raised his back and his lips curved behind the rim as he sipped.
“It’s not that I doubt your skill,” he said as he set his cup in the saucer and became distracted as he turned it. “My leg’s been both my greatest tormentor and my constant companion. We’ve been through so much, it seems cruel to cut it loose now,” he murmured. Hawk’s head pulled back and his eyes narrowed.
“But it’s killing you,” he pointed out and Casper hummed as he nodded.
“Yes... That is true but we came into this world together and we’ve managed to rub along well enough for this long,” he replied. Hawk blinked and his mouth opened before it snapped closed.
“We are talking about your leg, right?” He asked and Casper nodded quickly. “And it’s just a normal leg? Or, it was, at some point,” he corrected but Casper shook his head.
“Not that I can ever recall but you’re correct, in the general sense,” he said then wondered if the voices came from his leg. “It would be fucking haunted,” he grumbled under his breath.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I get that it’s hard to get your head around the idea of losing your leg but...” Hawk started but Casper cut him off.
“Not really. I’ve thought about hacking the fucker off lots of times,” Casper said.
“Just shut up,” Hawk sighed into his cup. “It’s hard for anyone, even if you hate your leg and blame it for every awful thing that’s ever happened to you,” he said and Casper shook his head.
“I blame my face and my father for that. My leg has just been my favorite victim and takes its revenge as often as it can. Not that I blame it, really,” he said and gave it a hard flick and stifled a grunt as his knee throbbed back at him.
“Hold on,” Hawk said as he got up and retrieved a bottle of pills from his bag. “I don’t think we need to run anymore fluids so I won’t hook you back up unless you decide to let me operate,” he stated as he tapped two tablets onto his palm and held them out to Casper. “Gabapentin.”