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  Ralph chuckled, his tension easing. Now that would be a showdown to be seen.

  Chapter Five

  BRETT HEARD the damn Cajun coming a mile away, the needles in his face and arms and feet—oh, he was fucking going to murder that fucking therapist—vibrating.

  “Hey, cher ’tit chou! You starving for something sweet and tasty?”

  Ralph pushed back from his desk and patted his lap. “I am, babe. Gonna eat you right up.”

  “Oo-ee!” Jean set a plate of fruit and cheese and danish aside and gave Ralph a warm kiss. “How’s your morning?”

  Ralph wrapped his big hands around Jean, beaming up at his lover. “Not bad at all, babe. Not bad at all. Is this all for me?”

  “Mostly. I thought I’d offer some to Brett.” He got a bright grin. “I have some pineapple, some grapes, some smoked cheese.”

  “You’ve been talking to Benj,” Brett said. Those, along with steak and anything cinnamon-y, were his favorites.

  Ralph chuckled. “Jean knows the way to a man’s heart. Let me take all those needles out, and you can snack and talk turkey with Jean.”

  Jean nodded. “I don’t like making men pissy, me. I like feeding people.”

  Brett rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. Whatever. He just wanted to know what to do, dammit.

  “How are you feeling? The needles hurting any?” Ralph came over.

  “The one under my ear hurts.”

  Burned, really. He did feel less tense, but he was dying to get them out, to move.

  “Okay, we’ll start with that one, then. Don’t move, just relax and let me get them out. Then I’ll give you a quick rubdown while Jean talks meals and shit with you. Oh hey, Jean, is Benj around? A real massage would work even better.”

  “Yup. I’ll grab him. He peeked in and turned green at the needles.” Jean scurried out.

  Brett actually laughed. That was his baby.

  “Let’s see if I can get them all out before they come back.” Ralph grinned at him, the needle beneath his ear going first, the others coming out quickly, one after the other.

  “Oh thank God.” Brett sat up, rubbing at his skin, almost shivering.

  Ralph nodded, hands sliding over his shoulders. “That’s why I do the rubdown after. A real massage, though—that’ll be even better.”

  “Brett? Jean said you needed me.” Benj came in with Jean, looking concerned.

  “Hey, baby. Mr. Pokey here said he was going to give me a rubdown. Your hands sounded much better.”

  “Oh! That would be wonderful!” Benj beamed at him. “I should wash my hands. Do you have oil, Ralph? Something light and not too smelly?”

  Ralph chuckled and showed Benj the sink, a small collection of oils.

  It felt pretty damned good, Benj’s smile, the enthusiasm. “So, Jean. What am I supposed to talk about with you?”

  Ralph chuckled. “Jean is all about the food, Brett.”

  Benj laughed softly as he returned to slide his warm, slick hands over Brett’s skin. “That’s true. He even spices things according to certain needs. You should see his spice cupboard!”

  Jean chuckled. “I think we start with the worst, yes? Would you eat a smoothie in the morning? Something tart and sweet?”

  He sighed. “I really don’t like breakfast, but… yeah. Yeah. I can do that.”

  Benj made a soft sound and dropped a kiss on the back of his neck.

  “Nice one, Benj—very good incentive,” Ralph remarked.

  “Fuck off, Pokey.”

  Jean chuckled. “Favorite food?”

  “Steak.”

  “With those big, thick fries and salad,” Benj added, fingers working Brett the way he liked it, wiping away the shivery sensations the needles had left behind.

  “Those fries you won’t get here. I don’ have the deep fryer. But if you’ll eat baked?”

  He nodded. “I’m not a picky eater. I just don’t eat in the mornings.”

  “What about his midnight snack?” Benj asked, the massage changing a bit, his baby just touching him lightly now, fingers sliding on his skin.

  He started to truly relax, eyes closing.

  Jean chuckled. “What does he like best, cher?”

  “Sandwiches,” Benj answered, voice soft. “Lots of flavors mixed together.”

  Yeah. Yeah, baby. You know.

  “So big lunch? Little lunch?” Jean was scribbling hard.

  He grinned. “I like lunch. I love Sunday brunch.”

  “Oh yeah….” There was heat in Benj’s voice, and he knew Benj was thinking of lazy Sundays spent before he got hurt, getting brunch delivered and feasting on it and each other in bed.

  “Now look at that,” murmured Ralph. “Look how you make him glow, Brett.”

  “Me?” Brett wiggled, knowing Benj would see it. “He’s thinking about mimosas.”

  Jean hooted, clapping. “Oh. Oh, yes. Mimosas are heaven.”

  One of Benj’s hands slid down over his ass. “I’m thinking about drinking a mimosa with you.”

  “On Sundays; that’s the only alcohol day, remember.” Man, Ralph was a wet blanket.

  “Don’t you two have something to do? Lunch to eat? Other men to torture?”

  “Too early for lunch, and you’ve got a workout scheduled after your impromptu massage.”

  “Fucker.” He really didn’t like Ralph. Really.

  Ralph nodded and grinned, looking completely unconcerned. “You aim all that at me, where it belongs.”

  Benj’s hands had started fluttering on his skin.

  “Breathe, baby, yeah? If this is upsetting you, you don’t have to stay.”

  “I’m okay, love. I can do this as long as you need.”

  He just nodded, let Benj touch as he looked at Jean. “What else?”

  “There will be vitamins, supplements….”

  “No.” He shook his head. No way. He’d seen too many guys test positive on those fucking things. Not a fucking chance. A man could lose his future.

  Benj’s fingers slid over his back, soothing, warm.

  “Are you going to fight us on everything?” Ralph asked.

  He sighed, shook his head. “No. Why the hell would I worry? Why would I fight?”

  Benj petted his back and his baby spoke up for him. “They test the players constantly, Jean. They’re not allowed to have anything in their systems. There was a scandal when we first met. One of Brett’s friends had a cold and took some cough medicine and failed his drug test.”

  Ralph grunted. “We have been asked to send urine samples in once a week.”

  “Well, if they peg me with something? I lose my contract, my reputation, everything.”

  “Jean? What do you think, babe? Let him off on the vitamins and supplements?” Ralph looked sympathetic.

  “Then you’ll have to eat them in your veggies and food. Fair?”

  Okay, that was almost too easy.

  “Good job. You see? We can all get along just fine when we try.” Ralph was grinning. “What else, babe? You got some holistic-meditation-eating-grass stuff you want to talk about?”

  “Well, you actually like real food, yeah? Blows my fun. But the drinking, oui? You need to stop it, let it work out of your system.”

  “I already said only on Sundays.”

  “I think altogether.”

  Ralph chuckled and winked. “And you thought I was tough.”

  Benj’s hands had stopped, were resting silently on his skin, and he could feel his baby waiting for his response.

  “I’ve made my agreement.”

  “So, what? You can’t give it up?”

  He growled, tensed. “Did I say I couldn’t? For fuck’s sake. I’m a grown man.”

  Jean nodded. “You are, and if you don’t need it, give it up.”

  “Oh, and does that go for you too? You don’t need coffee, give it up. You don’t need chocolate, give it up. You don’t need to ride my fucking ass. Give. It. Up.”

  Benj’s fingers curled on hi
s back as Ralph shook his head.

  “You’re the only one being treated here, Brett, which is why you’re the one being asked to give things up, change your habits. We aren’t doing this to screw with you, remember that.”

  “That’s not fucking logical.” He met Ralph’s gaze dead-on. “If there’s not a direct—and I mean a direct connection to my shoulder—then it’s a general health thing. If it’s just a general health thing and the man doesn’t practice what he preaches? He’s a fucking hypocrite.”

  Ralph growled. “There’s a hell of a difference between alcohol and coffee and chocolate, Brett. The alcohol is affecting your body, your mood, everything.”

  “And caffeine doesn’t? Sugar?” Oh, don’t even fucking try intimidation. Brett was so not scared.

  “I don’t see Jean growling and bitching at everyone and everything. I don’t see him dosing himself with the caffeine and sugar to numb the pain.”

  Benj was fluttering at his back again, fingers alternately rubbing against his skin and twitching.

  “You don’t see dick with me. You’ve had exactly three fucking conversations with me, which is one more conversation than he has. We’ve shared half a meal and a quarter of a walk, and if this is all the respect you have for me, then fuck off. I’ll call the team, tell them I’m done, and go home.”

  “That’s right,” Ralph said softly. “You’re scared. You should quit. Then you can’t fail.”

  “I don’t need this shit.” His head hurt, his shoulder hurt, and he was arguing in his fucking tighty-whities.

  “No, this shit is exactly what you need. You need to clean your body and your mind and work on getting well. You need to stop fighting yourself and everyone around you every single step of the way.” Ralph shook his head. “Enough. You need to be here and you know it. You either follow the rules or you don’t, but you don’t follow them and we can’t help you. Okay. Everybody out. The man needs to do his workout.”

  Brett felt Benj hesitate, and he sat up, drew his lover in for a quick hug. “You go on, baby. I’m fine.”

  Benj hugged him hard and whispered, “I believe you can do anything you set your mind to, Brett.” He got a quick kiss, and then poor Benj all but ran from the room.

  “You going to let me put my sweats on to work out?” He was this close to putting his fist through a wall.

  “If that means you’re staying, then yes. Jean, are you done for now?”

  “I reckon. I’m going to take the wee cher down to town.”

  The Cajun sounded subdued. Brett couldn’t bring himself to give a shit.

  “Get dressed and I’ll set you up with a routine.” Ralph put his arm around Jean and walked him out, head close, talking softly.

  Brett sighed and got down. Seven hours before he could go to the bedroom. Seven hours before he could be by himself for a little while.

  Fucking shoulder.

  BENJ LEFT the barn and headed for the lake, hands opening and closing as he tried to catch his breath.

  He didn’t like the tension, but he was even more worried about leaving here, about Brett giving up.

  If Brett failed, that would be one thing. If Brett gave up…. Benj didn’t want to contemplate it, and really, if he thought about it, he knew his Brett wouldn’t quit. Brett just didn’t have it in him to give up.

  That actually made him feel better.

  Footsteps sounded behind him, Jean catching up. “Are you…? Am I bothering you?”

  He shook his head. He liked Jean. “No, it’s fine.”

  “He’s just scared, angry. It gets easier.”

  “I hope so. I hate seeing him hurting like this.” Benj stopped and looked out over the water. “It really is beautiful here.” He was surprised; he wasn’t an outdoorsman at all.

  “He’s very strong, you know? Ralph likes him, respects him, I think.”

  He stopped and turned to Jean, more than a little shocked. “He sure doesn’t act like it!”

  “No? He likes the ones that fight back, that aren’t dead inside.”

  “So the fighting is good?”

  “Better than dull zombie blinking, oui?”

  Benj nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, he did nothing but that for a bit. Scared me more than the yelling and growling ever did.”

  Jean nodded, eyes warm and dark. “Part of that’s the drugs, yes? The painkillers.”

  “Oh yeah. Brett stopped taking those sooner than the doctor even wanted.”

  “That could be a problem. The doctor may give him some cortisone shots, some pain pills, for the first few weeks.”

  “Well, the doctor’ll have to fight that out with Brett. I won’t go against him.”

  “Of course not!” Jean actually looked shocked. “You job is to support him, love him.”

  Benj nodded, relieved that going against Brett’s wishes wasn’t going to be asked of him. “I just thought you should know.” He turned, and they headed back toward the house. “I really do need to get to a hardware store.”

  “I need to buy pineapple and orange juice. Want to share a ride?”

  “Seeing as I have to rely on you for travel, do I have a choice?” He winked to let Jean know he was teasing. Not having a car there had put Brett’s back up more than his own.

  “Of course you do. There are vehicles you can drive.” Jean winked. “The driving? Not good for the shoulder yet. So, not for your homme.”

  “Oh, that’s good to know, thank you. I’m not fond of driving—if you’re coming with me anyway, would you mind doing the actual driving?”

  Brett had always driven when he was around, and when he wasn’t, Benj would walk or take taxis. There were a lot of things he’d come to depend on Brett for.

  “Sure, no problem.” Jean nodded. “I like the drive.”

  “How far, and how big is the nearest town?” Benj asked. He was finding it wasn’t so awful being out of the city, at least not after only a day, given all the conveniences this place boasted.

  “Big enough for a grocery store, a steakhouse, a hardware store. It’s a thirty-minute drive. Come, Ralph knows where I leave lunch. We’ll eat in town.”

  “Do you think they’ll be okay if we leave Brett and Ralph alone?”

  “Ralph won’t hurt him.” Jean’s head tilted. “Do you think Brett will hurt Ralph?”

  Benj shook his head. “Well… he might slug Ralph if Ralph pushes too hard, but he wouldn’t deliberately hurt him.”

  “Well, then. They’ll be fine.” Jean looked wicked, mischievous.

  “How come I suddenly expect to come home and find them both sporting black eyes?”

  “We’ll buy a few extra steaks.”

  That surprised a laugh out of Benj, and he shook his head. “I like you, Jean.”

  “Good. I think we can be friends, you and me.” He got another grin, a wink. “We can be athletic supporters.”

  Benj laughed hard, stopping to hold his stomach. “Oh, that’s good. I’m going to have to tell that one to Brett—that I’m his athletic supporter.”

  “You know it.” Jean looked tickled, happy, genuine and easy. Jean led him to a sporty little coupe.

  “Oh, this is nice.”

  “You know it. My baby. Slide on in, we’ll go play.”

  Still chuckling a little, Benj got in, pulled on his seat belt. He felt a little guilty, going off to have fun while Brett was battling his demons.

  Jean patted his knee. “He’ll be here after to melt, cher. No worries.”

  He blushed. “I’m pretty sure the mood will be long gone by tonight.”

  “So? Surely you know how to bring it back? It will ease him, relax him. Center him.”

  “Doctor’s orders.” He nodded. He would give it a try, anyway. Last night had been… so missed.

  That taste….

  “Yeah. You’ve got the hunger for it. I can see.”

  He felt his cheeks go even warmer, but he smiled. “I love him.” It was as simple as that.

  “Good. He loves you too, I think
. You eased him.”

  “Oh yes. He does. I have never doubted that.” He watched the road zip by. “How long have you and Ralph been together?”

  “Five years. We met in New Orleans at a conference. I left with him. Never went back.”

  “Love at first sight? Brett would say it doesn’t exist.” He knew better, though.

  “Good thing I didn’t fall in love with him on first sight.”

  “No? But you said….”

  “I meant Brett, cher. Ralph was mine from the start.”

  “Oh!” Benj laughed. “No, Brett’s mine. No falling in love with him.”

  “I’ll put it on my list. No falling in love. Buy steaks and andouille. Change oil in car.”

  “Just you wait—you think it’s easy because he’s such a grump, but when my Brett is feeling a hundred percent? Oh, even seventy-five percent—he’s a charming, gorgeous stud, and people fall for him left and right.”

  His Brett was a pinup. All the ladies who followed baseball wanted him.

  “And you? Who falls for you, cher?”

  “Me?” Benj laughed softly. “People don’t fall for me! Well, Brett did.” He smiled, remembering the intensity of Brett’s regard, the full-out way the man wooed. Benj had been totally swept off his feet.

  “Yeah? I can see people falling for you.” Jean grinned. “How did you meet?”

  “I had an interview with the ball club he was playing for, to be put on their massage list, and we ran into each other, literally, in the hall. I fell hard right from the start.”

  “Did he fall on you?”

  “Actually, he saved me from landing on my ass. Such lovely strong arms.” He licked his lips, breath coming a little faster as he thought about Brett and those strong arms.

  Jean made an appreciative soft sound. “You need to make sure to seduce him tonight.”

  Benj wiggled in his seat. “Yeah. Yeah, I think maybe I will.”

  “Oh no. No maybe. You want him. He needs to feel strong, you know? Hard and male.”

  “He is,” murmured Benj, his own cock growing hard. “He really is.”

  “It’s good for him, to remember one shoulder isn’t the man.” Jean’s nostrils flared.

  “I have tried, Jean.” Last night, though, he’d done more than try; they both had. His hands dropped to his lap as he tried for modesty.