One More Day (10 page)

"She got a lot of shit?"

"Nah.  It's a little place, and Colby has a truck."

"Gotcha," Tony said.  "It'll be after three.  I'll bring some boxes."

Ryan sighed, and leaned back, finished.  He stretched, then patted Tony's shoulder.  "This one's on the house."

"On one condition," Tony said as Ryan wiped off the last of the ink.  "You don't give up on getting the girl."

"Deal.  Now check that shit out."

Tony hauled himself from the bed and looked in the mirror, grinning.  He turned from side to side, looking at it from both angles, then came back for Ryan to put the thin protective bandage over it.  He was pulling his shirt on, when Mack came back in, this time wearing something a bit less like pajamas.

"Aw, you changed," Tony teased.

She smiled and shrugged.  "Yeah.  There a pizza place around here?" she asked Ryan.

"You want pizza?" he asked.

Mack just bit her lip.  "Yeah.  With pineapple."

"Then fucking pizza it is," he said pulling his phone from his pocket.  "What else besides pineapple?"

"I got it," Mack said.  "Just didn't know if there was a place close."

Ryan just shook his head.  "I know the best place.  They deliver too, unless you're wanting to get out of the shop for a bit?"

"We're still open," she said, shaking her head.  "Might be slow, but still."

"K.  Tony, you want something?"

"Meat," he said.  "Lots of it."

"Colby?" Ryan yelled.  "Pizza?"

"Fuck yeah!" Colby yelled from the break room.

With a shy smile at Mack, Ryan placed the order.  They assured him it would be no more than thirty minutes.  When he hung up the phone, Mack was holding up a pair of clippers.  She raised one eyebrow, and looked between him and Tony.

"You thought I'd forget, didn't you," she teased.

"Not in a million years," Ryan assured her.  "You want to do this now?"

She nodded.  "I'm not going to let this shit tell me what I can and can't do."

"Ok, then," Ryan agreed.  "Let me get a pair of scissors - and Colby.  He'd kill you if he missed this."

Chapter 10

The three men made an ordeal of shaving her head.  Colby tied her hair into a pony tail, then Ryan cut it.  Tony surprised her the most.  Instead of simply shaving all the hair from her head, he had carefully shaped it into a punkish flat top.  Declaring himself an artist, he gestured to the mirror.  Mack loved it.  What was left was no more than a few inches, but the tough style somehow made her feel more in control of what was happening.

Their bellies stuffed with pizza, washed back with soda and coffee, they sat around talking until midnight.  Only two college kids showed up wanting piercings, so it hadn't taken long at all to clean up the shop.  As the guys left, Ryan turned out the lights and followed behind her up the stairs.

"Radiation in the morning," Mack grumbled.

"With chemo?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Go wash all the loose hair off," Ryan said.  "You want anything, or are you ready to pass out?"

"Nope, my boss says I need a glass of kool-aid before bed."

"That's my girl."

Those words from his mouth made Mack smile and her stomach flip.  She hurried into the other room, grabbed her things, and jumped in the shower before Ryan could see how flustered he made her.  His place was starting to look like she'd moved in.  Her shampoo sat next to his.  Her razor hung in the shower.  Her dirty clothes were tossed in the hamper.  The strangest thing was that Ryan didn't seem to mind. 

She was rinsing the last of the soap from her body when the flipping of her stomach became something a bit more pressing.  She was able to stop the first heave, and wrenched open the shower door, barely making it to the toilet before she realized what a mistake the pizza had been.  She heard Ryan outside the door, but couldn't stop vomiting long enough to answer.

Huddled on the cold tile floor, thankful she no longer had hair to worry about, tears streamed down her eyes as she puked every thing in her intestines over and over.  Clinging to the toilet, she felt a soft towel across her back, and she puked yet again, gasping for breath.

"I got ya," Ryan whispered.  "You'll be ok, sweetie."

There she was, laying naked, praying to the porcelain god in front of the sexiest man she'd seen in years, and she didn't even have the strength to wrap the towel around her body.  There was only one way left to deal with her shame.  Puking again, she just let the tears flow.  When the last heave passed, Mack rested her cheek against her arm, and cried.

"You done for a bit?" he asked, kneeling beside her.

Without opening her eyes, Mack just nodded.

"K," he said, standing.  He stepped through the open bathroom door, and she heard him kick off his shoes.  The sound of cloth was interrupted by a zipper, then she heard his jeans slide down his legs, but she couldn't convince her eyes to open.  She'd just started shivering when Ryan's strong hands grabbed her ribs and helped guide her to her feet.

"You gonna be able to stand, Mack?" he asked when she swayed.

"I dunno," she said softly, refused to look at him.

"K.  Then we're going to do this together.  Come here, baby."

With one hand, he tucked the towel around her chest, then reached over long enough to flush the toilet before guiding her back to the shower.  All she could do was cling to the towel, hiding her flabby body from the one man she'd hoped to impress, but with a hand on each shoulder, he guided her back under the flowing water.  He didn't leave her.  Instead, he wiped what she was sure was vomit from her chin. 

When Mack opened her eyes, there was Ryan, wearing nothing but his black satin boxers, standing chest to chest with her, letting the warm water flow over her body as the urge to shiver passed.

"Not quite the sexiest shower you've ever had with a man, I'm sure," he teased.  "Still feeling like a wet noodle?"

"Yeah," she said softly, shame warring with her weakness.  They both won, and the tears came again.

Ryan pulled her closer, one arm around her back, the other guiding her head to his shoulder, and he held her.  "I still have two shoulders, sweetie.  We're gonna make it through all of this, ok?"

"I'm so embarrassed," she mumbled through the sobs, the words barely coherent.  "I just want to go home!"

"I can't let you do that, sweetie."  His hand caressed the new stubble on her head.  "I think you're amazing, you know that?"

"My art," she said, dismissing that, but the hysterical sobbing was coming under control.

"Not just that.  Baby, you're taking one hell of a serious course of chemo.  Didn't they tell you that?"

She shook her head.

"Most people get it once a week, and it kicks their ass.  You?  Daily for the first week, and you still tattooed my best client.  Trust me, Mack, you have nothing to be embarrassed about."

She nodded and tried to pull away, looking up at him with a weak smile.  "Except that I'm wrapped in a soaking towel, standing in the shower, crying on my boss's shoulder?"

"Friend," he said trailing his fingers down the soft down at the back of her neck.  "And tomorrow morning I get to be your boyfriend again."

"Lucky me," she said with a little laugh.  "Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry.  I really didn't mean to get you involved in this."

"You gonna be able to stand there for a second?" he asked.

She nodded, and he turned off the water, then stepped outside the glass door.  His wet boxers clung to his ass, and he wrapped a towel around his waist, then grabbed another from a nearby cabinet.

"Ok, leave the wet one in there, and wrap this around you."

He politely turned his back, and Mack dropped the wet towel, wrapping the dry one around her.  "K.  Can you help me out of here?  My legs are like Jello."

"Yeah," he said softly.

Offering her a hand like an old style gentleman, he eased her over the lip of the shower, then scooped her into his arms.  Mack felt weak and unstable enough that she didn't even protest.  Instead, she relaxed, and let her head rest on his shoulder as he carried her into the other room, laying her gently on the bed.

"You're not a problem, Mack, and you didn't get me involved in this.  I volunteered."  He pulled the blankets across her.  "Now just stay there and let me get some clothes on?"

She nodded and tugged the blankets up to her neck, thankful for the warmth.  Her eyes followed him around the room as he pulled open a drawer, then headed back to the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him.

He wasn't in there long, but Mack's eyes had started to feel heavy before she heard the door open again.  Ryan stepped out wearing a dry pair of shorts and nothing else, but she saw the wet towels hanging over the glass wall of the shower behind him.  He glanced over and smiled when their eyes met, then moved to her bag.

Chewing at his lip, he dug through her clothes, pausing a few times, before pulling out a pale green tank, and turned back to his dresser.  He grabbed another pair of shorts, black with green edging, and came back to her side.

"Still feel like jello?" he asked.

"I'm better."  Her eyes were locked on the tattoo across his right pectoral muscle.  "Is that armor?"

"Yeah." 

It looked like plate armor peeking through a rip in his skin, as if his body was hiding the knight underneath.  Laying there, wrapped in nothing but a towel, in Ryan Sterling's bed, being pampered by the man she'd stared at for over a year, Mack couldn't think of anything more fitting.

"It's perfect," she whispered.  "A knight in shining armor"

He chuckled and glanced away, rubbing at his face, but unable to hide the smile.  "Yeah.  So, I'm gonna go get your nausea meds and a drink.  Put these on?"

She nodded.  When he was halfway to the kitchen, the double doors to the bedroom still open, Mack sat up.  She didn't even try to be graceful about it, just stepped into Ryan's shorts, halfway terrified that they would be way too small for her butt.  Instead, they were perfect, nice and baggy, but not so much that they threatened to fall off.  Next she grabbed her shirt, and pulled it down before sliding the towel away from her body.

"Trade you," Ryan said, holding out a handful of pills.

With a heavy sigh, she took them in one hand, passing the towel to him with the other before claiming the glass.  He tossed it in the hamper in the corner, then sat beside her, waiting for her to finish the last of the kool-aid.

Half way through, she paused, cradling the glass in both hands.  "How do I ever make all this up to you?"

"Kick the shit out of the cancer.  That's it, Mack."

"Can I go back to work tomorrow?"

He shrugged.  "We'll see.  Colby has to take off early, so I'll let you hang out at least, how's that?"

She smiled and leaned over, resting her head against his shoulder.  "Thanks.  I hate feeling useless."

"Draw," he told her.  "Paint, draw, what ever.  I don't care if it's any good, but don't stop.  And," he said, rubbing her stubble, "You want to dye this?"

She laughed.  "Why?  It's just going to fall out."

"Maybe red?  I don't think yellow would work to well.  Something wild and crazy for you and your punk hair."

"Yeah, and a tattoo at the back?" she teased.

He chuckled.  "Flames for my hot chick."  He tried to keep a straight face, but it didn't last more than three seconds, before the grin broke through.

"You're just trying to corrupt me!"

"Something like that," he said.  "You trust me?"

She nodded, unsure of what he meant.  Hadn't he just picked her up off the floor of his bathroom?

"I always wanted to try a henna tattoo.  It'll last a few weeks.  You want to be the guinea pig?"  He reached up, and ran a finger down the back of her neck.  "I even have an idea."

"Sure," she said, then tried to stifle the yawn. 

"Then finish that, and crawl in bed."

She did, passing it over.  As he walked out of the room, Mack suddenly didn't want to be alone.  Things seemed so much more ominous when Ryan wasn't around.  He made her laugh, and always kept the mood light, while comforting her any time she needed it.

"Coming back?" she asked his retreating back.

"Gotta tuck you in," he promised.

She slid under the covers and rolled to face the center of the bed, watching him turn off a few lights.  Then he grabbed the trash can and made his way back.  She heard it thump beside her, and closed her eyes, listening to his feet walk around the other side of the bed.  Gently, carefully, he sat beside her and reached over to pull the blankets a bit tighter.

"Don't let me steal your bed."  She lifted her lids, looking through her lashes at him.

The moonlight leaked through the windows in the apartment and only a dim light in the kitchen gave warmth to the room.  In the darkness, Ryan's tattoos faded from brilliant hues to soft shades of greys and blues.

"Think of it more like a gift."

"Then at least share?  I don't want to find you asleep sitting up in the morning.  I'm not exactly the sexiest guest, but I'd think it's better than the couch."

She watched him swallow once, then reach out and rub his palm down the back of her head, before he found the words he was looking for.  "I'm trying to be a perfect gentleman, Mack."

She nodded.  "K.  I'm just getting spoiled.  I kinda like having my shoulder so close."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"I like my own bed better anyway."  He pulled back a corner and crawled in across from her.

He slid one arm under her neck, below the pillows, then pulled her just a bit closer, tucking her body against his.  They lay like that a while, and Mack breathed in the clean scent of him so close to her, nudging her face just a bit closer to his neck.

"Guess this means you're ok with sleeping with your boss now?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, but I believe I said I wasn't going to fuck my boss."

"Mm.  Pretty sure the doctors said you aren't allowed to do that."

"Where's your girlfriend, anyway?" Mack asked, avoiding his comment.

He laughed a bit.  "I don't do so good with those."

"Why?  Not like you'd have trouble finding one."

"Thing is, before I can meet someone, I kinda need to talk to them.  Hell, last girl I thought was pretty, it took me months before I got the nerve up."

"You have women in here all the time.  Hell, you have your hands on some pretty personal areas of half of them."

"They just want to flirt with their piercer or tattooist.  Not the same thing, Mack."

She just wasn't able to let the thought go.  "Yeah, but the last girl you had a thing for, pretty sure she didn't shoot you down cold."

"Not exactly.  Didn't work out quite like I'd planned, though.  What about you?  I can't believe you aren't surrounded by a little fan club."

"Me?" she laughed.  "Ryan, I'm average at everything.  I'm like a walking statistic."