Rebel (Renegades #2)(51)
Author: Skye Jordan

“I’m…okay. But, shit.” He laughed the word but immediately grew serious. “Good thing we tried this out. I can’t have that happening to Wyatt.”

“It wouldn’t,” she said, massaging the flinching muscles. “It was just reacting to your sudden movement. I can’t imagine he’d move like that, but…” Concern seeped in. “Maybe I should program in some safety levels. Or create some noise filters, to guard against the rig responding to muscle spasms.” Her eyes searched out his. “Wes, you’re going to have to be with him when he uses this. It’s not like anything on the market. The physical therapist won’t know how to use it or control it. Christ, I don’t want this to hurt—”

He reached up and cupped her face. “I’ll stay with him whenever he uses it.”

“Maybe you should keep it with you. I wouldn’t want someone else to try it….” Suddenly this was sounding problematic. “God, Wes, I don’t know…”

He ran his thumb over her cheek, his eyes warm and reassuring. “I’ll keep it with me. No one else will use it with him until I train them. And I’ll train Wyatt. It’ll be fine.”

Still, panic fluttered in her chest. “Maybe…maybe this isn’t such a good idea… I mean, it’s a great concept and an awesome rig, it’s got a hell of a lot of potential, but, maybe it’s not ready for—”

Wes pressed his thumb against her lips. “Rubi, it’s going to be fine. It’s going to be amazing.” He paused, and thought drifted through his eyes. “Hey, why don’t you come with me?”

The words didn’t immediately sink in. When they did, the panic in her chest ignited in flame. She pulled back. “What? No—”

“No one knows how this works better than you,” he said. “You could supervise. You could work with the therapist—” He stopped suddenly, his gaze clouding over. But it cleared a second later, refocusing on her. “Or just me and Wyatt after I talk to the therapist.”

“I can’t go, I’m working—”

“You can work anywhere, and you know it.”

“I have a deadline, Wes, and your family…” Oh God, yeah—there was a red flag. His family. “No,” she said, steadfast. “Thank you for offering, but no. You can handle it.”

She unstrapped the rig from his thighs, once again tense and uncomfortable. Pulling the disc from the unit, she slid it into a baggie with the others. “They’re labeled according to which he should start with. He needs to start with the strongest power and work backward, which is not intuitive. So, please, Wes, if you don’t remember that or explain it to others—”

He rested his hands on her shoulders. She couldn’t read his eyes now, as if he’d closed off. “I get it, Rubi. I’m not stupid or careless.”

Pain zinged across her ribs. “I never… I don’t mean… I know you’re not. I’m just…worried.”

“Which is why you should come with me. We don’t have to stay with my parents. We’ll get a hotel nearby.”

“Stay with your— What are you thinking? I can’t even manage a decent relationship with my only relative. You can’t expect me to jump into your family as if I know what I’m doing.” She held up her hands, palms out. “Look, I trust you with the rig. You can handle it.”

“Fine, fine.” He released her, but frustration filled his voice and disappointment tightened his expression. “Relax.”

She sat on the edge of the sofa, closed her laptop, and rested her head in her hand, rubbing her temple. “Sorry. The whole family thing just… I don’t understand it, and I’m not… I just don’t do family.”

“I get it,” he said, curving an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry too. I’m not thrilled with this change of plans, and I’m going to miss you. Come on. We should get over to Jax’s before he calls looking for us.”

Fifteen

Wes stood still while Rubi unsnapped the rig’s straps—again.

After that bizarre shock to his thigh muscles, she’d insisted on bringing the computer and rig to Lexi and Jax’s so she could add some safety measures to the program.

He was zero for two with Rubi today. He’d really stepped in it when he’d sprung his schedule change on her earlier. The look on her face when he’d told her he’d be leaving in a day instead of a week or more had shot an icy cold streak through him. The dismay and hurt had lasted only an instant before she’d expertly shut off her emotions like a light. But that moment had given him a glimpse of what she must have looked like as a kid, receiving word her father had left town again without notice. She’d denied caring when he’d tried to explain the schedule change, but he could tell she was still out of sorts. Then he’d gone and done it again when he’d asked her to go to Missouri with him.

He hated knowing he’d upset her. But what really bugged him was that both incidents were minor, everyday, normal events—a schedule change and an invite to meet the parents. But for Rubi…obviously trigger points. On the other hand, she could climax on a crowded dance floor without pause, get caught giving him a blowjob and grin.

He was trying to understand—he was—but he just didn’t get it.

“It’s not something someone who’s had a normal upbringing would understand.”

Lexi’s words drilled into him, making him even more frustrated. How did he cope with something—or help Rubi cope with something—he couldn’t understand?

“Are you okay?” Rubi’s concern drew him out of his daze. She had that one vertical line of worry between her brows as she looked up at him, her hands unhooking the bands from his thighs.

He ran a hand over her hair and nodded.

She pulled the rig off his hips and swung it clear of his body, pushing to her feet. Without heels, the top of her head just cleared his chin, and as he looked down at her now, she seemed so much smaller, somehow more fragile than he’d ever thought of her before.

Her hand lifted and cupped his jaw. “Hey,” she said, voice soft, so much real emotion in her eyes it made his stomach clench. “Really. Are you okay? You’ve been…I don’t know… distracted since we got here.”

He covered her hand with his, turned his head, and kissed her palm. “You’re worried about me, while I’m worried about you.”