"Yep."

"And he's married to the daughter of a rapist?"

"Yep."

"This makes absolutely no sense."

"It's a soap opera. It's not supposed to make sense."

"Why doesn't the chief of police just arrest the mobsters?" James asked. He was really getting into the soap. To be more accurate, he was getting into tearing the soap apart.

"They make her act stupid so the mobsters don't go to prison," Mandy explained.

"But she's your favorite character?"

"Her and her daughter, Robin, yes."

"And Robin unfroze a bunch of super villains and is now being held hostage while her husband sleeps with the brunette with the big ... smile."

Mandy laughed. "Yes. The brunette with the big smile has pretty much slept with everyone in town."

James kept his eyes glued on the television as he shifted to Mandy's other foot. "I think I would be a good mobster."

"You just want to sleep with all the women he's slept with," Mandy countered.

"I'm fine with my lone woman," James teased. "I just want to own a restaurant and a coffee business. I think that sounds fun."

"You would."

Once the closing credits of the soap started to roll, James shifted out from under Mandy's feet. "Do you want something to eat?"

"I'm not really hungry."

"You didn't eat much last night either."

"The medication upsets my stomach," Mandy said.

"And your back hurts too much to throw up," James finished. "I get it."

"Hopefully it will be better in a couple of days."

"Yeah, because you can't afford to lose any weight," James said. "You barely weigh anything now."

"That's not what you said when you were carrying me up the stairs yesterday."

"That wasn't because you were too heavy," James said. "That was because it was just an awkward position."

"We've had s.e.x in that position," Mandy reminded him.

"Not when you couldn't move your back," James replied. "Although, I'm not ruling out that position in the future."

Mandy snorted. "Honey, you won't rule out any position."

"This is true."

"You know, just because I can't eat, that doesn't mean you shouldn't," Mandy said, looking him up and down. "You look tired."

"We both look tired," James said. "It's been a tiresome couple of days. I'll be fine."

Mandy bit her lower lip, her mind clearly busy as she regarded the man leaning against the kitchen counter with conflicted blue eyes.

"What?" James asked.

"I'm worried about you" Mandy admitted.

"You're worried about me? I'm not the one who was injured," James said. "I'm fine."

"You're not sleeping. I know you're not."

James sighed. He was wondering when this would come up. "I'm just hyper-vigilant right now," James said. "It will pa.s.s."

"I'm worried it won't," Mandy said.

"Well, don't," James said, refusing to meet her gaze. "I'm fine."

"Okay."

"I know that tone," James said. "You're just pretending to let this go until you can think of another approach."

"If you say so."

James moved around the couch, kneeling so he could be at eye level with his blonde. "I really am fine."

Mandy reached over, running a hand down the side of his handsome face. "I hope so."

"It's going to be a rough week," James said. "The doctor warned us. I figure, if we can get through this week, we can get through anything."

"What about a zombie apocalypse?"

James smiled despite himself. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "Even a zombie apocalypse. I could be Daryl."

"I'm Daryl," Mandy argued. "You can be ... Beth."

James clutched at his heart in mock disbelief. "You think I'm Beth? She's a blonde woman who sings in the middle of danger."

"Yes, but if I'm Daryl you have to be Beth," Mandy explained. "If you're not, then sleeping together is going to be awkward when the zombie hordes strike."

James nodded. "I see. I guess I'm Beth then, because I can't imagine sleeping with anyone else zombie apocalypse or no zombie apocalypse. I guess I'm going to need some hair dye and a really skimpy tank top."

"I can't wait to see that."

Eight.

The next week was rough for both of them.

James still wasn't sleeping, and Mandy was desperately trying to pretend she hadn't noticed.

Things got slightly better on her third day home when she was finally cleared to take a shower. Since she couldn't lift her arms over her head without her back screaming in protest, James had climbed in with her.

Seeing her completely naked had been a shock for him. The bruises on her back were so dark they were almost purple. At the edges, where the healing was starting in earnest, a yellowish tint was beginning to creep in.

The gash on her back was angry and red. It was itchy, which was a good sign, but Mandy was constantly fighting the urge to scratch. And, when she lost the fight, she spent the next twenty minutes fighting the urge to cry because her back was throbbing.

Mandy's chest was covered in small abrasions, most of which she ignored. The shower had been tense. Mandy was embarra.s.sed by how she looked, and invariably hurt because James wasn't reacting like he normally did when they showered together. He was so focused on not hurting her, he missed the obvious signs of distress on her face.

Once the shower was finished, though, Mandy's mood brightened. They spent the rest of the afternoon watching Friday the 13th movies with James positioning himself in a nearby chair, instead of next to her on the couch. It was subtle, but Mandy noticed.

The next few days reflected more of the same. James was walking Mandy back on the pain medication now, like Dr. Fitzgerald had instructed, and her nights were starting to become uncomfortable. She fell asleep without a problem, but she woke up aching several hours later. She tried not to wake James, who was situated as far across the bed as he could manage as he tossed and turned.

Neither of them was sleeping, and neither of them was acknowledging it to the other. The silence filling the apartment was so loud it was almost deafening.

On the seventh day, Mandy was at her limit. In the early morning hours, she shifted all the way across the bed until she was pressed into James' side. She was still in pain, but it was manageable now. She wanted to reclaim her life and she knew exactly where she was going to start. They both needed a little relief. Things would be better then. At least she hoped they would be better. She didn't know what else to do.

She rested her head on his shoulder, pressing her lips into the curved ridge of his ear. His ears were sensitive. She knew he was awake, but he pretended otherwise. Mandy slipped her tongue into James' ear, not missing the shiver that ran down his body.

She moved her hand the one not in the cast down his bare chest, tweaking one of his nipples before shifting it lower. She paused at the lip of his boxer shorts, running her index figure over his sculpted abs before slipping it beneath the satin fabric.

James' hand shot out, grabbing her wrist to stop her hand from moving lower. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, no," Mandy teased. "It's been so long you've forgotten."

James brought Mandy's hand up to his mouth and kissed the tips of her fingers. "You're being bad."

"I've never heard you complain before."

"I'm not complaining," James hedged. "I just think it's a bad idea."

Mandy stilled, her heart clenching. "Why?"

"You're not ready yet," James said. "It won't be much longer."

"I'm ready," Mandy said.

"No, you're not."

Mandy scrunched up her face. "I think you're the one who isn't ready."

James pressed another kiss to her fingertips and then shifted, pulling away from her and climbing out of bed. "I have some stuff to do down in the office today. If you need me, just call me on your phone."

Mandy couldn't stem the flow of tears as she watched him walk out of the bedroom without a backwards glance.

BY TEN, Mandy had worked herself up into a frenzy. James had showered and then secluded himself in his downstairs office, not bothering to climb the stairs to check on her even once throughout the morning.

Something was wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Mandy just didn't know what that something was.

When she heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, she hobbled over to the couch and picked up a magazine so she could pretend James' rejection of her this morning was the furthest thing from her mind.

When the door opened, she glanced up, forcing her face to remain neutral. The face that appeared over the threshold didn't belong to James, although she did have the same chocolate eyes.

"Hey."

"Hi, Ally," Mandy said. "I see you finally managed to get past the gatekeeper."

"It was actually easier than I thought it would be," Ally said, closing the door and dropping her purse on the circular kitchen table before joining Mandy on the couch. "I thought I was going to have to bribe him or threaten him to get up here. He sent me right up, though."

For some reason, Ally's admission filled Mandy with dread.

"What's he doing?" Mandy asked.

"He's just working on his laptop," Ally replied, clearly oblivious to Mandy's mood. "It must be a relief not to have him hovering for a change."

A relief? More like a disaster. "Yeah, it's great."

Ally shifted forward, fixing her brown eyes on Mandy. "What's wrong?"

Mandy thought about lying, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She needed someone to talk to, and Ally had been her best friend since they'd discovered boys in middle school.

"He's going to break up with me," Mandy announced.

Ally's eyebrows shot up to the middle of her forehead. "What?"

"He is," Mandy said, a tear slipping down her cheek. "He's already distancing himself. He's just staying now because he thinks I can't take care of myself."

"What makes you say that?"

Mandy unloaded a week's worth of misery on Ally, finishing with this morning's episode. By the time she finished, she was crying freely.

"Oh, Mandy," Ally said, shifting closer to her on the couch and wrapping an arm around her friend's shaking shoulders. "Are you sure you're not just reading more into this than you should be? You're an emotional mess and no one blames you, least of all me. I think you're jumping to conclusions."