Breaking (Fall or Break #2)

Read Breaking (Fall or Break #2) for Free Online

Book: Read Breaking (Fall or Break #2) for Free Online
Authors: Barbara Elsborg
Tags: MM;m/m;romantic suspense
anyone. He sipped the coffee and scowled. How hard was it to make coffee that tasted of coffee? Another reason she had to go.
    The need to use the bathroom weighed on him more and more heavily but he had to work himself up to the effort it would require to get there. Once he’d rolled the breakfast tray aside, he flung back the duvet and stared at his legs. Useless fucking stupid things. Why couldn’t they just do what his brain told them to do?
    The succession of physiotherapists assured him that they would eventually. Time and patience. The constant reminders of how lucky he was never improved his mood. Yes, curiously enough, he knew he wasn’t dead. Yes, amazingly, he was aware he might have lost the use of his legs forever. Yes, of course he was a pain in the neck. Ironically, one of the places he didn’t have pain. He’d been a moody bastard before this had happened and now he seemed stuck in a downward spiral.
    Though he knew he was lucky. Lucky the damage to his back happened at the point it did and not higher up. Lucky he wasn’t a paraplegic or quadriplegic or dead. Well, if he’d been left paralyzed from the neck down, regardless of whether he could breathe for himself or not, he wouldn’t still be here sinking deeper into misery. He’d have made a one-way trip to Switzerland.
    The need to piss receded and he did the exercises he was supposed to do before he even tried to get off the bed. He shifted his legs from side to side and pulled them up and down before he sat fully upright, spine straight, and slid his legs over the side to do the rest. Lift…count to ten…lower. Left leg…right leg…both legs. Over and over and over until sweat beaded on his brow and his pulse raced. He clenched his teeth in anger as much as with pain. He detested feeling so weak.
    His crutches were wedged between the bed and bedside cabinet and he furiously yanked them out, which did nothing for his back. Hard to tell what sort of day it was going to be before he stood up. Taking extra tablets would help with the pain but he was paranoid about getting addicted. Braced for severe discomfort, he pushed himself upright .
    When he managed to stand without crying out or slumping back, he felt briefly cheered. It looked like it might be a good day. With his forearms tucked into his crutches, his hands wrapped tightly around the handles, but trying not to use them to support his weight, he made his way slowly across the room and into the bathroom.
    He’d wanted the full-length mirror taken out of there, but Mark, the physio he least disliked, had told him to keep it in, to practice standing upright in front of it, straightening his body, pulling his shoulders back. Conrad stared into the mirror looking for the man he used to be. His once sharp blue eyes were dull and lined with exhaustion. His salt-and-pepper hair seemed to be growing more salt than pepper and it was untidy. In another life, he’d have had it cut. Now he didn’t care.
    Doing what he needed to in the bathroom sapped his energy. Even cleaning his teeth exhausted him. The shower could wait. He’d be wringing with perspiration once the physio had finished. As Conrad made his way back into the bedroom he heard his mobile chirping. He hoped it was his torturer telling him he wasn’t coming.
    He picked up the phone and glanced at the display. Not the physio. Not many had his new number. As far as work was concerned, he was on a six-month sabbatical and not to be contacted unless it was an emergency and only then through Martin, his clerk, who did have the number. But this wasn’t Martin. Conrad briefly debated if he could be bothered to talk to his mother, but knowing she’d only call back later, he pressed the button.
    “Mother,” he said.
    “Conrad, darling. How are you?”
    “Fine.” Because any other answer was pointless.
    “Wonderful. I’m sure you’ll be back to normal in no time.”
    How comforting . Back to my bitter twisted self.
    “Alexander and I

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