A Practical Guide to Sorcery for Night-Shift Workers novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Slow Morning

His flat was the upstairs of his aunt's house on Bellaire Road.

It had sloped ceilings, a window full of gray morning, and a bed with a quilt the color of oatmeal.

He drew the curtain, and the room went the soft brown of weak tea.

I stood by the bed in my scrubs, with twelve hours of the ER still on me.

"Shower first?" he asked.

"No."

"There's a good kettle."

"Anselm."

"Yes."

"Take off your coat and lie down."

He did it at once.

He took off the coat and the vest, and he sat on the edge of the bed and tugged off his shoes.

Then he stretched out on his back on the quilt with his hands at his sides, and looked up at me.

"You're doing it again," I said.

"Doing what?"

"Steering. You're lying there working out what I need next."

"I'm not."

"Your jaw is."

He gave a low sound that was half a laugh.

I knelt on the bed beside him, and I took his left hand in both of mine.

His palm was warm, but the fingers were curled a little.

I pressed my thumbs into the heel of it, and worked outward, the way I'd been taught for patients who clench through a bad night.

"What are you doing?"

"Your hands hurt."

"They don't."

"They do. You just don't notice anymore."

I worked each finger, then the web between them, then the tendons along the back.

I worked his wrist and the long muscles of the forearm.

At the first real pass he winced, and then something in his face gave way.

← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend