I was seething in anger when he all but haled me back to his section and did it with a smile. I was sure I had never wanted to kill someone more in my entire life than this moment here.

“Remove the smile off your face before I do it for you.” I snapped.

Ryer just looked at me as I walked into the kitchen. He was right behind me. But he didn’t sit at the table as I did. He went to the fridge and opened it. He said nothing as he started to cook, He pulled out two plates. I wasn’t at all interested in eating a damn thing. He plated the food and set it on the table. As he sat down, I stood up, walking back towards the door.

He was able to make it to the door before me and he blocked the door with his entire body.

“Get out of my way now.”

“Sasha, you just need to relax. Take a deep—-”

I punched him. Again.

The pain that ripped down my spine made me dry heave. Even though I had hit him, Ryer had managed to catch him before I hit the floor.

“Are you done now?”

Blood dotted his lip where I had hit him. But he didn’t seem at all fazed by it. Instead, he was more worried about me. I was grinding my teeth in pain again, but this wasn’t bone pain like my spine. This was extreme muscle pain.

“I’m going to set you on the couch so I can check your back.”

He didn’t wait for me to say anything, he just took me to the couch and set me down. He pulled up the back of my shirt and started pushing and touching all over my lower back and he hummed.

“I don’t think you have moved anything bone wise. I do believe you have pulled your already damaged back muscles. I’m going to apply some ice and then let Alessio——”

“Don’t fucking bother. I’m just going to lie down.”

Ryer used his arm and held me in place.

“No, you’re not. You are going to stay right here and let me put ice on your back and you are going to suck it up.”

He finally let me go and I hissed. But I didn’t move at all. He walked to the kitchen and came back with a towel and a few ice packs. I groaned just from the thought of the cold ice on my back. As he applied the ice to my back, I felt bad about hitting him, but I wasn’t going to say that. He didn’t need to know that.

His warm fingers on my back were gentle as he moved them with the ice packs. The food he made sat on the table just out of my view and made me feel even worse just thinking about the fact that I had punched him and he was more worried about my back than his own wound.

Hell. This was the second time I had punched the man because he provoked me.

“I'll just run all this by Alessio and get his opinion on it. He may want you to come back so he can have another look.”

He didn't wait for me to say anything. He just got off the couch and headed towards the office. Unlocking the door with a set of keys he pulled off from around his neck. I hadn't even noticed he had them around his neck at all.

Once he closed the door, I just starred at it. The section was quiet, all for the soft hum of electronic products. You couldn't hear Ryer speaking. I honestly did not know what he could say about me at that moment.

I crawled forward on the couch, lying flat on my stomach and resting my head in my hands. Twitches of pain and just the healing process of my nerves, made my legs jump and twitch all on their own.

Even though in my mind I thought he deserved to be punched then, it didn't mean I needed to actually punch him. He was supposed to be helping me with rehabilitation and therapy, but he had yet to do so because I was too caught up in trying to get back to my life at this very second. I was very much aware I was the one at fault and I could admit it to myself right now for a second or two.

He returned sometime later. The sound of his feet on the tiles, telling me so.

“Sasha.”

“Hm.”

“Alessio said, to ice the area and if the pain is worse than before then we need to go down so he can have a look at everything. Otherwise, just monitor the progress and pain.”

“For now, I'll just monitor it.”

“That is what I said to him as well. I figured you might say that.”

Ryer stopped speaking then. Heading back to the kitchen and the sounds of him scraping plates and tossing things out brought back the feeling of guilt again.

Lying here thinking about if I had money in my wallet to replace the food which I wasted, I never noticed Ryer crept back up beside me until his hands touched my spine and I jumped.

“Sorry. Didn't mean to make you jump.”

His hands, more so his fingers pressed into the tender flesh on my back in weird ways before he lay the towel on my back after pulling up my shirt again. He then weighed me down with what felt like all the ice packs I was sure he had.

“Just relax the best you can and let these ice packs take down some of the swelling. If it gets too cold or too much, just let me know.”

“Ok.”

I laid there until Ryer returned; he was clean from a shower, his hair was wet and I could smell him from where I was on the couch. It made me jealous; I wanted a steaming hot shower too.

They recommended me to have a warm, not hot shower, bath once I could stand it to help ease some pain in my muscles. But I could do neither right now without help, and I was not about to ask him. I hadn't sunk that far or smelt that bad yet. But I was sure I was going soon get there. I was already feeling pretty dirty.

Ryer's body washes assaulted my nose with the heavy scent of pine as he stopped to pull all the ice packs and the towel off my back.

Taking this chance, I checked to see the damage I had done to his face was minimal. But his lip, split in two places, was good and swollen. Without another thought, I apologised. I had to. Hell, I needed to. There had been no reason for my actions.

“I'm sorry.”

“For?” he inquired.

“The punch.”

“This one or the last one?”

I felt my temper flare at the tone that slipped into his voice then. But I held back from snapping at him.

“This one.”

“Right, no big deal.”

I slowly stood up, carefully. Ryer seemed to migrate closer to me then and spoke.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to lie down.”

“No, not right now you're not. You need food and I'm sure you're going to need another dose of pain pills here shortly. You can go lie down after that.”

I sighed. I was trying to get away from him, not get even closer to him.

“I'm going to make lunch, so just relax until then.”

I lowered myself back into the couch and inched around until finally; I was lying on my back staring up at the ceiling. I would have counted ceiling tiles, but he really didn't have any, and there was nothing to distract me from what was going on around me.

I dug my phone out of my pocket and flicked through all my apps. I had a few messages. But as I was about to toss my phone down, it buzzed with a text from Lukas telling me to check or go outside. It was snowing.

Ryer's only windows seemed to be in his bedroom, so I was headed there. Standing up, I shoved my phone back into my pocket and limped to his bedroom. The door squealing in protest when I open it.

Snow did happen here, but not super often. In the time I had lived here, I only saw one actual large snowfall.

Pulling open his blackout curtains, I watched the large flakes of snow falling, and it was sticking to the grass and everything else it touched. I was so very close to pushing my entire face against the glass, wanting to get closer to the snow.

“Ah, the first snowfall of the year.” Ryer hummed, from wherever he was lingering behind me.

I pulled the lock on the window, before sliding it open, the cold crisp air hitting my face. I wanted to go outside. Right, this second.