Open Heart One Shots (Choices)

Not Ready to Make Nice

Summary: When Ethan gets hurt, he's not surprised to find that Cassie isn't quite as understanding of his predicament.

He felt his ribs sing as his assailant managed to get past his guard. The satisfaction he felt when his right hook connected with the other man's face and heard the load groan more than made up for his previous distraction.

In the back of his mind, he knew he was pushing his luck. But when his gaze met his opponent's, he knew neither was ready to call it just yet.

"Ethan's hurt."

All it took was two words from Reggie, the owner-bartender at Donahue's, for Cassie's world to come crashing down.

She had just finished getting ready for the bed after a particularly long shift when her phone lit up. She quickly changed out of her pajamas, donning the first tee shirt she found along with dark jeans.

Sliding her feet into the slip-ons she'd left by the bedroom door, she tapped the app on her phone to book a rideshare and ran out of the apartment, slinging her purse on crossbody.

During the short ride, her mind kept jumping through scenarios, wondering what had happened and how badly he was hurt. Given how close the bar was to Edenbrook, maybe he had been taken to the hospital instead.

But no, thought Cassie. Reggie had told her to come to the bar, not the hospital.

She practically jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, throwing a quick 'thank you' to the driver before she hurried inside. She came to a halt when she saw Ethan sitting on his usual spot at the bar looking worse for wear.

His hair was badly mussed; there were small cuts near the corners of his eyes and his lips; as well, he had an ice pack pressed against the left side of his face. When he shifted, she saw the bruise forming along his jawline.

She started to walk towards him, the movement causing him to turn his head in her direction.

He raised his hand to brush away the lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead and she saw that his knuckles were badly bruised and slightly bloody. At least the bleeding had stopped.

"Ethan..." she whimpered as she reached his side, stepping between his open thighs.

Her hands shook as she framed his face between her hands, tears pooling in her eyes when he winced at the contact.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, dropping her hands but otherwise staying where she was. "What happened? Were you mugged? Did they catch the person who did this?"

Ethan grimaced again, but this time it was more rueful than from pain.

"Are you sure you don't want to..." Reggie's voice cut off when he saw Cassie.

He'd come in from the back where he had his office, a first aid kit in his hands. Without a word, he handed the box to Cassie and walked away.

She unlatched the cover, sifting through the materials in the box before removing the antiseptic pads and bandages in different sizes. She would have preferred a suture kit, but she could likely take care of the worse of the cuts with this.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she said, using the pads to gently clean the cuts on his face, ignoring the way he flinched when the antiseptic stung.

She was more worried about his knuckles and wondered how she could persuade him to go to Edenbrook.

"In hindsight, it was a stupid thing to do," he said, shifting in his seat. "At least I have the satisfaction of knowing my opponent probably looks and feels worse."