What Goes Around (Bulldogs MC #3)

9: You Owe Me A Burger

^^ Ruby ^^

"Hello?" I answer my phone, as I get out of the car, grinning when Smiler holds the door open for me.

"Hello, Lenni? It's Ruby from the hospital. Do you think you can get here soon?"

I panic and reach a hand out to grab Smiler's arm. "I've just pulled up. What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing! I just need to show you something," she reassures me, and I try to work out what's going on from the tone of her voice, but she's giving nothing away. As we walk through the main doors, I see her by the reception desk and walk over to her.

"Follow me," she says, leading the way down the corridor. I look at Smiler but he just raises an eyebrow and gestures for me to go ahead. "This is our physio department," She opens another door and I freeze. "I came down here to see how he was doing and found them like this,"

"Are they... playing dodgeball?" I gasp.

She looks at me and grins as I take in the scene before me. Banjo has his arm held up by elastic strings attached to what looks like a drip stand. He stands in between two rails, occasionally grabbing one with his right hand to steady himself. Robin is grinning at him as she throws an inflatable ball between her hands. She waits for him to regain his balance before throwing it, laughing when he manages to dodge it. I look back at Ruby. "Is he up to this? I mean, he's supposed to be resting, isn't he?" She shakes her head and smiles. "The doctors cleared it, and the physio is keeping a close eye on him," She points and I spot a young man in white scrubs watching the pair with a grin. "Robin told him that if he can hit her five times, she'll sneak him a burger in later,"

I laugh and turn to Smiler who is watching Banjo with a wide grin. "She's good for him," I say to him, smiling when he turns to look at me.

"She's good for all of us," he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. We watch as Robin throws the ball softly to Banjo, who catches it with his good hand. He holds it against his chest while he gets his balance, before throwing it hard at her. She squeals and tries to dodge, but it catches her hip and Banjo laughs.

"That's five. You owe me a burger!" We all laugh and they turn to look at us, finally realising we're there. "Hey! When did you get here?" He asks, leaning against one of the rails.

"A few minutes ago," I say, walking over to kiss his cheek. "How are you doing?" I hear Ruby laugh and turn to see that Robin has managed to get Smiler to take Banjo's place in the game.

"Better than I was," Banjo says. He reaches out to squeeze my hand. "I'm sorry about earlier,"

I look up at him, shocked. "What the hell are you sorry for? We all know that if it was me, I'd be throwing one hell of a tantrum," I laugh, and he nods.

"Dr Ryan came back about an hour ago. He says there's still really good blood flow to my hand, and my feeling in it is good, so he doesn't think it's compromised yet. He'll do another scan tomorrow and see whether the infection's starting to heal. If not, he said something about a biopsy to make sure I'm on the right meds, but the ones I'm on work on most things, so it should be good. And I'm allowed to be up and about as long as my arm is on this thing," He pauses to tap the stand, "And that I stop when I need to. The antibiotics made me sick earlier so I've got new meds for that," He shrugs, and I nudge with him with my elbow.

"You should've called me, you idiot! I would've come back,"

"I know," he nods. "But I was a miserable prick and didn't want to bring you down with me. You've got enough going on," He looks at Robin, who is now chatting to Ruby and the physio, while Smiler listens in. "She's a good kid. She reminds me a lot of you," He grins at me and I sigh.