'Fucking hell, I shouldn't hurt this bad, I'm only 24 years old' my husband, Niall, whines from the bed. I adjust the ice pack on his knee and re-fluff the pillow beneath it.
'You've had trouble with your knees as long as I can remember, or at least as long as I've known you. Just take it easy for a few days. Besides, when's the last time you got to have a stepbrothers marathon?' I joked.
He's always taking care of me. Recently, it was an emergency with my diabetes at a Dinner for a Charity golf event. It's usually me that's injured, sick, or needs nursed back to health in some way. I'm not thrilled he's hurt, but a small part of me is glad I get to take care of him for once. When Bas called me telling me he was injured, I dropped our daughter off at my moms and flew to him on the next flight out.
He was only a little surprised to see me standing at the door of his hotel room, knowing how his team take expert care of him, and always calling me no matter what happens to him.
He's laying on the bed of the hotel suite he had booked for himself for his time in Australia promoting his new album. The weather is warm and he's laying in just gym shorts and his bare chest. He had shut all the windows and blinds even though we're on a high floor and the monster movie lighting was not cutting it for me. I opened the curtains, much to his dismay. He grunted at me that it was too bright and tried shielding his eyes from the sunlight.
'Do you need any more aspirin?' I ask walking back towards the kitchenette of the hotel suite. He shakes his head 'no', and continues flipping through the channels till he finds something he likes.
He's starting to get incredibly grumpy, mumbling under his breath about being stuck in a hotel in one of his favorite countries. He should be out playing footie with his friends, or sailing on a yacht, but he's stuck here.
I walk back to the king sized bed he's lounging on and crawl in next to him, careful not to touch his knee. 'Can I get you something to eat?' I ask as I hand him a beer as I rest my head on his shoulder. Maybe food will cheer him up.
'Yeah just order something from room service. I don't want you to have to go to the store and buy a bunch of ingredients for one meal. I don't plan on being stuck in this room long, babe.'. He takes a sip from the bottle before placing it on his bedside table. I look over the menu before deciding on something simple, chicken alfredo, and order two along with some snacks for later.
I place the call to the hotel's room service and they tell me it will arrive in 30 minutes. Reaching back to Niall, I lightly run my fingers up and down his chest in slow circles, making sure to intertwine my fingers in his chest hair whenever I came across it. His very presence is always calming to me, especially when he plays with my hair or runs his fingers through it. I'm hoping my being here makes him feel at least a little better.
My arm gets tired of reaching up to him and my fingertips move lower to his thighs. I'm twisting and playing with the hair on his thighs and I'm not really paying attention to my fingers. I'm startled when he lets out a low groan and grabs my hand, stalling it and pulling me from where my attention is currently fixated on the television.
'What?' I sit up and look at him.
'Babe, you have got to stop doing that. I can't properly do anything with my knee busted up.'
'Oh, sorry.' I pull my hand away. It's only about five minutes later when my hand snakes its way around his waist again. I lose myself in the program when he grabs my hand again startling me.
'What now, Ni?'
'You're doing it again,' he says and I realize I'd begun tracing patterns on his sides.
