Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

were you doing?"
    James just grinned. Damn Eli was hot. He leered at him, looking him up and down. "Your ear is cute." James thought his voice sounded odd, like he was drunk.
    Eli felt his face turn red. He looked at the nurse who turned away, her lips twitching in amusement. Fucking great, now the nurses would be talking about him in the break room. He cleared his throat. "Just sit still and behave. I'm almost done." Eli wrapped the last few layers of plaster, then looked up to see James stripping him naked with his eyes or going cross-eyed - it was hard to tell which.
    "Do you want a colored one?
    "Colored what?" James was definitely slurring now.
    "Cast, we can leave it plain or make it colored."
    James' eyes lit up. "Pink."
    "Um, I'm not sure pink is a good choice." The nurse was having more difficulty stifling her laughter now. "How about blue?"
    "I hate blue; it's for boys."
    "You are a boy. Okay, how about purple. That's almost pink."
    "Okay." James was staring into space now, kind of humming and swaying on the table.
    Eli and the nurse got him set up with a purple cast. James was swaying even more now, so Eli steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should lie down for a minute." All he needed was James to fall off the examining table and hurt himself. He hadn't over-dosed him, but James hadn't lied about being sensitive. He was high as a kite. Eli was glad James' sister was there.
    Just as he thought it, Abby poked her head through the curtain. "All done?" She looked at James lying on the table humming. "Oh God, you gave him a painkiller didn't you?" She started giggling.
    "Yeah, sorry. I thought it was for the best, but..." he waved his hand weakly in the direction of James.
    "This is brilliant. Did he do anything way embarrassing that I can blackmail him with later? Did he try to get naked? He did that when he broke his ankle in high school."
    Eli was left blinking, imagining James stripping. He shook off the image. "Um, no, sorry. Beyond some wicked humming and swaying, he pretty much behaved himself."
    "Crap." She looked at the cast. "Purple?"
    "Well, he wanted pink, but I thought purple might be a compromise."
    She broke up then, bent over laughing while Dedrick looked silently at them all as if he wasn't quite sure what was going on, which was probably true. "Oh my God. That is so perfect. Genius. I'm going to make his life miserable with that for at least a week. I can't wait to tell Monte."
    Eli shook his head. He and his sister definitely didn't have that kind of relationship. They got along fine, they saw each other every couple of years at some family thing, polite, pleasant. She would never seek out information to use against him. This was kind of odd. Like those families you read about in books.
    "Okay, well, I don't think he should be alone for a bit until the meds wear off. Here's a prescription for something less potent if he's in a lot of pain; in four weeks he should have his wrist checked and it will likely be good."
    "No problem. I'll keep him at my place today. My fault anyway, well Maxi's. Stupid cat." He helped James off the table so she could put her arm around his waist to guide him out.
    "Thanks again, Dr. Zimmerman. You're practically our family doctor already. I hope I'm not next." She grinned up at Eli and he couldn't help but smile back.
    "Eli." He wanted to smack himself in the head. Why was he letting this weird family get under his skin?
    She just kept smiling. "Okay, Eli. Take care."
    James finally looked at him, eyes glassy and smiled crookedly. "Nice ear." Despite himself Eli laughed.
    Eli watched them head down the hallway and looked up at the clock. Eight thirty. He was thirty minutes over - he could go. Once again, he grabbed his stuff and headed out to his car. It was a beautiful late-September day - the sun was shining, the sky was blue - the perfect postcard kind of San Francisco day. He took a deep breath and got in his car thinking he might hit the Wharf later after he grabbed some sleep. It was really too nice to be inside and he could go and say hi to the sea lions.
    He was half-way home before he realized he hadn't had a cigarette the minute he'd left work. He scowled for a moment, and then blamed it on the freaky McCray family with their weird names. McCoy McCray. That practically required Child Protective Services intervention. He ignored the smile lingering on his lips.
    ****
    James still blushed when he thought about his time in the ER. He