Puck Me Harder: A Stepbrother Romance [BL]

Micah’s POV

As if drawn by some invisible, magnetic force in his raspy voice, I couldn’t stop myself. My weak legs moved on their own, carrying me across the room until I sat down on the edge of the mattress, right beside him.

Up close, seeing him like this made my heart ache so intensely it felt physical. Damon looked so weak, so exhausted. The usual fierce, arrogant fire in his dark eyes was dimmed by heavy fatigue, and his pale skin was clammy with a light sheen of cold sweat.

I wanted to ask him how he was feeling. I wanted to ask if his ribs were screaming in pain, if he could breathe properly, or if he was secretly dying inside. But looking at the tight, strained set of his jaw, I already knew the answer. He wasn’t fine. He was in absolute agony, forcing himself to look tough just for me.

My chest squeezed with such a suffocating wave of guilt that I pressed my lips tightly together, biting down on my lower lip so hard that the sharp, metallic taste of blood instantly burst onto my tongue. It was all my fault. If he hadn’t done anything with me yesterday, he wouldn’t be trapped in this bed, broken and bandaged.

Before I could sink any deeper into my self-hatred, Damon’s hand slowly shot out from beneath the blanket. His heavy thumb reached up, gently hooking over my chin to drag my bleeding lower lip out from between my teeth.

His touch was surprisingly warm, sending a sudden, electric shiver straight down my spine.

"Let me guess," Damon rasped, his voice rough and low in the quiet room as his thumb brushed over my sore lip. "Are you sitting there blaming yourself for what happened to me?"

I froze, staring into his dark, intense eyes. I tried to lie. I tried to shake my head and pretend that I wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, but I couldn’t. Without even realizing it, I gave him a small, helpless nod.

Damon let out a sudden laugh at my honesty, but the slight movement in his chest was a massive mistake. He instantly winced, his dark eyebrows pulling together in a sharp flash of agony as his hand flew to his bandaged side, his fingers clutching tightly against his bruised ribs.

"Fuck," he groaned through his gritted teeth, his breathing turning shallow and harsh.

"Are you okay?!" Panic flared in my chest like a wild flame. I jumped up from the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Should I call the nanny? Should I get the doctor right now?!"

I turned to hurry toward the bedroom door, but Damon’s hand snatched my wrist, his grip surprisingly strong despite his injury. He gave a sharp tug, pulling me right back down onto the mattress beside him.

I stumbled, sitting back down on the plush edge, my wide eyes scanning his face for any sign of serious damage.

Damon slowly shook his head, letting out a rough, ragged exhale as he forced his rigid muscles to relax against the pillows. "I’m fine, Micah," he said, his voice strained as his other hand trailed lightly down his chest, resting over the thick white bandage wrapped snugly around his midsection. "I’m totally fine. I don’t even know why that old woman is making such a huge, dramatic deal out of a few bruised ribs."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, staring at his bandaged torso before looking back up into his eyes. A terrifying thought suddenly hit me, making my stomach do a cold, sickening flip.

"Does... does your father know about what happened?" I asked softly, my voice trembling with raw anxiety. "Does he know who did this to you?"

Damon let out a low, tired breath, shaking his head gently against the dark pillows. "If I had tried to lie to him and make up some fake story, he wouldn’t have believed a single word anyway. My father isn’t stupid. Besides, if he really gets suspicious, all he has to do is check the estate’s private CCTV feeds and find out exactly what happened yesterday. But thankfully... the old nanny is, you know... pretty old."

He leaned his head a few inches closer to mine, lowering his tone to a whisper as a faint, boyish smirk played on his lips. "She forgets to report half the things that happen in this house to him."

A tiny, breathless laugh escaped my throat before I could stop it.

"Don’t talk bad about the woman who’s literally taking care of you," I murmured, leaning in to lightly poke his forehead with the tip of my finger.

Damon’s head fell back against the soft pillow at my light touch, a soft smile spreading across his handsome face. Seeing him smile—seeing that dangerous, arrogant charm return to his eyes even for a second—made a strange, fluttering warmth bloom deep in my chest.

I stood up from the bed, smoothing down my sweater as I looked down at him. "Honestly, I’m just glad it’s not any worse than this. You really would have ended up in an emergency hospital bed if Noah had hit you two more times."

"Ah, that brutal captain of mine," Damon groaned softly, though the smirk never left his lips. His dark eyes remained fixed entirely on my face, refusing to break eye contact, while his hand remained loosely wrapped around my wrist, his thumb making lazy, comforting circles against my pulse point. "The doctor said it wasn’t a... a raptor, though."

I blinked at him, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "A what? A raptor? Like... the dinosaur?"

Damon snapped the fingers of his free hand, nodding eagerly as if he had just solved a complex puzzle. "Yeah! That word! That’s what I said!"

I couldn’t help the small frown that tugged at my lips, amused despite the heavy situation. "You mean a rupture, Damon. A muscle or organ rupture."

"Yeah, exactly that!" Damon grinned, looking completely unbothered by his mistake. "See? You really are smart, Micah!"

"It’s basic common knowledge, Damon," I sighed, shaking my head as I looked at him in disbelief. "How did you even manage to pass the entrance exams and get into the university in the first place?"