All Chapters of Fighting Back (Fighting For Love 5): Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Adam was back the next day, and he was back the day after that. He was there every day for five days in a row, for four-hour stretches each time. It took that long for Nick to feel OK with walking on his own – no bar or wall support, and by the end, no Adam to catch him.By the end, Nick didn’t need Adam to catch him.Not that his gait was smooth or refined. No, he limped. When he got tired or lost concentration, he lurched. Sometimes he looked drunk, frankly, and he gritted his teeth every time he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, as his inner perfectionist screamed at him to fucking get it right, for Christ’s sake.Nick stomped down hard on that critical voice; he just kicked it in the ass, and he made sure he was wearing steel-toed boots when he did. This wasn’t about perfection, he finally understood. This was about progression, and so long as he got up every day and became better than he’d been the day before, he was happy.It was Monday morning, and Mia was getting ready

Nick stood in the doorway, hesitating. He’d never been indecisive or wishy-washy, not in anything, and he was damned if he’d start now – but he found that he needed a few more seconds before taking the plunge and totally committing to entering the room.He looked around at the circle of chairs, at the coffee machine, at the large men huddled in groups and talking, and hoped hard that nobody would make eye contact with him. Not yet, anyway. Eye contact meant that he’d been spotted, and being spotted meant that this was real. That this was really happening.That it was all really happening.“Hey, man.” A voice behind him made him jump. Nick lost his balance a bit and cursed under his breath. “You comin’ in, or what?”Nick turned carefully, remembering to keep his weight evenly distributed and centered. Goddamn this prosthetic; despite all the gains and strides he’d made in using it, it was still like trying to feel something through anesthetic. It was just the edge of sensation, or the

“OK, enough,” Luke said now, and Dalton glanced over at him, then actually shut the hell up. “What else is on your mind, Nick?”Nick hesitated, then sucked up his courage. “I – I lost my leg just over four weeks ago.”The men froze and the room went very still and quiet. Even Dalton looked vaguely taken aback.“Christ, Nick,” Zack said. “This is all really new to you.”“Yeah,” Nick said staring at the floor. “I – I had to have it removed for medical reasons.” He looked up now. “Luke told me that most of you guys are ex-military, but I’m not. I don’t know if that makes any difference to you.”“In what way?” Neck Tattoo asked, his voice low. “Like… being a part of this group. Maybe you think that I can’t – can’t relate to what you’ve been through. What you’re going through.”“You lookin’ to get away from us already, man?” Keegan asked lightly. “Wanna get to your foot and run?”“Well, he has met Dalton,” Josh/Jones said. “Who can blame him if he wants to get the hell away from the assho

“Well,” Nick began. “Last night, we… we slept almost naked in the same bed. Just slept.”Luke regarded him. “Was that the first time since the surgery?”“Yes.” Nick paused. “Well, I mean… I moved in with her two weeks ago and last night was the first time that I slept in my boxers and nothing else. Until last night, I was in sweat pants and a t-shirt.”“OK. And?”“And.” Nick took a deep breath. “I made her promise to not look at me. At – my leg. I made her close her eyes when I got into bed, and I made sure to get out of bed this morning while she was still sleeping. By the time she saw me, I had the prosthetic back on and was in jeans.”“Because?”“Because…” Nick’s voice trailed off. “Because it’s ugly.”“Has she not seen your amputation scar or the stump? Like, at all?”“No. I haven’t let her.” Nick swallowed hard. “I think – I don’t want her to be upset. I’m trying to protect her.”“Are you protecting her, Nick? Or yourself?”Nick’s head snapped up and he glared at Luke. “What the

He shook his head, trying not to imagine it. He’d seen some pictures of the women and he’d been horrified at the damage inflicted on them. God, what the women had suffered was literally unimaginable: many, many of them had lost an eye, one woman had had her lips burned right off. Even the women who hadn’t been hurt as ‘badly’ – though Nick thought of that as a relative term – were horrifically, permanently scarred. The scarring disfigured them to the point that many women felt less than human. It was a heartbreaking thing to have happened to them, and Mia had written an incredible book about it.“What did you see when you looked at them?” he asked her.“Strength,” Mia responded. “Spirit. Unbreakable courage. Determination to get on with things, as best they could. Triumph. Some of the best and brightest things that humanity has to offer us.” She paused. “I saw sheer, staggering beauty.”Nick bit his lip, kept listening intently. He knew that Mia had the ability to see beauty in destr