Chapter Forty-Four

John let Ryan slowly move his arm, wincing as his muscles stretched and the bones adjusted to the movement. "Fuck…" He hissed between clenched teeth, feeling the doctor press on his healing shoulder.

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but we've gotta do this." He gently lifted John's arm above his head, wrapping his arm around the kid's side as he flinched away. "It'll stop hurting here in a little bit." He watched as John's face contorted with the pain, amazed that he didn't cry out from what he was feeling. "You're one tough son of a gun." He chuckled, letting John take a break from the pain for a moment.

John shrugged, flexing his fingers since they were out of the sling for a moment. "Kinda had to be."

Claire kissed his neck, right behind his jaw, smiling at the prickly scruff on her lips. "You don't anymore."

He smirked, glancing in Thomas's direction before kissing her. He let his upper lip tickle her nose, feeling her smile at the feeling of his stubble. He nipped at her lips, tasting her lip balm and the sweetness of the cake she and Kaylie had made. He jerked back as he felt someone flick the back of his head, looking up to see Thomas standing over them. "I wasn't going to sleep with her, Dad."

Claire nodded, rubbing her hand over John's tensed shoulders. "We were only kissing." She ran her fingers into his hair, pressing the pressure points behind his ears to make him relax in hopes that he wouldn't get worked up again.

Clarissa chuckled as the tension melted out of John's body, making him look like a ragdoll beside her daughter. "Honestly Tom, Claire knows how to take care of herself."

Andy shook his head, laughing at how John went cross-eyed when Claire scratched his head with her nails. "Better be careful Claire. You'll turn that giant into a lap dog."

John moaned as she rubbed the crown of his head, wrapping his hands around Amelia's waist as she climbed onto his lap. "Oh…" He let a goofy smile play on his face, biting his tongue between his teeth as she continued to rub. "That's the shit…"

Amelia tilted her head, looking at her incapacitated knight as his body began to shake from pleasure. "What're you doing to him?" She asked, pushing her hands against John's chest as she looked at his crossed eyes.

Claire laughed, pressing a kiss to John's earlobe, feeling the silver cuff and the diamond earring he always wore. "Loving on him."

John turned his head to her, leaning in and pecking her lips with his. "I wish I could find your spots." He smiled, pressing a kiss under her jaw, traveling father down her neck until he reached the collar of her t-shirt. "Isn't this one of mine?" He asked, pulling on the shirt.

Claire shrugged, fluttering her lashes as she looked into his warm eyes. "Maybe…" She yelped as John slipped his hands under the shirt, his long fingers stopping just short of her breasts. "John!"

He chuckled, sitting back as she slapped his shoulders and chest. "Hey! Ow!" He caught her wrists in his hands, wincing as the movement pulled on his stitched hand and broken fingers. "Watch it. I just did that so I'd stop losing my clothes." He raised a brow, tracing circles on her hands as he rested them on the hard plains of his chest. "Between you and Amelia I hardly have a shirt to my name."

Claire rolled her eyes, tracing her fingers over the pale scars on his pecs. "It's not like you ever wear one anyway."

John heaved a breath, enjoying the feeling of her hands on his body. "Only because they irritate my incision."

Claire's brow furrowed, lifting his arm so that she could see the newest scar on his side. "How long has it been like this?" She asked, running her fingers over the scar.

He jumped as she touched a particularly annoyed spot on the raised flesh of the scar. "A few months."

Ryan leaned over him, looking at his side. "That's an allergic reaction to the sutures they put in the muscles." He placed a hand on John's ribs, pulling at the skin so he could get a better idea of what was wrong. "That's why you've been having a hard time catching your breath and been getting those pains."

John looked at the man, shock clear on his face. "How did you know about those?" He asked, knowing that he hadn't told anyone about the pains.

Ryan chuckled sitting back and rubbing his hand through John's hair, mussing it to an even worse case of bedhead. "I'm a doctor, kid, it's what I do."

John's smirk faltered, his eyes widening as he realized that he could end up back under the knife to correct this. "I won't need surgery, right?"

Ryan sighed, knowing that John had hidden the pains because he was afraid of being on a operating table again. "I'm afraid so, but it'll be a real quick procedure. You'd only have to stay in the hospital overnight, maybe even be able to come home that night."

Clarissa crowded around John and the others, taking a look at the red scar. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" She asked, looking up at his face.

He shrugged, nodding to Ryan. "Because I knew he'd take me under the knife."

Amelia's eyes widened as she slammed her little body against John's chest wrapping her arms around his ribs. "Don't kill him!" She cried, making the room laugh.

Mary peeled her daughter off of John's chest, holding her close. "We're not going to kill him baby. He needs to go to surgery because his body doesn't like what they sewed him up with last time."

"Oh." She looked over at John, noticing that his mood had gone sour. "Are you gonna have another temper tantrum?" She asked, watching as his eyes lightened with humor.

"No, I'm not gonna have another temper tantrum." He chuckled, feeling Claire run her fingers over his abs. "I'm gonna be good today."

"You better be." Claire smiled, hiding her worry for his health as she noticed he had almost no body fat on him. "Or I'll ground you from kissing for a month."

John gasped, pressing a hand to his heart in over exaggerated shock. "You wouldn't dare!"

She smiled leaning her face just a few inches away from his. "Try me."

Dominic chuckled, finishing up a braid in Kaylie's hair and taking the hair tie from Brian as he attempted to learn how to do the complicated weave. "Please, neither one of you would last a day."

John raised a brow, looking at his cousin as he patted Kaylie's shoulders to let her know he was done with her hair. "Wanna bet?" He asked. "Five bucks says we can make three days."

Cody nodded, already thinking about the cash he could rake in. "Ten says you fail in an hour."

Claire crossed her arms, leaning back on the couch. "Twenty says we make it a week."

John held his hands up, waving them in the air to stop the betting. "Woah, woah, woah, let's not get crazy here." He held up three fingers, raising his brows for emphasis. "Three days. That's it. No more no less."

Dominic laughed, switching over to Spanish so that no one else would understand. "Ustedes dos tendrán sexo en su lugar."

John shook his head, smirking at his cousin. "Solo despues del matrimonio."

Claire shook her head, leaning her shoulder against John's good one. "You two really need to teach me Spanish."