Between the Pipes (Offsides #3)

by J.J. Mulder

His voice is stiff and uncomfortable sounding. He hasn’t moved a muscle since stepping inside. “All right, well, kitchen is this way.” I place a gentle hand at his low back, inciting him to move. We walk abreast, and I’m just starting to feel pretty good about the state of cleanliness—it’s much less tidy upstairs, but he doesn’t have to know that—when Nico runs into a wall. It’s a half wall that separates the kitchen from the dining room area; a wall I’ve been meaning to knock out in order to open up the space. It’s on Nico’s right side, and I’d given him plenty of space to skirt around it when I turned into the kitchen. He hits it hard, the way someone would run into something if they were walking around an unfamiliar place blindfolded. He inhales a sharp breath, a hand on his stomach like the wind was knocked out of him. “Shit.” I reach for him, confused. “Sorry.” He opens his mouth, closes it, and then repeats the process. His eyelids shut, and his jaw clenches tight. When he speaks, his voice is as taut as a stretched rubber band. “My mistake. I didn’t see it.” This only confuses me further. How the hell could he not see it? It’s a fucking wall. Nico’s eyes open, and my confusion turns immediately to worry. His green eyes are clouded with pain and humiliation. When he speaks, the words come out sounding choked. “I didn’t see it because I’m almost fully blind in my right eye, and partially blind in my left eye.” I freeze. Blind? This strikes me as wholly unlikely for ma...