Jess frowned and stayed stubbornly where he was, despite her best intentions to get him to relax again. He couldn't now, even though he knew it was going to ruin the night if he persisted. Stubborn was one of his many character flaws and now that he'd started, it was hard to stop.

Every muscle in his abdomen screamed at him to change positions, to find a different support for the shattered bones in his ribcage, but he was trying to prove a point now. He certainly couldn't put together the words he wanted to say into some coherent sentence that wouldn't blow this out of the water and so he simply stayed where he was and watched her carefully, eyebrows raised expectantly, willfully ignoring the ache in his chest and limbs from the strain he was putting on his body.

He couldn't string together the words, but he could still say something without actually having to say it, too.