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“I’m going to make you repeat that when you’re not high on pain meds,” He chuckled into my hair. I wanted to argue it wasn’t the drugs, but I was lulled into sleep once again; my mind freeing of all thoughts except how good he felt against me.
CHAPTER 36
DECKER
As much as I hated only getting small moments of conversation between long bouts of sleep, I was so grateful that Lake was alive and back with me that I didn’t continue to question her constant sleeping every time the nurses came to check on her. They’d fed me lines time and time again about how her body had been through multiple traumas and rest was the best cure for her injuries.
She’d finally started to stay awake more often than sleeping after she’d been in the hospital for a week. I’d been there constantly until Fitz had come in with Cabot and announced that if I didn’t shower, they were going to drag me out and hose me off. I’d refused, but it was Lake who got me moving finally when she said she wouldn’t share her bed with me anymore if I didn’t wash the stink off. Luckily, due to her bank account, the hospital had treated her like royalty and the bathroom attached to her room had a shower.
Those had been the most agonizing ten minutes since I’d found her. I couldn’t enjoy the hot water pounding on my skin or focus on anything other than a utilitarian scrub down while listening for anything that could be going wrong on the other side of the door. As soon as I was clean, I was out of the shower to find a clean set of clothes on the back of the toilet waiting for me. As soon as I was dressed and the door was open to a smiling and talking Lake, I felt myself settle.
Fitz and Cabot had stayed, and when I wiggled onto the bed, and Lake draped over my body, I allowed myself to relax completely. They continued to talk about light hearted topics, things that weren’t too deep, knowing that heavy was just too much right now. Cabot told her about Scout taking Ryan back home to DC, Avery pretty much adopting Evan’s little sister, and all the men who had been in her detail who were planning a welcome home party for her. I let them talk, content just to listen to the comments she made or giggles that escaped every time Fitz and Cabot started to bicker.
A gentle knock at the door pulled us from the private bubble we’d been existing in, and we turned to see Kasey in a wheelchair, looking like the fucking unibomber with his scraggly beard and hollowed cheeks. We hadn’t been able to bring up Kasey to Lake. No one wanted to see her fall apart at the news that he’d woken up a near stranger to us. Gone were the light jokes and snarky retorts. He had died on the operating table and been brought back twice. When he woke up, his face held an unfamiliar scowl and his tone was biting and angry every time he spoke.
My body went on high alert as he slowly wheeled himself into the room, pausing to rub a hand over the healing wound in his chest. Fitz and Cabot had frozen too, ready to wheel him right back out if he copped an attitude with Lake. But as he looked at her and she looked at him, they both began to cry and release watery smiles. An entire conversation happened in the silence. He apologized for his mistakes; she told him he had nothing to apologize for. He expressed guilt and she shook her head, unwilling to accept it.
And as we watched the silent exchange like a tennis match, both Lake and Kasey seemed to start the healing process. It would be a long road to fully healed, if any of us ever got there, but this was a start, and it gave me hope.
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LAKE
“If you don’t stop hovering like a concerned mama bird, I’m going to junk punch you,” I growled, smacking away Decker’s hovering hands. I was already irritated by the fact that every wound inflicted by Dominic had been healing, but placed directly in places that made them twinge with a dull throb every time I moved. I’d been released from the hospital a week ago, but I might as well have stayed for all the nursing Deck was trying to do.
I hadn’t argued when he told me we were going back to his place. I didn’t even panic walking the hall to the front door of that apartment. I had been nervous on the elevator ride up, thinking maybe I wouldn’t be able to come back here and live with the images of Evan and Jack falling, the gun leveled at my chest, the hall seeming to grow impossibly wide as I’d run down it. Yes, I still saw it all in my mind, but no feelings of dread rose as the images flashed through my mind. They were memories, but I didn’t feel them. Thank God for that.
Decker had been pulled back into the investigation as agencies from around the world were trying to close up their cases with Dominic Parker dead. I’d agreed to go with him a total of one time before the details he’d had to repeat over and over had become too much for me. So I’d taken to splitting my time between Evan who was working desk duty while his fractured skull healed and Jack who was in his apartment on bed rest. He demanded access to his office, but he’d been given strict orders to stay away from work until he’d fully healed. Scout had filled in remotely for him, taking vacation time to run the tech side of the company. She’d learned pretty much everything about Jack’s job while he was recovering, and I think the crush he’d had on her had died a quick death when he thought she might replace him.
“You’ve got to stop threatening my balls,” Decker said, rolling his eyes and pulling me back to the irritating exchange.
“Then stop fluttering around me like I can’t move on my own. It’s a limp because the muscle is still repairing. I can still walk on my own.”
I expected him to argue more, but he dropped his hands to his side and grinned. A full, unhindered, white, beautiful grin that immediately had my heart fluttering and my panties melting. He’d been more open with his smiles and affection since we’d settled back into his apartment, but it still left me speechless when that megawatt smile was directed at me.
“What?” I meant to sound irritated and bitchy, but it came out sounding breathy and excited. Damn him and his magic smile.
“I’ve missed that sharp tongue.”
“Shut up,” I huffed, sliding past him and out the door so he couldn’t see the smile threatening my own lips. “Hurry up and get to work. I’ll be at Jack’s and you can shoot me a text when you’re free for dinner.”
His hand snaked around my waist and Decker pulled my back flush against his front. “Is he still being a miserable bastard?” His words were murmured into the top of my hair as he pressed his lips to my scalp.
“He’s not a miserable bastard. He was shot in the chest and died twice. He’s healing, and even if he’s up and walking around better than I am, it doesn’t mean he’s not still hurting inside.” I turned my head to face him and he brushed his nose against mine before ghosting a kiss across my lips.
The gentle affection from this man was way too emotionally overwhelming. It was so sweet I wanted to cry, but so damn sexy that I wanted to spin in his arms and climb him like a tree. Not that there had been any climbing since before he’d left for Virginia. Decker was adamant that there would be no sex until I was healed. His fear that I would reinjure my leg was a constant source of contention between us. It was actually very annoying that it was the only injury still bothering me. My bruised face had cleared up, the burns across my back were ugly but pain free. But that single slice down my thigh had been deep, and it would take a while to heal.
I broke from his embrace, trying to cool my rapidly heating libido, and shooed him toward the door. “Go, before we get into another fight about you refusing to pleasure my poor broken body.”
Decker rolled his eyes but still smiled as he walked backwards toward the door, eyes trained on mine. “Maybe if you’re really good, I’ll have you for dinner.” The wolfish smile had me gripping the counter for support. His eyes flashed with concern and he made a step toward me.
I shot my hand out and waved him off. “Those weak knees had nothing to do with my wound and everything to do with your filthy mouth.”
He still didn’t look convinced as he finally caught the doorknob and opened the front door. “Get up to Jack’s then rest that leg.” I gave him an annoyed salute as he finally left me alone in his-ourapartment.
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Jack was lounging on the couch when I let myself into his apartment. I could hear a woman talking from somewhere, but it sounded scripted and when I got closer I saw Jack’s iPad on the coffee table, some audio playing as he scrolled through his phone. Sitting next to him in silence, I propped my foot on his lap and he threw a hand out to pause the audio, plunging us into silence.
