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“He’s right here,” Quinn muttered.
The nurse smiled indulgently and then gestured at his head. “Keep your cut clean and pick up some bandages if you don’t have some; replace them every few hours or as needed. There weren’t any stitches, so you don’t need to worry about those. To be safe, I would take the next week off—I have your papers here to submit to your senior officer.”
“I don’t need—”
“Limit your time looking at screens,” the nurse continued, ignoring him. “Lots of fluids, lots of rest.”
“We have plenty of bandages already,” Sebastian said.
The nurse’s gaze shifted from where Sebastian’s eyebrow injury was mostly healed and then to Peyton’s cheek, which he knew was still a little angry. It itched like fucking crazy, and while he knew that was a sign of healing, that knowledge didn’t make it any less frustrating.
“I can see that. Perhaps you should buy shares?” the nurse quipped.
“Now there’s an idea,” Sebastian said, a twinkle in his eye.
“That implies we’ll need them again, and I’d like to avoid that,” Quinn said. He went to take the papers, but Peyton grabbed them first, keeping them out of reach. He handed them over to Sebastian instead.
Quinn sighed heavily. “That’s unnecessary.”
Peyton kissed his temple, lips lingering. “Indulge us.”
“Where is Gloria?” Quinn asked. “I need to wait for her to get back.”
Peyton had no idea who he was talking about, but Hunter and Jericho seemed to.
“She’s being taken care of,” Hunter said.
Quinn scowled. “What the hell does that mean?”
Hunter’s lips twitched. “We aren’t in the business of terrorising or removing old ladies from the world,” he said. “Unless they deserve it, as age isn’t always a factor for evil. Gloria will be moved to the one of the safest places in Sydney. If you’d like to visit her, we can arrange it later.”
Quinn opened his mouth, looking ready to argue. The nurse interrupted with, “Perfect! All sorted. I’ll go and get a wheelchair for you, and you can be out of here in no time.”
“I really don’t need—”
“It’s protocol, sorry,” the nurse said, not sounding apologetic in any way, already on his way out the door. He’d sounded sorrier that he didn’t have cake for Will than for this.
“I had to,” Peyton pointed out. “And I’d only hurt my shoulder.”
“Maybe we could try to limit the number of times that we all end up in hospital, okay?” Will said. He stood and leaned into Peyton. “I’m only twenty-eight; I don’t need grey hairs just yet.” He ran a hand through his hair consideringly. “Do you think I’d look good with grey?”
“Let’s find out when you’re old,” Peyton said. He didn’t want another phone call like the one he’d gotten from Jericho ever again in his life.
Chapter Twelve
Four Days Later
Willgavethesataychicken noodles one last taste to make sure before he began dishing it up into the bowls that Quinn had spread on the counter for him. He liked his with less curry paste and more coconut milk and peanut butter. The sauce was runnier but sweeter. He was also particular about his peanut to noodle ratio. He was making noodles, notsoup.
“Red or white?” Sebastian asked, holding up a bottle of wine in each hand.
“Uh…” Will looked between them as though that were going to help him decide. He had no idea. He knew that wines could be paired with certain foods, and it made them taste better or something, but he wasn’t much of a wine connoisseur. His favourite drinks were whiskey and Long Island iced teas. Those went with everything.
Aubrey might have disowned him for not knowing his alcohol but mixing different drinks behind the bar based on a specific set of recipes—or requests from patrons—was different thanunderstandingthem. He drove a car every day, but he couldn’t tell anyone how itworked, only that when he turned the car on, it started.
He doubted Sebastian had the ingredients to make a Long Island iced tea, which was sad. Cointreau wasn’t generally a pantry staple. Neither was white rum.
“That one,” Will said, pointing to the red. A total guess; Sebastian didn’t need to know that. If he was right, then he looked like he knew what he was doing. If he was wrong, he could laugh it off. Win-win.
