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Tobias brooded as we made our way back to the parking garage. When we reached his car, he said, “I’ll drop you at home, Zel, then we gotta pick up Amara, Candy.”
“Yeah, totally. I’m all for hanging with Little Bit.”
“Thanks.” I squeezed his shoulder. “I appreciate the ride to and from the hospital.”
“Of course.” He glanced in the rearview mirror, then reached up and squeezed my fingers back. “Glad to have you around, Zel. You’re good for Aithan.”
25
HOME IS WHEREVER YOU ARE
The sun was goingdown when they dropped me off. I went through my mail and fed the cats, then decided to finish cleaning the kitchen. I was distracting my brain. Not that scrubbing counters and the stove was much of a mental stretch, but I could pretend it was a challenge. Keeping my hands busy always engaged my noggin.
My phone rang and my spirits lifted when I saw the caller ID.
“Hey, boyfriend.”
“Hi, babe, how’s your day going? I’ve been thinking about you non-stop. Got a lot of really good writing in, including two fucking amaze-balls sex scenes. I’m telling you, you are good for my word count.”
I laughed. “And you always make me smile, which I needed. Today was awful.”
“What? Why?”
“Aithan’s in the hospital. Someone jumped him when he was locking up the gym last night.”
“Holy fuck! Is he okay?”
“He will be. He’s got a fractured skull, collapsed lung, and broken ribs. They tap danced all over his chest.”
“Brick, honey, that’s fucking horrible. What hospital is he in? I’ll send him a stripper-gram.”
That really made me laugh. “You would do that, wouldn’t you.”
“Yeah. I’m looow class like that.” He paused. “But, seriously, he’s really going to be okay?”
“Yeah. They expect him to go home in a few days. He’s completely wasted on morphine right now.”
“Ooh, nice. Maybe I’ll fly home and climb into bed with him. Get him to share some of that good stuff.”
“Bitch, please, you don’t do drugs.”
“No, I don’t. But I’ve had morphine post-surgery. That’s some good shit. When you’re in major pain, the morphine fairy is your best fucking friend.”
I sobered. “You said home, like Seattle is your home.”
“Home is wherever you are, Brick.”
“Aww. I think I just melted a little inside.”
“I’m ready to return to the Pacific Northwest. It’s been a long time since I lived west of the Rockies. I miss it. And I miss you.”
“You do?”
“Hell yes.”
He was melting me big time. “I didn’t know you ever lived on the West Coast. I thought you were from New York.”
“Nah. Born in Idaho. Raised in a shithole in the middle of nowhere.”
