“Never,” Nick managed to say. “I love you.”
Kelly leaned over and kissed him gently. The warmth of his lips was painful on Nick’s.
“Is he okay?” Nick asked, head rol ing in JD’s direction.
“He’ll be fine if we get an ambulance to him soon.”
Nick closed his eyes. The pain from the pressure against his wound was gone. Everything was gone except Kelly’s hand on his.
“So will you, bud,” Kelly added, and his voice was far away, echoing off the recesses of Nick’s memories. “You’ll be okay. Don’t let go.”
Chapter 10
elly stood off to the side, his hands stuffed in his Kpockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to jump in and help. The bullet that had hit Nick had punched clean through the muscle over his ribs, right above another bullet graze he’d received recently, and along with the massive Y-shaped incision from his recent surgery, Nick’s torso was going to be more scar than skin after this. Knowing Nick, he’d turn those scars into some sort of tattoo eventually.
The wound probably wasn’t too serious, but the loss of blood meant they were loading him onto a stretcher and preparing to put him into one of the ambulances standing by.
JD hadn’t fared quite as well. The kidnapper with the Boston accent had shot him as they’d struggled, and while the bullet had gone all the way through, it had clipped some vital pieces on its way out. They’d loaded him into an ambulance and taken him off with a police escort before Kelly and Nick had even gotten out of the building.
Alex Kincade, who really was who she’d said she was this time, was cooperating with all the questioning she’d been submitted to so far. She’d been legally contracted to find the whereabouts of the treasure. Kelly felt sort of sorry for the fact that she was out of a job now. Her colleague, Colin, had showed up five minutes after it’d all gone down with a tray of coffees. They obviously hadn’t been expecting trouble.
Hagan was grilling the Irish kidnapper in the back of his unmarked car. Kelly thought Hagan was telling the man he’d only send someone into the house to find the fingers Nick had shot off if he talked, but Kelly was trying hard not to listen since he was pretty sure that wasn’t legal.
Julian Cross and Cameron Jacobs were in the wind. Kelly had a feeling they wouldn’t be seeing either man again.
Soon enough, Nick was being wheeled over to the ambulance, and Kelly jogged over to take his hand as they negotiated the curb.
Nick shook his head, obviously knowing Kelly was trying to come up with something nice and cheerful to distract him with.
“When we were in New Orleans and I took that bullet,” Kelly said, like he was starting a bedtime story. “All I remember is you leaning over me and asking me what to do.”
Nick snorted and squeezed his eyes tight. The stretcher jostled him and he winced. “That was Digger, Kels.”
“Was it?” Kelly laughed. “All I remember is you. And the only thing I could think to tell you was don’t let go. Don’t let go of me. That’s all I could say.”
Nick opened his eyes, meeting Kelly’s as his grip on Kelly’s fingers turned almost painful. “You never said that, Doc.”
Kelly blinked. “I didn’t?”
“You couldn’t say anything. You tried.”
Kelly waited a beat, brow furrowed. “I always thought I got it out because . . . you held on to me the whole time.” He glanced up as they neared the ambulance. When he looked back down, Nick’s eyes were on him, that same smitten, indulgent gaze Kelly had grown accustomed to over the past year. His hand tightened in Nick’s. “I thought I said it. You never let go of me.”
“I couldn’t,” Nick gasped. Kelly didn’t know if he was in pain or if the memory of Kelly’s near-death experience in New Orleans was overwhelming him. “I couldn’t let go of you, Kels.”
Kelly struggled to swallow, nodding and holding back the urge to cry. He squeezed Nick’s hand harder. “Neither will I.”
He had to, though, to let the EMTs load Nick into the ambulance. Kelly followed them to the hospital in the Range Rover, his mind tossing and turning over the events of the day.
Had they really just tracked down a centuries old treasure? Was it possible the Continental payroll was more than merely gold bars, that it was really a missing Masonic treasure trove? His mind was reeling with the possibilities, but all he really wanted was to get to Nick. He’d go over the implications of the past few days later, when he knew Nick was okay.
When he finally found Nick in the hospital, he was already sitting up and bitching because they’d cut his shirt off him.
“It had a bullet hole in it,” the nurse argued.
“It was a graze!” Nick shouted.
She rolled her eyes as she left the room, nodding to Kelly when she passed.
“You’re running out of spare clothes, babe,” Kelly said with a relieved grin. If Nick could bitch about his clothes, he was doing just fine, despite his so-called “graze” actually being a through-and-through. They had an IV in him, probably with pain medication in there, and they were giving him a transfusion for the blood he’d lost.
“I want to go home,” Nick grunted.
Kelly strolled into the room, nodding to placate him.
“Soon. Get a little more blood in you first, huh?”
Nick didn’t say anything. He reached out when Kelly got close, grabbed a handful of his hair, and pulled him into a ruthless kiss. He left Kelly panting when their lips parted, and Nick closed his eyes, sighing as if he’d been holding his breath until he could get Kelly into his hands.
Kelly took him by both shoulders and forced him to recline. “Faster you get this over with, faster we’ll go home. Promise.”
Nick nodded, his eyes staying closed.
Kelly sat on the edge of his bed, reading the medications labels, trying to just be a worried lover rather than a worried SARC for once. He leaned over Nick and pressed his forehead to Nick’s, closing his eyes. He didn’t know how long they stayed that way, but when a PA came in to check Nick’s stitches and vitals, it was dark outside.
Despite the doctor’s advice, Nick demanded that he be allowed to go home, claiming Kelly was perfectly capable of keeping an eye on him overnight. They had no choice but to let him check himself out, and Kelly knew Nick too well to argue against it.
Kelly helped him to his feet, and Nick hugged him close, pressing his face against Kelly’s cheek. “Take me home,” he whispered.