“I have to tell him,” Nick said.
Ty put his hand on Nick’s knee to draw his attention back. “You can’t do that, man.”
“You didn’t see the way he reacted when they came for me and not him. I can’t leave him behind thinking he wasn’t good enough to come with us.”
“That is your guilt talking and making you sound like an idiot,” Ty hissed. “He’s not physically able to go back. We know that. He knows that. He’s not stupid. No matter what you did, Doc wouldn’t be coming with us. Nothing you can tell him is going to make him feel better about that.”
Nick closed his eyes. Damn Ty and his unscrupulous ability to make sense out of lying. When he glanced up again, he saw Kelly working his way across the crowded terminal with Owen in tow.
Ty tapped Nick’s knee. “Do you really want him left behind knowing you did this? It can wait until we get back.”
“Just stop talking, Beaumont,” Nick grunted. “You’re like the Bermuda Triangle of morals.”
Zane snorted and covered it with a cough.
“Fine, be that way,” Ty said. “Go be a goddamn white knight.”
“Will he even be angry at all?” Zane asked quietly. “Is Kelly capable of being angry?”
Nick was silent, watching Kelly. He really only had two options. He could man the f**k up and tell Kelly what he’d done, risking his anger here at the eleventh hour. Or he could keep it to himself, working on the logic that Kelly legitimately wouldn’t have been recalled anyway. Nick’s actions probably had nothing to do with it. But he’d go off to war with the nagging feeling that he was a coward and a horrible friend.
He pushed to his feet before he could talk himself out of it, striding to meet Kelly and Owen as they approached the lounge area. Owen greeted him with a sedate hug. Nick took Kelly’s arm and held on as Owen headed for Ty and Zane.
“You okay?” Kelly asked when Nick didn’t let go of him.
“I have something I need to tell you.”
Kelly glanced at the others and Nick did the same. Owen shook Zane’s hand before settling onto the floor beside Ty. Nick found it harder to breathe, but he took Kelly by both shoulders and turned him to face him to make him focus.
“Just be quiet until I finish saying this.”
“If this is your way of professing your undying love for me, you need some work on your technique,” Kelly drawled.
“I’m the reason you didn’t get recalled with us,” Nick said in a quiet rush.
Kelly’s smile fell and he straightened. “What?”
Nick told him what he’d done in New Orleans, and why he’d done it. “I saw a chance to keep one of us from going back over there, and I took it. I was trying to . . . save you.”
Kelly gaped, finally tearing his eyes away from Nick to glance at the others, who were now watching them. He took a step back, jerking out of Nick’s grasp.
“Kels, I—”
“How the hell could you do this?” Kelly shouted. He shoved at Nick’s shoulder and almost immediately grabbed for his chest, hunching with the pain he’d obviously forgotten would come.
Nick reached to steady him. Kelly swatted at his hand again but Nick gripped his elbow hard and held on, refusing to be pushed away. “I’m sorry,” he said, repeating it again and again as Kelly tried to shove him away.
A hand landed on Nick’s shoulder, and Owen and Ty were there with them, pulling them apart. Ty gripped Nick’s elbows, restraining him. Owen held Kelly’s waist to keep him upright, thinking he’d overworked himself and was about to collapse. But Kelly growled and lashed out, catching Nick’s chin with his fist before Owen could pull him away.
Nick and Ty both tumbled to the ground.
“Jesus Christ,” Ty grunted. He released Nick immediately, giving him the chance to defend himself. Nick didn’t move, though.
Kelly stood with his hands on his knees, breathing hard and hanging his head. Owen hovered beside him, a hand on Kelly’s back, looking supremely confused.
“What the f**k is going on?” Digger shouted. He stood a few feet away, his seabag on his shoulder.
“Jesus Christ, that really hurt,” Kelly gasped. He straightened carefully, holding his chest. “I feel better now.”
Digger dropped his bag and helped Ty and Nick to their feet.
“Did that hurt?” Kelly asked Nick.
Nick rubbed his jaw, nodding. “Little bit, yeah.”
“Good,” Kelly huffed.
He grabbed for Nick’s shoulder, catching the material of his shirt and pulling him closer with it. Relief washed through Nick as Kelly hugged him. He rested his chin on Kelly’s shoulder and held him tight.
“You did it out of love,” Kelly whispered. He patted Nick’s shoulder. “And I’d still be stuck here no matter what you did, so . . . you did it out of love. It’s okay.”
“What the hell happened?” Digger asked again. “And what happened to Doc’s neck?”
Kelly snorted in Nick’s ear and they both began to laugh.
“You two have spent too much time in Doc’s weed,” Owen said, walking away now that the drama had passed. The others trailed after him, leaving Nick and Kelly to their embrace.
They sat in a sedate group as the minutes ticked down. Their flight to Jacksonville, North Carolina, was leaving soon, and the last hours felt too heavy to fill with anything meaningful. Nothing would be special enough, so they spent the time telling stories and laughing.
Kelly still hadn’t quite come to terms with the fact that he wouldn’t be going with them. What the hell was he supposed to do? He kept glancing at Nick. He couldn’t even be upset by what Nick had told him. He knew Nick always acted on an almost desperate instinct to protect the people he loved.
Kelly had been joking when he’d guessed Nick was about to profess his undying love, but he hadn’t been too far off the mark. Nick’s technique was pretty damn good, if not subtle as hell.
They were listening to the story of how Ty had pulled a Rhett Butler on Zane in the middle of the Baltimore FBI field office when they heard the boarding announcement for the flight that would take the boys away.
Kelly’s heart jumped into his throat.
Everyone was silent and stoic as they gathered their seabags and walked as a group toward the nearby gate. They gathered at the boarding lanes, trying to figure out how to say good-bye, trying to decide which gestures would last for a lifetime of memories if someone didn’t come home.