Chapter Eight
When Jimmy woke up, he was lying in a hospital bed. There was an IV in his arm, a pulse oximeter on his finger, and in addition to aching all over, he had the strangest feeling of déjà vu.
This wasn’t the first time in recent memory that he’d woken up in a hospital, but it was the first time that he found Cold sitting beside him keeping vigil.
“Rod,” he sighed, grinning when he saw Cold’s head snap up abruptly.
“Jimmy.” Cold took Jimmy’s hand and squeezed it hard. “Are you okay?”
“Little woozy, sore,” Jimmy replied, frowning when he saw stitches lining the left side of Cold’s temple and back into his hair. “What about you? Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
Cold glanced to the open door and motioned with his head for Jimmy to follow his gaze.
There were two police officers hanging out right outside speaking with Detective Duplin.
“Talk later?” Jimmy asked earnestly.
“Yes.”
Jimmy didn’t know how informative that promised talk would be, but it was better than nothing. He had no idea who had run into them or why, but he was grateful that they were both all right.
“How are you feeling?” Cold gave Jimmy’s hand another squeeze.
“Like I got hit by a truck,” Jimmy laughed.
“Van, actually,” Cold corrected with a small smirk.
“Whatever,” Jimmy snorted. “Is everybody okay? Maury? Jerry?”
“The charges were dropped against Maury in exchange for not filing suit against the SSPD,” Cold explained. “Jerry was released and told me that Jules and Charlie are safe as well.”
Charlie.
Hearing that name made Jimmy scowl. “Charlie. I need to talk to you about Charlie.”
“Not now.”
Sighing haggardly, Jimmy made a face. He decided to change the subject to something much more enjoyable, teasing, “You know, the badass way you came busting into the police station was pretty hot.”
“Oh?” Cold tilted his head. “Was it now?”
“Yeah. Was actually getting hard. Up until the whole car wreck thing. But yeah, watching you come in like that and just take me away... wow.”
Cold’s expression darkened, a familiar purr enhancing his voice as he asked, “You liked that, did you?”
“I did,” Jimmy confessed, feeling his cheeks starting to heat up. “You stormed right in, made that jerk Blalock about piss his damn pants. You were amazing.”
“Mmm.” Cold licked his lips. “Go on.”
“You weren’t going to let anything stand in your way,” Jimmy said breathlessly as he laced their fingers together. He could hear his pulse increasing over the machine. “You came to take back what’s yours...”
