“RJ needs a hospital.”
“No,” RJ said, resting his head back against the seat. “Fuck no. That’ll only lead to questions. I have a gunshot wound. I need blood and some sleep.”
“There’s a doctor who will come to the hotel to fix him up for a price,” the driver said, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.
RJ sighed, then chuckled. “Yeah, and the bastard has gotten more money out of me over the years than he should’ve.”
“I don’t think this is fucking funny. You need a hospital!” I said, trying not to look at the blood still running down his leg and pooling on the floor mat.
The driver said nothing when I tapped his shoulder. He didn’t even glance back.
RJ grabbed me and pulled me against his warm chest. Tears I hadn’t realized were forming in the corners of my eyes spilled over, and I wiped at them with the back of my hand. This was completely fucking ridiculous. The highest level of nuts.
“Daddy’s got you.”
I wanted to be livid, hell I was madder than fuck, but I snuggled in close to his side and held on tight. “Thank you, Daddy. Thank you for not letting him take me.”
8
RJ
“I cannot believethe trouble this has caused,” Madam Winters said as I walked out of the bathroom. She rose from the green upholstered armchair next to the bed and smoothed the skirt of her short black dress down while a small furrow took over her brow. “You’re doing better?” She reached back and picked up a purple velvet shawl that had fallen from her shoulders, then wrapped it around herself.
“Yes,” I said, dragging the towel off my head that I’d had draped there to keep my shirt from getting dotted with water. “I’m fine.” I used my fingers to shove my hair forward so it wouldn’t be a huge mess. “The doc sewed up the chunk ripped off my leg. It’s not the first bullet to bite me.”
Winter snorted, but I didn’t glance at him. He’d been pissed off for three days and I didn’t want to get into it over my health again while Madam Winters was in the room.
She smiled in his direction, but he didn’t notice. “Very well then, sugar. I have faith that you’ll be able to solve this problem for everyone involved.” She gave me a breezy wave and stopped to pat Winter’s cheek lightly before she glided out of the door.
We’d been living in an extravagant emerald room at the Courtesan Hotel while I recuperated, courtesy of Madam Winters. Other than the oak furniture, every piece of fabric and fixture was some shade of green, and the rich layers of color, combined with the glimmering gold Turkish flowers on the wallpaper, made me feel as if we were in a palace. I didn’t think I liked it. I was a simple man and this was too much.
“Damn it,” I growled as I took a step. My right leg stung and burned any time I put weight on it, but I was able to move around on my own. The first two days I’d mostly kept my leg elevated, and Winter had remained stonily silent while he’d fed me pain meds and run down to the kitchen to replace ice packs and bring snacks for me.
“You should be resting,” Winter hissed from where he sat cross-legged on the bed in a pair of borrowed blue silky PJs. He crossed his arms and ignored me. Well, I didn’t think he was ignoring me, so much as he was refusing to look at me while he seethed. He’d been this way since Vance had busted in on us. He’d demanded answers I wasn’t prepared to give him about my history with Vance, and when I wouldn’t say what he wanted to hear... this was the result.
I tossed the towel in the bathroom and finished buttoning up my white long-sleeved shirt. I kept an eye on Winter while I grabbed my black suit coat and slid it on over my gun holster. I stowed a few extra suits here at the Courtesan because I never knew what I would get into with work, and the fact that I had clothing on hand had gotten me a contemplative look from Winter, but he hadn’t voiced any of his concerns. I patted my Glock, which Loredo had been good enough to return to me earlier this morning.
“Hey, sunshine, when are you going to be done being in a mood?”
“You lied to me!” He slapped his hands on the bed. That’s all I’d gotten out of him for days, despite the fact that he’d taken care of me better than a nurse. Since I also had a thing against people who didn’t tell the truth, his accusing attitude was understandable but starting to grate on my nerves anyway.
“How?” I walked over to the desk next to a massive arched window that looked out toward Lake Ontario, then picked up a stack of photographs of Vance I’d had printed from the security footage at Winter’s jewelry shop.
“You know how. You knew Van. You didn’t tell me.” Winter leaned forward and squeezed his eyes shut. I hated how upset the gunfight had made him. He didn’t seem to have much of a stomach for blood and guts. When I’d been a cop, most of the men I’d been around had violence in their blood, and I loved that Winter was mostly a good guy. He opened his eyes to give me a long glare because even though he was still shaken up, he had some very serious opinions on the situation. “You’re not well enough to go do anything. The doctor told you to rest. He said to take antibiotics and pain meds and drink lots of fluids.” He pointed at the pill bottles on the dresser. “He told me to help you walk around the room.” Winter’s eyes shone with accusation.
“What do you expect me to do? We gotta track Vance down.” I flashed him one of the pictures from the top of the stack. “Madam Winters isn’t gunning for you right now, but she’ll expect me to see this through. Plus, you need this help. You’re still fucked over.”
Winter huffed. “I’m not asking you to hurt yourself. I won’t. Was Van your boy, too?” His gaze bore into my soul. Winter had asked the question several times, and I hadn’t answered it yet.
My heart twisted.
His nostrils flared and a deep blush flooded his cheeks. He shivered and hugged himself.
There were a hundred different things I could say, but in the end, I bit the tip of my tongue and left the room, limping and fighting through the pain. My body would cooperate or else. It had been a while since I’d had to slog through this type of injury, but I had to keep pushing forward. I was already going crazy from lying in a bed as long as I had, knowing the clock was ticking on this case.
Vance.I hadn’t been able to bring myself to shoot him dead the way I should’ve, but I’d had time on my back to get over that dangerous hang up. Seeing him pull a trigger on Winter—thank God he hadn’t managed to put a hole in him—destroyed the last of my lingering sentimental feelings.
Yes, I had to get this shit done. I started my work at the hotel bar. Fen, the bartender, hadn’t seen Vance and shook his head as soon as I flashed the photo. I made my way around to all the service staff, asking if they’d run across Vance recently. I didn’t want to leave Winter here alone to expand the search if he might be able to sneak in. I told each member of the security team to keep an eye out for Vance and left them with a photograph and strict instructions not to fuck up. Most people were scared of me already, and I had no doubt they would run straight to the madam with any info.
