Aiden grinned as he picked up the baghe’d carried in.“You get him to swear to do what needs to be done,or you’ll eat the sandwich you’d brought for him yourself, andrefuse to give him any.”
Sam frowned.“How in the hell isthat—”
“Is that your famouspastrami on rye?”Nick asked, a hopeful gleam in hiseye.
Aiden took his time unzipping the bag,and pulling the greaseproof paper wrapped goodness from the insideof it.“Yep.”
Nick shuffled back on the bed, sittingupright.“And has it got the Swiss cheese from Newman’s deli thatwe order specially?”
Aiden walked toward the table besidethe bed that had coasters on it that enabled it to be rolled to theside of the bed, but he made sure to keep it out of Nick’s reach.“Of course!”
Nick groaned in pleasure.“And, now,Aiden, this is an important question, so do not mess with me, I aman injured man.Did you make that coleslaw with the Russiandressing on it from scratch, the one that you refuse to tell me thesecret ingredient in so that I am forever bound to you?”
Aiden unwrapped the sandwich andleaned in to inhale the tantalizing aroma.“You insult me.I wouldnever sully the memory of a cow who gave its life for us in orderto be smoked and seasoned to perfection with anythingless.”
“Oh, damn.”Nick rubbedhis hands together with glee.“Pass that bad boy over, baby, andlet me worship it as it should be.”
Aiden moved the table further fromNick’s reach, and had to fight the grin that threatened at thescowl he sent him.“Sam, what was it the doctor wanted from our boyhere?”
“Another night on theantibiotics and painkillers, and if his blood work returns normaltomorrow, then he’ll be able to return home tomorrow as long as hehas someone there who can look after him.”Sam moved to sit on thebed, grinning at Nick’s pouting face.“The effects of theconcussion are minimal, but they are concerned about the shrapnelthey dug out of his thigh and side, and they want to make damn surehe doesn’t get an infection.”
Aiden nodded at the clinicaldescription Sam gave, but knew it was a mechanism to deal with theemotional side of seeing someone he cared about hurt.It had beenalmost five days since Nick had been caught in a blast that hadinjured an elderly gentleman who worked behind the reception deskat Nick’s office.He’d suffered shrapnel wounds to his thigh andside, some of the going deep, and he was close to losing a smallpiece of his liver thanks to one of them.He’d crashed into a largeconcrete pillar and sustained a head injury.When Aiden hadarrived, Nick had been in surgery, and he had sat helplessly in thelobby waiting for any information.
Sam had arrived about fifteen minuteslater with his friend Riley, and he’d simply taken over.While Samhad sat with Aiden holding his hand tightly in his, he’s talked tothe nurses, and asked them to make calls into the actual operatingroom looking for updates.Aiden would have never have done that,but what was even better, was because of Sam’s training, he wasable to help Aiden understand what it was he washearing.
“So,” Aiden said as hepushed the table closer to Nick, then pulled it back again, “what’sit going to be, Sheriff?Are you going to play nice and do what thedoctor ordered, or am I going to eat this piece of perfectionmyself and torment you with a blow by blow description of what eachand every bite tastes like?”
Nick stared at him for a long while,and Aiden could see Sam sitting beside him with a huge ass grin onhis face.“You, Aiden George, are one mean streaked son of abitch.”Nick growled in frustration and threw his hands in the air.“Fine!I’ll be a good little patient and sit here for no more thantwenty-four hours more, and I allow these offensive things,” Nickindicated toward the needles with a look of disgust, “to staywithin me, pumping God knows what shit into my bloodstream.Happy?”
Aiden grinned and pushed the tableover.“Yep!And I will be even more so when Sam and I dig into ourown sandwiches.”
Nick grumbled about mean streaks, andsharing being the scourge of all evil as Aiden took out the othertwo large sandwiches and handed one to Sam.
Sam took his with a grateful smile.“Man, as the two of you were describing that damn sandwich my mouthwas watering.I hope it lives up to all the hype.”Nick groanedwith almost orgasmic intensity as he took the first bite of hissandwich, and Aiden and Sam laughed out loud.
The three of them settled in to eatfor a while, and Aiden savored the normalcy of it.After the stressand craziness of the past few days, these moments of calm when thethree of them were together just doing something normal were to becherished.
“How’s Mark Ford?”Aidenasked.He had been the other man injured in the explosion.Fromwhat Aiden had been told, the bomb had been in a package deliveredto the Sheriff’s office addressed only to “The Sheriff”.No firstname, just that job title.It had been detonated with a cell phonemoments after the courier had stepped from the sheriff’s office andback into the hallway.Aiden figured that the bomber had beenwatching the courier enter and then timed it for the mostcollateral damage possible.If it had been delivered to Nick’soffice located at end of a room of desks and people going abouttheir day, and set it off the number of those hurt would have beenhigher than two.And there sure as fuck would have been a fewfatalities.
It had only been because the courierhad stopped just inside the door to flirt with one of the girlsfrom the coffee shop at the front of the building that the timinghadn’t worked.Nick had been on his way to collect the package whenit exploded, and Mark Ford had been behind the wall of thereception area looking for a file when it detonated.
Nick grinned.“He’s doing okay.Hiswife has started to nag him now, and according to Mark that meanshe’s off the critical list and heading home soon.”
The three of them shared a laugh atthat one.Aiden could actually understand the logic, too.When Nickhad first been hurt Aiden had existed on prayer and positivethoughts.Two days into his recovery however, and he was back tonagging at him himself.The relief of knowing that the man he lovedwas going to be fine was almost palpable.
“Did they find outanything further about the fucker who sent that damn incendiarydevice?”Sam asked before taking another bite of his sandwich.Aiden had been looking at Nick when his gaze flicked to him, asotherwise he might have missed it.
“What is it?”Aiden askedafter swallowing a bite that had turned to sawdust in his mouth.“Do they think it’s him?”
Nick sighed as he wiped his hands andmouth on the napkin Aiden had given him before they started lunch.“There were definite similarities to this prick’s signature.”Aidenfelt his heart clench at that.
“Wait,” Sam asked inobvious confusion, “what does that mean?Break it down for me likeI have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Aiden threw the rest of his lunch inthe bin before turning back.“Bombers are a pretty vain bunch ofassholes.They favor a particular way of making their devices.Somefavor the use of high explosives like C4.Others prefer chemicalbased design using black powder or ammonal, and then there arethose that are a little less high tech, but no less effective.Atightly sealed metal object filled with an explosive material andmetal fragments can do a shitload of damage.We saw a lot of thosein Afghanistan.”
Sam nodded.“Pipe bombs.You’retalking about pipe bombs, aren’t you?”Aiden nodded, and Sam took adeep breath.“Yeah, I’ve seen what those little bastards can do.Hell, that last mission for us in country we had one thrown at usas we were heading for the EVAC point.”
Aiden had read about that one, and ithad been a bloody miracle they had all made it out in one piece letalone still breathing.Although from what the report had said, oneof their team had come close to kissing this life goodbye, and hadit not been for Sam, their team of five would have returned as aquartet.
