“O-okay.”
I open my mouth, but before I can say anything, a shadow appears in the doorway.
“Hey, Jessy?—”
We jump apart at the interruption, our gazes shifting to the door, where an unfamiliar male nurse is standing, glancing between the two of us.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Jessica tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and takes a step back as she forces a smile. “You’re not.” She turns to me. “You sure about that Band-Aid?”
I shudder at the idea. “Definitely. Thanks for cleaning me up.”
“Hopefully, it’s the last time.”
“And where would be the fun in that?” I smirk and wink at her as I push from the bed and go toward the door. “I’ll see you later, Trouble.”
She’s back to nibbling at her lip as I shift my gaze forward in time to catch the guy eyeing me with interest. I nod at him as I walk past and out of the room.
True to his word, Nico is sitting in the car, with Bill and Kenny in the back, when I drop into the passenger seat.
“All patched up?”
“Yeah.” I let out a sigh as he gets on the road.
My chin is still pounding, and I swear I can feel Jessica’s soft fingers touching my skin. It’s like her touch is engraved into my memory.
“No Band-Aid?”
“Fuck off, Rivera.”
Nico chuckles, which doesn’t help with my headache.
I rub the bridge of my nose. “Seriously, can this night get any?—”
“Don’t—”
“—worse?”
But it’s already too late because before Nico can finish, I hear a retching sound coming from the back seat. The smell of puke fills the car almost immediately, making the bile rise in my throat.
“Fuck.”
Thankfully, we’re just in front of the station, so the moment the car comes to a stop, I jump out, sucking in much-needed fresh air.
“Thanks for jinxing us,” Nico mutters as he gets out, glaring at me over the roof.
“What did I do?”
“You never ask questions like that when on duty. Like ever.”
“Well, it’s a little too late for that now.” I pull open the back door and look at Kenny, who’s covered in his own puke. “Seriously, dude? You couldn’t have waited a bit longer?”
He mumbles something unintelligible that has me shaking my head as I pull him out.
“Have fun cleaning that up.”
“Fucking great,” I mutter as I grab the guy by his biceps and lead him toward the station.
