“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kitten snapped as he yanked off his shirt and started ripping apart the fabric like the Incredible Hulk. “Sit down.”
I collapsed onto the metal AC unit while Kitten searched the roof, shirtless and buff as hell. He looked so hot when he took charge, which reminded me of last night when he’d asked to top me. Maybe I’d let him. Honestly, why the fuck not? Rabids could make a meal of me on any given day. Why hold back?
Kitten returned with a piece of flashing that he must have ripped off the roof of the building. He knelt in front of me and set about making a splint, using the strips of his shirt to secure the flashing along the length of my broken bone. With a longer bit of fabric, he fashioned me a sling. My arm was still hurt like hell, but at least it was secure.
“Feels much better. Thank you,” I told him.
“We should go to the base and have them X-ray it,” he said.
“It’s fine. Probably just a sprain.”
“I thought we weren’t going to lie to each other about important stuff,” he said to me with a glower.
He was right, and I hated being wrong. “Yeah, it’s probably broken, but I’d rather cut it off than go to them for help.”
“Well that’s just stupid,” he said with a frown. “I could try setting it once the swelling has gone down.”
“That’s the can-do spirit.”
“But if there are bone shards or I get it wrong, you could die.”
“Worst-case scenario,” I said.
“With a high probability.”
I elected not to argue with him right then, and instead glanced up at the sky where the sun was beginning to dip behind the trees. Our encounter with the Rabids and subsequent escape had eaten up most of our afternoon.
“I think we should rest here tonight,” I said to him. The circumstances weren’t ideal, but I was pretty sure we’d be safeon the roof, especially if we could drag the AC unit over the grate to block any intrepid Rabids from reaching us. “Think you could drive the bike home tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll figure it out. Do you want something for the pain?”
Lord did I, because now that the adrenaline had worn off, my arm was throbbing like a bitch, but I feared my own addiction more than the pain.
“How about we break open this bottle of vintage MD2020?” I pulled my bag toward me and presented it to him like a trophy.
He smiled, just a little one, and in a sudden burst of emotion, threw his arms around me. Careful to avoid my busted arm, he practically crawled into my lap. He’d grown a lot in the past few months, but I still managed to keep hold of him. His bare skin was hot and a little sweaty as I gripped him to me and buried my nose in his hair. He smelled like home.
“I’m so glad you’re alive. I thought that Rabid was going to get you,” he said.
Which one?I almost asked, but instead I only chuckled darkly and said with a bravado I surely didn’t feel, “Not a chance, sweetness. Not a fucking chance.”
FOUR
KITTEN
I madeCipher as comfortable as I could, then had him take some ibuprofen with water before twisting the cap on the bottle of purple liquor and offering it to him. He took a long chug, coughed a little, and handed it back to me.
“What does the MD stand for?” I asked. The label said “red grape wine,” but it wasn’t shaped like a wine bottle.
“Mad Dog.”
I took a sip. It was sickly sweet and thicker than any wine I’d ever tasted. Kind of coated my mouth and lingered on my tongue in an unpleasant way. “Tastes like cough syrup,” I said. I’d only had cough syrup once or twice, but the flavor was similar.
“Yeah, it’s the gateway drug.” He tugged me closer with his good arm. “You’re going to be cold out here without a shirt. I almost popped a boner when you ripped it off and started tearing it into strips. Very butch.”
I grinned, despite our circumstances. “I can do that for you again when we get home.”
“You’re a very hot nurse. Or should I call you Doctor?”
