“It’s fucking working.” Rio knew he was winding him up, knew it, but didn’t care. His life hadn’t been worth more than a dime for years. And he knew he was oversimplifying things in his head. This wasn’t any great storybook love. But damn it, he would walk through fire without blinking, if it meant Cade lived to fight another day.Dramatic much?Yeah, he probably was being dramatic, and he wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to happen here. He just knew that he wanted something, something with Cade. No, scratch that, Rio wanted a freaking great storybook love. He wanted it more than he could breathe. But—well, there was always a freaking but. He just didn’t know if Cade did or not, or even how they could make something like them as a couple work. Especially with the fucked-up world they lived in. “I—” He cut off what he was about to say when he spotted another man appear in the doorway behind Cade’s boss.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Grif pushed his partner out of the way so he could get through the door, “Cade, what the hell, man, you promised you would stay in fucking bed.”
“Rock’s being a dick.” Cade didn’t remember coming back to Dreamland, never mind promising Grif that he would stay in bed.
“Rock’s always a dick.” Grif dropped his med kit on the table, unzipped it, and riffled through it, looking for what he needed.
“Hey, I resemble that remark.”
“I know you do,” Grif tossed over his shoulder, “Go wake Lex. She has online school in half an hour.”
“And you didn’t wake her?”
“Nope, your turn.” Grid attached a needle to the injection and laid it out on the table, on a sterile cloth. “I learned my lesson.”
“Take him back to medical.” Rock pointed at Cade.
“We’ll see.”
“But—”
“Babe, when it comes to medical shit, I lead, and you follow.” Grif pointed at the door, “Go wake our daughter and stop bitching.”
“Argh,” Rock punched the frame of the door with his fist but did as Grif asked and left.
“I’m Grif.” He held out his hand to Rio, “We didn’t really get a chance to introduce ourselves in Brazil.
“Hi.” Rio shook the other man’s hand, but still kept himself angled so he could step in to protect Cade if he needed to. Not that this one was any smaller than the other, but he’d give it his best shot.
“Grif won’t hurt me either.” Cade whispered softly, “and if you let him near me without stabbing him with that knife, I’d be grateful.”
Knife? What knife?Rio looked at his hands Oh shit, he did have a knife. When the hell had he picked that up?
“You swiped it out of the sheath on my belt when I leaned in to talk to you.” Cade held out his hand and took the blade handle first when Rio handed it over.
“Why did you leave the mash, Cade?”
“Honestly, G, I don’t remember.” Cade turned back toward the coffee pot. “Yesterday is kinda… um… missing.”
“Shit,” Grif shook a thermometer and ignoring Rio’s muttering under his breath, he stuck it under Cade’s armpit, “I was afraid of that.”
“Why?”
“We found a combination of heroin, tranquilizer, and another narcotic that we aren’t quite sure what it is yet, in your blood sample.”
“Shit.”
“We’re gonna need more blood.” Grif looked from Cade to Rio and back again, “You vouch for him?”
“Yeah.” Cade didn’t even stop to think about it.
“You would trust him with my kid?” Grif pushed for more clarity.
“I’d trust him with mine.”
“Wait,” Rio had been watching the exchange back and forth, his head turning from one man to the other as they spoke. He paused at Cade’s words, studying his expression, “You have a kid?”
“No,” Cade reached for the coffee. If he was going to have to deal with more needles, then he was going to need a lot more of the black magic go-go juice. “I mean, if I did have a kid, I’d trust you with it.”
