“I’m here until you die.And I plan on making it my life’s work to make you go insane while I have a connection to you.”He looked at Devlin and saw his smile.“I’m going to bother you until you go insane or get yourself arrested for something else.”
“You can’t do that to me.”He looked at the man named Lica and told him what was going on.“He’s going to drive me crazy talking to me, but not.You make him stop that right now.I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You shot him.I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that, but that’s a big deal around here.”He said that he’d had, but he’d been aiming at the ground.It wasn’t his fault that he moved into the bullet.“You keep telling yourself that and see where it lands you.You shot my baby brother, and you’re going to jail.”
He was put in a cruiser and taken to jail.No one asked him anything, like did he do anything wrong, but they seemed to have a list of things that he was supposed to have done to the younger man.Like, where did he get off saying that he’d been threatening him as well?Did he?In the heat of the moment, he might well have, but he was calmer now.He had all his facilities about him.Or whatever they were called.He was just calmer, that’s all.
They processed him like he was some felon who had caused a mass shooting.Not only was he given clothing to wear, but his brother was as well.James kept his mouth shut, too, not even speakingto him.But he’d get him to talk, or he’d beat the shit out of him.He wished now that he’d not asked him to come with him.But he needed someone to witness that he was justified in killing the woman, and he didn’t know why.
Just as he was being put in a cell, he was asked if he wanted to call anyone.The only person that he knew was his brother, and he was right there with him.He asked if he could call Lisa to get things straightened out and was told no, that was out of the question.Being put in his cell, he was dismayed to find that his brother was all the way at the other end of the place, and there was a woman between them.
“This has gotten out of hand.”He looked around the cell he was in and decided there were worse places to be.He even had a little blanket laid on his cot in the event that he needed something more.“But I don’t like being in jail.That’s just not right.”
“You’ll be in there for a while if I have anything to do with that.”He asked him again how he was doing that.“I have a blood connection to you.I tasted your blood when I had you in my mouth.You’re going to be hearing from me a lot from now on, and by the time the judge comes around, you and I will be worst enemies.What do you think about that?”
He didn’t like it and told the man so.If people thought that he was crazy, so be it.He knew what he was about.He was going to get out of this mess, too.Even if he had to pay everyone off to get it done.
~*~
Devlin was having fun.Whenever he thought about something, he would talk to Roman about it.Just little things.Like the color of his socks and why he’d picked the tie that he had on.All day and throughout the night, when he woke up to go to the bathroom, he’d talk to the man.He was enjoying it a little too much, he thought, but it wasn’t going to stop him from playing with the man.
“You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”Devlin looked at Lisa and grinned.“You need to behave yourself.He’s going to figure out a way to talk to you back, and then he’ll be doing the same to you.Besides, you’re supposed to be resting, not playing around with a man that’s in jail right now.”
“That’s all right, I’m not worried about him.I can shut him out.Because I started the connection, I have the ability to tune him out, too.”She asked if he tuned her out.“Never.I love hearing from you whenever you want.I would love to know why you picked out that particular outfit you have on.”He moved on the bed again and had to catch his breath.It had been like that for the last few days.
“You should be resting.”He had been shot and lost a great deal of blood while playing with Roman.If he had to shift right now, he’d be in big trouble because he was still very weak.The one to his head had cut a nice-sized slice to his face, but it had been the one in his leg that was causing him the worst kind of luck.He’d already healed when he shifted, but since he’d not done it soon enough, he knew that he’d be weak when he finally did, and that’s what had happened.“If you don’t rest properly, I’m going to call your brothers and tell them that you’re fucking around when you should be resting.”
“I’ll be good.”He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes.“I never realized how much blood I was losing when I was holding him down.I should have been more careful about that.I knew that he’d shot me but not how bad it was.”
“See that you do.I can’t lose you.”She got on the bed with him, and it was all he could do was to not beg her to let him sleep.He’d been sleeping a great deal the last two days, and it didn’t seem to help.Ivan had even hooked up an IV for him to get some saline to replace the blood, but it seemed to be making him just have to get up and go to the bathroom a great deal.“I heard from the attorney you said to call.He said that he’d take the case because he owed you.I guess you have a lot of people that you can call on.”
“I do, but not as many as my brother Guy.He seems to know everyone.”Guy wrote books for a living and was good at it.Most people, when you mentioned Adam Sloan, his pen name, they’d ask you straight away if you knew him.He was never allowed to tell that it was Guy, but it was fun that so many people knew about him.Opening his eyes when Lisa got up from the bed, he asked her where she was going.“I thought that we could cuddle for a while.”
“You’re restless.You need to be calm.”He said he was calm when she was close.“I’ll sit in the chair and hold your hands.I know you need to touch me, but you’re moving around on the bed so much that I can’t rest either.”
“I’m sorry.”Lisa told him that it was just fine, she was just as restless as he was.“It’s been a long couple of days.I know that I’ve been talking to Roman to keep him on his toes, but it doesn’t wear me out like just moving does.”
“Once you’re better, then we can make love.I’ll never forgive Gary for interrupting our play time outside.”He grinned at her.“I know you’re not strong enough to make love with me just yet, and even if you were to say that you were, I’d not believe you.You have to get better.When you passed out after Gary was taken away, my whole world came to a stop.”
“It scared me too.Not to mention Lica.”Lica had barely caught him before he hit the ground, he’d been told.Hitting his head as weak as he’d been might have caused more damage to his body than he had right now.“I’m going to behave myself.I want to have you in my bed as soon as possible.And me getting up and screwing around isn’t going to help me get to that point.”
Devlin had been working in his office when Lisa would go out.He shouldn’t have done it the first time, and the second time, he’d passed out again and had to be carried back to bed.He’d never felt this weak in his life, and he hated it.He fell asleep just as he was going to play with Roman again.
When he woke up, he did feel better than before.But that was true every time he woke up.He’d feel better for a while, then he’d be weak.He supposed that he should be taking it easy when he felt good and not think he was going to be able to get up and around after only a couple of days.Ivan told him that he’d lost too much blood to be fucking around with his body, and he believed him.As soon as he could, he was going to get better so that he could make love to his wife.
Not moving was making him bored, but he didn’t so much as swing his feet off the bed this time.He did ask for something to drink and a book, but was bored with the book even before he started.It wasn’t until he reached out to Guy to ask him for a book to read that he was interested in.Just as he was staring on the newest Adam Sloan book, he knew that he’d be just fine.
The Roman brothers were still in jail.They’d be there until the judge came around and heard what they’d been doing to be put in jail.He didn’t think that James, Gary’s brother, would get anything other than a fine.But Gary was going to get the book thrown at him.At least he hoped so.The police had the gun locked up, too, and it would be held there until the hearing.Devlin liked that just fine.
He’d read Roman’s mind and knew that he’d been discharged from the army because he couldn’t kill anything.Not what they called it, but close enough to get him out.He’d not wanted to kill Lisa either, but had thought that if he threatened her with murder, then she’d work harder to get his job back.The only reason that he’d wanted the job was so that he could yell at people.Stupider things had happened, he supposed.
Lying on the bed after lunch, he closed his eyes when he was slightly dizzy.He’d not told anyone about the being dizzy part and thought that he might get out of bed sooner if he kept it to himself.He wasn’t so sure about that now.All he wanted to do was sob at how weak he was and have someone fix him.About the time he was going to confess to being weaker than he thought, Ivan came to see him.
“I’m going to put you on something to fight an infection.”He asked if his wound was infected.“It is.I think that when you were shot, some of the dirt from the ground came up and got into your skin.I’m worried about you.”
“I’m worried about me.Even just lying here, I’m dizzy.That’s not right.”Ivan told him that he’d take care of him.“I know you will, but I have things that I want to do, and lying here on this bed isn’t getting them done.And I miss going to the office if you can believe that.”
“I believe you.I took three days off last week to move some furniture around with Sen, and at the end of the three days, I was ready to beg her to allow me to go back to work.I think I was more exhausted working around the house than I was working a full week at my job.”He asked how Sen was liking her job.“She seems to be enjoying herself a great deal.Just yesterday, she signed up a larger retail store to sell their furniture.It was one that Howard couldn’t get to sign on at all.She feels prettygood about that.”
