He raised an eyebrow. “What is that?”
“I took a couple years of Greek in college, and a class on comparative mythology. Erinyes are the Furies. Magaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto. Jealousy, vengeance and unceasing anger.”
Sean blew out a breath and ran his free hand through his hair, smiling ruefully. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“She was so calm in her rage, at peace with it, almost.” Ellie remembered the look on her face when she lowered the gun, the absolute knowledge that she was going to die. By all rights, Pia should be here, not her. “Did she…” she started, pondering the wisdom of asking a question she didn’t necessarily want the answer to, but was saved from having to ask by Sean shaking his head with a grave expression. Damn.
As much as Ellie wished bad things on Pia, her death had never really entered into the equation. “Did it happen when the room exploded?”
He nodded slightly and rested his head back against the chair, turning to look at her with exhausted blue eyes. “More or less. They blew the door to the room, threw in some flash bangs, guys with machine guns. She fired a shot; you managed to move to the side at the last minute.” His pause for breath gave her a minute to reflect on the fact that if she hadn’t moved, things would have ended much differently for her. “It would have been really cool in a movie, under other circumstances,” he mumbled ironically.
Though she probably hadn’t been the intended audience for the comment, she answered anyway, “Next time I don’t want to be quite as close to it, if it’s all the same to you.” She picked up his hand and kissed his knuckles, then summoned the nurse with the call button on the remote.
“Noted.” Even his laugh sounded like it had just attempted a marathon and finished dead last. His pauses between words were lengthening and his breathing had begun to deepen. He was losing the battle against sleep, and soon, she would be, too.
“Matching scars, now, huh?” The pain in her chest was making her delirious, and the idea had amused her so much, she’d given voice to it for no other reason than its inherent entertainment value. After so much darkness in their day, they could definitely use a laugh.
Sean hummed a slight laugh and shook his head, never opening his eyes. “Almost, but not quite.”
Janine came in with a pillow and blanket for Sean, god bless her, and Ellie finally hit the button on the PCA. Right before the drugs took hold of her, Ellie turned her head to where Sean was snoring peacefully. She kissed her fingers and then brushed the hair back from his forehead. “I knew you’d come for me.” He opened his eyes briefly as his lips curled into a grin, and then they both fell into the warm embrace of sleep.
* * *
Sean awoke slowly to the sound of hushed voices and the smell of coffee. The hand that had been holding Ellie’s was empty, which snapped him wide awake with a start.
He looked around the room, seeing Ellie all perky and refreshed, talking to Nico, who’d been sitting on the other side of the bed.
“Hey, baby.” Ellie ran her fingers through his hair with a smile so loving, he felt like he wanted to cry in relief right there. “You were sleeping so peacefully. I knew you needed your rest. I’m sorry we woke you.”
Sean ran his hands through his hair and shook off the sudden surge of emotion, chalking it up to residual mental mayhem from the day before. “It’s fine. Nico.” Sean stood from the chair and stretched, then reached across Ellie to shake his hand.
Nico half stood, looking preppy casual in a white button down with the sleeves rolled up and jeans that had clearly been close to an iron recently. “Good to see you, man. For the record, I’m not sorry.”
“Of course not, jackass.” Both men resumed their seats, and Sean snaked out a hand to grab Ellie’s. The contact with her was vital, soothing to his mind and soul. If he had a way, they would never be apart again. “So what’re you doing here?”
Nico shrugged while sipping his coffee from the shop downstairs and his eyes darted to the bouquet of hot pink gerbera daisies in a simple vase on the table next to Ellie’s bed. “Thought I’d swing by and see how she was doing, how you both were doing.”
“How civilized,” he said with as little acid in his voice as he could manage. Sean had never felt jealousy where Ellie was concerned, but he knew Nico. Women took one look at his dark good looks, his overt chivalry, and with very few exceptions, their panties melted. “We’re fine, thank you.”
Reaching behind the flowers, Nico came up with an extra cup of coffee, handing it across the bed to Sean. As peace offerings went, it wasn’t bad, but Sean was still a bit skeptical. “Thank you.”
Nico shrugged and leaned back in the chair. He looked pensive, though there didn’t seem to be an immediate reason for it. “Don’t mention it.”
“So, Nico tells me you guys were classmates, and ended up working the same district when you got out.”
The look she gave was one of mild censure, reminding him to be nice to their guest. He knew better, but the little spark of jealousy was still smoldering a bit. To appease her, he nodded. “Yep. He was top of the class in damn near everything. Tough to beat.” It didn’t hurt to admit it, and Nico raised his glass in gratitude for the acknowledgement.
“And he was a hound dog, from what I hear. The stories are quite spectacular. And numerous,” a laughing voice called from the doorway. Josh came in the door with Dane, all smiles and bearing even more flowers. As it was, the room was beginning to look more like a florist shop than a hospital room.
Ellie pouted at Nico in an expression Sean recognized as mock disappointment. “Tell me this isn’t true, Nico. I can’t picture you as a scoundrel.”
Sean snorted at her comment, and chalked it up to the meds. When he met his old classmate’s eyes, he snickered outright. Nico had the good grace to blush and vacate the chair so the new visitors could greet and kiss the patient. “Eh, fabrications and speculations, all of it. El, it was good to meet you. Hope you get better soon. Sean, Josh.”
“Lovely to meet you, Nico. I appreciate you coming to visit, and thank you again for the flowers.” Ellie’s smiled at him as he left, and then turned to her friends. “You look much better,” she observed as Josh and Dane took up their chairs from the night before.
He shrugged. “Nothing a couple hours of sleep and three lattes couldn’t fix.” Josh’s natural buoyant demeanor was back, which Sean could tell pleased Ellie greatly. Hopefully this was the first day on their journey back to normalcy.
“Good, so maybe now you can tell me why you and Sean have matching bruises. We never did get to that last night.” Oh yeah, she looked harmless enough with her jet black curls tamed into little pigtails on the back of her head and that angelically sweet smile, especially with a gunshot wound in her chest, but apparently her level of comfort with all of them allowed her a certain type of tenacity when she wanted to know something. The kind with teeth and claws.
Josh looked at him, his eyes full of equal parts humor and fear. “Well…” he drew the word out as he leaned forward in his chair, “Sean and I had a conversation.”
“I didn’t know words could wound physically.” Her full lips twitched with suppressed amusement, even as her face remained mostly serious.
“Well, they can if there are fists with them,” Dane muttered while staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed.
“I see.” Her silence was filled by the barely audible murmurs of the TV, apparently an NCIS marathon. “Did you work it out?”
“Yes.” Sean and Josh agreed simultaneously. The last thing they wanted was her raising her blood pressure by chastising them for things they shouldn’t have been doing anyway.
Before Ellie could comment either way, the doctor came in to announce she’d be moved out of ICU and into a regular room, with plans to be freed at the end of the week. Sean couldn’t have been more pleased if there were two of him.
Josh and Dane left not long after the doctor, leaving him alone with Ellie, and the rest of the discussion about th
e fight. He really didn’t know how she’d react to the whole thing, but since he and Josh had worked it out, he hoped she wouldn’t be too pissed at both of them.
He sat on the side of the bed and took her hand once they were alone. “Nurse should be in any time now to move you. You doing okay on pain meds?”
Ellie shrugged and turned off the TV, gazing at him thoughtfully. “You and Josh are really okay?”
Sean nodded and kissed her knuckles. “Absolutely. Yeah, we threw some punches, everybody was riled up, it just happened. We’re good now.”
“Good,” she said around a jaw-popping yawn. She smiled at the nurse who’d walked in behind Sean bearing the paperwork for her move to a regular floor. Ellie figured it was as good a time as any to hit the button for her pain meds. Right before she drifted off into the ether, she told him, “I just love you both so much, and I worry about you.”
He sat there a moment, pondering her sweet, comatose countenance. Of course she’d declare her love out loud and then duck out before he could reply. Kissing her forehead, he whispered, “I love you, too.” He was still laughing by the time the orderlies came to move her to her new room.
Chapter 16
“Joshua Graham. I have been driving since I was fifteen. I know how to drive a damn car. One handed, even!”
She could tell that her best friend was selectively deaf where she was concerned. No matter how much fuss she raised, he kept silent, standing like a sentry by the open passenger door of her little Ford, not moving until she was inside and belted in. Bastard.
He slid into the driver’s seat with a wicked grin. “I think I’m gonna like being your chauffer. We get to go where I want to, and you don’t get to have any say about it.” He finished his comment with an evil, impish laugh.
“Oh, I’ll still have an opinion, but,” she looked down at her sling, “I just won’t be able to do anything about it for a while. Keep in mind, though, I have a very long memory.”
And his wicked grin vanished, just like that. Suddenly he was all business. “So, I took care of that stuff you needed me to handle, and it’s good to go.”
She sent him on a couple errands in anticipation of her homecoming. She would have asked Sean to take care of it, but it was considered poor form to have the recipient buy his own surprise gifts. “Excellent. House is ready?”
Josh pulled up in front of her townhouse and killed the engine. “All you gotta do is walk through the door.”
She stared out the window at her front door. Home, damn. Her own bed, double damn. It felt like she’d been away a lifetime, not simply a week. Josh got the door for her, and helped her up the stairs and into her place.
“Surprise!” Josh, Dane, and Sean all yelled as soon as she cleared the doorway. There were balloons everywhere, including giant Mylar bandages and teddy bears with stethoscopes. She was busy looking around at all the decorations until she felt a cold nose nudge her hand.
“Guinness!” She knelt down and began kissing the dog’s face. He was wearing a sign that said ‘Daddy & I missed you!’ in Sean’s handwriting.
“I see how it is,” Sean groused. “I decorate your house, buy you balloons and bring you cake, and the dog gets kisses.”
Ellie giggled and made her way over to her boyfriend, pulling him down for a lingering kiss, purposefully ignoring all the goofy sound effects from Josh in the background. Breaking apart only to come up for air, she had one thing on her mind. “There’s cake?”
Sean laughed and swatted her butt playfully before holding out a chair for her. “Yes, and I’ll get it for you.” When she opened her mouth to assert her independence, he simply said, “You, pain meds, and sharp and pointy objects are not a combo I’m comfortable with, sorry.” Then he kissed her nose and walked into her kitchen.
The cake was an awesome homemade confection from the kitchen of Josh and Dane, yellow with the chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles. It almost made it worth being shot, almost. And the boys had each bought her a present to make her recovery at home a little more bearable.
Josh handed her a grabber, a mechanical claw on a telescopic arm, with a pink handle and a big glittery ribbon. “I thought it would be helpful. I mean, you weren’t that tall to begin with. And—”
“Joshua. You’re at the bottom of the hole. Stop digging,” she groused. She didn’t like to be reminded of her infirmity, but she appreciated his thoughtfulness.
Dane had gotten her a special pillow to help her be comfortable in her bed with her injury. “You’ll get cranky if you don’t get any sleep.”
She got up and walked around the table, kissing her best friends each on the cheek and hugging them as best she could with one arm. There was no doubt in her mind that with their help, she’d be back in fighting form in no time. When the cake was done, Josh and Dane bid their farewells and left her alone with Sean.
He looked…anxious, like he had the biggest secret ever and it might make a break for it with his very next breath. That worked out, since Ellie had a couple secrets of her own. The game would be seeing who broke first.
Sean gave her the pain pills she’d skipped to be with her friends as soon as she was on the couch, and then set about making sure she was tucked in and comfy. Even Guinness helped, by lying in front of the couch and making sure she couldn’t leave without jostling him. “You’re not planning on leaving, too, are you?”
He took up a spot on the other end of the couch, just beyond her toes, and gazed at her in a way that filled her with warm fuzzies, outside of those caused by the medications. “Actually, Guinness and I were hoping we could stick around for a while. If that’s okay with you, of course.”
Her laughter filled the living room, and went on so long that the dog gave her a look full of suspicion. “In the cabinet, next to the sink.” Sean looked at her, eyes narrowed and lips pursed in speculation. She nodded toward the kitchen. “Go check. I mean it.”
He didn’t take his eyes off her as he rounded the coffee table and couch and went into the kitchen. “The hell is this?” he asked from just beyond the half-wall separating the rooms.
“Bring it in here and let’s see.”
The package was huge and oddly shaped, with hunter green paper and a navy bow. She’d have to thank Josh for making it look so masculine. When Sean sat back down, Guinness came over and investigated the new thing in the hands of his daddy.
Ellie watched as Sean tried to hold off his dog’s tenacious curiosity. “You might as well give it to him. It’s his, anyway.”
Sean stilled in confusion, and that was all Guinness needed to abscond with the package to the middle of the floor. He made short work of the paper, happily shredding it while nosing through to find the two dog bowls and sealed bags of snacks.
Surveying the damage, Sean hooked a hand in his back pocket, his features arrested in a stunned expression. “Wow.”
Ellie was now actively fighting the effects of the medications, because she wasn’t done yet with her surprises. “I wanted him to be comfortable while he stayed here. You, too.”
He picked up the bags of treats, opening one to keep Guinness from accosting him like a mugger on an old lady. “Me too, what?”
“Upstairs,” she paused to yawn enthusiastically, “bathroom.” Sentences were becoming too much work again.
Without a word, Sean dashed upstairs and came back down with a huge box, this one covered in hearts and glitter. “Really? Glitter?”
“Love me, love the shiny. Open it before I pass out here. I want to see your face.” She didn’t mean to be so demanding, but as the pain fled, it was replaced with an intense lethargy, and she was on a clock.
He nodded and tore through the paper, making as big a mess as Guinness. When he pulled out the towels, razor, shaving brush and mug, and bathrobe, he looked humbled, and so happy. “I… Thank you, El.”
“Please stay. I love you, and I want you both to stay.” The words felt like they weighed fifty pounds each on her tongue, but she had to say them.
He had to know how she felt, without question.
Replacing everything in the box, he shoved the coffee table out of the way so he could kneel down close to her. He took her hand in his and kissed her forehead. “You missed this before, but I love you, too. Have for a long time.”
Ellie giggled and closed her eyes, so close to happy, she may not have needed the pain meds. The last thing she heard before slipping off to the land of Nod, was Sean saying, “And we’ll be here when you wake up. Today and every day after.”
Acknowledgements
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mike Antonelli, Jimmy Gray, Mark Rand, and Steve Ferklic for their advice and technical support. Taking time out of your busy schedules to patiently answer my endless questions is greatly appreciated.
Ange, Patrick, and Chiquita for being awesome partners at work while I wrote.
The Ex File (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 1) Page 18