Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 55860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Mmmm, not yet,” he takes my hand to lead me out the door. There’s no way we can get there fast enough for me.
6
JACK
Ihave Serena’s hand in mine. Our fingers laced together, and I’m taking her out to my car. Soon, I’ll be taking her to my bed. The night breeze runs cool across our skin, and we are fevered, sweaty, not wanting to wait. My brain, what’s left of it, is thinking ahead, how long will it take in traffic to reach my place? If I pull her into my lap in the car then I can kiss her while I get her off, just once, just to hold her off until I can get her home.
I lean her back against the door and cover her mouth with mine. Relief and joy coat the roaring need I feel in both of us. I’m kissing her, slow and easy, because I meant it to be a light peck, the promise of things to come. Not a filthy, deep kiss. I pull her into my arms while I kiss her, lift her off her feet so I can kiss her without bending over so far. Her hands are on my face in my hair—it feels so sweet.
My phone rings. I keep it on do not disturb, but I have a couple of numbers programmed to reach me anytime. Grimly I realize it’s Lynette, my cousin, who also happens to be my right-hand.
I reach back and answer it, clear my throat. “What?” I say.
“You still at the bar?” she asks. I wrap my arm around Serena’s shoulders protectively, and she buries her face in my neck. I kiss the top of her head without thinking. It’s an intimate gesture, comfort and closeness. I know she can feel the tension in every cell of my body as I listen.
“Yeah,” I reply.
“I got incoming. I rerouted a delivery. Is the little nurse still there?”
“Yeah. How many?”
“Three. I wouldn’t do this, but Louie got plugged in the leg, and Vicenzo’s in Sicily for that wedding.”
“Sicily? Jesus. That doesn’t help anybody that’s bleeding out for Christ sake,” I mutter. “Send him in the back.”
“Whaddaya think I’m gonna send my bleeding husband in the goddamn front door and let the bouncer check his ID?” she says, smart mouthing me the way she does when she’s upset.
“He’ll be fine, Lynnie,” I tell her. Then I hang up and turn to Serena.
“We got a problem. I gotta go back inside. Did you mean what you said the other day about first aid?” I demand.
Her face is still pink, her lips parted. She looks like she’s about to fall over and die of a massive cardiac event brought on by lust. I know because I’ve got the blue balls to prove it, but there’s no time to explain.
“Yeah, of course I did.”
“Change of plans,” I tell her. “That was my cousin. Her husband could use your assistance.”
“Show me where the gloves are,” she said, not missing a beat.
“I could kiss you,” I say with a rueful laugh.
“You already did and look where that got me—digging out bullets and shit,” she says with an eye roll that makes me want to see if we can finish what we started in the length of time it takes to send Louie this way. Her eyes are still bright and her cheeks flushed. It reminds me of what we had to cut off.
“You sure you didn’t grow up in this life?” I tease her.
“Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to start things you couldn’t finish?”
“Yeah, but she was talking about schoolyard fistfights,” I say. “If I’d known somebody got antsy at the drop and started shooting, I wouldn’t have done half the things I did,” I say.
“Apology accepted,” she says with a gleam in her eye.
It’s barely enough time to get stuff out of the supply closet before they arrive. Every place I own has the same basic kit, stuff our family doctor helped select for emergency use.
Serena has put a disposable gown over her clothes, and she has the headlamp on. She’s gloved and ready when Jonny and Luke bring Louie in. They’ve got his arms slung around their shoulders so it looks like they could be helping a drunk friend, but his head droops, and they’ve tied a bandana around his leg. They heave him up on the desk I covered for the purpose.
“Lou, it’s Jack. Lynn called me and I told her my best nurse will clean you up and you’ll go right home to her. Okay?” I say.
“Jacky?” he mutters.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I take his hand. “You get hit in the leg?”
“Hurts like a mother,” he says, and his breathing is shallow.
I cut my eyes to Serena, and she’s all business. She’s cut the leg of his jeans open to clean the wound and get a look at it.