Page 155 of Liar's Point

“What happened?”

“Caught some glass at the junkyard.”

“Why didn’t they do this at the hospital?”

“I don’t know. They were distracted.” He bent over the cut, and she watched him dig a sliver of glass from his skin. He deposited it on the counter and looked up.

“How’s your arm?” She nodded toward the thick bandage wrapped around his biceps.

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Yeah.”

“You took a freaking bullet. How can it be fine?”

“It barely grazed me. I just needed a few stitches.”

He got up and walked around her, and her stomach plummeted as she saw the giant purple bloom on his shoulder blade.

“What is that?” But she knew exactly what it was. He’d been shot in the back, close enough to make a bruise through the Kevlar.

“Nothing,” he said, opening a cabinet.

“You didn’t tell me you were shot in the back.”

“I wasn’t.”

Tears burned her eyes, and she reached for the bruise.

“Ouch!” He whirled around.

She pulled back and bit her lip. Then she looked at his bare chest. His heart was just inches away from where two bullets had hit him, and that was it. Game over. All the terror, and stress, and frustration of the past four hours came pouring forth in one big wave.

“Shit,” he said with a sigh.

She buried her face in her hands.

“Don’t get upset.”

She choked back a sob. “Don’t tell me what to do!”

“Nicole, come on.”

He reached for her hands to pull them away from her face, but she turned away. She couldn’t look at him as another sob burst out of her.

“Hey.” He wrapped his warm arms around her, crutches and all. “I’m fine, all right? Look at me.”

She leaned into him, wiping her cheeks.

“Come on. Don’t. There’s nothing to cry about.”

She let out a strangled noise and pressed her fist into his chest. “Would you stop with that shit? You were shot today. Twice! I can cry if I want.”

She looked up at him, furiously wiping tears and snot from her face. She hated him seeing her like this. She rarely cried, and when she did, she made sure no one was around to see it. She tried to turn away, but he kept his arms wrapped around her.

“Hey.”

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