Page 39 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

Bobby laughed and tried to reach his hand out to Tommy. It looked like he remembered too late it was his injured arm, and he pulled it back quickly.

Judy patted Tommy’s shoulder as she walked past him before leaving them alone.

“She’s pretty perceptive,” Tommy said as he walked around the bed to Bobby’s other side. He pulled up a chair and drew it close.

Bobby laughed at that. “Yeah, she is. How close to the truth was she? Were you looking for someone to take hostage so you could get some answers?”

Tommy carefully took Bobby’s hand in his own, mindful of the IV, and did something so tender it embarrassed him. He kissed each knuckle and then pressed Bobby’s fingers against his cheek. “Pretty much.”

Bobby turned his hand against Tommy’s face, as if trying to soothe Tommy. The guy with the bullet hole was trying to make Tommy feel better. It was ridiculous. Tommy lifted his eyes to meet Bobby’s. “We saw it all on the news. Scared the hell outta me and the kids.”

“I know,” Bobby whispered. “I called the house as soon as they got me settled in here. Colleen told me where you were. I talked to everyone and told them to go to bed because they couldn’t use my funeral as an excuse to skip school tomorrow.”

When Tommy glared at him, Bobby asked in mock innocence, “Too soon?”

“It’ll never not be too soon for a joke like that, asshole.”

Bobby laughed again, and it sounded dry and hoarse. “I guess I really am gonna be okay if you’re already calling me names.”

Tommy stood up and reached over him. He grabbed the little pitcher full of ice water and poured some into a cup. “Drink,” he said. “You sound like shit.”

Bobby didn’t argue. He took a long sip from the flexible straw and then sighed as he let his head fall back against the pillows. “They had to tube me for the surgery. My throat feels like I swallowed glass.”

“That’s what ya get when you let yourself get shot.”

Tommy sat down again and grabbed the same hand he’d been holding. This time he laced their fingers together. “Aren’t they giving you anything for the pain?”

“It’s wearing off now, and I haven’t hit the little button they gave me on my drip.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, thinking he deserved the pain if he was too stupid to keep the meds coming in.

Bobby explained, “It’s Demerol, knocks me out, and I wanted to be awake when you got in here.”

Those words more than anything else that night made Tommy’s heart skip a beat. Bobby getting shot had turned his world upside down. Meeting Bobby’s mother put things into a perspective for Tommy that he hadn’t wanted to see. Finding out the first thing Bobby did when he was out of surgery was call the house to tell him he was okay, that he talked to all of the kids to make sure they knew it, had meant more to Tommy than he’d like to admit. But that? Sitting there, uncomfortable, in pain, drifting in and out of restless sleep and waiting to see Tommy after being shot? That was enough to knock him on his ass permanently.

Tommy let go of Bobby’s hand and reached over him. He found the button hooked up to the IV and hit it once. Then he leaned in close and looked deep into Bobby’s eyes. His voice broke on a tremor as he spoke, and he didn’t care how weak or how vulnerable, how stupid it made him sound. He took Bobby’s face in his hands and said, “I love you, you stupid son of bitch.”

He didn’t give Bobby a chance to respond. Instead, he took Bobby’s mouth in a hard, fierce kiss that felt like it would never end.

When he pulled back, Bobby’s eyes were glassy and he didn’t look like he could speak. Tommy sat down again, and Bobby trailed a fingertip against Tommy’s cheek. It came away wet. Tommy hadn’t even realized there were tears on his face, hadn’t let himself acknowledge it.

“Shit,” Bobby said, sounding stoned and tired. “I think I’m hallucinating.”

His eyes fell shut, and Tommy laughed.

Chapter Nine

By the time Tommy got home, the sun was already up. He found Colleen in the kitchen putting on a pot of coffee. She looked like a little kid playing house as she shuffled around in a ratty robe and a pair of torn-up slippers.

“How’s Bobby?” she asked as she started making sandwiches and stuffing them in paper sacks. The kids would probably get free lunches at school, since Cheryl had finally turned in the paperwork for food stamps, but they were always careful the first day of the year, not wanting the kids to go hungry if there was a mix-up.

“Sound asleep when I left him.” Tommy grabbed two coffee mugs down from the cupboard and waited impatiently for the pot to brew.

“Any news on Sanders?”

Bobby’s partner was important to him, so by extension, he was important to the rest of the family. Tommy nodded to her as he watched the coffee drip into the pot. “He’s outta the woods, but they wanna keep him a few more days.”

“I bet Bobby is relieved.” Colleen looked at Tommy, and her expression said she was pretty relieved too. “You should probably get some rest before we gotta leave for school.”

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