Page 43 of Resolution

“He doesn’t.” Raven looked at me with such devotion, it took my breath away.

“I’m envious,” Beth said. “I have to work out for an hour every morning just to feel like I can eat an extra bite of pasta at lunch.” She pointed at Kindness with chopsticks. “I made the mistake of trying to keep up with Kindness at the gym one time and threw up for fifteen minutes.”

“I told you to hydrate,” Kindness replied with a grin.

“I drank three bottles of water,” Beth said, sounding incredulous. “Honestly, what kind of person kickboxes for two and a half hours? I swear I had to pinch her to make sure she wasn’t an AI generated robot.”

I laughed and so did Raven. I really liked these two women.

When we finished eating, I sat back in my chair, positive I’d put on two pounds as I patted my stomach. “That food was incredible. Thank you.”

“Our pleasure,” Kindness said. “There’s more where that came from.” She stood and reached into the pocket of her slacks, producing a credit card. “Snow gave me his FBI issued Amex. He never uses it unless we’re out of town on a case, so he figured why not make good use of it.” She sat back down with a grin on her face.

I grinned at Raven. “I’m beginning to think being protected by the FBI is going to be better than I thought.” I heard a meow and turned to see Stanley running into the room. The second I moved my chair, he hopped into my lap and stretched up to sniff my plate. “Where have you been?” I asked the kitten.

“Keeping you company at the foot of your bed,” Raven replied. “He couldn’t be parted from you for even a minute. Didn’t you see him there?”

I shook my head as I stroked his back. “I totally missed him.” Stanley took that moment to jump up on the table and dash over to a skewer of chicken satay, grab it, and jump off the table.

Kindness and Beth burst into laughter as Raven and I jumped up to catch him. I’d taken no more than ten steps before a bout of dizziness hit me like a ton of bricks. I fell to my hands and knees halfway between the dining room and the living room.

“Miguel!” Raven cried, running over to my side where I’d barely caught myself with both hands. Hitting my already bruised face on the tiled floor wouldn’t have been fun. He was squatting beside me when I looked up.

“Sorry. Got dizzy all of a sudden.”

Raven reached for me with both hands as Kindness and Beth appeared at our sides. I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over me as Beth reached for one bicep and Raven the other. I struggled to my feet, half in shock that I’d fallen and because the dizziness wasn’t going away. When I was standing, Beth dropped my arm but stood close.

“You’re going back to bed right now,” Raven said, still holding onto my arm.

“I feel really stupid,” I grumbled.

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Kindness said. “You just got out of the hospital, Miguel.”

“I really hope that agent loses his job,” Beth said. “FBI agents can’t kick anyone in the head, especially with a steel-toed boot.”

“Well, he’s on administrative leave and his case is in the hands of OPR. Who knows?” Kindness added.

“Thanks, guys,” I said.

“Come on, Miguel. You need to lie down.” Raven started pulling me toward the bedroom but I resisted, stopping to turn back to the agents.

“I’m really sorry for spoiling things after you were so thoughtful to order dinner.”

“Don’t be silly,” Kindness said, smiling. “Like I said, I have Lincoln’s card so there’s plenty more where that came from.”

“Thank you, and in the future, we’ll make sure Stanley is locked in the bedroom when we eat.” I smiled at them and then let Raven take me back to the bedroom.

I let him hang onto my arm the whole way but pulled free as soon as the bedroom door was closed.

“Miguel, please let me—”

“Thanks, Sunshine, but really, I can walk all by myself. I’ve been doing it for many years now.”

I headed for the bench and sank down on it.

He came over and sat beside me. I slid him a wry look. “Will you let me call the doctor, Miguel? I think you were released too soon.”

“Baby, they did a CAT scan. I don’t have a brain bleed, just a bad concussion. I stood up from the table too fast, that’s all.”

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