Page 101 of Static/Cling

“Not their first rodeo, I expect,” Kassian said, sitting patiently while one of them slathered his ankle with an antiseptic cream. The other one was already done and neatly wrapped with gauze. His hair dripped onto his borrowed T-shirt, clean, now, since he’d showered the moment they’d unloaded into the house.

Having another man’s life’s blood all over him was, apparently, more than he’d been able to stand. It had brought the damage the shackles had done to his skin to light, though. Maybe adrenaline had kept him from noticing, even in the van when Gerome had picked the locks to get them off.

“You guys read the fine print too, huh?” Bjorn asked.

The one applying butterfly tape to his feet chuckled and nudged his partner with an elbow. “Kerry did, sure. Told me it was a good gig, so…” He shrugged. “I trust her.”

“Yeah.” Bjorn glanced at Leif, who was sitting on an old couch, also clean and showered, now, head back, eyes closed, Dash’s head in his lap. “Same.” He turned his attention back to the EMTs. “But you’re still ambulance people.”

Kerry shrugged. “Lucky for you, right?”

He could only nod. “Lucky for me.” He had to wonder how far SPAM reached, though, if they had trained medical personnel just hanging out, ready for a call.

By the time everyone had been patched up, the ride back to the office happened in the dark. There wasn’t a lot to see out the window for most of the drive. Trees in the dark didn’t look like much, and the distant lights of isolated houses seemed… fragile.

Bjorn had liked his life before he knew there were assholes out in the world trying to use regular people as tools and weapons.

Next to him, head on his shoulder, Leif snored softly. It was good he could sleep.

“Hey.” Kassian watched him over Leif’s head.

“What?”

“You tell me. You’ve been sighing and growling over there for the past half hour. What’s wrong?”

Bjorn shuddered. “That stairwell, dude. You didn’t see what it did to him.”

“I think we all saw what it did to him.”

“Yeah. And now what?”

“That’s why I kept the laptop. I’ll figure it out.”

“Sure.” He turned his attention back out the window.

“I will figure it out,” Kassian said again, reaching past Leif to take Bjorn’s hand.

Bjorn’s first instinct was to yank free, but Kassian tightened his hold. No sparks flew and Bjorn realized Kassian had a good grip. Warm skin. Strength. Usually, Leif was the strong one, and Bjorn wasn’t at all sure they could reverse roles now. Kassian’sassurance, which yesterday he might have scoffed at, today felt like a lifeline.

So he sat there, fingers laced with Kassian’s in Leif’s lap, for the comfort of it. When Leif’s hand, still too cold, slipped between theirs, they glanced at each other over his head again, and Bjorn sighed.

“You could have just talked to your brother,” Bjorn muttered.

“What would that have accomplished?”

“Saving us a trip into hell?”

Kassian sighed. “You think Rufus would have told me any of his plans?”

“I think your family has a fucking communication problem.”

Another sigh. “I think you’re right.”

“I don’t know what to do for him now. He isn’t that guy in the hallway snapping necks and… and…” He swallowed, because saying “ripping people’s throats out” out loud was beyond him right then.

“We got this,” Kassian promised.

“Sure,” he said again.

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