Page 39 of Run to Ground
“Theo?” Hugh’s tone wasn’t joking anymore.
“Fuck off,” Theo muttered, attempting to turn away again, but Hugh’s fingers tightened. It would’ve been easy to free himself of Hugh’s grip, but there seemed something so wrong about taking advantage of the other man’s weakness when he was in the hospital. When he had nearly died.
Theo’s throat tightened, restricting his breathing.
Hugh gave his arm a little shake. “Why are you pissed? I figured you’d be happy—okay, so maybe nothappy, since the whole dancing-on-a-mountain-top thing really isn’t your style, but at least mildly content—that I’d survived. It was thanks to you I made it. If I’d lost much more blood…” Hugh finished with a wordless squeeze right below Theo’s elbow.
That grip felt like it was at his throat. Despite its good intentions, despite its gentleness, that hand was strangling him. Theo barely managed to force out a lie. “I’m not pissed.”
Hugh actually laughed. It was the shadow of his former laugh, but it was still a laugh. Theo stared harder at the IV stand, rubbing his hand against his skull, back and forth across the short strands of hair that were just long enough not to be bristly. “Liar. You’re in a constant state of pissed off. What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” Theo repeated. The sheer ridiculousness of the question forced him to finally fix his glare on Hugh. “What’swrong?”
“Yeah.” That touch of humor was back, and Theo wanted to punch it out of him. “Besides this mess, of course.” He gestured to his blanket-covered form.
Theo opened his mouth, the angry words rushing into his throat, but then he clamped his lips together without letting them fly. His rage wasn’t logical. If he tried to explain it, to yell at Hugh for laughing when he’d almostdied—the way Don haddied—the words wouldn’t make any sense. Swallowing the tirade that wanted to spill from him, Theo just muttered, “That mess is enough.”
His smile fading, Hugh studied him for a moment. “Yeah, it is. Sorry.”
Hugh’s serious response stole his anger, just blew it out from underneath Theo, creating a void. Other emotions started to creep in—fear and grief and sheer gratitude that Hugh hadn’t died. They were overwhelming, stripping Theo raw and leaving him vulnerable.
Unable to hold Hugh’s gaze for a new reason that had nothing to do with anger, Theo returned to studying the IV. Once again, he had no words. All he could do was give a choppy jerk of his head to acknowledge Hugh’s apology—an apology that made no sense. After all, he hadn’t done this to himself. Not like Don.
“So what’s going on? They find the asshole yet?”
Pathetically grateful for the change of subject, Theo said, “No. By the time ERU made entry, he was gone.”
“Shit.” Hugh shifted his weight with a stifled wince that Theo pretended not to see. “They get anything? Prints? A witness? A signed confession? A piece of chewed gum? A gun?”
A corner of Theo’s mouth twitched. Leave it to Hugh to be lying in a hospital bed after being shot andstilldreaming of unicorns and rainbows. “One casing the shooter missed when cleaning up. Forty-caliber.”
His face brightening, Hugh opened his mouth, but Theo knocked him off his hopeful horse before he could ask the question. “No prints.”
His disappointed expression quickly slipped away, replaced by thoughtfulness. “Forty-cal? I would’ve sworn he was using a rifle.”
That had been bugging Theo, too. “Could’ve been a Kel-Tec.”
“True.”
Theo stood, holding back a groan as his ribs and muscles protested the motion after a sleepless night sitting in the very uncomfortable hospital waiting-room chairs. “Have to go pick up Vig.”
“Did someone drop him at the station yesterday?”
For some reason, Theo was reluctant to talk about Jules. The other guys knew her as the new waitress, but that was it. As odd as it was, Theo felt like Jules and her family were his—just his. He didn’t want to share her. Hugh was waiting for an answer, though, his expression growing more curious by the second. With a silent sigh, Theo admitted, “Jules took him.”
It took a second before comprehension dawned, quickly followed by a smirk. “New waitress Jules?Hotnew waitress Jules?”
Theo just stared at him flatly. For some weird reason, that made Hugh laugh.
“Go for it, man.” Hugh chuckled again. “Oh, and could you—”
Before he could finish the sentence, Theo was already pulling a wad of paper from one of the cargo pockets on his BDUs and thrusting it at Hugh.
“Incident report?” At Theo’s affirmative shrug, Hugh grabbed it from him, his face lit up like it was Christmas. “You’re the best. How’d you know I’d want it?”
Theo didn’t bother answering. After working together for so long, Theo had just known. “I asked Otto to bring it early this morning. I’ll grab copies for you of any follow-up reports as they come in.”
“This is great.”
