Page 81 of Drawn Blue Lines

Then reality arrived with a sharp reminder. “I don’t think…” I winced, blowing out a painful breath. “I mean, I have to go…”

Cristiano held up a hand. “It’s okay. I have you covered. There’s still plenty—”

“Perfect!” Taking Brody’s hand, I rushed toward the entrance before he said anything else. “We’ll go now.” Glancing back, I nodded toward his gun. “Got my back?”

I blinked, confused at the hint of sadness that flashed in his eyes.

“Always.”

* * *

Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico

After I convinced Brody to wait until tomorrow to call Val with an update, we drove in silence for an hour in the rain before reaching Cristiano’s Lake Chapala house. As soon as the stone staircase came into view, I tensed. I spent sixty minutes steeling myself for Brody’s reaction, but still cringed when I heard the low, what the fuck muttered under his breath.

I could’ve prepared him, but what was the use? It was going to be a fight regardless—one which I preferred not to have at sixty miles per hour.

And one we still hadn’t had half an hour later.

At least, not about that.

“I told you it’s fine,” he growled.

“And I told you even flesh wounds can cause gangrene if they’re not cleaned. Now shut up and let me look at it.”

It was a little extreme, but he was being unreasonable. We were too close to uncovering the truth for him to die from septic shock and a petulant male ego. Plus, I could tell by his parted lips and labored breath he was in more pain than he let on.

Groaning, he slumped onto the three thin steps dividing the kitchen from the living room, slamming his feet onto the bottom step, and hooking his elbow onto his knee. It wasn’t exactly an open invitation, but knowing Brody, it was the closest I’d get.

I rummaged through the kitchen in search of a first-aid kit, flinging open cabinets and cursing Cristiano’s name and still coming up empty. Frustrated, I collapsed against the counter and scrubbed my hands down my face.

Could one damn thing go right tonight? I’d already gotten a few dozen people killed. All I wanted was a bandage and some fucking antiseptic. Was that too much to ask? Tipping my head back, I pressed my palm against my forehead and twisted a handful of my hair between my fingers.

God, I needed a drink.

My head snapped up so fast the room blurred. Holy shit, that was exactly what I needed.

I searched the kitchen again, this time focused and methodical. By the time I plopped down next to Brody, he was half-asleep, his forehead pressed against his opposite knee.

“Rise and shine, counselor. It’s time to play doctor.”

He popped one eye open. “Is this a joke?”

“Nope. Take off your shirt.” Rolling my eyes at his smirk, I held up a pair of scissors. “You wish. I need to make a bandage.”

He narrowed his eyes, clearly not trusting a word out of my mouth. Not that I blamed him. But he didn’t have much of a choice, and he knew it. I waited as he opened one agonizing button at a time, and the minute the fabric slipped off his shoulders, all the air sucked out of the room. He paused, raising an eyebrow at my choked gasp, our eyes tangling with ferocity.

“Are you all right?”

I forced my eyes away from his chest and settled them on the blood coating his arm. His beautiful unmarred skin was now stained a deep scarlet. Luckily, most of the bleeding had slowed down, only a trickle of red still snaking down in a jagged trail toward his wrist.

He was right. It was a flesh wound, but a few inches to the right and we wouldn’t have been having this conversation. Pushing it out of my head, I busied myself cutting his shirt into strips, trying to ignore the heat of his stare. Setting them out in front of me, I forced everything out of my mind but the task at hand.

“Face forward and put your elbow on your knee.”

He did as I asked without arguing. Wadding up a few strips of his shirt in one hand, I picked up the bottle with the other and unscrewed the cap with my teeth. I’d barely tipped the neck when he flinched, and his elbow knocked against the side of the glass, dousing my legs instead of his arm.

“Hold still and stop being such a baby.”

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