Page 226 of Cross & Crown

back down, Nick’s eyes were on him, that same smitten,

indulgent gaze Kelly had grown accustomed to over the past

year. His hand tightened in Nick’s. “I thought I said it. You

never let go of me.”

226

“I couldn’t,” Nick gasped. Kelly didn’t know if he was

in pain or if the memory of Kelly’s near-death experience in

New Orleans was overwhelming him. “I couldn’t let go of

you, Kels.”

Kelly struggled to swallow, nodding and holding back the

urge to cry. He squeezed Nick’s hand harder. “Neither will I.”

He had to, though, to let the EMTs load Nick into the

ambulance. Kelly followed them to the hospital in the Range

Rover, his mind tossing and turning over the events of the day.

Had they really just tracked down a centuries old treasure?

Was it possible the Continental payroll was more than merely

gold bars, that it was really a missing Masonic treasure trove?

His mind was reeling with the possibilities, but all he really

wanted was to get to Nick. He’d go over the implications of

the past few days later, when he knew Nick was okay.

When he finally found Nick in the hospital, he was already

sitting up and bitching because they’d cut his shirt off him.

“It had a bullet hole in it,” the nurse argued.

“It was a graze!” Nick shouted.

She rolled her eyes as she left the room, nodding to Kelly

when she passed.

“You’re running out of spare clothes, babe,” Kelly said

with a relieved grin. If Nick could bitch about his clothes, he was doing just fine, despite his so-called “graze” actually being a through-and-through. They had an IV in him, probably

with pain medication in there, and they were giving him a

transfusion for the blood he’d lost.

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