Page 33 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
"You've got six kids here that disappeared going to or from the Western Variant Academy, McKenzie. These aren't throwaway kids. Care to explain?"
Shudder flapped his hands in an exasperated way. "I don't ask why they ran away. So what if they came from Western?"
"Forty kids. Forty missing over the past few months."
"Really? Oh." Shudder did that shocked big-blue eyes thing that had had made Blaze melt once upon a time. Now it just annoyed the hell out of him. "But my kids can't have anything to do with all that."
"Your kids? Did you contact the parents? Let anyone know they're alive? What the hell goes through that piece of holey cheese you call a brain sometimes? What—" Blaze broke off, suddenly out of breath, a sharp pain in his chest. He put his head on his knees, concentrating on pulling in air.
"Blaze?"
"He was shot in the chest a couple of days ago." Damien's soft voice sounded closer. "Having his hands bound behind his back can't be comfortable."
"Shot? Oh, for the love of—"
Hands shoved him upright, and Shudder's face reared into view, his lips pinched tight. He tugged Blaze's T-shirt from his pants and shoved it up to his armpits.
"Damn it, Blazey, you stubborn, hardheaded jackass."
Instead of taking the cuffs off, Shudder stomped out again, muttering to himself. Blaze leaned his head back against the wall, back teeth clamped tight against the pain. The sound of cloth sliding over wood planks made him open his eyes. The confusing and achingly sweet sight of Damien on his knees between Blaze's feet almost made him forget the pain.
With gentle hands, Damien tugged Blaze's shirt back to rights and tucked it back into his jeans. Those hands on him set off thumb-sized fireworks in his belly. He had to bite his lip or risk a bad reaction to the sex-starved moan that wanted out. Damien was just straightening him out because he couldn't stand things in disarray. It made him feel better, more in control. Blaze didn't mind the attention, though when Damien put a warm hand over the healing spot on his chest, all his higher brain functions packed up and went on vacation.
"I'm sure he'll be right back. The cuffs probably need a mag-key or a code." Damien's hands were nearly steady as he kept at his minute clothing adjustments, but guilt stabbed at Blaze at every flash of split knuckle and broken, bleeding nail.
"Better not be a numeric code. Shuds is dyslexic."
"Ah." Damien stopped fussing to look up at him. "He doesn't seem so horrible. It must have ended badly between you for him to still irritate you so much."
"He's an—"
"Idiot. Yes. I know."
Blaze took in the twitch of a smile and the little bit of color in Damien's pale cheeks. "It wasn't me that br—"
"Shhh." Damien stroked a dust-encrusted knuckle along Blaze's jaw, making his labored breaths hitch. "It's none of my business. Slow down. You'll hyperventilate. I don't think he meant for you to be in such pain."
It's not the pain making me hyperventilate. Blaze closed his eyes, trying to ignore the touch, the heat, the proximity, damn the man.
"Oh, so sorry. Am I interrupting?" The shit-eating grin came through loud and clear. Shudder's gift for timing hadn't changed, either.
"Cuffs. Please," Damien requested softly. He shocked the hell out of Blaze by staying put between his spread knees. "He can't breathe."
The soft hum of a mag-key preceded a click and a clatter when the cuffs fell to the floor. Blaze pulled in a slow breath, rubbing at his chest when he had eased his stiff arms back around to a more natural position.
"That hole in your chest looks weeks old, not a couple days, Blazey."
"Hippo got to me."
"Eew. Sorry. The pain bitch can be rough."
Finally, Damien backed off with a little pat to Blaze's knee, which was all kinds of weird and confusing. "The kids staying here, were they running? Were they looking for you or did you happen to find them lost and in trouble?"
Shudder blinked as if he'd never considered the question. Maybe he hadn't. His crusading sometimes gave him a narrow hunter's view of the world. "You know, I couldn't tell you. Which kids are they? Are you here to take them back?"
Damien stared at him so long Shudder shifted and glanced away, fiddling with the buttons on his coat.
"I'm here to evaluate the situation, to gather as much information as I can. All the kids aren't here, so I have to assume I'm still missing huge chunks of the picture."
