Page 127 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

If Cash had the energy, he would have gotten out of the chair and beat his ass. As it was, I wasn’t even sure he could make it to the room to lie down.

“Since you all seem so concerned about your friend who almost died, how about you get him to the bedroom so he can rest.”

“Boss?” Thumper asked.

I stepped in front of Cash, not taking his shit on this. “No, right now, you can consider Cash down for the count.I’min charge of his care, and he’s not doing anything I don’t want until he’s better. Understood?”

Thumper shrugged and walked past me, muttering, “Looks like you stepped in some shit,” to Cash as he helped him stand. “Better you than me.”

I saw the smirk play across Cash’s lips, but I didn’t care. After everything that happened this past week, I needed some peace and quiet, and none of that included smart ass remarks from his coworkers.

After getting him to the room and laying him down, I turned to the others. “No one comes in here for the next week. Am I clear?”

“That seems a little harsh,” Slider frowned. “He’s going to get bored with only walls to stare at.”

“I don’t give a shit. He needs to rest.”

“Well, obviously Lock is coming in.”

“And why would he do that?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Team medic. You know, to take care of the patient?”

“Oh…right. Well, only him. The rest of you can fuck off.”

I slammed the door in their faces and finally made my way over to Cash where he was grinning at me.

“I like it when you go all G.I. Jane on them.”

I felt like I was going to lose it again, so I laid down beside him and did my best to snuggle up against him without hurting him. When his arm pulled me in closer, I nearly lost it. I could feel the tears slipping down my cheeks and soaking his shirt.

“Hey, don’t cry, kitten. I know you were scared, but I’m okay.”

“It’s not just that. It’s everything. I almost lost you, and then you just disappeared. You could have at least left me a note or something.”

He chuckled slightly. “I’ll remember that the next time I get kidnapped.”

“You’d better,” I mumbled into his shirt.

I laid there for a long time, waiting for his breathing to even out, but it never did. Instead, I found myself drifting off to sleep, but the low cadence of his voice woke me.

“Say you’ll stay with me,” he whispered. “I can’t fucking lose you.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I pretended to be asleep. Everything in me screamed to stay with him, but there was still that small part of me that just had to prove that I could do it on my own. Even if it was only for a little while.

41

CASH

“No,goddamnit! That’s not where that goes,” I shouted at Fox as he carried Sally 2 down the hall—away from my office.

Jones got it for me right before he took off. He knew exactly what I liked, and figured it was a sort of going away present. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going, but I knew Rae was already working on finding a way to track him, should we ever need him again.

“Boss, it’s a weapon. It goes with all the others.”

“Bullshit. You know that’s my rifle. There’s no way in hell you’re taking her. She goes to my office.”

He sighed, looking longingly at my rifle. She was a beauty, nearly the same as the original Sally, but with a few upgrades. “Fine, but it’s not fair that you got one and the rest of us didn’t.”

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