Page 66 of Cash

Brick flinched, but he nodded. “Sure, yeah. I’m all over that.”

“You have a great night, Mr. Brixton,” Cutter said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Lose my number, okay?”

Brick watched Cutter leave, jerking again when the door slammed. He got up to reset the alarm and lock the door, and he looked back at Jules stretched out on the floor.

It couldn’t be comfortable down there, but Brick didn’t think he could move him.

Before he did anything, he had to get rid of all the blood.

Brick took off his robe since it had gotten blood on it at some point and threw it away. He used the sink in the kitchen to wash up, wrinkling his nose at the strong scent of iron invading his nostrils. He washed his hands three times, but he still couldn’t get all the blood out from under his nails or around his cuticles.

Exhaustion crept up on Brick without warning, and he could hardly keep his eyes open. He’d worry about his damn nails later.

He went upstairs to get the pillows and blankets from the bedroom to ease the misery of sleeping down on the floor. Worried that it wasn’t enough, he decided to check the other bedroom.

Brick definitely did not expect to see his rainbow flamingo standing there.

With everything else going on, he’d forgotten about the pieces being stolen from his porch. Now he knew where they had wandered off to, and his heart skipped over itself to think of Jules in here trying to fix his beloved flamingo statue. It leaned a little to one side now, but it was fully restored except for the raised foot that was laying on the floor with a tube of some sort of epoxy.

Jules must have been planning to surprise him with it.

Brick was touched, and he made a mental note to properly thank Jules later.

After grabbing the rest of the blankets, Brick headed back downstairs. He made the executive decision to remove Jules’s bloody torn pants so he could clean up the remaining blood from both Jules and the floor. He used some of the blankets to create a pallet, but then he realized he had no way to actually move Jules onto it.

Well, shit.

Brick did the best he could with the pillows and remaining blankets to cover Jules and prop his head up. After he was satisfied that Jules was as comfortable as possible, he found himself drawn to the counter where Cutter had left the SipChip disc.

It was indeed a positive result.

Brick chucked it, along with the syringe, into the trash.

He laid down beside Jules on the floor, cuddling close on his uninjured side and resting his hand on Jules’s chest. He felt Jules’s heartbeat, slow and steady, and he took a few deep breaths in hopes of calming his own to such a relaxed rhythm. He was unbelievably tired, but his brain was still running at a thousand miles per hour.

Brick had surprised himself with being able to handle the insane pressures of blood and criminal activity, plus bucking up at a police officer who had threatened him. He was honestly in awe of what he was apparently capable of, though he didn’t really want to find out what else he could do.

Brick didn’t want any more crazy surprises or terrifying confrontations.

All he wanted was to be with Jules.

“You’d better wake up, Daddy,” he whispered. “You promised me sex when you were done with your criminaling, and I still expect you to fulfill that obligation. I was really looking forward to having that sex, and I will be pissed off as hell if you die on me. Plus, you’d be my second dead body in less than a week, and I’m so not okay with that kind of stress in my life right now.”

He laughed bitterly and then sighed.

“Seriously. Please. Please wake up.” Brick’s voice rose as he suddenly became emotional. “This is supposed to be the start of something incredible for me and you, and you cannot die before one of us has the chance to fuck it up like other couples, okay? Normal people crap like drifting apart or incompatible sex drives or something. Not one of us dying from a crazy gangster altercation, okay?”

He wasn’t expecting Jules to respond, but he had to get his thoughts out or he was going to snap.

“I just… I really, really care about you.” Brick’s eyes stung. “I really like how I feel when I’m with you, I like having you as my Daddy, I like watching television with you and cooking for you, and you fixed my flamingo for fuck’s sake. It’s just…” He sighed again. “If you don’t wake up soon, I’m going to kick your ass. So, there.”

“Love to see you try,” Jules mumbled sleepily.

“Jules!” Brick exclaimed as he bolted up, staring at Jules in disbelief. “Hey! You’re awake!”

“Mm, I think so.” Jules peeked open one eye. “Hi, baby.”

“What happened to you?”

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