Nick stayed right there, hovering, touching my hair, asking Gwen what she was doing every few minutes, and basically made a pain of himself until she had him sit on the coffee table and hold my hand.
“I should do something,” he told her. “I have a private physician I could—”
“It’s not necessary,” she assured him once the bleeding stopped. “It’s not broken, and I don’t think the cut will scar, but I’m going to—”
“I don’t care if it scars,” I told her, sounding nasally. “Scars are hot.”
“Everything’s hot on you,” Nick assured me.
I scoffed, and Gwen sighed and cleaned the cut on my face. Easy to see that she simply adored Nick, and it had been that way even before he paid off her farm.
The sheriff was at the house a half hour later, and he explained that the three guys they had in custody all worked for Nick’s father, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping would now be added to the hate crime charges, fraud, and animal cruelty.
“That’s a whole new can of worms,” Bill said flatly.
“Yessir,” Nick agreed, “it certainly is that.”
“I don’t suspect you’ll be hearin’ from your father again, son.”
“Thank you, sir. I hope not.”
“You give me a call if you hear from your sisters or those husbands of theirs, ya hear? I’ll take care of it.”
And when Bill stood up, Nick did as well. The handshake the sheriff gave him, along with the squeeze on the shoulder, was comforting.
“I guess we’re done with the get-together, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yessir,” he said with a sigh, “I certainly would.”
Nick went out and shook hands and posed for pictures, and I was supposed to stay on the couch, but I wanted a shower, so I went upstairs and did that and then lay down in bed with my head propped up, trying to stay awake.
I rolled over on my side and heard the door open a few minutes later. When my eyes fluttered open, though, Dez was in the room instead of Nick.
“Oh God,” he said, sucking in a breath as he came around the bed. “I heard you got hurt, so I came back to check on you.”
“Well, that’s very nice, but do me a favor,” I said, exhausted, realizing I had nothing on under the top sheet and lightweight quilt. “Could you open the door and stand there?”
“But,” he muttered, reaching for my face, “I should––”
“Just please,” I replied, moving my head away from him. “And tell me about Eugene and Dani. What’s happening there?”
He did as I asked, opened the door and leaned against the frame as he told me that the two people who he’d been cheating with were taking some time to figure out what everything meant for their marriage.
“It’s possible they can work it out.”
“Or maybe they’ll ask you to move in,” I suggested. “Stranger things have happened, and polyamorous relationships can work really well.” I was going to add, and you’re already a friend of the family, but that was a bit too snide and he was a nice guy. Clueless, yes. Bad, not at all.
“Oh yeah? Would that work for you?”
I shrugged. “I’m way too possessive, I’ve never shared well, so no, not for me. But it honestly depends on what you want.” I wanted to be supportive, so I talked more than I normally did. “I have a friend from college who has two husbands, and they’re raising four kids, and it’s been great for them. But they’ve worked really hard to make that seamless over the years. It just depends where you all are with your hearts.”
“And where are you with—”
“Dez,” Nick announced from either the top of the stairs or the hallway. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to say goodbye to you.”
I was surprised at how sincere he sounded.
Dez turned, and Nick shook his hand, clapped him on the shoulder, and then slipped by him into the room.
“It was a pleasure to meet both you and Loc,” he said almost sadly.
“And you,” Nick assured him, nodding. “I learned something important, having met you.”
“Something good, I hope?”
“Very good,” Nick assured him. “And now I’ll say good night, because I need to take care of my man.”
“Of course.”
He looked like he was going to pass Nick and come back into the room to hug me goodbye, but Nick stepped sideways, barring his path, his hand on the doorknob.
“Good night, Dez,” he said, and I could hear the finality in his tone. It wasn’t cold, but it was close. “Drive safely. I wish you all the best.”
He nodded, looked over at me, and turned as Nick closed the door and locked it before turning to me.
“I made him stand at the door and keep it open.”
Nick crossed to the bed and sat down to pull off his sneakers. “So, you’re saying he came in here and closed the door behind him at first?”