The blanket tucker.
The nose booper.
The whipped cream sneaker.
“Hey,” he said moving in, closing the door behind him, then leaning into it. “You okay?”
“Do you like my sexy new fashion accessory?” I said, waving at my immobilizer.
“If anyone can pull it off, it’s you,” he told me, trying to give me one of his warm, boyish smiles, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Does it hurt?”
“You mean after all that crazy good acetaminophen they gave me? How could I possibly feel anything after such strong pharmaceutical drugs?” I said, getting a low chuckle out of him.
“They have to be careful about addictive shit, I guess. I can get you something stronger.”
“Dr. Stone said you could,” I said, nodding.
“It’s not from the street,” he assured me. “All of us end up getting banged up for some thing or another and get a script we end up barely taking. I will snag you some. It is going to be hard to sleep for a while. That’s the shoulder on the side you sleep on.”
How could a guy who remembered little details like that about you be the bad guy?
“Ugh. I didn’t think about that,” I grumbled even as the events of the night started to weigh down on me, making me acutely aware of the bone-deep sort of exhaustion that was settling in.
“You’ll find a comfortable position,” he assured me. “Especially after you get some good pain meds in you. Is anything else hurt?” he asked.
“Aside from my pride?” I asked, then let out a sigh. “No.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“Ah, but it kind of totally is,” I said, shaking my head. “Did you know that the guy in there, the one who did this to my shoulder, he was an employee of The Main Squeeze?”
“Baby, you can’t blame yourself. This is what bad guys do. They try to get close. Integrate themselves. They hope you will trust them, or they will catch you alone, and then they pounce.”
“I shouldn’t have gone to the shop.”
“You were half awake and thought you were speaking to the cops. Stop beating yourself up.”
“It was a rookie mistake.”
“I hate to be the one to break this to you, babe, but you are a rookie,” he told me, and this time that smile did meet his eyes.
“What are you talking about? I am a two-time criminal now.”
“That’s true. Practically a boss at this point.”
“Is everyone okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, everyone is fine, babe. Don’t worry about them. And the dogs are out. I lucked out and can get them to some rescues in the morning.”
“That was fast.”
“Good timing. There was an adoption event at a brewery that went well, so they had lots of room.”
“That’s great. Where are the dogs now then?”
“Levee and a couple of the others are bringing them back to the safe house.”
“So the safe house is still a, you know, thing?” I asked.