Page 31 of Flash and Bang
“I’m sorry it took so long to get here. I had to wait for one of the FBI guys to drive me in,” Thayne said. The words were so matter-of-fact, Jarrett’s bellydid a flip-flop. “You have the keys to the Jeep. I’m glad to see you’re okay though.” The expression on Thayne’s face was a mixture of relief and hurt but not the least bit angry and that made Jarrett’s stomach tumble so hard he wanted to be sick. When the room suddenly spun, he reached out a hand to grab something for balance. Thankfully, Thayne stepped up to him, grasping it.
“I’m okay, Thayne,” Jarrett said, relieved as hell that he wasn’t going to make a big thing about catching Adael kissing him, something he hadn’t initiated and had never wanted to begin with.
“Good,” Thayne said, dropping his hand. He hesitated as though he wanted to say more but then settled for, “I’ll just wait out there until you’re through here.” Thayne shot Adael a sideways glance and then ducked his head before hooking a thumb to show the direction he was going. Before Jarrett could open his mouth and say or do anything else stupid, Thayne was gone and the curtain was fluttering where he’d been standing. Jarrett’s mouth opened and then closed and he wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and stay there. The truth was, Jarrett never would have expected a former bedmate to suddenly show up and kiss him.Dammit.
“I’m sorry, lover,” Adael said.
Jarrett turned to stare at him, sick inside. He frowned. “Don’t call me that, Adael. We ain’t been together for a long time.”
Adael set his good hand on his hip and frowned, looking at the ground. “If you want me to fight for you, Jarrett, I will. I know things went bad in Gaza and that’s the reason you didn’t contact me afterward but I still want you. I never stopped wanting you.” He glanced back up, looking hopeful.
Jarrett was silent for several beats and then he finally shook his head, blowing out a long slow breath. When he spoke his words came out with a gravelly voice. “I don’t want that. I’m sorry, okay? It sucks the way things turned out in Gaza City. It really does. If things would ‘a been different, I might have…” He paused, not really knowing what he would have done. Stayed around? Made some sort of commitment to Adael? They’d never had the time to explore their feelings but the fact was, it was two years ago and Jarrett had moved on. Jarrett hoped Adael had moved on too but apparently not. He needed to put a nail in that coffin. “Anyway, it’s too late for all that, Adael.”
Adael didn’t have time to reply as a nurse ripped the curtain aside and bustled in.
“Mr. Evans?”
Jarrett nodded at the petite Filipino woman. “Yes.”
She smiled. “We have time for your CAT scan now.” An orderly came up behind her with a wheelchair. “Please sit.” She glanced at Adael. “You can wait for him here.”
“I was just leaving,” Adael said. He glanced at Jarrett. “I would like to talk to you, Jarrett. Please call me.” He reached out and handed Jarrett a card in Hebrew. Jarrett didn’t read Hebrew but he recognized the Israel country code in the phone number printed on it.
“Okay, Adael.” He still felt sick inside—not because Thayne had caught Adael kissing him—but because he’d stupidly let it happen and then on top of it, kissed him back.Fuck! Where’s your head. Fucked-up. That’s where.
Adael stepped back without another word and Jarrett got off the gurney and plopped down in the wheelchair. He gave Adael one last glance before the orderly rolled him out of the ER. He looked for Thayne but he was nowhere to be found. He closed his eyes and slumped in the chair feeling worse than ever. His head pounded and he knew he was still bleeding and stunk of smoke but the only thing he could think about was Thayne.
****
Talk about fucked-up timing. Thayne stood in the waiting room not knowing what to do with himself. He’d been in a near panic to get to the hospital when Jarrett had passed out a second time after the F-18 took out the barn in a massive fireball but walking in on Jarrett kissing Adael had been the last thing he’d ever expected. It confirmed that they had been lovers in the past. Thayne knew Jarrett had strong feelings for him. He didn’t know whether he loved him or for how long he had been feeling the way he had, but Thayne knew in his heart, when Jarrett held him close at night and woke him with kisses, it was exactly where Jarrett wanted to be. He showed him in every teasing smile, every gentle caress, and every scorching kiss he gave Thayne. Jarrett loved him. So why was love so fucking complicated? This is why Thayne had rarely had boyfriends and God forbid, he even think the word relationship when it came to the hot former Marine and all-around mystery that was Jarrett Evans. The man made him crazy in every single definition of the word.
Thayne knew practically nothing about Jarrett and that fact made him practically insane. The one thing Thayne did know was that he would very likely do anything for Jarrett because he too,was falling in love with him. Well, how fucked-up was that?You’re an idiot, Wolfe… a fucking idiot.He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around the waiting room. The place was filled to capacity with worried families and uniformed men. Everyone who’d been injured or killed in that raid had been transported to Scripps. That was a lot of people.
When a familiar face walked into the waiting room, Thayne’s heart began to hurt. Lincoln Snow was wearing clean sweatpants and a T-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders. His dark face had been washed and he looked as though he’d just come out of the shower. The last time he’d seen Snow, he’d been leading a group of men into the barn to arrest the smugglers and Thayne was happy to see him come out of it in one piece. His partner, Matt Terraciano, had not been as lucky. The FBI man who’d driven Thayne to the hospital had told him that Terraciano was not expected to survive the burns he’d suffered and that saddened him deeply. Snow nodded at Thayne as he walked over. They shook hands.
“Wolfe. Glad to see you came out of this mess all right. How’s Evans?”
Thayne clapped him on the shoulder. “That man has nine lives, I swear.” He shook his head. “Heshouldn’t be alive but he seems fine. He’s waiting for a CAT scan to make sure he still has a brain but he’s got such a hard head, I assume it’s still there.”
Snow smiled but it faded quickly.
“I hate to ask but how’s Matt?”
Snow’s eyes shone with unshed tears as he shook his head and glanced down. “Not good. They have him on life support and he’s not likely gonna make it. They’re waiting for his wife to drive down from LA to make a decision as to what she wants to do.” He looked back up. “She was visiting Matt’s family when all this happened. They have two kids who just finished school for the summer break and she drove them to LA to see their grandparents. Matt was supposed to join them later today. I feel sick. They started the day a happy family and now… I think she’ll have to tell the doctors to pull the plug on her husband. He has third degree burns over sixty percent of his body and a gunshot wound in the abdomen. They went in and took out the bullet, but he’ll probably succumb to his burns and blood loss.”
Thayne shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Snow.” There really wasn’t anything Thayne could say to him that would make him feel any better about his dying partner. He knew how it felt to lose a partner. His own partner, Victor, had been killed while in theline of duty during the time Thayne was undercover. He still regretted not being able to attend Victor’s funeral.
“Yeah, thanks, Wolfe. I’m glad you two made it out.” They shook hands and Snow left to grab coffee and then stay by Terraciano’s bedside until his wife arrived.
Thayne sat down and waited for Jarrett, once again recalling the image of the man he was beginning to think he loved kissing the very good-looking Israeli. He sighed, wondering whether he’d ever know Jarrett well enough to understand all the parts of him. The fact that there would always be gaps in what Thayne knew about his background bothered Thayne probably more than it should. He relaxed in his chair, letting his head fall back against the wall behind him, dozing while he waited for Jarrett to be released.
After a while, a nurse came around, passing out wet wipes to anyone in the waiting room who still wore face paint or wanted to clean the soot from their skin. She handed a couple to Thayne with a compassionate smile and he cleaned his face as best he could, thinking about what he should do while he waited… probably make some calls. They had a meeting with Suki Chang in the morning but chances were, they were going to have no choice but to reschedule it. It was too late to drive back to LA. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Before long, he’d nodded off. He woke up with a start when someone laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Jarrett said as Thayne stood up, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he tried to focus.
“Hey,” he said. The word came out graveled and Thayne cleared his sore throat. He’d breathed in a shitload of smoke in that barn before he and Adael were able to get Jarrett out of there. “What’s the verdict? You still have a brain?” He glanced past Jarrett to see if Adael was lurking anywhere nearby. The man was nowhere to be found. Jarrett’s face was free of face paint and he wore a bandage over the cut at his temple. His glorious white hair was gray with soot and dirt but he looked unbelievably handsome to Thayne.
Jarrett grinned at him. “I still have a brain and guess what? It’s much larger than I even knew. The doctors want to put me in a medical journal or somethin’ but I told them no, they’re not getting famous because I’m brilliant.”