“I think they’re here in the plastic bag.” He picked it up and put it on the bed. “You dig through, and I’ll go get you a glass of water.”
“Okay.” Leo sat up and pulled out the things he’d been sent home from the hospital with. He found a couple of small bottles of pills. One of them was to be taken with food. When Aud returned with the water, Leo sent him back for a piece of cake.
Once he had all the pills in him and his glasses and clothes off, Leo stretched out on the bed. Aud lay carefully next to him.
“Right now this mars the sexiness of you,” Aud spread his big fingers out so they landed lightly on either side of the wound. “But once it scars, it might end up being kinda hot. Not many guys have scars from where they were knifed by a psycho.”
Leo looked into Aud’s eyes. “Just what I need, a sad memento of the whole incident.”
“If you don’t want a scar, I’m sure we can find a plastic surgeon to make it go away.”
“I’m not sure my insurance will cover that. We don’t have a great plan at work.” Leo slid a little closer to Aud and laid his head on Aud’s strong shoulder. The soft blond hairs on Aud’s chest tickled Leo’s chin.
Aud combed his fingers through Leo’s hair. “If they won’t pay for it, we’ll come up with something. Maybe I can scare another insurance agent into doing what we need done.”
“You scared an insurance agent? When did this happen?”
“The other day. Right before or about the same time as you got stabbed. He didn’t want to authorize a weekend repair of my window. I threatened to pull my home and business policy from them and he gave in.”
“My Aud.” As Leo said the words, it sounded right. He and Aud were now part of each other. “You got pushy to get your way. That’s kinda sweet. I think some of these insurance companies need to have a bit of fear put into them once in a while.”
“I do too.” Aud kissed the top of Leo’s head. “With everything I’d been through before that, I wasn’t in the mood to put up with any crap that would delay things getting fixed. Little did I know that other stuff was getting worse.” His voice broke.
Leo turned and caught the shimmer of tears rolling down Aud’s rugged face. He hugged Aud. “Hey, it’s all working out. We’re still around. Isn’t that what we’ve been saying all day?
Aud nodded and sniffled. “But I almost lost you. I think seeing you in the hospital helped me realize how much you really mean to me. I don’t ever want to lose you.” Aud hugged him lightly.
“I don’t ever want to lose you either, and we’re not going to. We’ll do what we can to make sure Randal is put away for a good long time.” Leo kissed the hollow of Aud’s neck. “I love you, and that love is strong enough to keep me going.”
“I love you too,” Aud murmured around the tears.
Leo held Aud. He’d never had a man cry in his arms before. He wanted to give Aud all the love and comfort he could, just as Aud had been trying to take care of him since he’d been injured. It intensified the feelings that swirled around him. I wish we could just disappear together and never let the world impede us ever again.
30
AUD KEPT glancing across the Jeep to make sure Leo appeared comfortable. After Leo woke up several times in the night with pains in his side, Aud was trying to insure he didn’t inadvertently cause any additional pain by hitting potholes or doing anything else that might be jarring as they drove from the pharmacy to the police department.
“I wish Benet could’ve waited another day or so to do this,” Aud muttered. “It’s already been three days since the attack.”
Leo looked out the window. “I’d like to just get this over with. I would’ve been fine with Benet coming up to the hospital to get my statement. Wasn’t that what they did with you, Julie, and Felix?”
“Yeah.” Aud angled the Jeep into a parking place in the half-full lot. “But you were still in surgery when they came in. Who knows? Maybe Benet got busy and didn’t have a chance to make it back up to the hospital.”
Gently undoing the seat belt, Leo sighed. “Maybe.”
Aud touched his arm. “Are you feeling okay?”
“There’s a bit of pain, but I want to wait until we’re done here before I take one of the pain pills. Those things kick my butt.” Leo opened the door and stepped out.
“Will leaning on me help?” Aud got out as quick as he could and hurried to Leo’s side.
“I don’t know.” Leo sounded tired. “Let’s see if I can make it without you right now.” He smiled weakly at Aud. “I know you want to help, and that’s great. Remember, we’re in Colorado Springs. They aren’t used to two guys holding hands and leaning on each other, even for medical reasons.”
Aud sighed. “And you’ve already been attacked once. Gotcha.” He moved ahead of Leo and held the door to the police station open.