Page 109 of Healing Conviction
His friend rolled his eyes before taking a cloth himself and scrubbing his hands. “Fine with me. Use it everywhere and get as many as you need to get that blood off of you, too. If you’re doing that, then I’ve done all I can for now. Want me to take you to your truck?”
A brief flash of panic made him grimace. “Fuck, I hope it’s intact. It was in the fire’s path at one point.”
“Shit. Yeah, let’s go.” He walked around the back, lifted the trunk and rooted around before closing and hopping into the driver’s seat. He tossed something black behind him, it landed in the middle seat beside Draco. “Don’t say I never gave you anything.”
Draco examined the fabric and his lips ticked up when he realized it was a T-shirt. “You’re so generous.”
His friend snorted before putting the SUV in drive and riding off toward Draco’s hidden truck. Draco gave him directions while gently cleaning Nora’s face around her mask and every visible inch of her skin. At one point, her sleepy eyes fluttered and her smile behind her mask melted his heart.
“That feels good. Like the other night.”
Strawberry-blond eyebrows raised in the rearview mirror. Draco scowled at his teammate before murmuring against Nora’s hair. “Sleep, Pix. Devil’s taking us to my truck and then we’ll find somewhere to rest before going home.”
She nodded and yawned before cuddling him with her mask bumping against his neck.
He moved on to awkwardly use the wipes on his own skin, scrubbing at the blood as gently as he could so he didn’t jostle her. By the time he was finished, Nora was out like a light and they’d made it to his pristine, untouched truck, aside from the fucking bullet holes, of course. Relief unleashed the hold it had on his chest, and he inhaled and exhaled, the oxygen still pumping through the mask.
Devil parked the SUV behind the truck. “I’ll help you guys into the truck. On the way in, I saw a few side roads in the reserve that you could park in to rest.”
“Yeah, those dirt access roads help rangers get through the forest when necessary.”
“We can call them and have them look the other way while you sleep. After all, there is a fire to settle down. We’ll probably be at CTI for a while, but if you leave before we do, Dr. Layton’s on call if you want a checkup when you get back.”
“Thanks.” He smoothed Nora’s hair down. He’d call the team’s emergency doctor if he had to, but all he wanted to do was curl up with Nora and sleep for a week. Unfortunately they were hours from the true safety that BlackStone’s new security measures could provide. A shitty power nap was all he could allow.
He’d worried about waking her up when she needed all the rest she could get, but it looked like she was down for the count now. Hopefully she would sleep most of the way home. He gathered her in his arms again before reaching for his door handle.
“It’s weird watching you with her.” Devil’s words made him pause, and he met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “I’m just getting used to having you back again, and now that you are, I’m seeing you likethis. It’s weird. But nice at the same time. I’m happy for you, man.”
His resting little pixie didn’t stir as he looked down at her. “Me too.” He kissed the top of her head and hoped like hell she felt the same way.
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
A sweet, delicious, scrumdiliumptious, sugar scent filled her nose, and she breathed in deeply before letting out an orgasmic moan. A grumble echoed back to her.
“Goddamn, Pix.”
She opened her eyes to see Drake driving one handed. His eyes were full of heat and a slice of crispy bacon was paused halfway to his mouth. Slightly confused, she glanced around for the syrup smell.
“We’re in your truck?”
“Yeah, have been for half a day. You’ve been out the whole time. I took a power nap back at the reserve. The team was still at CTI so once I woke up I left without them.”
“And now we’re on our way home?” She glanced out the window at the winding road with tall forest on either side of them.
“Yeah. I’m taking back roads. I like how empty they are. I haven’t seen another car in hours and they’ve got some nice views. Unfortunately, these drives through the country make getting anywhere take twice as long.” He popped that crunchy bite of bacon into his mouth. Hers salivated for it and for a taste of the scent that had woken her up.
“Where’s the syrup?”
He snorted before reaching behind her and shoving his to-go box into an empty bag in the back seat.
“Drake,” she whined. “Please don’t tell me you threw away the last remnants of all the goodness.”
He shook his head with a laugh before taking a sip of water from the half-full bottle in the middle console. “I can’t believe you’d think I would do that to you.”
“Well, seeing as how you’ve tried to die on me, withholding waffles seems like child’s play, if I’m honest.”
“Nah, withholding waffles would be way worse. Don’t worry, though. I got us takeout from a diner on the way. Not as good as Jacky’s, but it’ll do for now. It’s behind my seat.”