Page 33 of Out of Control

Without saying anything, Drago turned around and started the long journey back down the pale strand. The sea was quiet tonight, swishing gently at their feet. Spencer trudged along beside Drago, unsure of whether that had been an escape attempt or just Dray blowing off steam.

Or maybe he was being paranoid like Drago said he was….

“Wake up, Captain Goose Egg. Time to show me you don’t have a concussion.”

He groaned, still caught in the vivid throes of the chase. “Don’t leave,” he mumbled.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here. Open your eyes.”

“Don’ wanna.”

“Look. I’ve put enough morphine into you to drop an elephant. I need you to wake up or I’m going to be forced to throw a bucket of ice water on you. And I’d hate to do that when we’re just starting to get along so well again.”

“Don’t be a jerk.”

“I’m only a jerk to the people I love.”

“You love me?” Abruptly, Spencer felt a whole lot more alert.

“How about we have that talk when you’re not stoned out of your mind on the good painkillers?”

Reluctantly, he swam the rest of the way to consciousness.

“You ran away from me,” he accused Dray.

“You would have done the same in my shoes, so don’t bitch at me about it.”

Spencer frowned. If only his memory didn’t feel like swiss cheese. They’d talked about this already. But he couldn’t remember exactly what had been said on the subject. “You need to come in with me. So you can clear your name.”

“You’ve got it backward, bro. I need to clear my name first. Then I’ll go in.”

Spencer squinted up at Drago, and awareness of pain in every part of his body washed over him. He groaned under his breath.

“There it is. Return to awareness of your body. Now I know you’re not concussed. Or at least not badly. Go back to sleep,” Drago said uncharacteristically gently.

“Will you be here when I wake up?” he asked. The odd sense of detachment from reality, left over from his dream and the drugs, refused to clear completely.

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Liar.”

“You’re not one to talk. You have no radar at all for a lie,” Drago snapped. “Asshole Number One was only pretending to be drunk when those two approached you on the beach.”

“Asshole who?”

“The first of the two guys last night to speak with you. The one pretending to be drunk.”

“Ahh.”

“You have zero radar for threats to yourself.”

Hah. He was a SEAL, for crying out loud. “I do too have threat radar.”

“Maybe in combat. But in the real world? No radar, no gaydar. That’s you, my friend. You’re Captain Clueless.”

“Go fuck a duck, Dray.” Then he added quietly, “But thanks for coming back.”

Drago cleared his throat and then said gruffly, “For the record, next time I see either one of those guys, if they don’t turn around and walk away from you immediately, I’m killing them both. Slowly and painfully.”