Page 18 of Sean's Sunshine

Sean let out a breath that might have been a sigh. “Look, they’ve got Jackson’s badass friends from the desert protecting them, I gather. At least one of them. I think Cotton would be their priority.”

“Next to big bad military guy,” Billy said bitterly. He’dbeenthere when his mother had first tried to call the cops about the old man. He’d seen that shit in action. Cops and soldiers first, and everybody else took the back seat and the backhand.

“No, I don’t think that’s it,” Sean told him. “I think Cotton volunteered. He didn’t want Constance to be without care, and I guess he’s gotten good at it.”

“Rivers told you all that over the phone?” Billy asked irritably.

“We text. What’s Cotton told you?”

Billy let out his own breath. Cotton had, in fact, been too busy to text anybody. But Curtis and Randy had both told him that the kid seemed to have a bond with the soldier guy. Not exactly sexual since nobody could be sexy when they were recovering from gunshot wounds and infection, no matter what the TV said, but Cotton had a sixth sense about when the guy was getting better or worse. Vinnie, the new guy—nobody knew him very well yet—seemed to assume Cotton and the guy had been a thing.

“Guys said he was getting attached,” he admitted reluctantly. “God. Cotton and his daddies. I was really hoping….”

“What?”

“That he’d get his shit together before he found his next Mr. Right.” Billy grimaced. “Stupid. I’m nobody’smami.” He grimaced, hearing the lilt to the word that made it Spanish instead of English. He’d hoped to leave that behind, all of it, when he left home. Nobody had ever used that whole heritage shit to makehimfeel good, had they?

“No, not a mommy,” Sean said. “You’re watching out for a friend. It’s nice.”

“I’m not nice,” Billy muttered, driving down Stockton. “And this place gives me the creeps.”

“You didn’t just spend a week here,” Sean muttered.

“Spent enough time as a kid,” Billy told him, the bitterness palpable on his tongue, and then he wished he could take it back.

Sean shot him a look of horror—and compassion—and Billy held up a hand.

“Not another word about it,” he muttered. “It was a dumb thing to bring up.”

“You keep doing that,” Sean told him. “You know I need a nurse for another couple of weeks. Eventually you’re going to have to tell mesomethingabout yourself.”

“Man, not even myshrinkknows about Guillermo!” Billy snapped. “Now shut up and let me figure out this parking lot, okay?”

Bigger Things

THE PARKINGlot wasn’t hard, but Sean figured Billy was feeling raw, so he kept his trap shut. But then as Billy circled, looking for a spot near the door, he broke the silence.

“You’re going to have to walk.”

Sean steeled his core; that extra trip around the soccer field had sucked. “Yeah, so?”

“Just saying. Do you want me to let you off by the door and park?”

“No.” Sean sighed, hating how his chest hurt with the action. “I, uhm, may need help out of the car.” He loved this car, but it was so low slung.

“Christ. Someone else couldn’t do this?”

“No! And these guys did good shit. If me walking in there and putting them on the department dime and getting them out of the hospital before anyone starts asking questions is my only contribution, I’m glad to do it.”

“Fucking hero.”

“Whatever, man. Just park the car.”

He was done with the argument. For one thing, he didn’t have any more wind.

The situation wasn’t improved any when Billy had to get in front of him and do the “put your arms around my neck” thing in order to get him out of his own car. It couldn’t be helped—standing up from that seat required a lot of core strength he hadn’t been aware he’d been using, and that meant tightening around his wound. It hurt too much to stand, and the effort had sweat popping out on his brow and a track of fire blazing along his wound path before Billy lost his temper.

“Come on,” he muttered, sinking to a crouch. The position put them face-to-face again, irritation writ large on both their faces, he was sure. But as he held on to Billy’s neck and allowed Billy’s thigh and core strength to propel them both up, he felt something else, something that had nothing to do with pain and everything to do with their bodies, flush and hot, close together and against each other.