Page 126 of Shrapnel

“Hey, hey,” Jamie whispered softly, bending down to kiss Owen on his chest. Closing his eyes and inhaling like the kiss was the single greatest thing he’d ever experienced. “Do you honestly believe there’s a single part of you that I don’t like?”

Owen licked his lips. “I don’t look like—”

“Anyone else,” Jamie finished for him. “Which is perfect. Because I don’t like anyone else like I like you.”

His kisses dropped lower, gently grazing over the nipple he had just worked. Already sensitive, even just feeling the wet warm heat of Jamie’s mouth was enough to make Owen’s eyes flutter closed. Then Jamie licked it, the flat of his tongue grazing over the delicate nub. Sparks exploded behind his eyes, and he had to grab the blanket.

“I like here,” Jamie said huskily. “And here.”

He dropped lower and lower, laving kisses across Owen’s abdomen until he got to his navel. Jamie nipped just beside his bellybutton, sucking the skin in a move that was somehow both ticklish and sexy. Owen watched his lips as he mouthed at his skin. His dick unhelpfully pointed out that Jamie’s lips could be on it, too, and then Owen really lost it.

He sat up, unseating a surprised Jamie. He crashed their lips together, licking into Jamie’s mouth in a way that was nothing like any of the kisses they shared before. Those had been comforting, affectionate. This was filthy. Debauched kissing that was physical, a prelude to what they both so badly wanted. Their dicks brushed together, torturous little teases through their pants that was too much and not enough.

Owen liked the strength in Jamie’s lean body. But he really loved the way Jamie seemed to come undone, the confidence bleeding away until he was making little wanting motions with his hips. Aborted whines every time their cocks brushed together. His thighs shook too, especially when Owen finally got to taste that piercing. The taste of metal filled his mouth as Jamie spasmed underneath him.

A phone rang on the floor beside the melted ice cream. They ignored it in favor of skin on skin. Jamie reached between them, cupping both of their erections in his strong hand. Images of him handling a gun were juxtaposed with the feeling of his fingers wrapped around Owen’s cock and he almost came in his pants. Jamie was just about to work both their pants free when his phone rang again. And again.

Panting, Jamie dropped his head to Owen’s shoulder.

“Someone better need to be killed,” Owen muttered, flopping back onto the bed to leave Jamie to extricate his limbs and lean over the bed, careful to avoid crushing his raging boner.

He had to school his breathing. “Yeah?”

Owen watched his face change, eyes growing hard. Jamie grit his teeth. “I’ll be there.”

The vibe in the room changed and Owen sat up, laying a hand on Jamie’s back. “What’s wrong?”

“Elijah is in the hospital. He was hit with Hellfire.”

23

I’m an Idiot for Thinking this was Anything but Blood

For the secondtime in forty-eight hours, Jamie was in a hospital. He didn’t remember what happened after he got the phone call. Owen drove them, he knew that much. And he must have gotten dressed. But now he was standing in a private hospital room, and everything was clear. Sharp. The fluorescent light above him was buzzing, faintly flickering every few seconds in a way so subtle, Jamie began to question his sanity.

Elijah was lying in the hospital bed. At least, Jamie was pretty sure it was Elijah based on context clues. His face was unrecognizable. There was a tube coming out from between his lips attached to a ventilator. The skin visible around the tubing was blistered and swollen. Thick ugly pustules weeping a clear fluid that stained the pillowcase.

Noah was sitting beside the bed holding Elijah’s hand. His face was red and blotchy, but nowhere near as severe as Elijah’s.

Molly was there. Despite her previous protests, she refused to leave. Not employed by the hospital, she technically had no right to be there. None of which changed the fact that she read every chart, looked over the doctor’s shoulders, and positioned herself as Elijah’s personal medical bodyguard.

“Noah, you need to get checked out,” she said it in a way that made it seem like she already knew the answer.

“No,” Noah answered predictably. “I’m fine.”

When Jamie first arrived, Noah had told him the whole story. Elijah had taken the brunt of the Hellfire. Noah had only been exposed to the residue in the air as he ran to Elijah’s rescue. He lost Mateo in the scuffle. The bastard disappeared into the chaos around Elijah’s poisoning.

“When will he wake up?” Owen asked beside Jamie.

“He won’t,” Molly was reading his chart. Again. “They’ve put him in a medically induced coma.”

“Is that necessary?”

“Yes. The pain would be…” Molly seemed to think better of what she was going to say. “It’s kinder to keep him asleep.”

Jamie was only too aware of how painful it was. He had experienced a tenth of what Elijah was going through and he thought it was the end. Moving from the doorway he drifted over to Elijah’s bed.

Bastard.Jamie always knew Elijah’s kindness was his defining feature but what kind of dumbass would just…