Page 59 of Tell Me Your Desires

Chapter Thirty-One

Enjoying a moment or two in the silence of the hospital room, Jaime hummed lightly when Anya stroked lazy circles over the back of her hand.

She hadn’t imagined this—having Anya by her side—but Jaime was grateful for her.

She was also grateful for the care she had been receiving here and for the people who had kept her alive.

At that moment, she couldn’t imagine never seeing Anya’s face again.

Anya reluctantly let go of Jaime’s hand long enough to bring a chair closer to the bed. “So,” Anya said, slipping her hand into Jaime’s once again. “Did you have a nice nap?”

Jaime chuckled, immediately regretting it when pain shot through her side. Fuck, she would have to remember that whenever she dared to crack a smile. “Ow!”

“Sorry!” Anya shot to her feet and reached for the call button.

“No, it’s all good.” Jaime tugged on Anya’s hand.

She didn’t want anyone to come in here and interrupt them.

She wasn’t ready to share Anya just yet.

“It’s manageable if I don’t laugh or move…

and stay in this exact position.” Jaime squeezed Anya’s hand and grinned, hoping she could lighten the atmosphere.

It was a tough crowd, understandably so, but she was okay.

She was alive. “Come on. Don’t look so sad, babe.

At least the pain means I’m alive, right? ”

“This isn’t funny, Jaime. I watched you die in the back of an ambulance—more than once.

Your blood covered my hands and soaked through my clothes.

” Anya sighed and shook her head. “I tried to stop the bleeding, but it felt like no matter what I did, nothing slowed it down,” Jaime noted how Anya swallowed repeatedly as she paused.

This was a lot for her to say. “Then I sat here, watching the machines hooked up to you, wondering when or if you would wake up.” Anya knew perfectly well that she was contradicting the joke she had made just moments before.

She blamed her mercurial mood on a lack of sleep and heightened emotions.

“If you felt that way,” Jaime started, mindful of how she worded what she wanted to say.

She didn’t want to come across as though she was judging Anya, but it was an acceptable question that she was about to ask.

After all, actions spoke louder than words.

“Why did I wake up to Max’s skinny ass sitting in that chair and not your beautiful face? ”

Anya lifted a brow. “You think that if the tables were turned, wild horses couldn’t pull you away from my bedside?”

“Damn right.” Jaime winced as pain shot through her. It was stupid to try to move closer to Anya, as she had just attempted and failed to do, when she was in so much pain.

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” Jaime knew she was overthinking here, but didn’t Anya believe that she was in this for the long haul? Her tone suggested that… partly.

“If it were me lying where you are right now, you wouldn’t be sitting here wasting time. You’d be out on the streets moving heaven and earth trying to find the bastard who did it.”

Well, shit. She has me there. But Jaime wasn’t ready to concede. She slowly shook her head, careful not to move too fast or too much. “That’s what Max is for.”

“Don’t make me say bullshit again.”

Jaime frowned. Anya wasn’t going to give her a fucking sympathetic inch. “Huh?”

“You don’t delegate, Jaime. You vindicate.

And given your past, you would never allow yourself to hand this off to someone else and risk not having closure for another…

case.” Anya made the decision there and then that the information about Taylor’s case could wait until she had more proof.

The last thing Jaime needed was to pop stitches by trying to jump out of bed and confront the bastards who may have killed the woman she loved.

“I…no…you…” Frustrated, Jaime sighed and cast her gaze on their hands.

Getting shot was fucking hard, but losing an argument to Anya was even harder.

She agreed that Anya had a point, but still…

“That’s my job, Anya. Are you telling me you’ve been out there working the case while Max has been sitting on his ass babysitting me?

” Jaime laughed, but her smile quickly faded when Anya gave her a puzzled look. “What?”

“Did Max tell you…anything at all?”

“Like what?”

Anya’s nostrils flared with annoyance. Jaime wouldn’t be asking that if Max had told her anything of importance. “What exactly did you two talk about?”

“Uh, you.” Jaime searched Anya’s face, but she gave nothing away.

Was Max supposed to have told Jaime something?

“When you weren’t here, I thought you were hurt.

Or worse.” Jaime cleared the emotion from her throat, the reminder of fearing the worst still raw.

“Then he told me that you were fine, and I spiraled because I thought I’d fucked everything up between us. ”

“Great.” Anya shook her head before she looked back at Jaime and exhaled a deep breath.

“First of all, you didn’t fuck anything up between us.

” She quickly squeezed Jaime’s hand. “And secondly, I’m going to have a little chat with your partner about his cowardice.

” The fatigue, stress, and intense emotions of the last several days were beginning to catch up with her.

Anya pinched the bridge of her nose as she said, “Max is on administrative leave. That’s why he’s been here. ”

Fuck! Jaime closed her eyes. “Because of what I did, right?”

“Because of what we did.”

“I’ll make it right. I’ll tell them it was all my idea and that Max had nothing to do with it.” Even though Max had played a part, it was all Jaime’s idea. She’d been the one to put everyone’s lives at risk by thinking her stupid fucking plan would work.

Anya looked up sharply, completely forgetting every word she’d just rehearsed in her head. “No, you won’t.”

“Anya, I pushed you both into this. I almost got you killed. I’m not going to let Max tank his fucking career because of my bullshit.” Anya stood and checked Jaime’s IV bag with the most peculiar expression. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing if they put ornery meds in your IV because you are being extra stubborn.” Anya turned to Jaime and gripped the bed’s railing. “You’re not going to undermine Max. That was the deal. He would agree to the plan if you agreed that he would take the fall if it went sideways.”

Jaime sighed inwardly. Max told Anya about their agreement. “Come on, he had to know I’d never really let him…”

“Jaime, he’s handling it. If you break your promise to him, it’s not your career you have to worry about. It’s your friendship.” Anya reached for Jaime’s hand. “As for almost getting me killed, you know damn well that gun wasn’t aimed at me. You made sure of that.”

Jaime closed her eyes and rested her head back against her pillow. Anya was right again. “Right, okay. Well, can you at least tell me who the fuck shot me, and did he confess to the other murders? Who got the collar? Did Max pick him up before Brass fucked him over?”

Oh boy.

Jaime peeked one eye open when Anya didn’t answer. She didn’t like non-answers. “Babe?”

Well, ‘babe’ is a good sign, Anya thought. I have a good chance of getting her to listen to me. At least, Anya believed there was a decent chance of that happening. Okay, it was a slim chance, but a chance, nonetheless.

“Anya?” Jaime lifted her head, her full attention focused on Anya as she squeezed her hand. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Anya smiled softly, reminding herself to stay calm throughout her explanation, no matter what Jaime’s reaction was.

She imagined that what she was about to tell Jaime would be challenging to hear when she was healthy and raring to go.

But being confined to a bed, having your partner out of commission, and not being able to do a damn thing to ensure the safety of someone you care about when they were about to put themselves in danger was going to be a tough pill to swallow.

“They haven’t caught the person who shot you yet. ”

“What?” Jaime’s grip tightened around Anya’s hand. “How the fuck did he get away?! And why the fuck is Max just letting you walk around out there all by yourself?!”

“Letting me?”

“Come on, Anya!” Jaime rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re an independent woman who lives in a fortress.

I get it! But that fucker knows where you live now.

And those walls don’t follow you everywhere you go.

” She shifted, groaning at the pain. But she didn’t care about that right now.

What she cared about was that Anya was out there unprotected while she was laid up in the hospital like some lame duck.

“Look, you may not have been who he was aiming for that night, but you are for damn sure his target!”

“Are you done?” Anya asked patiently.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Exasperated by Anya’s nonchalant attitude, Jaime blew out a frustrated breath. “Wait, no. Maybe it’s the morphine, but… did you imply you were working on the case? Or did I?”

“Maybe a little of both. Just to clear up the ambiguity, I am.”

“How long was I asleep?” Jaime scrubbed a hand down her face, trying desperately to make sense of everything.

“Okay, so who caught it after Max? Jackson? Jesus, please tell me those fuckers on third shift didn’t get it.

Alvo and Blanchard? They couldn’t find their own dicks if they had Sherlock’s magic magnifying glass. ”

“Magic magnifying glass?” Anya snorted with laughter as she shook her head. “No, the feds took over.”

“Even worse. Fucking feds!” Jaime narrowed her eyes. “Wait, the same feds that threw you under the bus when you did nothing wrong? How are you working the case then?”

Here goes nothing. “Funny you should ask. We got lucky, I guess. With the Agent in Charge who picked up the case.” Anya hesitated. “She…owed me a favor.”