Cosmic Sex (25 page)

A couple of stitches? It felt as if his whole side had been ripped open!

“I called Mason, Mala’s husband, when we were still in the kitchen and told him what was happening,” Carol said. “He’ll be bringing backup. The ambulance will be on standby, ready to transport,” Carol told him.

“Are you sure he’s going to live? His lifeblood is draining.” Kia worried her bottom lip.

Nick reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’ll be... ” He grimaced. “I’ll be fine.”

Sam opened his mouth, apparently noticed Nick’s warning look, and rolled his eyes as if to say, “give me a break.”

Nick’s soon-to-be ex-friend wasn’t a doctor. What did he know? And maybe he wasn’t dying, but Kia didn’t know that. He liked the attention she was giving him.

“Promise me your lifeblood won’t drain away,” Kia whispered.

“As long as you stay with me.” As soon as he said the words, it hit him. Aw, hell, when had he fallen in love with her? He closed his eyes for a second, thought back. He remembered the exact moment. It was when she’d walked inside the smoke-filled bar.

“A robot,” Weldon breathed, stepping closer to Barton.

Nick opened his eyes. Great, he was lying on the floor, possibly dying, and Weldon was drooling over the fact there was a robot in the room.

“Can you help him?” Carol asked Mala, wringing her hands.

Mala shook her head. “My knowledge only goes so far, and this is beyond my scope. I’m so sorry.”

“I can fix him,” Weldon said. “I may not be able to fight, or fire a gun... ” He stood taller. “But I know computers.” He knelt beside Barton and opened his shirt. “How do I get inside him?”

Oh, yeah, fix the robot and I’ll just lie here at death’s door. Hey people, he wanted to shout, I’m the human with a bullet wound. But he didn’t. Maybe because Barton looked a little too human.

“I’m an Internal Affairs investigator!” Candy yelled from outside.

“Mason is here.” Mala looked around the room. “We’d better move Barton to another room. I don’t think Earth is ready for him yet, and there will be other people arriving.” She hurried to the front door. “I’ll make sure Mason doesn’t shoot anyone, and tell him to send the ambulance people inside.”

“Where’s Darla?” Slava asked when she hurried past.

“Just stay where you are,” Sam warned.

“Okay, the puppies are cute.”

“You promise you’re going to be all right?” Kia asked Nick amidst all the confusion.

“I promise.”

Mala went outside. A few seconds later a tall, dark man came inside. Must be the husband, Nick thought to himself.

“The ambulance is coming. I had them standing by at the gate just in case,” Mason said, looking at Nick. “Mala said you’d been shot.”

“Just a scratch,” Sam said.

Nick glared at him. Couldn’t he see as long as Kia thought he was dying, she might stick around? At least until he could convince her to stay.

“Francine.” Mason spoke into his radio.

“Yeah, Sheriff?” a woman’s voice answered.

“Call Doc Lambert and have him stand by for a gunshot wound. Nothing serious, but he’ll still want to take a look.”

Could he not get a break from anyone?

“Yes, Sheriff. I’ll be sure to explain the ominous nature of the situation.”

Ominous nature? Had he been transported to the Twilight Zone?

Mason shrugged. “Francine’s word of the day.”

Two paramedics pushing a stretcher hurried inside. One started an IV while the other took Nick’s blood pressure.

“Allergic to anything?”

“No.”

“Are you hurting?”

“Yeah, it burns a little... ” He saw the worry leave Kia’s face. “I mean a lot. The pain is excruciating.” Actually, the pain had eased considerably. He gave Kia a wobbly smile, focusing on her and not what was going on around him. It was kind of nice having her fawn over him.

Maybe Sam was right. It was only a scratch. Hell, he probably didn’t even need to go to the hospital. And he couldn’t let Kia go back to Nerak.

Nick took a deep breath. He’d... he’d beg her to stay and take a chance she would.

“I’m giving you something for the pain, pard,” one of the paramedics said.

Nick jerked his gaze toward the medic and the needle he’d inserted into the IV port. For a second he couldn’t move, only watch as the medic pushed on the barrel, injecting the painkiller into the IV.

No, he couldn’t!

The room began to swim.

“He has a strange reaction to meds,” Sam said from the other side of a very long tunnel.

“It’s only twenty-five of Demerol.”

Oh, God, it might as well have been a hundred milligrams. Pain medication always made him loopy, even in small doses.

“No, I don’tttt... ” The world began to spin. He started to get up but only managed a few inches.

“Where are they taking him?” Kia asked from far, far away.

“To the hospital. He’ll be okay,” Sam reassured her.

“Kia... ” He blinked, then everything started getting dark. Don’t go. But the words didn’t come out of his mouth. Ah, no. He would never see her again...

Chapter 28

“You finally decided to wake up.” A woman’s soft voice wrapped around him.

Kia.

Nick smiled and pulled the pillow closer as he fought the last dregs of sleep. Man, he’d slept like a baby. Kia did that to him. Ah, sweet Kia. He dragged his eyes open and looked into the face of a woman... but it wasn’t Kia.

Bad dream!

He closed his eyes tight.

Ah, man, I didn’t do something stupid last night, did I?

Like go on a beer-drinking binge and talk this woman into going home with him. She wasn’t as bad looking as the last one, but she damn sure wasn’t Kia.

He opened one eye. “Who are you?”

She came into focus again. Ah, crap, she was old enough to be his... his...

A lot older than him.

Something glinted on her hand when the light above his bed hit it.

How could he? The woman was married. He had to get the hell out of here right now. He started to sit up but she pushed him back down. Easily pushed him back down. Wow, that was some binge.

His eyes came into focus. He frowned. Not his apartment, either. Hers?

“Uh, where am I?” he asked.

She turned and gave him a friendly smile. “In the hospital.”

Hospital? Had her husband come in and beat the hell out of him? Not that he would blame him. This was the guy’s wife.

“You were shot,” she continued in a whispery voice, then pointed to the drawn curtain on the other side of his bed where there was apparently another patient, then put a finger to her lips.

Her husband shot him?

Being shot didn’t sound good. “Am I dying?” he asked, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t wake the other patient.

She chuckled. “No, it was very superficial. Dr. Lambert only Steri-stripped it.”

“Then why am I in the hospital?”

“The paramedics gave you Demerol. It completely knocked you out. We’ve never seen anything like it, especially such a small dosage. The doctor wanted to keep you overnight just to be on the safe side. Your friend Sam dropped by to check on you late last night, but you were still out of it.”

Sam? Everything came back in a rush. The dognappers who turned out to be jewel thieves. Barton was a robot. And Candy was way out of her jurisdiction. This woman was a nurse... He sucked in a deep breath.

And Kia... Nerak...

The nurse raised the blinds, flooding the room with morning light.

He blinked past the sudden brightness that blinded him. It was too late. Kia would be gone by now. Back on Nerak, and there was no way he could reach her. He didn’t even get the chance to beg her to stay or to say good-bye.

Just like when his father had walked out. And the same feelings were there, emptiness and betrayal.

“Are you okay? You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine.” He’d never be fine again.

“I’ll get your vitals, then remove the IV so you won’t feel quite so tied down.”

“Yeah, okay.” Whatever. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

She went about her job and when she had the IV out, she covered the site with a cotton ball and piece of tape, then had him bend his arm.

“If you need anything, the call button is on the rail. The doctor will be around to see you in a while and probably release you.”

He nodded and looked out the window. Had Kia made it home safely?

“Hey, buddy.” Sam spoke in low tones as he came around the curtained side. “How are you feeling?”

“As if I just came off a week-long drunk.” He frowned. “And my side is sore,” he added so Sam would feel guilty he’d taken the injury so lightly.

Sam chuckled. “You’re always such a wimp when it comes to getting shot or stabbed.”

“What happened to Darla and Slava?” He put off asking what he wanted to know most of all. A pain worse than the bullet ripped through him. He didn’t want to hear when or how Kia had left.

“Yeah, I owe you one for that.” Sam wore a sour expression. “Darla with clothes on was bad enough, but naked was enough to give a dead person cold chills. I’ll have nightmares for years to come.” He made himself comfortable half sitting on the end of the bed. “Right now, she’s sitting in jail still wondering what the hell happened.”

“And Slava?”

Sam chuckled. “The guy can sing, and the song was all about his uncle Yuri. In case you’ve forgotten him, he’s the head of the Russian mafia in our area. All we had to do was promise to put Slava in the witness protection plan and give him a puppy.”

“Not one of mine.” Nick glowered. No way was Slava getting one of his pups.

“Nah, we’ll get him one from the pound. It does seem like he has a way with dogs, though. I think it’ll work out all the way around.”

Nick glanced out the window. He guessed with Kia gone he could get his life back in order. It was a dismal thought.

“And Weldon was able to fix Barton,” Sam continued. “Did you know Weldon and Candy have a thing for each other? Which is good for you. She said she was dropping the case and you can return to work when you feel better.”

“Yeah, everything is great.”

Nick closed his eyes. It might have been better if the bullet had killed him, then he wouldn’t feel as if he were already dead.

But he had to know. “Did Kia leave? I mean, did everything look okay when she took off?”

“She didn’t leave.”

Nick’s eyes flew open. “What do you mean, ‘she didn’t leave’?” Hope sprang inside him. He still had a chance.

“Just what I said. She didn’t leave.”

He flung the covers back and stood. A wave of dizziness rushed over him, forcing him to grab the bed until it was gone. Damn pain med would probably linger all morning, but it wasn’t about to stop him. “Get my clothes. I have to get to her before she takes off. I have to beg her to stay.”

“Slow down, buddy.” Sam pushed the curtain open, revealing Kia sleeping in the other bed. “She’s been here all night.”

Nick’s heart began to pound. “Why didn’t she go?”

“I told her if she left, you’d die.” He shrugged. “I figured no one would be able to be around you if she left, so I told a little white lie to save us all a lot of heartache.”

Nick swallowed past the lump in his throat. He should’ve known Sam would be watching his back—just like always.

Kia yawned and stretched.

“I think you can handle it from here,” Sam said as he watched Kia stirring awake. He was grinning as he left the room.

Kia opened her eyes, then blinked past the sunshine. She smiled when she saw that Nick looked much improved. Her gaze swept over him and she noticed the back of his gown was open. Now that had interesting possibilities.

“You didn’t leave,” he said.

She shook her head as she got out of her bed and moved to his, then patted the other side for him to get in next to her.

“How could I when you were hurt?”

He took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. Warm tingles made their way up her arm.

“But I’m okay now.” He looked into her eyes. “Please, don’t leave me.”

“I tried. After you left in the ambulance. I tried but I couldn’t. Not now, not ever. I love you.”

When she’d seen he was wounded, she’d thought... No, this wasn’t the time to think about her fear. Nick was alive and they were together.

He covered her lips with his and she felt whole again. The heat from his kiss seared into her, a promise they would be together forever.

He ended the kiss and she snuggled closer to him.

“What about Lara?” he hesitantly asked.

“Breaking a promise is serious, but there’s no other way. I love my sister and I shall miss her horribly. She’ll probably never forgive me for leaving and not returning.”

“No regrets?”

“No. My love for you is strong enough to help me past the sadness of knowing I’ll never return to Nerak. Lara would truly understand. My place is with you.”

“I love you.”

“Of course,” she stated and lowered her lips to his again.

Nick’s love, her puppies, and chocolate—who could ask for anything more? Unless it was sex.

Hmmm... she wondered...