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“Wha—How? Who?”
When all he did was turn his head to look at her with knowing eyes, Lexie’s heart sank. She remembered him being with Nico when they’d burst through the door to save her, recalled him leaving to chase down Esme after she’d escaped. She must have shot him, with her gun.
“Oh, Frank. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t do that.” His voice was weak, but his eyes were clear and fierce. “Don’t you take an ounce of blame for the things that woman did.”
Lexie sniffed and nodded her understanding just as Nico walked back into the room, an assortment of vending machine candy bars in his hands. When he saw Frank awake and talking, he let out a relieved gust of air.
“Christ, you scared the shit out of me.”
Frank grinned. “Those for me?”
Nico pressed a Hershey’s chocolate bar into Frank’s palm, using the action to fondly—albeit gently—shake the man’s hand. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been shot. What’s the damage?”
“The bullet went in and came out on its own,” Nico explained, passing Frank a cup of water with a straw in it. “But it perforated your colon on the way through. Made quite a mess.”
“My colon?”
“Yeah, they had to open you up to fix it. You won’t shit right for a while, but you’ll live.” Nico put a hand on his shoulder. “And you’ll make a full recovery.”
Frank puffed out his cheeks. “Well, that’s a relief.”
“Hey.” Nico pointed to the chocolate bar. “Don’t eat that until your doctor okay’s it.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Lexie smiled at the cheeky sound of Frank unwrapping his candy bar while Nico bent over to place a quick kiss on her lips.
“Nico, this is my brother, Jake.”
Jake shook his hand. “Heard a lot about you, man.”
“Good to meet you,” Nico replied.
“Thanks for being here for my sister.”
Nico nodded, glancing at Lexie with love in his eyes. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Small talk reigned for a few minutes until another knock interrupted their conversation. Lexie felt her energy draining, but still she offered Cora a big smile as she entered. Both her arms were wrapped around a glass dish nestled safely in her homemade casserole carrier. The scent of chicken and vegetable soup filled the room.
“I figured you’d enjoy this a lot more than that nasty hospital food,” she said.
“That’s so nice of you. Thanks, Cora.”
“You’re welcome, darlin’. Here, let me fix you a bowl.”
“Make it two,” Frank said.
Cora stopped and turned. “Well, good of you to finally join us, Sergeant. I was getting tired of doing all your paperwork.”
As the pair settled into their familiar banter, Jake came to kiss Lexie on the forehead, telling her he was leaving. “Get some rest.”
“Wait.” She grabbed his arm. “How long are you staying?”
“Don’t worry. Now that I’m here, I’ll be sticking around for a while yet. Got some stuff to sort out.”
