“Oh, my God, stop,” he groused. “It’s a bruise and a cut, I’m fine.” I coughed and double over at the pain.
“Yeah, right,” I grumbled.
“Are you feeling any better.”
“Guys! The Kevlar stopped it. It’s a bruise. I’m out of the hospital with the doctor’s blessings. Could we stop asking if I’m okay? I’mfine.”
“Got it!”
Grant danced into the apartment with a glossy cover magazine. I raised an eyebrow when I finally saw the label on the top.
“Rolling Stone?”
“Damn skippy!” he said and displayed the front cover for everyone to see. “We lucked out and we wound up being featured this month.”
He turned it back around and paged through, making a little squeak of triumph. Grant turned it so we could all see the spread image. All five of them were there, holding the instruments that they had learned to play over the years on the road. The ones they had chosen to feature on the new album.
“God, you’re such a hunk,” Aubrey said, and pressed a quick kiss to Grant’s lips.
“Excuse me?” Austin gasped from the chair, then gasped again that he had gasped and pulled something. “Did you just kiss my sister?”
“She started it,” Grant said.
“Oh. Right. Forgot to like…mention that.” Aubrey was bright red.
Grant and Austin swiveled their heads to look at her.
“Are you—”
“Did you—”
It was hard to tell who said what at that point, but the rest of us chuckled. Austin shook his head, sighing.
“She’s my sister, dude. I’ll break you if you hurt her.”
“Just get Nelson to shoot him in the ass.” Noah laughed.
“Where is Nelson?” I asked, looking around.
“He’s still at the field office,” Marcus said. “He shot someone, so he has to be debriefed.”
Chase laughed. “Sounds like something he’d enjoy.”
“You are all taking this really well,” I observed.
“Therapy later.” Bryce waved it off.
“You guys didn’t all have to come here,” Austin said. “I’m fine. I swear. I’m following the doctor’s orders.”
“Please,” Taylor said. “You took a damn bullet. You think we weren’t going to come here and tease you about it? Plus, we all got to fly home in Nelson’s jet. Holla!” He high-fived Luis.
I couldn’t possibly have rolled my eyes harder. I was pretty sure I would sprain them. Austin just laughed.
They had taken Austin and the kids to the hospital to get checked out, and to patch up Austin’s arm. Because the bullet had hit the Kevlar at his kidney, the doctors kept him overnight.
Vincent had gotten all the paperwork for custody, divorce, and restraint pushed through in just a few hours after Jordan had arrested Gerry. He was busy working with the FBI to sort out the mess that was the compound. It was becoming apparent the land was actually Aubrey’s, through some legal means I didn’t understand. I had the feeling Vincent would be there a while before he could get home.
Smoke had disappeared. As usual. He was a mysterious man, but we adored him, and I always suspected that we were really his only friends. Being some kind of superspy couldn’t be easy.
