The Magic in Your Touch Ch. 12

Brandon woke up with a wet tongue in his ear. Normally, he enjoyed that, but this tongue was a little too wet to be Nate. He turned over and swatted Sasha away.

“Dammit, Sasha. I should have put you in the screen porch last night like I wanted to in the first place.”

Nate came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and freshly shaved. “Is daddy fussing at you, girl?”

Brandon got up without bothering to pull on his boxers and headed towards the bathroom, his morning erection standing proud. “’Daddy’ is fussing because he woke up with his dog this morning instead of his future husband.” He kissed Nate good morning and gave him a looking over. “Are you sure you want to do this, Nate? I mean, you’ll still need another doctor or one of the nurses to help you with the big stuff because of your arm. Why not just wait?”

“You know why. Howard thinks Wilson will make his move while I’m at work.”

Brandon moved into the bathroom and started his morning routine. After emptying his bladder and smearing shaving cream all over his thick stubble, he said, “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Howard last night when he called and detailed this brilliant plan of his: I’m not crazy about you using yourself as bait. Sooner or later, Wilson will make a mistake, and when he does, we’ll nab him.” He moved the straight razor he always used across his face in one solid stroke. “It isn’t necessary to set yourself up as a target.”

Nate leaned against the door. “I’m hardly a target, Bran. You have men watching the office around the clock. Miles already swept the place and pronounced it clean of bugs. You’ve changed all the alarm codes, both here and at home. I haven’t replaced my car yet, and you don’t want me trying to drive yours with only one arm, so someone will have to drop me off and pick me up. Hell, I couldn’t be any safer if I was wrapped in cotton wool.”

Brandon rinsed the blade and then took off another strip of hair. “I wish Icould wrap you in cotton wool.” He cleaned the razor again and looked at Nate in the mirror. “Look, Nate. I can always apologize later for being an overprotective asshole, but one good slip up, and I won’t get that chance.”

“You’re not an asshole.” He held up his cast. “You don’t have to convince me of the danger I’m in. Amy and I have four nurses working for us, plus your cousin and the receptionist. I won’t be taking any new patients, and if I have to go outside for any reason, I’ll notify Howard, who’ll get the message to his men. Add to that the fact that you’ve got Dewey and Sam coming by every hour on the hour, and I’ll be fine.”

Brandon nodded and went back to his shaving. As a profiler, he’d learned that ninety percent of police work is intuition and gut instinct. Right now, his guts were churning.

* * *

Nate filed the chart he was holding and turned to Tina, one of the nurses who worked for him. She was an older lady, almost sixty, and close to retirement. She had a sweet smile and a terrific rapport with the patients. Today she’d been a Godsend.

“Tina, make sure Wendy Ryan knows to start her little boy on those antibiotics after supper tonight. Make sure she understands he has to eat first.”

“I will, Dr. Morris.” She looked at her watch. “It’s almost lunch time. Dr. Vaughn wants you to meet her upstairs.”

“Thanks, Tina.” He took off his lab coat and hung it on a hook in his office. He then followed the smell of barbeque up the stairs. “What did you do, Amy, make a BBQ run? How much—” He stopped when he saw Mike sitting on the sofa.

Mike stood up. “If your next question is going to be ‘How much do I owe you,’ the answer is nothing. I owe you a lot more than lunch after the way I acted.”

Nate looked to Amy for help, but she sat quietly in one of the armchairs. Finally, Nate said, “Are you talking about the fact that you accused my fiancé of trying to kill me, or are you apologizing for calling your wife a ‘frigid bitch’ and me a ‘fucking faggot’?”

Mike winced. “All of it. Amy told me about the knife, and about your father. We’ve been friends for a long time, Nate. When you lost Rick and your parents, I was there for you, wasn’t I? Are you going to let one stupid mistake destroy an eight year friendship?”

“That depends.”

“On what? Just name your price.”

“You have to apologize to Brandon.”

Mike sagged in relief. “Already done. I called the station this morning and told him I was sorry.”

“What did he say?”

Mike lowered his voice to imitate Brandon’s velvet baritone. “He said, and I quote, ‘I’ll accept your apology, Vaughn, but if you ever put your hands on Nate again, I’ll cut off your balls and stuff ‘em up your ass.’”

“Did you point out that I was the one who jumped you?”

“I started to, but I figured he wasn’t exactly in the mood to hear it.”

Nate laughed. “Yeah, well, I love the guy, but he is kinda blind to my faults.”

Amy stood up and walked over to Mike. “Love is supposed to be blind.” She put her arm around her husband. “God knows I’ve been visually impaired since I married this guy.”

Mike kissed her forehead. “And you know I’m grateful for that.” He turned to Nate. “What can I do to make it up to you, besides apologizing to Nash?”

Nate inhaled the aroma of the barbeque. “Is that barbeque from Hailey’s?”

“Absolutely.”

Nate said, “Consider yourself forgiven.”

* * *

Nate leaned back against the overstuffed chair. “I ate too much.”

Amy shook her head. “You’ve gotten too thin, as it is. We need to fatten you up.”

“You sound just like Brandon.”

Amy smiled at him from her position on the couch. “Great minds, and all that. I think Mr. Brandon Nash is going to fit into our little family rather nicely.” She looked at Mike, who was seated next to her. “Don’t you agree, husband-o-mine?”

He leaned forward to better see Nate. “Actually, I do. Have you guys signed your power of attorney papers yet?”

“No. We have an appointment next week with a lawyer here in town.”

“Well, I want you to cancel it and let me take care of it for you. I can have the papers drawn up tomorrow, and it’s the least I can do after the way I’ve treated you both. I want to do this, Nate. Free of charge, too. Consider it a wedding present. You know the name of my firm, right?”

“Yeah, it’s Oswald and Rafferty. I’ll talk to Brandon about it tonight.”

“Good.” Mike gave Amy a quick kiss and then stood up. “I’ve got to get back to the office. I’ve got two wills ready to send to probate, and a real-estate closing at four.”

Nate raised a brow. “You drove all the way here just to bring barbeque?”

Mike pulled him into a rough bear hug. “And to beg for forgiveness. Don’t forget that.” He patted Nate on the back and started out the door. “I’m glad we worked it out. You are Amy’s only friend, after all.”

Amy said, “I heard that, Mike Vaughn. You are so not getting any tonight.”

Mike laughed. “Like I said, frigid.” His voice dropped to a loud whisper. “Don’t worry, though. My dick has a defrost setting.” He left before Amy could get to him.

* * *

By five o’clock, Nate was beginning to wonder why he insisted on coming back to work in the first place. It seemed like everybody in the greater Reed area had come in today. He wanted more than anything to head home and fall into that big ole’ bathtub, but the mountain of paperwork on his desk canceled that out. Amy came in looking as ragged as he felt.

She collapsed in one of Nate’s chairs and put her feet up on the desk. “Tell me again why we became doctors?”

“I can’t remember. Something about helping people, healing the sick, that kinda stuff.”

“Does that include being kicked by four-year-olds when you try to give them their booster shots?” She rubbed a spot just below her knee. “Damn. That’s gonna leave a bruise.”

“Occupational hazard, my friend. At least you didn’t have to explain to a horny waiter why you couldn’t give him a one handed prostate exam.”

“Ah, yes, the sexy Shane. Did he really try to get you to give him an exam?”

“Afraid so. Seems he hadn’t heard about my engagement, yet.”

“I take it you set him straight.”

Nate grinned. “I figured I’d better, or else Brandon would.”

“Good call. Listen, thanks for making things so easy on Mike. You could have made him crawl, but you didn’t. You’re a class act, buddy.”

“You love the guy, and I love you. I didn’t have any choice. Besides, Mike’s my friend. If you can’t forgive your friends when they go nuts, what good are you anyway?”

“Like I said, you’re a class act.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “Why don’t you call Brandon to come and get you and go on home? You’re still not one-hundred percent yet. I can finish up these charts.”

“No way. I’m not leaving until all this is done. Besides, everyone else has gone for the day. I’m not leaving you here by yourself all night.”

“Okay, but one of us has to make a quick run for Chinese food. If you can drive one handed, I vote you do it. I have more charts to finish than you do, and that’ll give me a head start.”

“Let me call Howard and tell him the plan.” He whipped out his cell phone and pressed the button Brandon had programmed into memory. Howard answered on the first ring.

“Howard, here.”

“Hi, Rex. It’s Nate.”

“Oh, hey, Doc. What can I do for you?”

“Amy and I are working late. I’m gonna make a Chinese food run if you think it’s okay.”

“I don’t see why not. We’ve got your office covered. What kind of car will you be driving?”

“A red Saturn, last year’s model.”

“I’ll have one of my guys follow you to and from, Doc.”

“Thanks, Howard.” Nate disconnected and turned back to Amy. “Moo-shoo pork and egg drop soup sound okay to you?”

“Yeah, but pick up some crab-meat and cheese wantons, too. Oh, and don’t forget the fortune cookies.” She tossed him her keys.

Nate slipped out the back door and headed to Amy’s car. There was no moon, and it was already dark. Nate had to feel his way out to the car. Paradise Gardens was the closest Chinese place to the office, so he headed there. He decided to run in rather than brave the long line of cars at the drive thru, thinking it would be quicker. It probably would have if Mrs. Chin hadn’t stopped him on his way out to ask about the best treatment for sciatica. By the time Nate was finished, it was almost six o’clock. He loaded all the food into the Saturn and headed back towards the office. A couple of times he caught a brief glimpse of a large black sedan in his rearview mirror, but otherwise, Howard’s men kept out of sight.

Nate parked in the front lot this time, rather than the private one he and Amy usually used. The walk was shorter, and he was going to have a hard enough time juggling all that food as it was. He scooped up the first bag and looped the handles of the second one over his cast. He started towards the front of the office. He put his right foot on the first step, and felt a slight shift in the wind. The hairs on the back of his neck stood and his skin tingled. He looked around, but saw no one. Discounting his reaction as nine parts exhaustion and ten parts paranoia, he slid his key into the deadbolt and turned the tumbler. He would later remember hearing no sound as the office exploded in a swirl of fire and timber. His only memory was of being thrown backwards twenty-feet by the force of the blast. After that, nothing.