Page 95 of Cold Hard Cash

The corner of Cold’s mouth twitched, and Jimmy was honestly afraid for his friend.

“I will wave my stubby dick in your fuckin’ face for the rest of your days until you wanna blow your fuckin’ brains out. You open your eyes, all you’re gonna see is my wedding tackle waggin’ at you,” Maury promised him. “So you’d better take care of Jimmy. You better not let him get hurt again, you fuckin’ smug prick, or else it’s gonna be all wrinkly fuckin’ scrotes for you forever.” He swallowed audibly, adding quietly, “Sir.”

Jimmy looked nervously over at Dario and Rowena, who both appeared as panicked as he did, before he glanced back quickly to Cold. He couldn’t read the gangster’s face, unsure of how exactly he was going to react to Maury’s outburst.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Cold said after a long pause, extending his hand toward Maury.

Maury was more relieved than anyone else, and he exhaled sharply as he shook Cold’s hand. He was blustered by his apparent victory, smacking his lips together and laughing. “Yeah, you just remember. Crowbar. Ass. Wrinkly balls.”

“Don’t think I could forget if I tried,” Cold drawled, looking back at Jimmy with a sigh. “Mr. Poe, you have the most charming friends.”

Jimmy beamed, agreeing wholeheartedly, “Yeah, I sure do.”

Chapter eighteen

Cold was able to persuade the hospital to release Jimmy into his care, although he made a point to remove the handcuffs himself instead of letting the policeman unlock them with the key.

Showing off doubtlessly, but Jimmy loved it.

Maury grumbled some more, gave Jimmy a farewell hug, and glared at Cold. He narrowed his eyes, defiantly pointing at his crotch and saying, “Remember. Wrinkly balls for fuckin’ ever,” as his departing words.

Rowena opted to stay in the hospital with Dario since he needed a surgical consult for his shoulder, and she bid adieu to Cold and Jimmy while still curled up in Dario’s bed.

Cold had one of the Gentlemen bring Jimmy a change of clothes for the ride home, a set of oversized sweats. They were warm and clean, and he was grateful to get out of the hospital garb. He dozed off in Cold’s lap in the back of the limo en route. He was exhausted from the adventures of the day and happy to be in Cold’s embrace.

He was safe there.

Once they arrived back at his estate, Cold personally carried Jimmy upstairs. Jimmy held on to his neck, thankful for the new level of closeness he was being allowed as he buried his face in Cold’s shoulder. All of his troubles melted away in this man’s arms.

Cold got Jimmy into bed and then checked the bandage with a gentle touch. “Does it hurt?”

“Burns mostly,” Jimmy answered. “It’s okay.”

“I’m proud of you,” Cold said with a sincere smile that made Jimmy’s insides turn to jelly. “You held your own with Duplin, and watching you put him in his place like that was magnificent.”

“Thank you.” Jimmy smiled bashfully.

“You will make a very good lawyer one day.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m a terrible liar.” Jimmy chuckled. “It wasn’t easy lying to Augustus. I told him I didn’t see anything, and that was… Crap. Almost impossible to get out.”

“Lying to police officers?” Cold feigned shock. “Why, Mr. Poe, picking up all of these criminal habits.”

“Just so you know, in the future? I will only be taking on innocent clientele to avoid the whole lying to police stuff.”

“Mm, won’t have much business then, I’m afraid. I don’t know many innocent men.”

“Yeah, I guess not,” Jimmy said quietly, trying to ignore the memory of Jules standing over him with a gun. The blood, there was so much blood, Vincenzo’s dead eyes staring at him but not seeing. Not seeing anything ever again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just… I was thinking.” Jimmy’s breathing picked up. “That’s the second time I’ve seen… someone killed. I’m…”

The room started to spin and his vision turned dark. He tried to tell himself that there was no blood here, there was no knife, no gun. He panted, his fingers clenching and unclenching against the sheets. He couldn’t keep the panic from rising up and flooding his lungs, and it soon squeezed his chest until he couldn’t breathe.

“Take a breath. Tell me what you need,” Cold said, lying down beside Jimmy and pulling him into his arms.

“Just you.” Jimmy struggled to shake off the darkness and melted against Cold like a bowl of ice cream on a hot summer day. He pressed as close as he could, invading every inch of space between them until he was glued right to him. “I just… need you.”