Chapter 7 #2
“I’d advise that he have someone watching him tonight,” the paramedic continued, ignoring his grumbling patient.
“It’s important that he’s being monitored in case anything changes.
If his vision begins to blur, if he experiences any loss of fine motor skills, any vomiting, anything at all out of the ordinary, he needs to go straight to an emergency room. ”
“Understood.”
Sebastian sighed heavily as he stood to allow the paramedic to close the doors of the ambulance.
“I’ll stick around for another ten to fifteen minutes unless I get another call.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said even as the paramedic wandered off.
Quinn crossed his arms over his chest, waiting Sebastian out. It didn’t take long. One of them had infinite patience, and the other one didn’t.
“I’m fine, okay? Half my face feels like it’s on fire, but otherwise, everything’s peachy. Can I go now?”
“No.”
“Am I under arrest?” Sebastian burst out angrily. “Because let me tell you right now that I—”
Quinn cupped Sebastian’s chin, effectively shutting him up. “Are you okay?”
“What?”
“I’m glad that Will was with you,” Quinn said.
He splayed his fingers across Sebastian’s jaw.
The idea of him being hurt, of him being gunned down in the middle of the street, was…
inherently wrong. The mere idea of it was enough to send ice racing through Quinn’s veins.
He'd let Sebastian keep the distance between them for too long.
If he could fix this, if he could get back what they'd once had.
.. he knew he would do anything. He couldn't keep living with this regret.
It would have been so much worse if Sebastian had died, and he'd been forced to live with it alone.
“He saved my life.”
“Why is someone trying to hurt you, Sebastian?”
Sebastian’s eyes hardened, the cold indifference that Quinn was used to seeing sliding back into place. “I don’t know.”
Neither did Quinn. And he didn’t like it.
His instincts told him that it was connected to the body found in Peyton, Will, and Parker’s apartment, but they had no evidence to corroborate that feeling.
There were a lot of threads connecting at different points, but nothing leading him to the middle and whoever was pulling the threads.
The coroners moved past them, a black bag on the stretcher they pushed. Quinn watched quietly as they lifted the body into the bag and zipped it. Sebastian moved closer to Quinn, his hand pressing against Quinn’s side and clenching Quinn’s shirt in his fist.
“He killed him.”
Quinn watched Sebastian’s face carefully, but there weren’t any signs of aftershock. “You mean Will?”
“Yeah. When I was—” Sebastian gestured at the bandage on his face.
Quinn still couldn’t look at it without feeling anger.
Sebastian was frustrating, and his mouth was going to get him into trouble for the rest of his life, but for someone to lay their hand on him was unforgivable.
“He would have done it again—the shooter—but Will… One shot and it was over.”
“He’s very capable.” Quinn was positive that Will wouldn’t have hesitated if Sebastian was in danger. If anyone were in danger. Will’s first instinct would always be to protect. It was who he was.
“I’ve had hits to the head before; I box. But this was—it’s different, when you know your life is on the line, I guess.”
“It is,” Quinn said. Nothing in the world could create the same emotions that a near-death experience would. He ran a hand up Sebastian’s arm and then settled it on the back of his neck. “Will would never have let that happen.”
“It makes you think about things that you regret.”
Quinn’s throat felt suddenly thick as their eyes met. “I have regrets.”
Sebastian glanced at Quinn’s lips. “So do I,” he said, swaying forward.
“Making out at a crime scene, boys? Classy.”
Quinn jerked backwards, surprised to find Grady so close to them.
“What would you know about classy?” Sebastian said, giving Grady a look that had Grady sneering back.
“Is it the adrenalin thing? You get shot at because you need it to get your rocks off?”
“Well, I’ve been seeing your face so much lately that my dick just isn’t working, and I need some help getting it up.”
“Don’t blame me for your dick problems.” Grady shoved one hand in his pocket. “Info said there were two shooters. One deceased. I don’t know where the other one is. I’ll find out who’s in charge here and get some answers.”
Quinn hoped they could get some answers. Chasing their tails was never a fun experience, especially not when people he cared about were on the line.
“There’s not a lot to process here,” Quinn said. “It’s all cut-and-dried. Once Will is done here, I’ll take him, Peyton, and Sebastian home. Tomorrow we can—”
“Seb!”
Sebastian’s childhood friend—who was trying to get across the barrier that the officers had erected and was shoving at an officer’s shoulder—looked older than the last time Quinn had seen him, but he still recognised Jay’s face.
“Jay?” Sebastian scowled. “I know him! Let him through.”
The officer didn’t obey, tilting his head in question at Quinn instead. Sebastian mumbled a choice word under his breath.
Quinn crooked his finger. “Let him through.”
This was getting back to Eli and Charlotte; Sebastian just knew it. The look on Jay’s face as he bore down on them was a non-negotiable one. There were only four people in the world he couldn’t “lawyer,” and that was his best friends—Jay and Caleb—and his siblings.
Fuck.
Jay immediately cupped Sebastian’s face and turned it, his bottom lip trembling. “Jesus Christ, Sebastian, what happened?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding. Seb, there is blood in your hair.”
“Whoa, hey. It’s fine—I’m fine.” Sebastian put his hands over Jay’s and gently tugged them away from his face. It still felt a bit tender, and between the paramedic and Quinn poking at it, he wasn’t really up for more of the same treatment.
“Who did this to you?” Jay turned to Quinn. “Fancy you being in the middle of this mess.”
“Nice to see you again, Jay,” Quinn said, pursing his lips.
“The feeling isn't mutual.”
“No, I expect not.”
“Jay,” Sebastian said, a quiet warning.
“You be quiet.” Jay pointed at him. “How did you get yourself into this mess?”
“You act like I do it on purpose.”
“Sometimes I think you do!”
“We have one of the men responsible in custody,” Quinn said, “and we'll be questioning him as soon as we can. Hopefully, we'll get some answers.”
“Just got confirmation that they made it to their cell,” Grady said, joining them.
Quinn seemed to latch on to Grady like a lifeline. “What did you find out?”
“Two shooters. One deceased, the other in custody. They did a drug test, and he came up positive, so we’ll wait until tomorrow to question him. Will said—”
“He was firing a weapon while high?” Jay asked incredulously.
“You're surprised that the man who opened fire in a public space, trying to kill someone, was high during it? They don't generally follow the rules,” Grady said.
“I need to speak to Will. Since you aren't going to the hospital, stay where you are, and I'll take you home when I'm done,” Quinn said to Sebastian.
“Why won’t you go to the hospital?” Jay demanded, turning on him.
Sebastian glared at Quinn because tattling was such primary-school behaviour. “They said I was fine.”
“They said you didn’t have a concussion,” Quinn interjected. “That’s not the same thing. And they also said they didn’t think.”
Sebastian held up a hand and mimed squeezing it. “Quinn—please shut up. Go talk to Will and make sure he's okay.”
Quinn inclined his head, and the two detectives left them alone.
Jay pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, and Sebastian had the irrational urge to get to his knees and say sorry.
He hadn’t even done anything wrong, and just because Jay had always been the voice of reason in this friendship didn’t mean that he was always right.
Even if he was. Semantics. They were still the same age, and Sebastian was still an adult.
“Explain this to me,” Jay said. “Slowly.”
“I have a right to refuse to be treated.” That… was probably not going to help his case. The hard glint in Jay’s eyes told him he was correct in that regard. “There’s nothing to treat,” he amended. “I didn’t even need stitches. Bump on the head, little gash.”
“It’s just a bump on the head? S hould I call Charlotte and ask her professional opinion on what is just a bump on the head ? I’m sure her years of nursing will back that up, right?”
“Stop repeating my words like that.” And please, for the love of God, don’t call my sister. He did not want to be hovered over all night. He just wanted to go home and nurse a cold beer and forget this entire day had happened.
“You were supposed to be getting lunch with that cute little guy that you were making eyes at! Not getting into bed with Quinn fucking Hughes again!”
“Little?” Sebastian asked, trying to work out in what world anyone would think of Will as little.
He was about a million feet tall. He looked over at Will.
Five men in tactical gear were surrounding him, Peyton hovering closely.
He was half geared, with a vest on over his shirt and jeans, a rifle in his hands.
Sebastian knew, based on the information from Hunter and Caleb, that Will was a cop.
But knowing and seeing were two different beasts.
The way that Will had handled himself during the shooting…
”And Quinn is here because he's investigating the case,” he said absently, trying to remember what they were talking about, “not because—”
“Oh, please,” Jay scoffed. “I have eyes, Seb. I can see the way you two were looking at each other.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Don’t even get me started on what’s fair, Sebastian Devlin. He had his chance, he blew it in a huge way, and I refuse to allow you to go down this road again.”
“It’s not your choice.”
“Don’t do this.”