Damien grimaced then. “Well, you could fly it back, if it still ran. Seems I sort of blew out the motor and twisted the steering.”
“Where’d you get that thing anyway?” Cash asked.
“I’m saying!” Glen nodded to the doctor who was wiping down his stitched wound with a topical anesthetic and antibiotic ointment. “We gave you, what? Four-hour’s notice, and that’s the best you could come up with?”
“Part of that was time I spent flying that little nightmare to the goddamned island,” Damien said, folding his arms defensively. “And I got it from…,” he mumbled.
“I didn’t hear you!” Cash sang, enjoying this moment in spite of the pain.
“The guy who ran the taco stand,” Damien said a little louder. “I know you guys were asleep when we drove into town, but I saw it in the yard behind his place as we came in. You wouldn’t have seen it last night when you went for food,” he said to Cash. “Anyway, we owe that guy some money.”
“That one’s on me,” Cash said, leaning his head on Glen’s shoulder. “I’m good for it.”
“Glad to hear it,” Damien said, and Cash felt Glen’s kiss on the top of his hair. “You guys ready to go yet?”
“The nurse will be in with medicine and care instructions,” the doctor said, going to the sink in the curtained cubicle to wash up. “She will have a card. Please call us if you need anything else.”
He left, and Damien and Glen rolled their eyes. “Subsidized health care,” Damien said. “So easy. Go figure. Anyway, as soon as the nurse comes with your meds, I’m giving you a ride back to the hotel. I’ll take you guys to the resort tomorrow morning—it’s on the beach. You’ve got five days.” His voice softened. “You’ve earned it. Get your shit together for us, okay? Spencer, Elsie, and I are going to need some catch-up time after this.”
“I could just come home—” Glen started, and before Cash could get upset, Damien leaned over and put his hand on Glen’s forehead.
“Or you could man up and make this work. Cash isn’t scared anymore.” Damien’s eyes flickered to Cash, who nodded fiercely. “You shouldn’t be either.”
Glen groaned. “Don’t you go talking sense now.”
But he kept his arm around Cash’s shoulders until the nurse arrived.
AN hour after they got back, after they’d both showered and Cash was still drying off, someone knocked at the door. Preston, delivering food, and Cash was so relieved to see him he almost cried.
“Won’t you come in?” he begged. “I want to hear how you got away! They blindfolded me and drugged me and—”
“And I gave Preacher’s lead to Brielle and told her to run,” Preston said pragmatically. He remained in the doorway. “They had guns, Cash. I’m sorry I left, but—”
“But you had dogs,” Cash said. “You did exactly right. You got Brielle out of there and kept the dogs safe.” He gave Preston a crooked smile. “And you.”
Preston sighed and pulled a package out from under his arm. “I went back, after we got Brielle to the authorities and met up at the beach. We left this between those tents we hid in. I thought you’d want it.” He flicked a look at Glen, who was standing over Cash’s shoulder. “It’s a present for you, so I’m glad you’re not dead.”
Glen grimaced. “As am I, Preston.”
“You and Damien—you lie with bullshit. I don’t like it. Why can’t you just tell me there’s danger, and then I can know!”
“We don’t always know!” Glen protested. “It’s not like I woke up this morning and thought, ‘I should warn my brother I might get shot today!’”
Preston scowled. “You’re both stupid. But he’s right—the really bad shit doesn’t happen when you fly together. You need to hire more people so you can fly together more.”
“I can barely pay the pilots I’ve got—”
“This made the news. You’ll get business. Hire more people.”
“When you own the title to the business, Preston Echo, then you can tell me how to run—”
“Bye, Preston!” Cash called, starting to close the door so the brothers couldn’t see each other. “Thanks for dinner. Hope to see you before you leave tomorrow. Say hi to the dogs for me!”
He shut the door behind him and shuddered, then put the chain in the latch.
“You did not let me finish,” Glen said.
“You and Preston will never be finished.” Cash took a deep breath, feeling the exhaustion seep into his bones and blood. “I’m starving. You are probably in pain. Let’s eat. Let’s lie down on the bed and touch each other.”
Glen attempted a cocky smile. “Is that what we’re calling it these days?”
Cash gave him a stern look. “We’re not doing that until you and me have our lives hammered out. If we don’t act like grown-ups now, you’re going to treat this next week like some sort of fling. You’ll practically be kicking me out the door before we’re on the plane.”
“Well, what do you plan for it to be?” Glen asked querulously.
Cash took another deep breath, closed his eyes, and let the world settle around him. Preston had one thing right—there were a lot of words around Glen Echo, and a lot of bullshit. It was Cash’s job to cut through that for Glen, like Preston did for Damien.
“I plan for it to be a beginning,” he said. “I plan for it to be a time when we figure out how we’re going to be an us. I plan for us to make it work. Can you do that?”
Some of the irritated energy seeped out of Glen, and Cash got to see how tired he really was. This was the real Glen Echo too. Sure, he was the feisty guy who gave his brother and his friends ration upon ration of shit—but he was this guy too. The quiet guy who could take things seriously and who understood relationship work when someone handed him the manual.
Cash took his silence to mean good things and cupped Glen’s cheek with a hand roughened by those frantic minutes on the damned rope ladder.
“Can we do that?” he asked.
Glen captured his hand and, wonder of wonders, pulled Cash in for a kiss. It wasn’t urgent—it wasn’t going to be, not after the day they’d had. But it was tender and sweet, and Cash opened his mouth and let Glen Echo love him.
And trusted that it really could be love and that Glen was going to take care with the two of them to make sure that’s what they’d have.
Glen pulled back and Cash nestled his head against Glen’s chest.
“So,” Glen said finally, “you’re saying no sex after burritos.”
“That should be a law,” Cash told him.
“And then Spencer would spend the rest of his life in jail. Which is something we didn’t want to know.”
Cash gave a short laugh. “Nope. I want to make love to you, Glen Echo. But I want us to be rested and happy and sure. I messed it up the first time. I don’t want you to have any worries this time. I want you to know when you fall asleep that I’ll be there when you wake up. I want us to have a plan for forever under our belts before we take them off.”