Part 27 (1/2)
Nick was silent for a moment. ”So you're turning into Florence Nightingale because you need me?”
”I reckon that's true. If you'd untie me, I could help you with that gunshot foot.”
”Nice touch,” Jack murmured.
”h.e.l.l, I'm not that stupid! But I'll use the stuff in your makeup bag. That's a good idea.”
”He stuck the gun in his waistband,” Jack said, his words covered by Nick's loud cussing as he limped toward them.
”d.a.m.n.” Genevieve had hoped he'd leave the gun behind.
Jack flexed his fingers behind his back. ”I'll get it,” he said softly.
As Nick approached, Genevieve remembered that she had the gla.s.ses and Jack didn't.
In the next second Jack had launched himself at Nick and made a grab for the gun. Being half blind, of course he missed.
Yelling, Nick toppled to one side and got his hand on the gun. As Genevieve lunged forward, Jack finally got hold of the gun barrel, which wouldn't do him much good if that blessed gun went off.
Genevieve latched on to Nick's injured foot, but she couldn't tell if Nick had his finger on the trigger of the gun or not. ”Let go of the gun!” she hollered, banging down on his wound with her fist.
Nick's animal yowl of pain was followed by the click of the gun's hammer.
Jack rolled to one side. ”I've got it!” He held the gun aloft and scrambled to his feet.
”I'll kill you!” Nick screamed, reaching for Genevieve. ”I'll kill you both!”
She jumped out of range and got to her feet. ”Kiss my grits, Nick!”
”I've got this gun pointed right at your head, sucker,” Jack said. ”It didn't go off last time, which means it might next time.”
”d.a.m.n it, my foot hurts! Can't you do something?” Nick said, appealing to Genevieve.
Genevieve gulped for air. ”You got your own self into this fix, Nick. I know you had a rotten childhood and all, but that's no excuse for trying to kill folks.” She went to stand beside Jack and sight down the gun barrel. Jack's aim was way off. ”Better give me the gun,” she said, ”since I have the gla.s.ses.”
”No, you give me the gla.s.ses.”
”First tell me who pulled the trigger a minute ago.”
”He did.”
”Are you sure? With you being so all-fired smart, you could have figured out it would have been self-defense.”
Jack blew out a breath. ”Gen, I promised I wouldn't kill him, and I don't break promises.”
”Okay, then.” She took off the gla.s.ses and handed them to Jack.
Jack slipped them up over his nose and bunked. ”Oh, there you are.” He moved the gun barrel a good three inches to the right. ”You looked ugly before, but now that I can see you better, you look downright disgusting.”
”He definitely looks better without the gla.s.ses,” Genevieve said.
”Very funny,” Nick said, his shoulders sagging.
”Now, Nick,” Genevieve said, ”if you promise not to try anything, I'll cut some material off your pants and make a pressure bandage for your foot.”
”And if you move a muscle in her direction,” Jack said, ”I'll shoot. I'll try to hit your arm or something you can live without, but I've never shot a gun before so I make no guarantees.”
”I won't try anything. I promise. I-” And then he pa.s.sed out.
”Uh-oh.” Genevieve started to rush toward him.
”Wait.” Jack grabbed her arm. ”It could be a trick.”
”You're right.” She approached slowly, Jack right beside her, the gun c.o.c.ked.
Nick didn't move, not even when Genevieve kneeled down and started to unwrap the blood-soaked bandage from his foot. ”I'll bet he's gone into shock,” she said. ”That's dangerous.”
”What can we do about it?”
”I think you're supposed to wrap the person in blankets.”
”We have the beach towel.”
”That will help, but we might need to do more than that.”
”like what?”
”Like while I try to stop the bleeding, you can hug him.”
Chapter 20.
Jack grabbed the beach towel and tried to convince Genevieve that wrapping Nick in the towel and then hugging him was a dandy way to handle a basically icky situation. But she didn't think that was good enough. She said Nick needed a quicker warm-up, which meant skin to skin. Jack's skin next to Nick's skin.
”No friggin' way.”
”Do you want him to die?” she asked as she snipped off the bottom of Nick's pants leg with her manicure scissors.
”Yes. Yes, I do. Especially if it's really not our fault because he shot himself in the foot.”
”Well, I don't want him to die.” She folded the pants material and pressed it hard against the bleeding, which seemed to be concentrated around Brogan's big toe.
Jack still held the gun pointed at Nick's head, just in :ase he suddenly popped up and started any mischief. ”I don't see why not. He's a wart on the backside of humanity.”
”That's true, but if he dies out here, that's too easy. I want him to go back and get what's coming to him. Besides, if he's alive, there's some chance of Matt getting his money back. If he's dead, there's no chance.”
As usual, Gen made a lot of sense. ”Okay, if I have to do this, then you get the gla.s.ses.” He tossed the beach towel down beside Nick and pulled off his gla.s.ses. ”This project definitely requires fuzzy vision.”
She took the gla.s.ses from him. ”And I'll do a better job with his wound if I can see. I think he only shot off the tip of his big toe, so once I get the bleeding stopped, he'll probably be okay.”