“Don’t worry. It’s me. How do you feel?”

“Like my head is going to explode.” She finally opened her eyes and looked up at him.

Nick had never been so happy to see her light blue eyes, even if they were heavy with pain.

“I, ah, I’d better go,” Freddie said, backing out of the room. “I’ll let you get some rest, Lieutenant.”

“Call Skip’s house,” Nick said. “Let them know she’s awake.”

“Will do,” Freddie said.

The moment the door closed, Sam laughed and then grimaced at the pain even that small movement caused her. “Clearly, he lost his mind along with his virginity.”

“Try to stay still.” Nick lowered himself gingerly to the edge of her bed.

“You’re hurt,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

“We were in the car.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Someone shot at us. I can’t remember anything after that. Wait! We were going to see Diandra.”

“Don’t worry. Gonzo and Jeannie are on it.”

“Oh, good. So what happened? Did we crash?”

“We chased them, but they shot out one of our tires and the car went airborne and flipped a couple of times. We landed upside down.” Reliving it, his throat closed when he thought about what could’ve happened, what had almost happened. Overcome, he rested his hand on her chest, taking comfort in the steady beat of her heart. “You were bleeding like crazy, and you wouldn’t wake up.”

She reached up to caress his hair.

“Scared the shit out of me.”

“What did you hurt?”

“Broke my collarbone and a rib. No biggie.”

“Nick,” she said on a long sigh. “I’m so sorry. I never should’ve chased them when you were in the car with me.”

“Why not? Would you rather they’d gotten away after shooting at us?”

“I’d rather you hadn’t gotten hurt because of me.”

“While your driving clearly leaves something to be desired, they weren’t just after you.” Smirking, he filled her in on what he’d heard about the gang initiation. “I was worth triple extra points. You were just regular points.”

“And you’re quite proud of that, aren’t you?”

“You know it.”

“I hope you’re not so freaked out that you’re going to run away again.”

The genuine worry on her face made his heart ache, and he reached for her hand. “I can’t. I made a promise. Remember?”

“Yeah. I remember.” Her fingers tightened around his. “You can’t run. Ever again.”

“Your scar is going to be more gnarly than mine,” he said, referring to the scar over his eyebrow from the bombing incident involving her ex-husband.

Her lips lifted into a smile. “Lay down with me.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“I’m so tired, but I can’t sleep without you.”