She exhaled, her puffed up posture deflating. “Hey.”
“Heard you came around.” He came in, giving Chad a sharp glance.
“I was going to tell you,” Chad said.
Dave narrowed his eyes as he saw Jane and Ryan were already there. “Whatever.” He turned back to Pain as she sat on the bed, furiously undoing the braid that Jane had made yesterday. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” Pain said, flattening her hair over her temples. Her eyes flicked to Doc and Tiffany as they slipped into the nurses’ room. “All things considered.”
“When did you wake up?”
“Just an hour ago or so. Didn’t expect you to be up and about so early.”
“I don’t sleep much lately. Probably has something to do with what happened,” Dave said with a rueful smile.
“I see.” The room settled into a deep silence for a minute. “You got your mojo back, huh? Heard you brought me here, set a record of some kind. Thanks. I owe you one.”
Dave shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything. I should be thanking you. This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me.”
She waved her hand, picking up a cup from the tray. “It’s not your fault. I just hope you guys dug up something good while I was out. Kinda tired of this wild goose chase.”
“We did,” Chad said. Pain looked up at him. “We’ll go over everything at the briefing today. Come on, let’s give her some space.” He waved Ryan and Dave toward the door.
“Get some rest,” Dave said, and she nodded.
Jane breathed out in relief, realizing even she was tired of everyone coming and going all morning.
Pain, however, didn’t seem to care as she bit into her chicken. “I’m not going there looking like this. No way.”
“Seriously, I can’t even see anything with your hair down.”
“I’ll never wear a ponytail again.”
Jane munched on a donut, barely restraining herself from rolling her eyes. “You’re such a drama queen.”
“Eat your damn donut. You’re not the one who’s been shot full of bullets, then violated by a psycho surgeon.”
“I heard that!” Doc yelled from the nurses’ room.
Pain gave the door the finger.
Jane peered at her hair. “I got an idea, but don’t bite my head off if you hate it.”
Pain narrowed her eyes. “Why would I hate it?”
* * *
“I am so. Going. To kill you.” Pain held out her hand. “Give me the mirror now.”
Jane took a step back, wrinkling her nose as she looked at her sister’s head. “Oh, chill. I had to trim the other side, or it would’ve looked uneven.” She set down the hair clipper and started gathering Pain’s hair up into a ponytail.
“How do I look?” Pain asked once she was done. “Still a freak?”
Jane stepped around the chair they’d set up in the middle of the infirmary, and bent down to her level. “You look… definitely better. Kinda like Marco.”
“What?”
She winced at Pain’s volume. “Well, at least it’s symmetric now.” She picked up the big mirror she’d brought from her room.
Pain ripped it from her hand. “Give me that!” She made a face as she peered at her new undercut. “Oh Lord, this is how I’m gonna die. After all those heroics, I’m gonna die of shame.”
Jane blew out a weary sigh. “It’ll look better in a week, when it’s not so…”
“Bald?” Pain put the mirror down. “My head looks like a chicken’s ass.”
“Oh, what do you know about chickens.” Jane grabbed the mirror and the hair clipper and stuffed them into a bag. “We’ve been going crazy here for almost a week, and you wake up and all you care about is your stupid hair. No one cares what you look like. You got your friends, you got your boyfriend, who loves you just the way you are, temporary baldness and bullet holes and all. And you just wanna bitch and moan and drive everyone crazy.”
Pain blinked, pulling back. “What’s that all about?”
“Nothing. Forget it. Go shower, and I’m gonna go eat.”
“No-no, wait a second. What was that about my boyfriend? Is there a problem? ’Cause you’ve been kinda testy these past few months, to be honest.”
“What? Out of all the things I said, this is what you’re concerned about?”
“Does it bother you that I have someone now?”
Jane waved her hand. “Why? Why would it bother me?”
“Because I got a boyfriend and you don’t, and I know it—”
“First of all, that’s not true, and second…” Jane trailed off as her sister frowned. Oh, crap. Now is so not the time.
“Not true? How long have I been out again?”
Jane took a deep breath, searching for the right words. When nothing came to mind, she grabbed her bag and ran to the door. “See you at the briefing!”
“Get back here this moment!” Pain yelled behind her.
“I thought I told you to take it easy,” Doc’s voice cut in. “You want a shot of sedative?”
Jane cringed—and didn’t stop running until she was locked inside her room.
Chapter 37
Dave knocked on the office door and pushed it open without waiting for a response.
“Dave,” Peter blurted, seemingly startled as he sat in front of his laptop. He closed it and got up, unusually stiff. “You’re early, but I actually wanted to speak with you in private. Come in.”
The office door opened and Rob walked in, so Peter waved Dave into his room. “We’ll begin in five minutes,” he told Rob. Then he shut the door behind him and Dave.
Hands balled into fists inside his pockets, Dave frowned as he stood in the center of Peter’s living room. Peter seemed to take a few seconds to think over his words before stepping closer.
“Something happened last night, and I didn’t get a chance to tell
