him. 'I knew you never liked Alan-' 'With good reason,' he panted.
Megan paid no attention. 'So you insist on playing with swords, and getting stuckTestosterone poisoning.
As she spoke, she managed to pull Leif into a sitting position-surprisingly gently. 'Coming here alone-'
'Didn't,' Leif replied. 'David's with me. He got hurt in the office.'
Megan glared at him as she tore at his shirt, revealing the wound. 'You got David hurt, too?'
'Trap nailed him in the leg-he's calling for help.'
'Morons,' she muttered in his ear as he sagged back against her. 'Bozos.' Clasping him in one arm, she placed her palm right over the puncture, pressing down with her other hand.
Direct pressure to stop the bleeding, Leif remembered fuzzily from Net Force Explorers first-aid demonstrations.
'Can't believe how stupid-how careless-' Megan continued to rail at him.
'Y'know,' he managed. 'If this were Latvinia, y'should be swooning over me.'
Megan made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. 'Dream on, Anderson.'
Slumped in the circle of Megan's arms, Leif let his head fall back against her shoulder, awaiting the arrival of the cops, Net Force, and soon, he hoped, an ambulance. He could already hear sirens.
It was going to be okay. His friends were all going to live through this. Even Leif was going to survive it, despite Alan's best efforts to kill him. And Winters would have to wait until Leif got glued back together to yell at him for what was undeniably the nastiest mess of Leif's life. But, Leif thought muzzily, it was self defense-any good lawyer will have me out of trouble in the time it takes to file the paperwork… and thankfully, I can afford a good lawyer. And, best of all, Megan's arms felt surprisingly good around him.
Yeah, he thought, trying to keep a smile off his lips. A guy can dream, can't he?
