An Eye for Danger by Christine M. Fairchild Page B

mind. Like the accident. The fumes. The flames.
    Dizziness threw me sideways. I stumbled, grabbed the edge of the counter till my head stilled. I hated feeling this flimsy. Breathe, damn it .
    Below me, in the recycling bin, I spotted a slip of paper. My prescription from last month's wisdom teeth extraction, a cross-town journey I'd braved thanks to Howard escorting me by taxi. The doctor's rock-star signature blurred above next week's expiration date. Filling the prescription was obvious, now that I had good reason. Whether I should give the pills to Sam or use them myself, however, was still in question.
    When I entered to the bathroom, I startled.
    "Better, yeah?" Sam posed in the mirror, my fat pink robe curled at his shoulders, the sleeves reaching only halfway down his arm. No cop should look this adorable.
    With a washcloth he wiped lumps of pink shaving foam off his smooth neck and cheeks. My razor floated in a sink of muddled water, beard hair clinging to the porcelain rim. I spotted my toothbrush on the shelf, sitting in a hairy puddle next to the medical shears that had cut his beard and hair, which accounted for the brassy locks sprinkled on my white-tile floor.
    "Haven't seen this face in a year," he said, staring at himself. His brow and nose were tanner than his round jaw now that it was hairless, and his teeth gleamed whiter against flushed, full lips unhidden by the mustache. He pulled at his glossy chin and smile lines spread up his cheeks like double parentheses, making him look ten years younger than the thug I'd met hours ago. He'd definitely needed the beard; that boy-scout face would get anyone pummeled in his bar-brawling world.
    "You can barely walk, but you're grooming yourself," I said. "Smart. And you owe me a toothbrush."
    "Sooner I change appearance..." He smoothed back his wet brown hair and winked, like we'd known each other for years. Then his smile dropped and he turned to me. "You've been crying."
    Sam slid closer, so close I could see the stubble he'd missed on his chin, the razor nick on his throat now crusting with blood, the dew on his chest hair. Those vivid green eyes investigated me in turn—my pink nose, my red eyes. Evidence of my fallout while washing Max.
    "We should sterilize that burn," I said, ducking under his arm.
    From the medical kit, I gathered ointment and swabs. I wasn't very good at taking care of people, especially when I could hardly take care of myself, but even an idiot could handle a cleanup job.
    When I reached for his oozing arm, I dropped the first swab to the floor. "Shit."
    Sam sat silently on the toilet lid as I prepped another swab. My fingers felt fat, stiff, numb, the way they always did after an adrenaline cocktail wore off and the insulin started pouring in. I opened and closed my fists to encourage blood flow. And still I fumbled the ointment. Looking down, I noticed my hands shaking. Not just my hands, but my whole body jittered.
    "First shock, then panic," he said, cool and calm, his eyes fixed on my hands. "The fight or flight response. But once the adrenaline wears off, a wall hits."
    With effort, I prepped a third swab. A desperate need pressed me to finish this.
    "Jules. You need to attend to yourself now." He held my arm when I persisted with the swab. "Stop it. You need to lie down."
    "Screw you." My lips were quivering, my stomach sour with insulin and coffee and a breakfast of panic. I'd been here a hundred times before, but he didn't need to rub my face in the fact that I was unraveling.
    "Jules, I'm sor—"
    "Don't." I ripped my arm away from him. An eternity of apologies couldn't appease me. "Don't ever. Not that word."
     

CHAPTER 7
    The bell on the pharmacy counter jolted George out of his concentration, and he pushed pills back into their plastic container. White bags marked with the Ramsey Pharmacy's inky logo covered his work island, a hospital-style desk his wife had donated to his business.
    "Haven't seen you in months," said