Kindred Spirit - Noah Harris Page 0,40

hell. Damn it, he’d really liked Jacob too.

That has to come out.

Levi winced. “I’m not exactly a doctor. I can bandage a bruise, not a fucking hunk of metal.”

You can sew.

“That’s not even close to the same thing.”

You better hope it’s close if you want to help him.

“Jesus Christ. You’re just a ray of fucking sunshine, you know that?”

I’m also right.

Jacob squinted up at him. “Lou?”

Levi’s head jerked up. He had momentarily forgotten about Jacob sitting there, watching him closely. His face burned as he opened the first aid kit in an attempt to cover up his embarrassment. He was surprised and not by the contents he found in the metal case. He’d almost been hoping there wouldn’t be anything to patch Jacob up, but he should have known a former soldier would have what he needed.

“Yeah,” Levi finally grunted.

“Louis,” Jacob amended.

Levi looked up slowly. “I’ve never used his full name.”

Jacob frowned, though his eyes were a little unfocused. “I just...I know that name.”

“Probably in your files on me,” Levi reminded him tightly.

“Yeah.”

Levi was willing to ignore that for the moment. “Do you uh, know what I need to do to help you?”

Jacob laughed, laying his back against the trunk of the tree. “I’ve had to patch myself up before, so yeah, I think I can do that. You uh, don’t have a problem with blood, do you?”

“Not my favorite thing in the world, but I can deal.”

“Alright. Get the knife out of my bag. You’re going to have to cut my pants.”

Wondering what his life was coming to, Levi did as he was told. Jacob pushed himself away from the tree to lay stomach-down on the ground. It was a good thing Jacob had asked about blood because the back of his leg was soaked in it. With a grim expression, Levi took hold of the man’s upper thigh and carefully slit the denim. It was slow work. Levi was trying not to jostle the wound too much. After a few minutes, though, the material was pulled free of Jacob and tossed away.

Jacob let out a slow breath. “Alright, so here’s the fun part. You’re going to have pull that thing out. Try to pull it out in the same direction it went in, or you’re going to make a worse mess.”

Levi’s stomach churned. “Um, okay.”

“When it’s out, you’re going to have to pour some water over it, clean it out a bit. Should be a couple of tiny bottles of water in the bag. Then you’re going to have to stitch it, and don’t be afraid to slather iodine on it in the process.”

“God, I’m not a surgeon.”

“Can you sew?”

Levi groaned as he heard a ghostly snort from Lou. “Yeah, not a seamstress, either.”

“If you can close the damn thing, that’s all that’s going to matter.”

“Is this the part where I ask if you want anything to bite down on?”

Jacob laughed hollowly. “Don’t you worry about me.”

“I’m doing this for you.”

“Well, yeah. But don’t think too hard about it, okay?”

You know, don’t get into your own head, kind of like you always do.

“Not helping!” Levi snapped over his shoulder.

Jacob turned his head to look up at him. “It’s funny. I think I’m already starting to tell when you’re talking to me and when you’re talking to Lou.”

I don’t like him talking about me.

“Yeah, and I don’t like you being an asshole all the time, but we all have our struggles,” Levi ground out to Lou. Then to Jacob. “Well, at least that covers any awkward conversation.”

“I think we’ve got that covered between the two of us already.”

“Right,” Levi said as he gathered up the supplies and laid them out on the bag. “What with the whole lying to me thing.”

“I suppose you getting ready to cause me pain and make me bleed is a really bad time to point out that you weren’t exactly honest with me either.”

Levi narrowed his eyes. “Right, because I was just going to tell someone I didn’t know that I...about Lou.”

“And I was going to tell someone that has a mistrust of anyone in power that I came from a government agency to keep an eye on them. That would have gone over well.”

“Maybe better than it has already.”

“Uh-huh. And how long would it have taken you to have Lou chuck me through a window and take off like a bat out of hell?”

Levi eyed the metal, calculating its path into Jacob’s leg and where he’d have to pull. “Okay, fine, let’s say