Free Second You Sin by Scott Sherman

directly related to . . .” I arched an eyebrow and entered the waiting lift.
    Chase was stil chuckling as the doors slid shut.
    Always leave ’em laughing.
    Especial y the clowns.
    I opened my palm and found five hundred-dol ar bil s curled together like contented lovers.
    Sometimes I loved my job.

    9

    A Sleeping Bee

    I needed to go home to get ready for the party I was attending with Freddy tonight, but first I decided to go by the hospital and see how Randy was doing.
    When I got there, I stopped at the gift shop and picked up a smal white teddy bear holding a box of Hershey’s Kisses. I didn’t know if anyone had reached Randy’s family yet, and the thought of him lying in an empty hospital room was too depressing.
    Plus, if I knew Randy, he’d wake up hungry.
    I went up to the intensive-care ward. The elevator opened to a large desk for visitors. A male nurse sat there making notes in someone’s chart.
    “Excuse me,” I said.
    The young man nodded. “One sec,” he said. His short brown hair didn’t do much to conceal his large ears, which stuck out like satel ite dishes from his nicely rounded head. I noticed that, unlike most of the staff that works in hospitals, this guy actual y seemed healthy. As he wrote in the chart, wel -defined muscles in his upper back and shoulders did a lively little dance for me. He was slim, but wiry, not skin and bones. His neck looked smooth and strong.
    “Sorry,” he said, looking up. “Just had to get that down. Now what can I . . .”
    He paused for a moment, and then smiled. I knew what he was thinking. Hey, cutie. I was thinking the same thing. He looked like he was about twenty-five years old. Fair skin, nice broad nose, and deep brown eyes. A pencil stuck behind his oversized ear made him look adorably geeky. He had a great smile. His ID card read “Cody Boyd.” It sounded like a porn name.
    He shook his head. “Sorry, lost my train of thought.
    Let me guess—you’re here to see . . .” He looked at a clipboard on his desk. “Randy Bostivick.” I smiled back. “How’d you know?”
    Cody considered his response. “Ummm, let’s just say you look like you’d be a friend of his.” He paused again, and then looked more serious. “Unless you two are, umm, a couple.”
    His blush was as appealing as the rest of him.
    “Nope,” I said. “Just friends.”
    Cody broke into an inappropriately broad grin before dialing it back a little. “That’s great!” he said.
    Embarrassed by his overenthusiasm, he added, “It’s great that Randy has another friend.”
    I’d have bet money that Cody was glad to hear that Randy wasn’t taken, at least not by me. As snackable as I thought Cody was, he real y wasn’t my type, and I didn’t get the sense he was interested in me, either.
    “Another friend?” I asked. I didn’t know who else would be visiting Randy. I remembered Freddy’s suspicion that the car that hit Randy hadn’t been an accident. Now, I wondered if whoever was behind the wheel hadn’t come back to finish the job. I was about to tel Cody to check Randy’s respirator when he continued.
    “A Mrs. . . . Berry? ” he asked.
    “Mrs. Cherry,” I corrected him, relieved. “We work for her.”
    Cody furrowed his brow. Cutely. “You do?” he asked. “She said she was his aunt.”
    “She is,” I answered quickly. “She’s his aunt and his boss. But she’s just my boss. I’m not related to her. Them. We’re just friends. Randy and I. And Mrs.
    Cherry, too. We’re al friends. See? He works for his aunt.” I was babbling. Had I taken my medication today?
    Cody had a look on his face that told me he was trying to decide if I was adorably scattered or actual y deranged. I gave him my best see-I’m-not-crazy smile. Cody decided to go with the first option.
    “Got ya,” he said. He pointed to a huge box of Godiva chocolates at the end of the desk. It had to cost over a hundred dol ars. Shit was more expensive than steak. “She brought