Involved in separate accidents. Russel and Finn end up sharing a cubicle in the ER on a busy night. As the hours pass, separately and together, they face issues of life and death, human nature, addiction, perceived shortcomings, love, romance, and sexual arousal.<br><br>Both men are feeling flirty and friendly at first, until they end up in a heated argument about what feature in a man is more important, his face or his body. After some time alone to think, Russel is eager to apologize for losing his temper and to explain where he was coming from. Unfortunately, Finn never returns from surgery, leaving Russel both sorry and worried.<br><br>Is Russel’s chance to make amends really gone? What will happen if the two ever do come face to face again? Can Russel win Finn over or will the need to prove his point screw everything up again?

An Arm and a Leg

“I started with strangers—lifting, stealing. I never hit anyone or threw them down. Women at grocery stores in the ‘burbs, man. They leave their purses in that top part of the cart and walk away. I hung out in different grocery stores morning ‘til night and made bank. The bigger stores. No one fingered me. I was the fucking Artful Dodger, going into handbags all damned day, lifting the wallets, snatching a five, a ten, or a twenty, then dropping the wallet, so they always got back to their rightful owner. Honorable, huh?”


“Now, I guard them. I fucking watch like a hawk from my section of the store, at least, for anyone like me who might rip someone off. Now, I’m Superman.”


Finn actually traced an S onto my chest. I wasn’t even sure he knew he’d done it. Neither one of us acknowledged it out loud.


“I pegged a couple dudes,” I said, “and a girl one time, too.”


“Yup. I, uh, recognized the why in her and walked her over to the addiction center.”


Chapter 48