Despite heroic efforts on her part, all the guys insisted that Joyce remain outside the locker room. There were other teams inside that wouldn't appreciate her presence, regardless of the whole Mom thing. And fortunately, more of Quinlan's detectives showed up to get statements just about then, so she was otherwise occupied anyway.
Cody stayed close to Nick in the shower. He seemed all right, but Cody couldn't stop replaying the frightening image of Nick flying off the roof of the car. Over and over again.
As always, Nick could feel his gaze. "I'm okay."
Unable to dismiss his fear, Cody's voice was quiet and a little shaky, "I thought we agreed: no more Nick-jumps-on-a-moving-car-and-scares-the-pants-off-Cody."
Nick sighed and turned off the water. "We did."
Cody turned his shower off, too. "I knew what you were gonna do even before you did it." He blew out a frustrated breath, "You know how scary it is, knowing your partner's about to do something dangerously stupid, and not be able to help."
Nick winced and looked away, "I know, but I didn't—"
"Didn't see any other way to stop them. I get it. But if Boz were here, he'd give you statistics on how likely it is you'll be able to stop a car with that move. Or how likely you are to end up dead or maimed from that kind of stupid stunt. And point out that you've never been successful at it before, so why did you expect it would work this time?"
Nick's gaze was tentative. "I didn't really think. I just knew I had to slow 'em down; then maybe you could stop 'em. And this time it actually did work."
Cody sighed, "Yeah; you also scared about ten years off my life."
Nick looked contrite, "Cody, I'm sorry; but I couldn't just let 'em take her…"
Cody studied his partner. While careful in the extreme with other people, Nick had always been reckless and unselfish with himself, and Cody didn't wish him any different. Truth be told, Cody had frequently depended on that particular behavior to pull his own ass out of the fire. But he needed Nick to listen and understand. "I know. 'Cause I know how you are and what you gotta do. But please…try to remember there are people who need and love you, too, okay?"
Nick's smile was tender and apologetic. "Yeah. I got it."
From the locker room, Boz's voice echoed, "Nick? Cody? I've got the peroxide and bandages. You guys about done?"
This time, Nick's wince looked pained, "Ah, man…"
Cody chuckled, "You do the crime, buddy…"
Nick rolled his eyes, looking tired, "Yeah, yeah."
Most of the afternoon was spent at the station giving statements. The Harwells invited the Riptide boys to dinner that night, but Cody could easily see that Tim was only doing it for his mother's benefit. He clearly needed time alone with her, so they declined, agreeing to come over the following evening instead. Besides, it had been a busy few days for Cody and the guys, and they were wiped out. There was no way they were up to being sociable that evening, so when they finished with Quinlan, they headed back to the beach to give the final word to their clients.
Alex and Jace reported that despite everything, the day had gone well. A tournament meeting was scheduled that evening to update all the teams on the events of the day, and after talking with their private detectives, the two were optimistic that the rest of the event would proceed with only the excitement of the competition.
No one had yet been able to ascertain if Justin Decker was aware of how the events involved him. He and his partner had won their match, and Quinlan had plans to bring him in at some point. Reed and Olatidoye were certain that Decker knew nothing about what was going on and hoped to convince Quinlan to put off his interview till after the tournament. At any rate, the Riptide Detective Agency had wrapped up their portion of the case and could now just enjoy the rest of the competition from the sidelines. Since they'd forfeited their match and all.
They discussed stopping for dinner on their way back to the boat, but just as Cody knew he wasn't up to being sociable with the Harwells, he didn't think dinner at Straightaways was all that great an idea either. Nick was dragging and Boz didn't seem very enthusiastic, so they ended up grabbing a couple of pizzas on their way back to the boat.
Cody was in the galley getting drinks while Boz organized plates and napkins. Nick called down, "Hey, grab those cookies while you're down there!"
Cody narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to put himself inside his partner's twisted mind. Half a second later, it came to him, and he opened the cabinet to the cookie jar. There was the package. Behind him, he heard Murray crack up. Unable to stop his own smile, Cody shook his head wryly, wondering where Nick had hidden them before he moved them to the most obvious place on the boat, the first place Cody had looked.
Not that it mattered. Nick and Boz were both still around to twist him up in knots; everything else was gravy. Or cookies. Cody started laughing with Boz, and he grabbed their drinks—and dessert—and followed Murray up to the salon.