by Lane Hart
Right now, the doc has him so high on the painkillers pumping through his IV that he probably doesn’t even know where he is. Still, I would feel better if he was awake, at least for a few minutes, so I can know he’s really okay.
The doctor said he didn’t need any surgery right now and that the chest tube would take care of his collapsed lung. I find that hard to believe. With the way his head is wrapped with gauze, his face bruised and swollen all to hell, and his right arm in a cast that goes from his wrist to elbow, he looks awful.
Those are just the injuries I can see. The internal ones the doctor could’ve missed is what worries me. I don’t want them missing anything serious with Cory.
Seeing him like this is brutal. If something happened to him…fuck, I don’t know what I would do.
In a matter of weeks, Cory went from someone I wanted to strangle for calling me out on my deep, dark secrets to someone I want to smother in a hug because he figured me out. He freed me from the chains of my own making, helping me finally get over my family’s religious bullshit.
After what feels like forever since they brought him up to this room, his one, non-swollen blue eye thankfully blinks open. I’m up and beside the bed a second later.
“Hey, how are you feeling?”
His tongue wets his dry, cracked lips. “Like BDSM is…totally…overrated.” His words are barely a whisper, trying to make a joke now of all times. “I’m glad you’re here.” He smiles and tries to grab the bed rails to sit up but winces in pain.
“Of course I’m fucking here,” I mutter. “Now tell me what you need?”
“To not be lying so flat,” he explains. I help him find the little button on the railing to raise the head of the bed.
“Thanks,” Cory replies, sounding gassed from just pressing a button. “You didn’t call my sister, did you?”
“What? No. Shit, sorry,” I apologize as I pull out my phone, unable to believe I didn’t think to notify Rita before now.
“No. Don’t,” he says before I can find Nolan’s number in my phone’s contacts.
“Why? You want to call her instead?”
“No. I don’t want to…bother her.”
“Bother her!” I exclaim. “You’re fucked-up. She would want to be here.”
“Don’t. Please?” he begs. “Besides…you would have to explain…”
“I don’t care.” The first question Rita and Nolan would ask me is why the fuck am I at the hospital with him, four hours away from home.
I didn’t want to tell Nolan for the sole reason that I thought he may consider it as a betrayal, screwing around with the guy who let him go to prison as an innocent man. I don’t think he would care if he found out I was bisexual, just that I’m bi and sleeping with the enemy.
“Yes, Abel, you do care,” Cory whispers. “And I do too.”
“What?”
“Rita doesn’t know I fuck men.”
“Oh, right. I forgot.”
“You think I’m a big pussy…”
“No, I don’t think that at all,” I tell him. “It’s just, you’re so unconcerned by what people think at school. Why wouldn’t you be open like that with your sister?”
He sighs heavily, and just that moment of his chest rising and falling has him hissing. “Because she already hates me.”
“No, she doesn’t. If Rita hated you, she wouldn’t have invited you to her wedding.”
“She does. Why add another strike?”
“Your sister isn’t going to disown you because you fuck men,” I assure him.
“Can you promise me that?” he asks.
“No. But…”
“But nothing,” he snaps. “Don’t tell her.”
“Fine,” I huff, not happy to keep his injuries a secret from her. “She’s going to find out when she sees your face…”
“I’ll wait to see her…until I heal.”
“God, you’re so fucking stubborn.”
“Look who’s talking,” he replies with a grin. It’s not his usual cocky one, though, and I hate that, almost as much as I used to hate that arrogant, knowing look on his face. Now, I would do anything to see it again.
“Who did this to you, Cory?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it does!” My fists clench by my sides as I watch him struggle just to take deep breaths. “You’ve got a busted-up lung, ribs, and arm. That doesn’t even begin to cover all the places you’re bruised! Who. Was. It?”
“He’s not worth…you going to jail, Abel.” The way his blinks are turning slow and heavy, I know he’s fighting off sleep.
“Maybe you’re worth it,” I reply.
Cory tries to chuckle at that, but it sounds more like a cough. “Ask Nolan. He would definitely disagree.”
“No, he wouldn’t. By protecting you, he was also protecting Rita. I think he would do it again in a heartbeat. And I wouldn’t give him so much shit for it if he did knowing what I know now.”
“If you…say…so,” Cory trails off, his good eye closing for a few seconds.
I glance at his uninjured hand lying on top of the blankets, wanting to take it, to touch him, but worried I might hurt him.
“You can hold my hand, Abel,” he says, one eye open again, watching me. “No one’s around…to see.”
“I don’t care if anyone sees me,” I say as I reach for it and give his fingers a squeeze. “I just didn’t know if your hand was hurt too.”
“Bullshit.” His eyes do the long blink thing again. “What the hell…did they…give me?”
“The good painkillers,” I tell him. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more when you wake up.”
“Okay,” he agrees, and then he’s out like a light.
Selina comes through the open door with two cups of coffee in her hands, and I pull mine away from Cory. “Hey, you just missed him,” I tell her.
“Ah, that’s okay. He needs to rest,” she whispers, coming over and handing me a coffee.
The outside of the cup is cool on my palm, and when I take a sip, yep, the liquid inside is lukewarm at best. That sneaky little…
“You were listening outside, weren’t you?”
“No,” she says behind a smile that she covers with her own coffee cup. “I heard you talking and turned around to go back to the waiting room to give you some time alone.”
“Why?”
“Because I think you needed to talk to him more than I did. I figured you would rather not have an audience.”
“You’re not an audience,” I assure her. “At first, yeah, maybe I was nervous about touching him or talking to him in front of you, what you might think or if you would run your mouth. But not anymore. I know you’re not disgusted by me and Cory together –”
“Definitely not. The opposite, really,” she interrupts to add with a grin.
“And I know you wouldn’t tell anyone our business.”
“Of course not.”
“So, you don’t have to do that,” I tell her, gesturing to the door with my cup. “You don’t have to hide from us or stay away. I’m sure Cory would’ve liked to see you too.”
“It’s fine,” she replies. “I’ll be here the next time he wakes up.”
“Good, because, ah, I’ve got an errand to run.”
Selina’s cerulean eyes widen, and then she whispers, “No, Abel! You can’t get arrested for some dickhead.”
“I won’t,” I promise her. “I just, I need to know who it was and why.”
“I wish you would let it go.”
“I can’t, Selina. You know I can’t. It’s not in me.” I start toward the door, but she grabs my arm to stop me.
“Just…hear me out for a second, okay?”
“What?” I snap.
“Yes, you want revenge. I do too.”
“Then let me go.”
“Wait a second. Listen, Abel. Putting a beating on the asshole or assholes won’t do anything but get you arrested, right?”
“Possibly. May
be not.”
“If you’re determined to do something, then just be smart. Injuries heal, right? It’s an easy punishment. Look at the bigger picture, and maybe there’s a way to hit them where it hurts even worse for a long, fucking time.”
“Punching them over and over again would be much more satisfying than anything else.”
“That’s your decision. I get it. I’m not trying to tell you what you can or can’t do. I know how stupid that would be. Just promise me you’ll consider all of your options first, okay?”
“Okay,” I reply.
Leaning forward, she presses her lips to mine. “I love you, you crazy, stubborn fool.”
“I love you too,” I tell her with a smile as I thread the fingers of my free hand through the back of her hair to hold her mouth to mine, kissing her back with a probing tongue. When she’s good and worked up, I pull away, making her groan in disappointment.
“Oh, and don’t call Rita while I’m gone. Cory said he didn’t want her to know…”
She rolls her eyes, obviously thinking we should call his sister, but then she says, “Fine.”
“Be back soon. Hopefully,” I tell her with a quick brush of my lips on her forehead.
“Hopefully,” Selina repeats, sounding exasperated and resigned at the same time. It’s what I love about her. She doesn’t try and talk me out of shit by nagging or throwing a fit. Even if it ends badly, she’ll still be here waiting for me. And yeah, she’ll say, “I told you so,” but she won’t leave.
“Come on, Kenny. Talk to me,” I beg Cory’s roommate a few minutes later when I corner him in the kitchen of their apartment.
“Man, I’m sorry, but I’m not even supposed to know who he is in the first place!” He removes his baseball hat and turns it around with the brim facing forward. “He’s rich and enormous! The guy pays Cory extra for him to give me so that I’ll stay in my room if I’m here whenever he comes over. I can’t come out for anything the whole time he’s here.”
Picturing Cory locked in his room fucking the same guy who hurt him so badly makes me want to put a bullet through the asshole’s fucking head.
“You figured out who it was, though, didn’t you?” I ask him.
He sighs. “Yes. I saw him in the parking lot when I came home early one night from work. Cory said he was huge, and there aren’t many people bigger than him.”
“So then just give me his goddamn name!”
When Kenny hesitates, I consider picking the skater boy up and shaking the name out of him. But then, crazy enough, a switch flips in my head. He’s given me more info than he realizes. I could maybe try to do what Selina suggested – hurt him by hitting him with some shit that won’t heal as fast as bones.
“The fucker is that worried about someone finding out that he’s gay that he pays Cory to keep you in your room?” I repeat.
“Yes. He’s trying to go pro.”
“Pro, huh? What sport?”
“Ah, dude, don’t make me do this!” he grumbles as he covers his face with his hands.
“You saw what he did to Cory! He’s got a collapsed lung, broken ribs and arm. I’m guessing he did some other painful shit to him too, didn’t he? Something Cory never lets anyone do to him…”
Ken nods, and his throat works as he swallows. “Most of his clothes were ripped off when I found him on the floor.”
I fucking knew it. That bullet in his head is looking better and better. I’ve never wanted to kill someone so badly to get rid of the aching in my chest for him. Maybe because nobody has ever hurt anyone I considered to be mine like Cory and Selina.
I just wish I was good enough to be certain I wouldn’t leave even a shred of evidence to come back on me or that there wouldn’t be any cameras in the entire area. But I’m not that confident or experienced as a murderer.
And I sure as fuck don’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison for killing some rich prick.
Besides, death is too nice and easy for the son of a bitch.
“Kenny, I swear I won’t kill him if you tell me his name.”
“You won’t?” he says in surprise.
“I won’t.” No, I’m going to ruin him instead.
“If he finds out I gave it to you, I’m dead.”
“He won’t find out.”
“Okay, it’s Hayworth Henshaw. A mammoth who plays defense for the football team. They’re at an away game this weekend, so at least you can’t kill him tonight.”
“Yeah, it’s probably best that he’s not in town.” The truth is, if I see the fucker, I might change my mind, say screw the consequences, and just blow his face off.
So what if he’s hoping to go pro?
Fuck him and his dreams.
He’s so worried about his secret that he takes extra precautions when hooking up to keep it protected, afraid that if word got out, he won’t go pro. That means I already know his worst nightmare without ever meeting him. It used to be mine too.
But now I get there are more important things to worry about than what people think about who I fuck. So what if my parents were homophobes? That doesn’t mean the rest of the world is or that I shouldn’t get to be happy because they disapprove. Screw them.
Pretending I wasn’t attracted to men all this time only hurt myself. I never hurt anyone else, even if I did try and fight Cory after the wedding when I was drunk.
And yeah, maybe I’ll lose some friends when I tell them, possibly even my best friend, who hasn’t spoken a word to me since the day he left town. Hell, I may even lose my cut and place in the Savage Kings. If either or both of those things happen to me, it’ll suck and I’ll fucking hate it.
But I’ve lost everything once before when I was still just a kid, practically thrown out on the streets alone. This time will be different. I’ll still have Cory and Selina, no matter what happens.
“You got an address for this Hayworth Henshaw?”
Kenny shakes his head. “No, but I can look it up on the campus directory.”
“Great. Do that.”
“I might be a coward, but I still want him to pay for what he did,” Kenny says as he starts for his room, and I follow him. “Can I help?”
“No,” I tell him. “I appreciate the offer, but I can handle it. Besides, there’s no reason for you to get involved and get kicked out of school.”
“Oh shit! Yeah, that would suck. I’ll let you handle it.”
“Good idea,” I tell him. “Now get me that address. And an email for the school newspaper.”
“What do you need that for?”
“You’ll see.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Cory
The second time I wake up, I’m not as groggy, but I’m in more pain. Guess the docs have started easing back on the pain meds. Which is fine. I don’t want my head fuzzy.
I glance around the room with my right eye since the left is nearly swollen shut, looking for Abel.
Selina is sitting in the chair next to the bed, playing on her phone. She glances up at me a moment later.
“Hey, you’re awake!” she says in surprise. Getting to her feet, she comes over and takes my hand without hesitation, unlike Abel.
“Hey,” I reply, giving her a smile. “Where is he?”
Her eyes flicker to the door, then back to me. “Abel went to grab something to eat.”
“Bullshit.”
“He’ll be back any second.” She doesn’t even bother to lie again.
“Call him,” I tell her. “Tell him…tell him if he touches him, that you and I will abstain until his balls are so blue they fall off.”
Selina laughs. “I begged him not to do anything stupid. Whether or not he’ll listen, well, who knows? Hopefully he decides he would rather be with us than in prison.”
“Yeah,” I agree, praying she’s right.
“The doctor came in while you were out. They said if you weren’t in too much pain, you should be able to get the chest tube out and go home tomorrow.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’m ready to leave.”
“Can Abel and I stay with you for a few days, until you can at least get around easier?”
“Sure,” I agree.
“I still think you should let us call your sister.”
“No.” I start to shake my head, but it aches, making me wince.
“Why not, Cory?”
“You and Abel are here. No reason to worry her.”
“You just don’t want to tell her what happened. You could lie and say you were in a car wreck.”
“No.”
“Fine! You’re just as stubborn as Abel.”
“Yeah, I probably am,” I agree. “Makes me wonder why you put up with us.”
“Because I love Abel, despite his flaws. And you make him happy. He seems lighter when he’s around you or just talking about you. I know he calls you every day. Without you, he wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with.”
“So, you’ll put up with me for him?”
“No, not at all, Cory. I just don’t think you’re ready to be vulnerable with me yet.”
“Really? I’m laid up in a hospital bed, barely able to move. It doesn’t get more vulnerable than this, Selina.”
“You know what I mean.” She rolls her eyes. “Emotionally vulnerable. We already know that you and I have great physical chemistry, right?”
“Right,” I agree since she’s not the least bit shy in bed but ready to do or try anything.
“So, then you just need me to prove that I won’t break your heart and that I won’t convince Abel to push you away.”
Fuck. She’s hitting closer to home than I expected based on the fact that we don’t know each other very well.
“Look, I get that threesomes are fun for now,” I start. “You think watching two men fuck is hot too because it’s new and exciting. What happens in a year or two from now when you want Abel to put a ring on your finger and give you kids? You gonna have a wedding and make me the best man? Have me over when the kids go to sleep so the three of us can fuck?”