Red Hot

by K. A. Merikan

  One of the staff, who helped the doctor prepare the patients, walked up to her and gently pulled her toward the door, whispering. Red Jack had talked to her before, and according to her badge, her name was Jenny.

  The old woman pushed her away with surprising force. “No, I need to speak to the doctor. Now!”

  Red Jack sat up straight. He was not about to let anyone interrupt Loki’s surgery. He’d throw the woman out himself if need be. He relaxed when a male attendant with bright gray eyes joined his colleague and took the old woman by the hand.

  “Please, calm down. Doctor Arvelo is performing a complicated procedure and can’t be disturbed at the moment. You may have a word with him when he’s done,” he said softly.

  “I can prepare some tea for you. It’ll help you relax,” said Jenny, but the old woman snarled at her, showing her incomplete teeth.

  “I don’t need tea! My son’s surgery was botched! He died less than a day after coming back home. I demand to speak to the doctor now!”

  Gasps and murmurs went through the waiting room, but Red Jack was the only one to actually get up. His heart stopped beating and got stuck in his throat. Could he have made a horrible mistake by coming here?

  “What happened to him?” he asked as he walked up to the three people standing.

  Jenny looked back, her mouth open. “Please, sir, calm down. We don’t know anything about this yet.”

  “No? The surgery was just days ago, and you were the one to put us on the list!” yelled the old woman, sobbing yet still determined to get her justice.

  Gray Eyes shook his head. “Please, calm down. The doctor will review your claims once he’s done. There’s many things that play a role, and even the best of surgeons can’t keep a patient alive if his body’s too weak.”

  “How do you fucking know if someone’s body is ‘too weak’, when you clearly don’t?” Red Jack was on the verge of wheezing, and grabbed the man’s arm.

  Jenny raised her hands, wide-eyed. “Sir, any procedure carries a risk. That’s why all patients have to sign the consent form, as in any other clinic.”

  Red Jack let go of Gray Eyes, just to grab the woman by the collar of her white coat. “If my cousin dies in there, I’ll stick that consent form up your ass myself!”

  Gray Eyes let go of the old woman and turned to Red Jack. “Let her go. Please, calm down, nothing’s gonna happen.”

  “That’s what they told me,” hissed the old woman, her pale eyes zeroed in on Red Jack.

  He shoved Jenny at her desk and rushed down the corridor where he’d seen Loki taken. “I think I’ll go see the doctor myself.”

  “Sir, I’ll be calling the police if you don’t return to your seat!” she called after him, but Red Jack didn’t hear anyone following him. Wise choice.

  His pulse drummed in Red Jack’s ears as he went all the way to the end of the corridor, past a colorful curtain, and faced two doors, both painted bright red, with yellow fingerprints all over. He exhaled, wondering which to go for, but when he noticed a low, mechanical pulsing from behind one of them, he made his decision.

  Red Jack gently opened the door on the right and was glad about the hum. If the doctor was still working, he shouldn’t be distracted by the sound of someone coming in. The last thing he wanted was to have a scalpel slipping into Loki’s eye. His breath caught in his throat when a loud, slick sound resonated through the room from the direction of a table covered by white cloth. The air carried a dense, herby scent, which must have originated from the thick candles spread around the operating table in the center.

  The white walls of the room, combined with the bright light and clean tiles, reminded Red Jack of an alien abduction porn movie he’d seen. He sneered at the memory of the large glass speculum being inserted into the ‘patient’s’ ass.

  The doctor was hunched over Loki, so all Red Jack could see was Arvelo’s back, but he stiffened when he noticed dark stains on the sheet, where Arvelo was wiping his hands.

  Loki tensed under the sheet at yet another strange sound that, Red Jack only now realized, came from a laptop standing on a low desk next to the doctor. He closed the door and watched, completely out of his depth. Loki had some of his hair shaved above his forehead on the left, and while his eyes were covered by a white sleeping mask, he was clearly conscious.

  There was a graph on the computer, and each time a loud sound came, it was synchronized with spikes on the diagram. As Red Jack watched, the doctor snaked his hand into a bowl at his side, retrieving a scrap of ugly meat, which he then slipped against Loki’s skin.

  “Easy now,” said Arvelo as Loki curled his feet under the sheet.

  Red Jack frowned and grabbed his own wrist, unsure what to make of this, but when blood from the raw meat dripped down the part of Loki’s face he could actually see, it became clear Arvelo was pretending to pull that piece of guts out of him. Red Jack was too stunned to act right away and watched, as his last hope, his desperate idea for bringing Loki back to health was proved to be as dead as the pieces of meat in Arvelo’s bowl.

  Loki made a choking noise and heaved, as if he were about to puke, and only calmed down when the doctor dropped the scrap into a different bowl. “You‘re doing good. Breathe. I’ve got half of it out.”

  Those last words pushed Red Jack into action. Half of it out? The fucker had nothing out. This was pure, unadulterated bullshit, and Red Jack could now hardly believe he’d been desperate enough to fall for it. It was as if someone poured cold water over him and jerked him out of the stupor by adding electricity. He took two steps forward and grabbed Arvelo’s wrist when the fake doctor was about to shove another piece of chicken guts against Loki’s nose.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you shitstain?”

  Arvelo’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth wide. “What are you doing here? I’m in the middle of a procedure!”

  Loki coughed and turned his blood-stained face toward Red Jack, whispering his name.

  “What fucking procedure, huh?” Red Jack laughed, but it turned out weak. “Tell me what you were doing, you useless cunt!”

  Another slick sound came from the computer, and Loki pulled off the blindfold, squinting. One of his eyebrows was gone, and with some of his hair chopped off and the blood spread all over his face, he looked like the victim of some weird ritual. “What’s going on?”

  “Security!” called Arvelo, pushing his hands against Red Jack.

  Red Jack looked at Loki with his heart being put through the shredder. “This human garbage is a fucking scammer!” It sounded more hurt than he’d like. “One of his patients died just yesterday!” He grabbed Arvelo’s arm and twisted it to his back so hard, the man howled in pain.

  Loki stared at him, only to glance at the two bowls of bloodied meat. “Fucking fuck,” he said with a shudder.

  “I-it’s not true. I faith-heal! Those are just special effects so that the patient’s own belief can assist my work!” hissed Arvelo, struggling to pull away from Red Jack. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with here!”

  “There was no talk of special effects! Your assistants said you pull out the illness, and all I see is this fucking shit!” Red Jack kicked the small side table so hard that one of the bowls fell down to the floor, exploding at their feet. He then pushed Arvelo to his knees, not minding the hiss of pain that came when the man must have met the broken glass. Red Jack placed the other bowl in front of him. If it wasn’t for all the witnesses here, he’d kill the motherfucker on the spot. “You’re gonna make all this ‘illness’ disappear. Eat up!”

  Loki slid off the bed and hit Arvelo right in the head. The man’s head bounced against Red Jack, and he screamed in pain.

  “I think we should help him,” hissed Loki, picking up the bowl.

  Arvelo tried to get up with a groan, so Red Jack pushed on the man’s back with his knee. “Go on, make him eat it, see how he fucking likes it.” At least the violence gave Red Jack’s anger and hopelessness a
way out of his body, without exploding with blind rage.

  Loki showed Arvelo his teeth, dug his hand into the bloody pulp and pushed his fist against the doctor’s mouth. Arvelo turned away.

  “Stop this nonsense! I can still finish your surgery!”

  Loki trembled so hard Red Jack could see it without touching him. “Yeah? If you don’t open your mouth, you’ll be the one in need of surgery, you sick fuck!”

  Arvelo must have given up, because Red Jack could feel his body slump. “Do as he says,” Red Jack hissed and pulled on the man’s arm hard enough to elicit a scream. Loki instantly used the opportunity to push some of the meat into Arvelo’s mouth. Red Jack couldn’t take his eyes off Loki’s blood-stained face. Even without an eyebrow, and the crazy bald little square above his forehead, he was the image of perfection, so beautiful in his rage. Red Jack could get hard right now, just watching the tension in Loki’s lean muscles and the violence in his eyes. They were meant to be together. Loki had told him that, and Red Jack had laughed at him. Not anymore.

  The process of feeding raw meat to Arvelo was slow and gut-churning, but even after Arvelo vomited some of it on the tiles, Loki still forced almost the whole bowl down his throat, breathing hard as he watched the doctor struggle with revulsion. He washed his face as Red Jack strapped the doctor to the operating table, and they kissed as soon as Loki returned to Red Jack, fully dressed and ready to go. Blood buzzed in their ears, and it somehow made the failure less sour.

  “If I ever hear that you’re back in California, you’re a dead man,” Red Jack spat before they walked out into a deserted waiting room. The staff was still there, huddled in a small room next door, watching Red Jack from behind their twin desks. They made the wise choice not to protest and returned his money with an extra on top of it. Red Jack was pretty confident that a scammer like Arvelo would not be reporting shit to the police. Fucker was lucky to come out of it with as little damage as he did.

  On the way to the car, Loki’s hand hovered next to Red Jack’s, but he wouldn’t take it in a public place. They got inside, and the first thing Loki did was to turn the rearview mirror his way. He scowled. “Fucking hell. The charm’s gone. I don’t think I’m good-looking enough to still be in your league.”

  Red Jack pulled out a small knife he carried in his pocket and without thinking much, he scraped his own eyebrow off. “There,” he rasped, still riding the wave of adrenaline.

  Loki blinked, and then broke out with laughter. “No way!” He took the knife out of Red Jack’s hand and leaned forward, putting the makeshift razor to good use on his other eyebrow.

  Red Jack sank into the seat. “We can go to the hairdresser, have them do something about your hair.” But wonky hair was the last thing on his mind. “I got you these, for after the surgery… They were on your bucket list.” Red Jack sighed and pulled out a yellow lollipop with a small scorpion embedded inside.

  Loki brushed the tiny hairs off his face and sighed, squeezing Red Jack’s hand. There was a small, warm smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You wanna share it?”

  “Only if you let me take you out on a date.” Red Jack was set on fulfilling as much of the bucket list as possible in now less than forty-eight hours. He could be dead after that, so he didn’t want to leave Loki disappointed.

  Loki closed the switchblade and leaned closer, slowly sliding his hands around Red Jack’s neck. His breath tickled Red Jack’s skin as his mouth stretched into a big, happy smile. “You serious? A real date?”

  Red Jack shook his head. “Not a real date. A perfect date.”

  Loki grinned. “Yes. That’s literally what I’m gonna answer every single time you ask me something from now on, so tailor your questions to that.”

  Red Jack’s smile widened as well. “You wanna suck me off?”

  Chapter 27

  Loki slurped on his banana and peanut butter milkshake. He was still shocked that Jack had taken him to a gay diner. Not to a place where they would eat and do all the date-required things. To a gay diner, and while Jack hadn’t made anything that would count as an intimate gesture since they came here, Loki was on pins and needles. The place was so cool, too, an interesting mixture of the traditional setup with red booths and a bar, and modern elements such as a wall covered with concrete blocks or naked pipes on the ceiling. There weren’t that many customers at the time, and so Jack chose a discrete booth in the corner.

  They’d shared the crunchy scorpion treats on the way, but it hadn’t been a substantial meal, so Loki was eager to have something meatier. It had been quite a while since Jack had made him visit a barber on the way, threatening not to shave off his other eyebrow if Loki didn’t get his hair sorted out. Also, because Loki promised to say yes to everything. Having ended up with hair that looked like he was starring in a Sci-Fi movie, and without eyebrows, Loki still felt he looked okay considering what he’d been through. Also, the bald third of his head was incredibly sensitive and he kept touching it. He couldn’t wait for Jack to run his fingers over the skin over there.

  Without his eyebrows, Jack looked weirdly threatening, which in turn, Loki found ridiculously hot. The medical disaster had to be fresh in Jack’s mind, because he kept spacing out, fidgeting and losing focus, but maybe it was just about being in a place meant for gay people.

  Loki drank more of the thick, sweet milkshake and gently nudged Jack with his elbow. “What’s up?”

  Jack gave him a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Ah, nothing, just thinking. You like it here?”

  Loki nodded, trying to think of a way to loosen Jack up. Seeing him so anxious made Loki tense on the inside, especially now that the failure of earlier that day was once again settling on both their minds. Having hope was such a shitty thing. Loki of all people should have known better. “Can I move closer?”

  “Y—yeah.” Jack had a look around, but he’d also taken other precautions on this trip. He took the car instead of his bike, and didn’t wear his cut. They were also out of town so the probability of anyone recognizing him was pretty slim. “You wanna eat something? We’ve got shitloads of money from the doc.”

  Loki shifted so close they were thigh to thigh, and he put his arm behind Jack’s back. Just being close like that made him feel so good on the inside. He kissed Jack’s shoulder and rested his cheek against it. “Yes. What do you want me to eat?”

  Jack laughed in the sweetest, most nervous way. It was a kind of sound Loki would expect from a schoolboy, not an outlaw biker who buried people in concrete. Jack didn’t flinch from the touch either.

  “I’ll order some cake. Wait here.”

  Loki chuckled. “With that much cash on you, I expect it to be the cake of my life.” He stilled, listening to his own heartbeat as they both froze, looking into each other’s eyes. Loki exhaled and dared to lean in even farther, kissing Jack’s cheek.

  The grin he got in return was better than the blow job he gave Jack back in the car. “It will be.” With those words, Jack got up and walked off.

  Loki slurped on his shake, hunched over the table as he let his gaze trail after Jack’s muscular back. He was so big in all the right places, a man-mountain trailing through the diner and gathering stares. Loki congratulated himself as he savored the thick, creamy drink. Yes, that guy was here with him, which made him the luckiest man in the world, no matter how cliché that was.

  His eyes followed Jack all the way to the bar, where he leaned over to talk to a waiter in drag. Loki then looked around the whole diner, taking in the atmosphere. He was trying hard to relax, but just as he managed to untangle the knots in his shoulders with yet another shrug, his gaze skimmed over a familiar face. A handsome brunet with wavy hair and tan skin. The guy used to periodically spend days at a time on Ted’s sofa, and was great at sucking cock.

  Loki’s mouth dried, and he briefly remembered Jack’s jealousy in the morning. It had felt good to be considered such a prize, and a naughty voice at the back of Loki’s mind whispered for him t
o acknowledge Arturo, have him come over and give Jack a reason to get territorial again. But then Loki thought of the uncertainty in Jack’s eyes, about the tender, loving sex from the previous night, about Jack’s desperation to keep Loki alive, and so Loki turned his back to Arturo. He would not intentionally hurt Jack ever again.

  Jack came back without a cake but with a smirk that had Loki frowning.

  “You ready for your cake?” he asked, and before Loki could answer, five waiters began walking their way, one carrying a small cake with a sparkler burning in the middle. They all sang Happy Birthday, and the few other people in the diner quickly joined in.

  Loki stared at Jack, completely taken aback. There went his plan of being inconspicuous and go unnoticed by Arturo. It wasn’t even close to his birthday, and yet those people were celebrating it with him. Loki choked up, his face growing hotter with each passing second. “Oh. My. God,” he whispered, grabbing Jack’s hand.

  Jack just sat there with a smug smile and entwined their fingers as the waiter put the cake in front of Loki. The man lit the candles with a bright, white smile and encouraged Loki to make a wish.

  Loki took a shuddery breath, and all of a sudden, he was both gloriously happy and torn apart by a flash of heat piercing his chest. He looked straight into Jack’s eyes and squeezed his hand. The connection between them was so intense no words were needed. When the smile on Jack’s face faltered slightly, Loki knew Jack understood that there was just one thing Loki could wish for. To stay with Jack forever.

  He blew the candles out in one go.

  Applause from the staff and guests erupted around them, and Jack pulled his hand away so he could clap too. In the end, the waiters left them with the cake, and Arturo winked at Loki from afar, but fortunately, Jack didn’t notice the silent exchange.

  “Go on, I got you a special cake,” Jack said and nudged Loki’s side.

  Loki chuckled and pulled his finger over the smooth white icing, gathering some of it on his fingertip. “I think you should prove it’s not poisoned before I dig in,” he teased.