by Drew Sera
“No problem. I was going to ask how she was doing, but I think we summed that up,” Chris said with obvious concern in his voice. He excused himself to also go speak with the administrator.
“I swear, if I have to quit my job and sell my company off to afford me every possible opportunity to prosecute Paul, I’ll do it. He deserves to die in a fucking jail cell where the deplorable acts he’d experience still wouldn’t make up for what he did to her and Anthony. I’ll see to it that he never sees the light of day,” I promised and looked at Matt and Blake.
Something about Blake’s expression caught my attention and concerned me.
“You aren’t going to have to do any of that, Colin.” Matt and I gave Blake all of our attention and encouraged him to explain. “Anthony, beat you to it.”
Matt sat down on the edge and I think I stopped breathing as I was trying to figure out exactly what Blake was saying. All the moisture had left my mouth and I wasn’t able to say anything.
“He took care of the issue,” Blake said softly.
Just then Arthur, Gloria and Gina came in and Blake backed up away from the bed and went to greet Matt’s family. Matt and I stared at each other. We needed to talk to Blake now. What did he mean that Anthony took care of it? I had assumed Paul was in police custody.
Matt told his dad that he and I needed to talk with Blake for a few minutes and asked if they’d sit with Sydney.
“Gina, sit on the bed and hold Sydney’s hand. If something happens and she wakes up, text me. We’re just going outside for some air. Colin’s been cooped up all night.”
I kissed Sydney’s forehead and followed Matt and Blake down the hall until we got outside. Matt led us over to a secluded set of patio chairs and we all sat down.
“What the fuck happened, Blake?” I asked. I held my hand over my chest to prevent my heart from exploding.
“Short version?”
“No, I want it all. Don’t leave anything out,” I said.
“I’m a good eighteen years older than Anthony and struggled a bit to keep up with him in the woods. I thought I lost them and then heard a struggle going on and came up on the two of them on the ground.”
Blake went on to explain in graphic detail the crap Paul was saying about people from Irons being obsessed with wanting to fuck Anthony or be fucked by him. Paul ranted about wanting the opportunity to see what the hype was about and with the gun pointed at Blake, Paul continued to grab roughly at Anthony. Anthony had been stabbed and was losing blood but while Blake had Paul distracted, Anthony tried to push Paul off of him. Paul retaliated with firing a bullet at close range into Anthony. I sat hanging onto every word Blake said and he suddenly stopped and looked up at us.
“I can’t explain or put into words how sick I felt hearing that gun go off. I was sure Anthony was dead. It was so close.”
Detective Prestin caught up to them and fired two shots, both hitting Paul once in the back of the neck and the back. Paul dropped the gun and he and Anthony scrambled for it. When Paul began to topple forward and reached for the gun, Anthony grabbed it and was able to turn the gun on Paul.
“It was a matter of life or death. Anthony emptied the gun under Paul’s chin and chest. There wasn’t much left of Paul’s head or chest.” Blake paused but neither Matt or myself pushed Blake. I knew this was difficult for him and had no idea how he was feeling. “Paul’s body fell over Anthony and I heard Anthony wail in pain. Prestin got to them first and took a picture, if you can believe it. Later he told me that he got a few pictures from a distance of Paul with the gun and then a picture after Anthony was shot. When he started to pull Paul’s body off Anthony, I nearly threw up. It was the most gruesome thing I’ve ever seen.” Blake got even more graphic and painted a stomach-turning image of Anthony buried under blood and guts. Pieces of Paul’s skull, chest cavity and bodily fluids all strewn on Anthony.
“Once Prestin had Paul off him, Anthony tried pushing himself away from the mess. His clothes were all screwed up from Paul messing around with him; he was soaked from lying in the snow and was covered in pieces of Paul and so much blood. He had his hand pressed on his chest and was breathing with difficulty, I was trying to keep him still but nothing I said really sunk in at the time. He was in shock. He doubled over and threw up and moved to lay on his back again in the snow. Prestin radioed for help and then he and I moved slowly with Anthony back toward the police car. We had to stop a number of times, and then he finally passed out about twenty yards from the police car.”
Blake was obviously affected by nearly seeing Anthony killed and then laying under Paul’s bodily fluids. I really had no idea Paul was dead.
“Jesus, Blake. Why didn’t you tell us last night?” Matt asked softly.
“When would have been the best time? When you were assessing Anthony on the ER table or when we passed Colin in the ER with Sydney clinging to him? Or maybe when you and I were sitting next to him in the ICU? Or I could have just waited until your family showed up and announced it.”
Blake stood and walked a few feet away. He was stressed out too and the scene in the woods had an impact on him.
“Blake, I’m sorry.” Matt walked over to him and smoothed things over.
“He was this close, Matt.” Blake stood at the distance that Paul was from Anthony before he was shot. “This close.”
Matt and I shared with Blake how we found Sydney curled up in the pooling blood of the other girl that was missing. We agreed that the emotional impact of this would be difficult at best. Matt and Blake both vowed to help, as I knew they would. I gladly accepted because I knew it was going to be a rough road. Matt said Anthony still wasn’t out of danger yet. I felt sick inside and stood up to go back to Sydney’s room.
By late afternoon, so many people from Irons were showing up to visit Sydney and Anthony. Visitors were finally being cut off from Anthony’s room in the ICU. I tried greeting everyone as they came and went but I was exhausted and just lay there nearly asleep with Sydney. Matt and Blake took care of all our friends who came from Irons and Matt even called Mitch for me.
Gina brought Sydney some of her pajamas that Anthony had picked out for her when he went shopping for her. She could at least get into something that made her feel more secure. She also brought stuff for Anthony, but Matt was the only one allowed to see him now and said he couldn’t have the pajamas yet. He still had the chest tubes and catheter in and the ICU staff needed easy access to him.
Matt was able to be in the room with Anthony when he woke up early this morning. He said Anthony was pretty subdued and only had his eyes opened for a few minutes before zonking back off to sleep. Anthony was confused but wasn’t combative. I wish Sydney and I would have been able to be in there with him when he woke up. At least Matt was able to be there with him though.
“He tried to talk but winced and pointed at his throat. It’s sore from the ET tube. It’ll go away in a few days. I just told him to relax and rest. The nurse gave him some more morphine and he was able to drift off to sleep again.”
Arthur tried offering to drive me home so I could sleep. But I wasn’t going anywhere without Sydney and Anthony. Matt finally got me to sleep in his office for a while. When I woke up, some fresh clothes were folded up on his desk with a note saying for me to use his shower. After the shower, I felt much better and headed back toward Sydney’s room.
When I rounded the corner, Matt was in the hall with Will and Blake. All three of them turned to look at me as I approached and Will met me halfway and hugged me. It didn’t escape my notice that Will had handed Matt a piece of paper and Matt was quickly folding it and putting it in his pocket. I didn’t have the energy to find out what that was all about.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Will asked.
“I’m hanging in there.”
“Colin, try not to worry about Anthony. He’ll pull through. He’s tough and will make it. Sydney will too. She’s lost a lot of weight but she’ll be okay, Colin.”
I nodd
ed and felt off balance all of a sudden. Anthony had been shot, stabbed, had a lung collapse and was in the ICU on a ventilator. He was far from okay. We haven’t begun to scrape the surface of what Sydney went through. She was much better off than she had been, but still also far from okay.
I found Sydney curled up on the bed in a ball, hugging a pillow. Gina was sitting on the bed with her rubbing on her hand and her heart rate monitor was beeping along at a quick pace. She looked to be off on her own somewhere. I sat in front of her line of sight and brushed her hair back behind her ear.
“Hi, baby.” No response. “Eyes, baby.” Like every other time I said it in the past twenty-four hours, she eventually looked up at me. I knew she was trying.
Gina got off the bed and I took her place. Sydney climbed into my arms and those monitors slowed their beeping.
“You doing alright, baby? Did you eat some dinner?” She nodded and I decided to try to push her a little. Chris told me not push too much over the next few days, but suggested that I try easy conversations. “Tell me what you had to eat, baby.”
“Soup and crackers.” Her hand was opening and closing against my chest. It was killing me that I couldn’t put her in physical contact with Anthony. She and I both needed him. “And Sprite.”
I continued asking her small questions to keep her talking. She asked me about Anthony though.
“Colin, why would Paul tell me he had Anthony and was going to hurt him?” She asked me quietly.
“Baby, I wish I had the answer to that. I think he did it to get into your head and scare you into doing whatever he’d say without you challenging him. Anthony was with me when we got you.”
“Matt was. It was you and Matt.”
“Baby, when we got to the cabin, Paul came outside and when he recognized my car, he took off running into the woods. Anthony and Blake chased after him. It was in the woods that Paul shot Anthony.”
I looked down at her and saw the questions and confusion on her face. It will take a while to unravel what Paul did.
“Colin,”
“Yes, baby?”
It was a few moments before I heard her voice, and when I did, I didn’t have an answer to her question.
“Is Paul in jail?”
Fuck! I needed to talk to someone about how to talk to Sydney about this.
“Paul will never get near you again. I promise you, Sydney.” I stroked her cheek, but still saw questions in her eyes. “Baby, are you tired? Maybe you should try to sleep.”
“I’m not tired. Please don’t make me sleep or let them give me anything to sleep.”
“She’s scared to fall asleep, Colin,” Arthur said and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. I nodded. I understood exactly what was going on. Terrified to sleep now. Arthur pointed to a new chair that was in the room.
“Matt had it sent in.”
It was a rocking chair from the maternity rooms. It was perfect. Arthur brought it over and situated it closer to the monitors. I scooped Sydney up and began to rock her in my arms. I was glad the rocker was close enough so that we didn’t have to mess with the I.V. in her arm.
A few minutes before 8:30 p.m. Matt came in and sat on Sydney’s bed while I continued to rock her. She was asleep and I didn’t want to risk stopping the rocking motion. To be honest, it soothed me some.
“Did you just come from Anthony’s room?”
“Yeah, he’s not doing too well. At least not as well as they hoped.” I could tell there was something else on the tip of his tongue.
“What, Matt? Say it.”
“He has a fever.”
Matt explained that postoperative fevers, while common, also raise concerns. He said they had wanted to get Anthony off the ventilator as soon as possible because the longer he’s on it and the longer the chest tube is in, the greater the risk for infection.
“He’s being closely monitored.”
Fuck. I snuggled Anthony’s sunshine closer to me. I wish he could see her and touch her.
“Has he been awake much?”
“Only for a few minutes here and there. I’m going to go back up there in a few minutes. I don’t want him to wake up alone. He had the chills when he woke up last but was running a fever.”
Matt reached over to pull Sydney’s blanket up over her shoulders. I continued to rock Sydney and thought of my best friend lying a few floors above us, cold and fighting a fever alone.
I woke up to what I thought was an alarm clock going off. There were other voices though and I opened my eyes to Sydney pushing at my chest in a nightmare. What I thought was the alarm clock was the heart rate monitor screaming at me. Matt was rubbing on her back over the blanket and was trying to wake me up.
“I have you, baby. You’re safe. I promise you that you’re safe,” I said to her. She needed Anthony and I’m sure he could use a dose of her.
Chapter 4
Saturday, January 25th
Matt
I felt the weight of the world as I made my way down the hallway back to Anthony’s room. He hadn’t moved while I was downstairs visiting Sydney and Colin.
I sat down, leaned back in the seat and stared at him. So much had changed in just a few weeks. My eyes were drawn to the marks that still decorated his neck and then dropped to the welts that were visible around his abdomen. I couldn’t help but shake my head at that.
“I wish you wouldn’t have left that night, Anth. Look at yourself.”
I averted my eyes to the monitors and tried pushing my feelings of anger away over him visiting a Pro Dom to be hurt.
“I know you were in anguish without her and I know what she means to you. I know she was healing a hole you never knew existed. I knew you were hurting and I’m sorry I let you leave that night.”
I quickly stopped talking when a few techs came in to change some of his bandages.
“Keeping watch over this one, huh, Dr. Reid?” One of the techs asked me quietly and with a smile.
I nodded and managed a small smile.
“He’s my little brother.”
The techs didn’t ask additional questions about my relationship with Anthony, but one of the techs that I have a good rapport with started to make some light, playful jabs.
“Well I’d watch your step, Dr. Reid. Little bro here got the looks in the family.”
This pulled a smile from me. I looked at Anthony and shook my head.
“Don’t feed his ego. Trust me, he knows he’s got that look. He may be heavily sedated and asleep, but he’ll hear a compliment a mile away.”
The two techs shared a few hushed laughs with me before waving and leaving the room. I looked at Anthony’s bruised face and smiled again.
“Even while recovering from a bullet wound and collapsed lung you’ve still got people thinking you look good.”
Knowing people were done coming in and out for a while, I moved the chair closer and took hold of his hand and placed my other hand on his upper arm. I knew that patients did better with family or friends near and even better with some physical touch. Up until tonight, Anthony wouldn’t let me near him. Something fucked up happened during his evening with the Pro Dom and he hadn’t been the same since.
“I wish you would talk to me about that night with the Pro Dom. I know something bad happened. Colin and I are here for you, whenever you want to talk.”
I decided to try talking to him about Sydney. That girl means the world to him. He killed for her. The thought of that brought an ache to my stomach. I wondered if he was afraid Paul was going to kill him.
I couldn’t even begin to say I’d understand that kind of fear, or have any idea of what he was feeling before he pulled the trigger. I am worried about him though. I’m afraid he’s going to close up about it. Anthony doesn’t talk much about anything and I worry it’s going to be too much. I’m going to make sure Chris spends some time with him.
“Sydney is downstairs…Colin is with her, and he’s been by her side. I brought him up to see you early this mor
ning…He’s worried about you, too…and Blake is...Actually, everyone is… You’re going to make it.”
I glanced up at the monitor that showed his temperature; 101. I sighed and squeezed his arm.
“You’ll be fine…Fucking better be fine…Colin and I will kick your ass otherwise.”
I took another deep breath and lowered my head to wipe my eyes on my sleeve. I can’t imagine Anthony not making it. He’s got too much going for him now. He’s finally happy in life. I began rambling pieces of my mind to him.
“Sydney wasn’t talking until this afternoon. She’s worried about you and feels guilty about you getting shot…Colin helped her with a shower, but she’s still not talking much. It’s to be expected after something as traumatic as what she’s experienced…Chris spent the day here, observing…Colin doesn’t let Sydney out of his arms and even stays on the bed with her…Gina brought her some pajamas from home, so she’s in something familiar…She has a lot of marks and cuts, but nothing broken…She was really cold when we brought her to the hospital last night. Hypothermic cold. Her body temp was around ninety-two degrees.”
My attempt at not getting emotional was failing as I tried to keep talking to him. I hated seeing him like this. This motionless body was not our Anthony. I let the tears fall and gripped his hand and arm more firmly.
“Colin and Sydney are not going to make it without you. Do you hear me? I will help you every step of the way, but you are not allowed to give up. You mean too much to too many people. No giving up, little brother. I love you, Anth.”
A beep from the monitor alerted me and I looked up at it. It was alerting that there was a change in his temperature and that he was now at 102.
“Fuck.” I looked down at him. I felt absolutely helpless over the situation. I got comfortable in the chair and continued talking to him here and there. I was prepared to do it all through the night.
Chapter 5
Sunday, January 26th