Liability

by Tymber Dalton

  “I’m sorry,” she said, still struggling with her laughter. “The baby woke up when we got home after we picked her up from the sitter, and she would not go back to sleep, so I didn’t get any damn sleep last night…” And her words devolved into laughter again.

  Cole hung his head. This wasn’t exactly how he’d envisioned meeting Mason’s parents.

  “You’re supposed to be the kick-ass one!” he hissed.

  She laughed harder, shaking her head back and forth. “Sorry. Temporarily out of order.”

  “Are you sure she’s a nurse?” Hank asked.

  “This is…complicated.”

  Tilly leaned over, snorting and laughing, trying to keep it quiet, bracing herself against Mason’s bed.

  “Tilly, you’re not helping!”

  “I warned you, dude! Nut up and get it over with. Or I can tell her alll about Landry and Cris, your call.”

  He sucked in a deep breath. Hell, this couldn’t be any worse than dealing with Kim’s family. “I’m Mason’s boyfriend,” he said. “And Kim is our girlfriend.”

  “Bok,” Tilly muttered before giggling some more.

  “Kim?” the couple asked.

  “The woman out in the waiting room, with Corbin? She’s not with him. She’s with me and Mason.”

  Louise’s drawn-on eyebrows knitted in frustration. “But…Mason’s gay. She’s a girl. I know how someone being gay works and—”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s the hang-up?” Tilly said, still giggling. “That she’s got girlie parts and not that one plus one plus one doesn’t equal two?”

  “We’re poly,” Cole said, glaring at Tilly.

  Tilly stuck her tongue out at him.

  Spanking her was actually looking fairly tempting.

  “Poly?” Hank asked.

  He gave them a scaled-down version of the talk they gave Corbin, without any mention of BDSM.

  He could tell from the looks on their faces that they didn’t approve, but weren’t sure how to deal with it.

  “Look, as Kim and I already told Corbin, we’re going to take care of Mason. We were already talking this weekend about making things permanent long-term between the three of us. He’s our boyfriend, and we want to be in charge of his care.”

  Louise looked conflicted. He got it. This was her only child, and Mason’s future was still up in the air.

  On the other hand, she wasn’t a spring chicken, she didn’t live locally, and here were two people who loved Mason and who were ready to step in and take care of him.

  “As I already told Corbin,” Cole continued, “if this is going to be a problem, I’ve got a couple of friends who are lawyers who will be more than happy to go to bat for us, and they know how Mason feels about us. When Mason wakes up, he’ll—”

  “No,” she quietly said, stroking Mason’s hand. “I won’t fight you on this. As long as you don’t try to keep me from my son and you let me be part of this.”

  “I would never keep you from him, ma’am,” Cole promised. “And think of it this way. It’s not just me, it’s me and Kim. Two people. Of course we’ll welcome any and all help you’re able to contribute, but we are dedicated to him. He’s…he’s our life. We’re in this for life. We want to be his caretakers for as long as he needs us to be.”

  “Did Corbin try to keep you from him?” Louise asked.

  Now Tilly had composed herself. “He was…understandably cautious, at first,” she said. “He wanted to make sure Cole and Kim really meant what they said. He gave them an easy out, saying he would take the blame for running them off if they wanted to bail on Mason.”

  “He did, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  Cole didn’t imagine he spotted the barest hint of a smile there. “That asshole,” Louise softly muttered, but she almost said it…fondly.

  Hank patted her shoulder. “Don’t you think it’s time to bury the hatchet?”

  “In his head?”

  Tilly snorted.

  Louise let out a sigh and turned to Cole again. “I don’t hate Corbin. Anymore. I haven’t hated him for a long time. It’s just easier to…stay in a habit, I guess. He said they caught the asshole who did this to Mase?”

  “He’s in custody, yes.”

  “Good. If there was ever anything to unite the two of us, it was Mason. I promise to try to keep the snark to a minimum.”

  “Aw,” Tilly said. “I was having fun.”

  “You’re sleep-deprived,” Cole reminded her.

  “I’m not dead.”

  After a few minutes, they returned to the waiting room. This surgical ICU was a more intensive unit, and they limited how much time and how many people could be at a patient’s bedside at any given time. Cole had been told that once they stepped Mason down to the regular ICU, he’d be allowed to spend more time at Mason’s bedside, and even sleep there, if space allowed.

  Corbin wore an evil grin. “So how’d the cunt take the Master and slave news?”

  Tilly collapsed, laughing, against Landry’s shoulder.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The trooper and deputy from the night before arrived around one to talk to them and update them about what was going on. They also returned Mason’s phone to Cole, who slipped it into his pocket. He’d have to contact Mason’s employer and notify them what happened.

  The guy would be arraigned the next morning and likely wouldn’t make bail. His family in Nebraska was apparently disowning him, now that they’d learned what he’d done, and he was pretty much broke. Because he was a flight risk, the state attorney was going to push for no bond, or at the very least a high bond.

  Friends filtered in and out, bringing them lunch and coffee and offering support. Cole felt like Tilly had answered the same medical questions about Mason’s condition a thousand times, and wondered if he should just get a voice recording of her saying it to play.

  Cole felt drained, and guilty for feeling that way when Mason lay unconscious and fighting for his life in a hospital bed.

  Other than being able to take turns going back and visiting with Mason, there wasn’t a whole lot any of them could do. Cole didn’t want to leave him there alone all night, but the doctors and nurses assured Cole and Kim that Mason would be kept under sedation for at least several more days. There was no chance of him waking up right then. They didn’t want him to, to speed his healing.

  This wasn’t how their relationship was supposed to go. They’d just started to take things to the next level.

  They were supposed to be able to enjoy their lives.

  Why couldn’t that little fucker find someone else?

  Why’d he have to try to kill Mason?

  He didn’t realize Kim had asked him a question until she laid her hand on his arm and gently shook it.

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  She tipped her head toward Tilly, who’d dozed off on Landry’s shoulder.

  More guilt, that now their friends’ lives were also upended.

  “If you guys want to go,” Cole told him, “it’s okay.”

  Landry looked exhausted, too. “Thank you. I think I shall pull husband rank.”

  “Huh?” Tilly said, lifting her head.

  “Come along, my vicious little Redbird. Time for you to take a nap.”

  Tilly frowned. “What happened?”

  Landry stood and held out a hand to her. “Life is happening, love. We cannot do anything else this evening. We need to get home and rest.”

  Cole knew how exhausted Tilly must have been when she didn’t even try to argue. She hugged Cole and Kim, and Mason’s parents, and let Landry lead her out of the waiting room.

  Louise and Hank were getting a hotel room. After exchanging cell phone numbers with Corbin, Louise, and Hank, Cole led Kim out to his car. He didn’t know where to go, at first, until he found himself driving toward Mason’s condo.

  No plants to water, no pets to take care of, but for that moment he couldn’t stand to be anywhere else.

  Kim didn’t se
em inclined to argue, either.

  It wasn’t until they were inside he realized she’d been wearing her collar all day. “Sorry, sweetheart. I should have taken that off of you at the hospital.”

  She vigorously shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.

  They cuddled on the couch, the music on. The last thing on Cole’s mind was romance. Exhaustion had set in, and he knew they needed to go home. Or, at least, he had to get Kim home. Her car was there, and tomorrow would be crazy enough.

  “Can we go see him in the morning?” she asked. “Please? Before work?”

  He glanced at the time. “Let’s go to your place to spend the night. We’ll stop by my house on the way so I can get what I need.”

  “But…this is closer.”

  He didn’t have the energy to fight her tonight. “Honey, your car is at your place.”

  “I want to sleep in his bed.” Her tiny voice broke Cole’s heart.

  It was hard to argue with her. He wanted to sleep in Mason’s bed, too.

  Unfortunately, life called. “We’ll take his pillows with us. We will stay at your place tonight. I’ll stay with you. If there’s any change in his condition in the morning, I’ll call you immediately. You need to go to work.”

  He suspected keeping her in some semblance of a routine would help her cope with this better.

  Finally, he convinced her to get up and get moving again. Nearly ninety minutes later they were at Kim’s apartment. After calling the hospital to check on Mason, Cole collapsed into bed with Kim, with her arms wrapped around the pillow Mason usually used.

  Cole didn’t even mind that she wanted to hold it between them as she lay facing him.

  Smelling his lover’s scent was comforting to him, too.

  He just hoped that it wasn’t the last time he’d ever be able to bury his face in Mason’s scent like that.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Cole felt disoriented despite knowing he was in Kim’s bed.

  She still lay facing him. It didn’t look like she’d moved during the night.

  He’d awakened ten minutes before his alarm and he shut it off to let Kim sleep a little longer.

  He needed a couple of minutes alone to get his head on straight anyway.

  After using the bathroom, he went to the kitchen to start the coffee. It didn’t help that when he opened the cabinet where Kim kept the bags of coffee, the first one he saw was Mason’s favorite.

  Dammit.

  He got the coffee started. He’d brought his phone out with him and called the hospital to check on Mason.

  Still stable, no change. Sometime today they’d be doing another CT scan to check the swelling, but they didn’t know when yet. They’d likely fit him in on the schedule between other patients, meaning there was no telling when.

  After hanging up, he poured coffee for himself and Kim and fixed their mugs the way they liked, sipping his as he carried hers in to her. He set them both down on the bedside table on her side before leaning in to gently nudge her awake.

  “Hey, sweetheart. Morning.”

  He wasn’t sure she was awake yet, until she shuddered, then started crying.

  With a heavy heart, he slipped into bed with her, behind her, spooning around her. “I called the hospital already. He’s unchanged, but not any worse. He survived the worst of this. It’s just a matter of being patient until he comes back to us.” It was hard enough to deal with his own pain.

  Trying to comfort her on top of that was even more difficult.

  He could barely hear her voice when she finally spoke through her tears. “Do you really think he’ll come back to us?”

  “I know he’s a tough guy. Tougher than me, that’s for sure. I know it’ll be a hard road sometimes, but I have no doubts that he’ll come back to us.”

  None that he’d voice aloud in front of her, anyway.

  Not yet, at least.

  She finally released the pillow and rolled to face him. He wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair.

  “I love you,” she said. “Please don’t leave me.”

  “Baby, I’m never going to leave you. I promise. Not unless you want to leave me.”

  “I don’t mean…leave. I mean…” She sniffled.

  He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I’ll do my best. I don’t want to make you a promise I have no control over. I’ll always do my best to come home to you. How’s that?”

  She finally looked up at him. “Okay.”

  “Are you going to be okay to drive today?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Maybe you should think about calling in.”

  A heavy sigh escaped her. “I can’t. Well, I mean, I can, but I don’t want to do that to Emery. And I might need the paid time off later when Mason’s…awake. If I use up all my paid time off now, I won’t have any later.”

  * * * *

  Plus Kim knew if she went to the hospital today and spent all day there, she wouldn’t want to leave. She’d put her whole life on hold until Mason was awake and able to talk to her and order her to get back to doing what she needed to do.

  And she suspected Mason wouldn’t want her to do that.

  She more than suspected that. She knew it.

  No, he’d need her more later, when he’d need her. It only made sense. Cole had some medical background, even though he wasn’t actively involved in patient care. He knew way more of the lingo than she did.

  Besides, she needed to try to put on a brave front for Cole. She wasn’t the only one hurting and didn’t have the patent on pain right now. It would be all Cole could do to deal with Mason’s recovery. The last thing she wanted to do was saddle him with trying to deal with her, too.

  Time to put the big-girl panties on.

  Cole took a shower with her, holding her for a moment before they got out. Before they left to go their separate ways, he kissed her one more time.

  “Will Emery be okay with that?” He nodded, indicating her wrist.

  She’d wrapped her collar around her right wrist and fastened it, like she’d seen Tilly do with hers at the hospital.

  “Yeah. It’s just a bracelet. Right?” She stared at it, imagining Mason’s fingers buckling it around her neck and the sense of peace she always felt when he did.

  Like her world had righted and settled and was the way it should be.

  She choked back the sob that wanted to break through at that thought.

  She made it to the office first, the way she usually did. Technically she was the office manager, which really didn’t mean a lot. She wasn’t an insurance agent, even though she knew a lot about the business now, stuff she’d absorbed through osmosis over the past several years. Emery had hinted several times at being willing to compensate her to get her license, but…

  She’d never had confidence in herself before. Never wanted to be so permanently tied to a job like that. She’d started working there while still married to Craige, and against his wishes.

  This job had paid for her divorce, for her ability to support herself, get her apartment, pay her bills.

  She handled phones and mail, paperwork, general office stuff, made sure everyone got things to the accountant who worked for them and another business part-time, helped make sure any checks or money taken in there was deposited and the records noted.

  And she made sure they always had coffee and office supplies.

  Chief bottle-washer.

  She got the alarm shut down and the lights and everything turned on, the computer systems started, and sat at her desk to go through the voice mails from over the weekend…

  And that’s where Emery found her sitting, sobbing, when he walked in ten minutes later.

  He got her into his office and put tissues into her hand before he sat in the other chair in front of his desk. “Honey, what’s going on?”

  She found herself sobbing out the story to him, no longer worried if he’d be freaked out about the poly stuff, barely remembering to stay away from the BD
SM part of things. If he was keyed into that lifestyle enough, he’d probably grok the intricacies, though.

  “Why are you here?” he gently asked. “Why didn’t you go to the hospital? We can manage. I wish you’d called me Saturday night. I would have told you to take time off.”

  She shook her head. “He’s not going to know I’m there.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “He would want me to work right now. When he’s…” She realized she couldn’t say it, because there was a small part of her who wasn’t sure he would eventually wake up.

  And she was afraid to say anything that might jinx his recovery process, no matter how stupid that sounded.

  “I need to work right now,” she said. “Cole said he’ll call me and keep me updated. He’s going to stop by on the way to work. He called to check on him before we left my place this morning.”

  She finally realized Emery was staring at her not with revulsion or even a bland disinterest, but with genuine concern.

  “I hope my revelations about our personal situation don’t…make you think less of me.”

  “No, of course not. Hey, you were there and supportive of me when Sean was in that wreck, and everything else.” He smiled, kindly and radiating warmth. “I also have friends who are poly.” He leaned in to hug her. “And trust me, your situation is tame compared to some of the animals I call family and friends. And I say that with all love and affection meant for them, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Cole’s pulse thundered as he walked into the hospital, got a visitor’s pass, and headed to the ICU.

  He hated that he now knew the way by heart, with no hesitation.

  The nurse was the same one he’d spoken to, and had cared for Mason yesterday. She gave him a few minutes alone with Mason.

  Cole sat in the chair on Mason’s right side. He slid his hand through the side-rail and carefully slipped his fingers under Mason’s, trying not to disturb any of the IV tubes or monitor leads.

  “You have to get better, buddy,” Cole softly said. “I need you. I love you. Kim needs and loves you. We can’t do this without you. I don’t care what shape you’re in when you wake up. We’ll deal with that when that happens, and we’ll take care of you. But I need you, man. Please, come back to me. To us.”