Nicolas

by Dianne Hartsock

  They looked up, startled, when the emergency room doors opened and a nightmare swept into the foyer, gurneys of injured men and women and several children surrounded by paramedics. Jamie stood up, grabbing hold of Nico’s arm as he swayed. So much blood. The waiting staff swooped in and went to work, professional, quick, but Jamie could see the shock on their faces. From their words he gleaned the car accident had been horrific, cars unable to stop on the icy highway. The voices from those working triage rose above the moans and sobbing from the injured.

  Jamie took a step toward them but Nico put an arm around his waist. “Stay out of the way, amore mio. Let them work.”

  Slow, terrible minutes passed before the accident victims were evaluated and disappeared one by one down the long hallway. The room grew quiet, the few remaining staff members beginning to clean the area of equipment. Jamie stared at a bright smear of blood in the center of the entranceway. He’d never been in a serious car accident and even the news and movies hadn’t prepared him….

  He had no idea it could be like this, so intimate and terrifying. An officer spoke into his radio and Jamie froze when he described the red sports car several witnesses claimed had spun out on the ice, starting the chain reaction of crashing vehicles.

  Nico’s arm tightened around him as they realized what the man was implying, and Jamie’s heart thudded. “Is he saying Piter is one of the patients that was brought in?”

  Nico’s answer was a strangled hiss. “Yes.”

  He felt the shudder that ran through his lover’s frame, then Nico pulled him toward the officer. Jamie’s eyes widened as they drew closer to the blood on the floor, horror filling his mind. Was it moving? What nightmare would Piter conjure to make him go mad with terror?

  The officer turned to look at them, narrowing his eyes, but at that instant the doors swished open again and John Meiden hurried inside, snow dusting his shoulders. He gazed wildly around the room and fear touched his face when he spotted them. “Oh my God! Where’s Andy?”

  A nurse rushed over. “They’ve taken him into a room, Doctor. This way.”

  Jamie and Nico followed but the nurse stopped in the hallway. “You can’t all—”

  John grabbed Jamie’s hand. “He’s coming,” he said, his voice brooking no argument. The nurse turned on her heel and led them along the brightly lit corridor. Jamie looked back and met Nico’s tortured eyes. He tried to summon a reassuring smile but knew he failed.

  Chapter Nineteen

  JAMIE TUGGED his hand, trying to loosen John’s grip, but the man ignored him, clearly distraught. God, what was going on here? The John he knew would never treat him like this. A scream from a room on their right sent a shock of adrenaline through him, ice and fire. Shivering, he saw the police officer and Nico run toward the examining room and disappear inside. The door slammed shut behind them, closing them inside. No!

  The nurse flung open the door on their left. “He’s in here, Doctor.”

  Jamie saw her eyes, glassy and fey, and fear snatched his breath. He tried to stop John, but the man pulled him into the room while the nurse left them, heading back to the front entrance.

  “Andy?” John approached the child lying still on top of the examining table. At last he let go of Jamie’s hand and touched Andy’s white face. He drew a sharp breath, his hope painful to see. “Only asleep?”

  Jamie stepped back, sweeping the room with a keen gaze. Was this just another of Piter’s games? To give his friend a moment of happiness only to snatch it away? The hospital room remained the same—empty, clinical. Where was the doctor who should be examining Andy? John took care of that, running his hands over his son, checking his vitals with the available equipment.

  He looked at Jamie, tears in his eyes. “He isn’t hurt, thank God.”

  Jamie leaned against the wall for support, needing to feel something solid in this nightmare. “I don’t understand what’s going on. What happened?”

  John stayed by Andy, touching his hair. The boy sighed and even Jamie could tell he slept naturally. Anger flashed in John’s eyes when he met Jamie’s gaze. “After we left you this afternoon, we went back to Anna’s. I didn’t feel it was safe to try to make it back to the cabin. Damn it! I should have kept Andy with us. But he has his own room at Anna’s, and we let him sleep there.”

  John ran a hand over his hair, his voice shaking when he continued, “Something woke me, probably the front door closing. I was out of bed in a flash, running for the living room, but was too late. I stumbled onto the porch in time to see the flash of a red car disappearing up the road. Andy’s little footprints led down the steps to the sidewalk, to the tire marks in the snow where the car had stopped and picked him up.” John’s voice broke. “Why would he get in Piter’s car?”

  Jamie didn’t ask how John knew it was Piter who’d taken his son. Piter would play this mind game out to the bitter end, involving them all, hurting them over and over. Jamie looked at the white tiles on the floor, dreading his friend’s next words.

  “I didn’t wake Anna,” John confessed. “Just threw on some clothes and chased them in the truck. The tracks were easy to follow in the snow. I caught up to them on the highway. God! It seemed like he purposefully swerved into that truck and the cars behind them couldn’t stop, just smashed into one another. I managed to pull to the side of the road and got out to find Andy. But there were so many injured….” He hung his head. “By the time I reached the sports car, he and Piter were already in an ambulance on their way here.”

  Jamie shoved off from the wall, going to his friend and pulling him into his arms. John resisted, but then hid his eyes against Jamie’s shoulder, hard sobs shaking him. “Why does he want to hurt my son? I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I,” Jamie whispered fiercely, rubbing John’s back. “But Nico and I will stop him. I promise.”

  John raised his head, shattered, pain swimming in his eyes. “You’ve said that before.” He glanced to the side. “I wish I’d never met you.”

  Jamie’s heart squeezed. “All I can say is I’m sorry.”

  John moved out of his arms, not looking at him. “Just go.”

  A hard lump formed in Jamie’s throat. He gave Andy one last glance before heading for the door, closing it quietly behind him. Had it been like this for Nico? Losing his friends one by one until he was alone in the world?

  “I’m so sorry, darling,” he mourned as he neared the hospital room Nico had disappeared into. “I knew you were lonely, but this….”

  He sighed and pushed open the door, and then blinked, slow to process what he was seeing. His gaze had been drawn immediately to Nico standing over the examination table, his face a mask of revulsion. A nurse cringed back against the wall, mouth open in a silent scream. The police officer was on his knees, his expression one of horror as he stared at the figure writhing on the table. The tableau waited, frozen in place like the pause on a horror film when the imagery became too much, and Jamie needed a moment to remember it wasn’t real.

  Jamie’s heart beat once in the silence, then the nurse’s scream filled the room, piercing his ears. Life swept into the people around him. Nico raised his head, looked right at him, and lifted his hands as if to warn him back. “Don’t!”

  The uniformed officer let out a strangled sob as Jamie passed, and Jamie glanced at him. Stumps of flesh were all that was left of his arms, blood dripping like rain onto the tiles under his knees. The nurse’s screams cut off suddenly, and she vomited blood before sliding to the floor, eyes staring blankly at Jamie.

  Bile burned the back of Jamie’s throat. “We need to get out of here.”

  Nico shook his head. His wrists were manacled to the examination table. Terror swept Jamie as the body on the table went into grotesque convulsions. Sweet Lord, whose nightmare was he living? It was horrible. He ran around to Nico’s side and examined the rusted lock and chains of his shackles. “Can you get free?” he asked, tugging on the ancient fetters.

  Nico leane
d and kissed the top of his head. “No, angelo mio. Please leave, before—”

  The body on the bed stilled. Jamie looked down, his heart stumbling to see Piter’s ravaged, white face on the sheet, his hair matted with blood, his lifeless green eyes staring at them. Horror overwhelmed Jamie as the pale lips parted and the long furry leg of a spider slipped out. God! He’d seen this movie, had never made it to the ending, hiding under the covers through the more grisly parts.

  He pulled on the chains binding Nico to the table, frantic to release him as spiders, large as tarantulas, spilled from Piter’s wide-open mouth and scurried unerringly toward them. No! Tears of frustration and terror filled Jamie’s eyes. He knew what was coming.

  “Stop! Piter, please. Don’t do this. Let him go.”

  The arachnids swarmed Nico’s bound hands, up his arms. Jamie swatted at them, knocking some to the floor, but there were too many. In moments they had climbed into Nico’s hair. The spiders’ movements became frantic as they fed, and Nico began to scream, his agony tearing Jamie apart. Panicked, desperate, he grabbed the shoulders of the lifeless creature on the table and shook him, fighting to speak through the sobs tearing from his throat, “Stop this! Piter, I’ll do anything….”

  The corpse came alive under his hands and Piter turned his head, still pale and ravaged by death, but the green eyes sparked with triumph. The black gash of his mouth opened to hiss, “You know what I want.”

  A shudder swept Jamie head to toe. He nodded curtly, unable to speak as black despair touched his heart. But he would do anything to stop Nico’s torture, his screams piercing as if the spiders flayed him alive. The thing on the table snaked a hand out, gripping the back of his neck, and Jamie shivered as he was pulled down. The dark mouth opened wide, gaping, impossibly huge. Dizzy, sick with dread, he fell into the cavern, Nico’s screams following him, deafening….

  JAMIE SNAPPED open his eyes. Ears ringing, he jerked back from Nico’s face, inches from his own across the examination table. “What just happened?” he asked out loud.

  Nico blinked heavy lids as if waking from a deep sleep. “Jamie?” He groaned, rubbing a hand over his face, wiping away the creases of pain. “We were in another one of Piter’s mind games. Are you all right?”

  Jamie’s gaze darted around the hospital room, empty except for the two of them. “But the accidents….”

  “Are probably real, else we wouldn’t be here in the hospital. We’ll check on the others in a moment. I’m more concerned for you. Are you well, mio caro?”

  Jamie pressed trembling fingers against his mouth, struggling not to give into the panic knotting his stomach. “Will it always be like this?” he asked in despair. “How will I ever know what is real in my life and what is Piter’s manipulation? I can’t live like this.”

  Nico circled the table and pulled him close. “Hush, little angel. It’s over.” The certainty in his voice caught Jamie’s attention and he looked at him through tear-filled eyes. Nico kissed his forehead. “Piter will never enter your mind again, send you into a dream like this. He doesn’t have to. This last trick, the vividness of it, was a warning to me. He’s done this before. He’s finished playing games. Next time he comes, it will be with grave reality.”

  “What does that mean? Nico, you’re scaring me.”

  “It means we have to be extra vigilant, amore. Come, let us check on our friends.”

  The hospital corridor was quiet, the frantic confusion from the accident settled to the steady beat of the well-run emergency room. Nurses came and went from various rooms, efficient, confident. Jamie and Nico stopped at the check-in counter to ask about the injured.

  The woman behind the counter answered pleasantly, deliberately vague. “Everyone is being seen to—scrapes and cuts, a few concussions. Thankfully no one was seriously injured. If there is a particular person you wish to see, please come back in the morning during regular visiting hours.”

  “Of course. May I call a taxi?” Nico kept hold of Jamie’s hand as they crossed the empty foyer and stepped outside. Large snowflakes sifted down from the night sky, glowing in the light spilling from the hospital building. Jamie lifted his face, relishing the cold sting on his heated skin while they waited for a taxi. He noted John Meiden’s truck parked close to the entrance and said a quiet prayer for him and Andy.

  “Do you think Piter is still inside?” he asked after a moment.

  “Probably not. He’s had his fun without a care for those he’s hurt.” Nico pulled Jamie back against his chest, ran hands over his arms to warm him. “You’re shivering, mio caro. Shall we wait inside—”

  “No!” Jamie laughed abruptly. “Sorry, but I can’t go back in there right now.”

  Nico kissed his cheek, holding him closer. They sat in silence in the taxi when it arrived, holding hands while the driver studiously ignored them. Jamie sighed in relief when they were let off outside the tavern where they were staying.

  The SUV involved in the accident had been taken away, the small pieces of glass and plastic left behind by the towing company quickly disappearing under the falling snow. The dining room was quiet when they entered, embers on the hearth and muted light from several wall sconces the only illumination.

  They made their way up the dimly lit staircase to their room and Nico locked the door behind them when they entered. Jamie rubbed his face. He was so tired. Nico helped him undress and carried him without effort to the bed, pulling back the coverlet and laying him on the cool sheets. Jamie rolled to his side, curling in on himself, shivering, lost. He let out his breath when Nico’s naked body spooned against his back.

  Nico stroked his hair, murmured sweet, inarticulate words in his ear. He lifted Jamie’s hair to kiss behind his ear and nibble his neck, then lowered his head, burrowing against Jamie’s neck. “Il mio piccolo angelo,” he murmured, voice heavy with regret. Featherlight kisses tickled Jamie’s skin. “I’m so sorry, my little angel.”

  “So am I.” Jamie filled his lungs, eased his breath out. “I love you,” he confessed.

  “I love you too. Go to sleep, amore. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

  “It has to be better,” Jamie whispered, then wished he hadn’t said anything. Closing his eyes, he listened to Nico’s breathing as it slowed, then evened into sleep. His own sleep eluded him for a long time, and when it finally came, his dreams were strange, the images hard to decipher. He woke several times with a pounding heart and sweat-slicked skin, but Nico’s presence at his side eased his fears and he finally slept without dreams until dawn.

  Chapter Twenty

  IT WAS Nico’s soft humming that teased Jamie’s eyes open. Sunlight flooded the bedroom and he groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes. The radio clicked off and the bed dipped, and he giggled when soft lips feathered over his collarbone, nibbled his chin.

  “Let me sleep—”

  Nico’s kiss silenced his protest and he willingly opened his lips for the sweet tongue seeking entrance. Nico kissed him leisurely and Jamie smiled into his bright face when he was at last released. “What was that for?”

  “I love you,” Nico murmured. “The weather’s broken. I want to take you home.”

  Jamie’s heart tripped. “To Italy?”

  Nico’s eyes flashed, with longing and something else. “Your home, amore. The sun’s out and we should go while we can.”

  Jamie sat up and pushed the tangle of hair from his face, grimaced. “I’d like to shower first.”

  Nico glanced at the sunshine spilling across the bed and he gave Jamie a delighted grin. “I think we have time for that.”

  Jamie’s heart pounded when Nico rolled from the bed to his feet and held out his hands. “Come, love. Let me see you in this bright sunlight.”

  Warmth spread through Jamie, his cock waking up. Sunshine kissed Nico’s long body, caressed the olive skin of his Mediterranean heritage, slipped down the defined muscles to coppery nipples. Soft curls continued downward to a thick, proud erection. Jamie slid t
o the edge of the bed, wanting to take that cock in his mouth.

  Nico seemed to have other ideas and pulled him to his feet, his breath a sharp intake as he tugged Jamie into a beam of sunlight. “My lovely Jamie,” he murmured, voice thick with emotion. As he lifted Jamie’s hair, sunlight caught in the fiery red curtain.

  Heat flushed through Jamie at the attention. “Um… about that shower, Nico?”

  A gleam entered Nico’s eyes and Jamie startled when he cupped one of his small breasts and circled a rosy nipple with his thumb, bending to catch Jamie’s moan in a swift kiss. He squirmed as Nico continued to tease the hardening nubs on his chest, plucking them, sending sparks of pleasure to his growing dick.

  Nico leaned back, his gaze raking Jamie head to toe. “Your skin is the finest porcelain, cream and roses.” He kissed the tip of Jamie’s nose. “I adore your freckles.” Both hands went into Jamie’s hair, and he tugged, tilting Jamie’s face up. “But mostly I love your glorious hair.” He brushed Jamie’s lips with his own. “And the beautiful, brave soul I see in your eyes.”

  Jamie’s heart swelled. He was being made love to! Nico kissed his eyes and cheeks and lips, and Jamie blinked at tears. He’d had other lovers, some gentle, others less so, but no one had ever taken the time to really see him, not the way Nico did. Nico’s strong hands traveled down his back, cupped his ass, and they both groaned as he pressed their cocks together.

  Drowning in sensation, Jamie gasped when Nico bent and suckled his nipples again while grinding against him. Their balls rolled together, exquisite pressure. Without thought Jamie slid a hand between them and grabbed their cocks. Nico’s hand covered his and they stroked together, sparks shooting behind Jamie’s closed lids as pleasure boiled through him.

  “Nico, I can’t—”

  His lover groaned, and Jamie’s eyes flew open in time to see Nico’s strained features dissolve into lines of bliss, warm cum spilling over their hands. So hot! A few more strokes, and Jamie came undone, lost as the orgasm surged from his balls and dick and shot between them.