Below the Belt

by E M Lindsey

  “How’s your pain?” Adrian asked, his hands brushing through Noah’s hair.

  “Not great, but not as bad as I thought it would be,” he told him. That much was true. He’d expected to be completely stiff and immobile not only from the beating, but from the tension. And he did feel a little like he’d run a twenty-mile marathon, but it was a dull ache instead of a vicious burn. Even his ribs seemed to have appreciated the night of rest and the pills Adrian had fed him when he’d woken up.

  Adrian’s fingers touched his chin, and Noah sat back as he let his boyfriend examine him. He felt Adrian’s fingers push at his shiner, and he let his eye open as best he could to show him. “Can you see anything?”

  “Light, blobs of color,” he said with a shrug. “How’s it look?”

  “Blood-shot,” Adrian told him honestly. “That will last longer than the swelling, but I’ve had one that bad before.”

  “How long till you could see again?” Noah asked softly, trying not to let his anxiety get the better of him.

  “A few days. By the time we head back to the city, you should be fine,” Adrian promised, though Noah didn’t know if he was simply trying to placate him. Noah had experienced what it was like to wake up shattered and broken after his body had been ravaged. He had a nasty black-eye, broken nose, several cracked bones, and one of his eyes had been permanently blinded. This was a lot like that, only where the accident had felt senseless, Noah knew exactly why this happened to him.

  “Any news?” he pressed after some time. His bladder started to make itself known, but he wasn’t ready to get up yet.

  Adrian sighed and brought Noah’s hand up to his mouth to kiss his palm. He’d done that a lot since the night before, and Noah was curious, but he didn’t want to draw attention to it. He liked too much to make Adrian self-conscious about the gesture. “Ryan called around two this morning, talked to Wes and said he’s going to have Charlie taken care of for the next twenty-four hours. I don’t know exactly what that means, but we’ll be able to skip town without being noticed. Or at least, we should be able to.”

  Noah bit his lip against a smile. “He had a pretty intense friends with benefits thing going on with ah…a guy.”

  “A cop?” Adrian pressed.

  “Yeah, I’m not gonna confirm or deny that,” Noah said with a half-laugh. In truth, it had been the police chief, but it had been incredibly hush-hush. Ryan had over-shared on the details—bondage ropes, blindfolds, the works. In the end, Ryan had decided the life wasn’t for him, but they’d stayed friends and Ryan was allowed to call in favors from time to time. “Either way, that makes sense.”

  “Can I ask you something?” Adrian said after a beat, letting his thumb rub small circles over the pulse in Noah’s wrist.

  “Anything,” Noah said.

  “Why didn’t you have Ryan use that contact before? If he knows a guy who can get Charlie detained for twenty-four hours, I’m sure the guy can do more.”

  Noah shook his head. “Ryan does not like to call on that guy for favors, and it’s not without some cost. We don’t really talk about it, but this isn’t like getting out of a parking ticket. And even if the guy had picked up Charlie back then, he wouldn’t have had anything to hold him on. Which means you would have been charged with plagiarism and I would have been fired.”

  Adrian’s hand stilled, then he leaned in and kissed Noah at the curve between neck and shoulder. “Okay. What do you need now?”

  Noah was surprised Adrian was dropping it just like that, but he appreciated it. “Uh, I need to piss, which is probably going to be embarrassing so maybe you can just point me in the right direction and then I’ll figure it out?”

  Adrian chuckled, then rose and helped Noah to his feet. And yeah, he was definitely more sore than he thought. Every step was a trembling ache from his toes to his hips, and not being able to see anything other than a sliver of light on one side was terrifying. But he trusted Adrian to get him where he needed to go.

  “Here,” Adrian said once they crossed the threshold into the bathroom. He pressed Noah’s hand to the toilet tank. “It might be better if you sit for now. Sink is directly to your right, you’ll be able to touch it from the toilet. The hand towels are on the wall by the door, and I’m going to wait out here.”

  Noah bit his lip, nodding. “I hate this,” he admitted in a quiet whisper.

  Adrian cupped his cheek, pushing in close so their noses rubbed alongside each other. “I know, but it’s not forever. Every day it’ll get better. You’ll heal, and that asshole will be taken down before your last bruise is gone.”

  Noah wanted to believe him. Desperately. But Charlie had taken his confidence and bashed it until it was unrecognizable. The only reason he was feeling as steady as he did was the fact that everyone had rallied around him and was not letting it go. Noah wished he hadn’t stayed silent when Charlie first made his move. Maybe it wouldn’t have ended that way. But hindsight and all that—20/20, even if he was currently blind.

  He managed to take a piss and not make a huge mess on his own, and even got his hands washed and dried without too much fumbling. He could feel his head spinning a little, the vertigo not easing up even when he couldn’t see the room moving. Adrian was true to his word, though, and was waiting directly outside the door for him.

  They made it to the living room where Wes had bagels and coffee, along with another pill to ease Noah’s pain. He curled up with his feet tucked under Adrian’s thigh, nibbling at the burnt edges of the toasted bread and listened to the news Wes had switched on. Nothing new there—the world was still a dumpster fire, the country’s leader was still a useless hack, and people were trash. Same old, same old.

  He made himself focus though, because not being able to see left him with his thoughts, and if he considered everything Charlie had put him through, he was liable to fall apart completely. He snuggled into Adrian’s side, and a few minutes later he heard the jingle of Lemon’s collar, then the soft coat pressed up against him as she settled into his side.

  He couldn’t help but laugh as he reached out to pat her. “Isn’t she supposed to be your support dog?”

  “Yes,” Adrian said quietly, and Noah marveled at how he could actually hear the smile in his voice. “But apart from that, she’s also a good one. It’s why we work so well together. She senses when things are bad more often than not, and she knows what to do. There’s nothing I want more than to see her helping you right now.”

  Noah sighed. “But if you need her…”

  “She’ll know when to come to me,” Adrian told him, then pressed warm, dry lips to Noah’s temple. “Her comforting you is also for me, Noah. Because you are important to me.”

  Noah felt that deep in his chest, settling behind his ribs to live there and give him warmth when everything else felt so sharp and so cold. He let himself get lost in the gentle swirls Adrian drew along his thigh, and the way Adrian’s chest rose and fell in his rhythmic breathing, and the knowledge that whatever else happened, they were in this together.

  ***

  Adrian was hauling one of their bags to the living room when Wes stormed through the door and held up his hand. “You can’t go.”

  Adrian blinked at him, his hand frozen in midair with the bag hanging from his wrist. “Why’s that now?”

  “We’ve got him,” Wes said. He dug into his pocket for his phone and swiped his screen open, showing the message to Adrian.

  Cole: This guy is an idiot, which is brilliant for us because it took me all of nine seconds to track his finances. He paid the guy off with a cheque written from his personal account. I’m actually a bit worried this is some sort of ploy to throw us off, but my gut is telling me he’s nothing more than an arrogant wanker who doesn’t think anyone can get to him. I’ve got emails as well. Apparently, he’s got a friend who turned him into the idea of blackmail. I’ve got a long history of him talking about the months he’s spent following Noah without him realising it. Ryan says he can work wit
h his police friend on probable cause to have him detained if Noah agrees to report him for the attack. Ryan thinks it’s a good idea, and to sweeten the deal, let Noah know that I’ve got into his records and managed to cause a glitch which erased the text messaging transcripts from his mobile service website. It shouldn’t be traceable—I’m good at what I do. It’s a lot, but we can get this guy locked away for what he’s done.

  Adrian read the message three, then four times before handing the phone back and looking up at Wes. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Cole is offering us the opportunity to take this into our own hands if we want to. We can keep the evidence on the downlow, fuck him up, then tell him if he opens his mouth again, we have everything we need to destroy him.”

  Adrian licked his lips, then said, “It’s not really my decision. I need to talk to Noah and see what he wants to do. More than anything I want to beat this guy until he’s unrecognizable, but another part of me wants to see him suffer for a lot longer than healing after a beating.”

  Wes nodded. “Then you best go talk to your boy and see what he wants out of all this.”

  Adrian turned on his heel, slowly making his way back to the room where Noah was packing. The swelling in his eye had gone down a significant amount from the meds and the ice he’d been using. He didn’t have much usable vision just yet, but his sight was slowly coming back hour by hour which was enough to ease some of his anxiety.

  When Adrian walked through the door, Noah lifted his head and smiled. “Ready?”

  “We need to talk,” Adrian said.

  Noah dropped the sweater he was holding and braced himself on the edge of the suitcase. “Okay, that doesn’t sound great.”

  “It isn’t bad,” Adrian told him, sitting down next to the open case. He fiddled with the zipper to give his hands something to do. “Cole came through a lot faster than we expected.”

  Noah blinked rapidly. “Oh. I…oh. I-is…” he groped behind himself. “Is there a chair or something? I need to sit.”

  “Three feet behind you,” Adrian told him, and watched as Noah reached for it, found it, then plonked down hard enough that his jaw clacked together. “He found the trail. Apparently, Charlie was stupid enough to pay the guy who attacked you with a personal check. There’s a trail, which can probably lead to the phone number of the man who called you. He also found,” Adrian said, then stopped because telling his boyfriend that the man who attacked him had also been stalking him for who the hell know how long was almost too much. But Noah deserved the truth. “He also found evidence that Charlie’s been stalking you for a while.”

  As predicted, all the color drained from Noah’s face. “What?” he whispered.

  “I don’t know the details,” Adrian told him, wanting desperately to reach for him, to comfort him through all this. “Cole sent a text to Wes letting him know what he found. He said he managed to wipe your phone records so whatever Charlie had on us from texts no longer exists in the system. It means we’re safe. Charlie can’t prove anything.”

  “Right,” Noah said flatly.

  Adrian squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry. Maybe I should have told you or…”

  “No,” Noah said fiercely, rising halfway from the chair. “Jesus, Adrian, no. Of course you should have told me. It’s just…fuck. I knew the guy was a creep, but I had no idea. All of this,” he waved his hand at his face, “it wasn’t about me dating you, it wasn’t about him humiliated because I turned him down. He’s well and truly…”

  “Evil,” Adrian supplied.

  Noah swallowed thickly, sitting back down slowly and nodding. “Evil is about right.” He dragged both trembling hands down his face, then leaned forward over his knees. “What do I do?”

  Adrian rose, taking careful steps over until he was in front of Noah, then knelt down and placed both hands around Noah’s calves to keep himself steady. “I can’t tell you that. If you go to the police, you’ll have to report the attack and it’s going to be emotionally draining after everything you’ve gone through. It means you’re going to have to tell them why you didn’t report the blackmail when it first happened, and if Charlie takes it to trial, his lawyers will turn this around on you. But it also means he’ll be paying for his crimes for a long damn time. I know there’s no guarantees, but with Ryan on your side, there’s a real chance he’s not going to walk away with just a slap on the wrist.”

  “And if I don’t?” Noah asked.

  “I can’t promise that we won’t make Charlie pay for what he did,” Adrian answered honestly. He reached up, cupping Noah’s cheek and let his thumb rub over the puffy, swollen skin just under his eye. “He hurt you and I won’t let him get away with it. But how we move forward is on you.”

  Noah licked his lips, nodding, and Adrian could tell he’d already made up his mind, he just needed the courage to say it. He pulled one hand up, curling it around Adrian’s wrist, and held his palm tight to the side of his face. “I should…I should call Ryan. If anyone comes with me to report it, it should be him.”

  “I agree,” Adrian said, hating that Noah was right because he wanted to be with him, but the best way to have this done without complication was letting Ryan take over. He had the connections, and he loved Noah. Although he wasn’t the only one, and Adrian was coming to realize that. “There’s something you need to know,” he said, and went on a desperate search for his bravery. Pushing all the way up on his knees, praying his legs would hold him up for just this moment, he cupped both sides of Noah’s face. “I’m falling in love with you.”

  Noah sucked in a startled breath and breathed out his name. “Adrian.”

  “I know it’s soon and we’ve been through a lot. And I don’t need you to say it back, but I do need you to hear it because it’s true and it’s something you can take with you. Okay?”

  Noah seemed incapable of speech, though he wasn’t incapable of pulling Adrian down and into a fierce, hot kiss. It felt like an eternity since they’d been together, the last time Adrian was really allowed to touch like this was the night before it all went to hell, and it felt like coming home, it felt like he could breathe again. He gave everything he had into that kiss, every ounce of love and promise he could give, and Noah drank it all in with gentle, probing swipes of his tongue.

  They broke apart in biting, searching pecks, Noah still holding Adrian’s hands to his face in a vice-like grip, and he was breathing a little shallow. “Thank you,” he murmured. There was more than that in those words. There was a reciprocation Noah might not have been ready to say yet, but Adrian heard it all the same and accepted it for what it was.

  “Let me get your phone and you can make the call. The sooner the better, yeah?”

  Noah nodded and reluctantly let him go. With some struggle, Adrian rose to his feet and used the desk to steady him as he went for Noah’s phone which was charging. He pulled up Ryan’s number, then tapped his name and pushed the phone into Noah’s hand.

  “It should be ringing,” Adrian told him. When Noah put the phone up to his ear, Adrian took that as his cue and left Noah to it.

  19.

  The rest of the events happened in a whirlwind. Ryan picked Noah up from Wes and Anna’s and whisked him off to the hospital. When he reported the attack, the police were called in, and he gave a statement amidst scans, blood tests, and the doctor poking at his injuries. His socket was examined and pronounced healthy enough for his prosthetic, and the doctor informed him that he had every reason to expect his vision to return to normal within the week.

  Ryan threw his status and connections around, and before they left the hospital, the officer assured Noah that Charles Barnes was being picked up for questioning.

  “They’ll get his phone as evidence and see if there’s any proof which will allow them to book him,” Ryan said as he helped Noah get into the car. “According to Cole, there is plenty so I wouldn’t too much. Chances are they’ll also be able to pick up the asshole who attacked you.”


  Noah felt his stomach twist, both pleasant and unpleasant. “Then what?”

  “Then you might be asked to come in and do a vocal ID on your attacker. They’ll set bail, and Charlie will get a lawyer and start preparing his defense.”

  “And me?” Noah asked.

  “I have someone you can call,” Ryan told him, reaching for his hand. Noah startled when warm fingers grabbed his, and he peered through his hazy vision at the blob he knew was his best friend. “It’s going to be okay.”

  Noah licked his lips, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I…it finally feels like it. There’s just one more thing I need to do, and I’d like you to take me there soon.” Ryan didn’t say anything apart from an affirmative noise, and Noah had a feeling Ryan knew what his next step was. Which wasn’t a surprise. Ryan knew Noah better than he knew himself sometimes, and it was a testament to their friendship that he didn’t try to stop it.

  Adrian wasn’t the most pleased at Noah getting up at the crack of dawn to run another errand a few days later, but Noah stopped him with a hand to his chest and a soft kiss pressed to his lips where Adrian had fallen asleep on the sofa the night before.

  “Trust me. I’ll be back, and when this is all over, we’ll get to take that trip up to the fancy house by the lake and have our week away from everything. I just have to tie up all these loose ends first.”

  Adrian grumbled, but he pulled Noah into a hot, sensual kiss which left him tingling even as he made his way out the door and to Ryan’s car. He was navigating better with both his cane and his returning sight, and though he hated to show up like this—a hot mess who couldn’t see beyond his nose—he knew it was time. Noah had readily given into Charlie’s demands that he relinquish his classes, and there was a reason why. It was the blackmail, yes. It was to protect Adrian, yes.