by Wolfe, H. M.
**********
"What are you thinking? You've been pretty quiet these days," Vincent said, tracing the contour of Colin's face with the pad of his thumb.
The man shifted in his lover's embrace, propping his head on one elbow. "Tell me, Vince, how can someone love two people at the same time? Could you explain it to me? Because I can't, no matter how hard I try." There was something desperate and painful in Colin's eyes, and Vincent felt pain constricting his chest at the sight of him.
"Yes, you can. If they reciprocate, it's heaven on earth, pure, unadulterated bliss. If, on the other hand, they are happy with each other and there's no room for you...It's tough, but you have to let them go." Vincent gave Colin a melancholy smile, lightly kissing his lips.
"I love you very much. I hope you know that" the bar owner spoke in a low, but very passionate voice. "Sometimes, life plays dirty tricks on us, like the one some weeks ago. I met this man, I barely saw him from the corner of my eye, but...Vince, I think I'm falling for him. Hard."
"No one understands you better than I do. When we went to the law firm, I saw a beautiful redhead, with gentle green eyes. He looked so sad and vulnerable, so in need of being protected..."
”Yes, that one,” Colin cut the other man short, his face suddenly lightened by a smile. ”He reminded me a lot of my sweet love, my dear husband, the gentlest, most caring soul who ever walked on the face of the earth.”
"I knew that man once," Vincent sadly smiled to the distant memory of a nineteen-year-old grieving over the loss of his mother. "It was a very long time ago, nearly three decades. It was something about him that made me instantly fall in love. However, he met someone else, and I had to let him go. To let them both go, actually," he said.
Looking at Vincent's face, Colin could feel his pain. He could relate to it on so many levels. The bar owner remembered with great clarity the day he knelt in front of his uncle — a broken, devastated sixteen-year-old begging for the life of his lover, swearing to never see him again. That was the day a part of him died and stayed that way until he met the man who completed him.
”Joraan,” Colin said, the name rolling pleasantly on his tongue, tasting sweet, like the man himself.
"What did you say?" Vincent flinched violently, as emotions tightened into a ball in the pit of his stomach, threatening to grow out of control.
"Well, you asked me once what was the name of my husband, and I said, sweet love because that was what I called him from the start. I found out his name was Joraan two days before I proposed to him."
"You know what the funny thing is?" Vincent said, lightly touching Colin's bare chest with the tips of his fingers, "I'm pretty much in the same situation as twenty-eight years ago, only this time I'll be damned if I'll let either of you go!"
"I love you, Vincent Grant," Colin said, his lips brushing the ones of his lover, lightly at first, then, after a few seconds of tentative exploration, they became hungry, devouring the other man's mouth.
Cupping the bar owner's face, Vincent responded with fierce, ardent passion, moaning into the raven-haired man's mouth as his tongue swirled inside it, winning the battle for dominance. "I love you, too, Colin Rafferty," he said when the two of them finally broke the kiss.
They stayed like that for a short while, sprawled on the bed, catching their breaths, then took a shower together, as Vincent had to go to the office soon. The man always left before the kids woke up, but made it up to them on weekends, as he stayed with them and Colin until Monday morning.
While crossing the street to where his car was parked, Vincent couldn't get the conversation he and the bar owner had out of his head. There were too many coincidences between his story and that of Sebastian. The more he thought about it; the more Vincent was positive that Colin Rafferty was none other than Sebastian Bloom.
He wanted to cross the street back to the bar, when five men, all of them carrying long knives, circled him. They made Vincent retreat until his back hit the wall, then attacked him all at once. The struggle was intense, but a short one, the attackers overpowering their target in the end, disappearing immediately.
From his spot behind the bar's counter, Colin saw Vincent's car still parked in its usual place. He was sensing that something terrible had happened to the man and called 911 while running across the street to where one of the two men he loved lay in a pool of blood.
"Stay with me, Vince, please, stay with me," he whispered through tears. "You can't leave me. I won't let you go. Not again. Not yet. Never."
CHAPTER 34
Daniel was in the kitchen, making breakfast, waiting for Tarquin and the kids to wake up, so they could eat together like they did every Saturday morning. Only that it wasn't the usual lazy Saturday, as the team, minus Edgar and Willard, was going to come to the mansion to plan their next move in the list investigation, as they'd named the case.
They'd progressed a lot since they had started to look into the suspicious deaths and missing persons of some of the wealthiest heirs in the US. Charles Swinton and John Harris were a valuable asset during all this time, providing vital information and facilitating their contact with the potential targets so that they could adequately warn them.
Another new addition that worked his ass off the most was Rayne, who had collected blood samples from all the teenagers whose lives could be threatened by Isaac Williamson's and his son Carter's actions. He also tested the pills prescribed by the psychiatrist as a treatment for the different mental health issues most of them suffered from.
A wave of nausea washed through Daniel, making his body shudder. Clenching a hand over his stomach, the man fought against the lump in his throat, managing to push it down. Something was wrong with him, Daniel thought, making a mental note to talk to Rayne about that as soon as all the madness called a custody hearing was over. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to wait very long, since it would be in two days from now.
"Mmmm, it smells delicious, almost as good as you," Tarquin purred in his husband's ear, hugging him from behind. "Good morning, handsome!"
”Good morning to you too, gorgeous,” Daniel replied, leaning into the embrace. ”Are the kids still sleeping?” he asked.
"I heard some noises from Hayden's and Arnett's room, and probably Gabriel is awake, too, but I don't know about the troublesome duo. Your favorite sons," Tarquin grinned widely.
"OK, I got it," Daniel smiled brightly, "I'll get the blonds, you get my brother and his friend. I don't know about you, but I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
Softly knocking at the two boys' room, Tarquin waited for them to answer, but, after more than a minute of silence, he decided to go in and wake them. Slowly cracking the door, the blond slipped inside, instantly freezing at sight before him.
On one of the twin beds, the teens were in each other's arms, Arnett peppering butterfly kisses all over Hayden's face. The raven-haired boy's head was tilted backward, eyes half closed, and lips slightly parted, in an invitation to be explored.
Suddenly, Arnett saw Tarquin from the corner of his eye. Jumping out of his skin, he protectively put his hands around the other kid. "Don't rat us out to Daniel, please," he said in a desperate voice. "I...We didn't do anything, I swear, I..."
"Rat out to me, who? And about what?" Hayden's brother was standing in the doorway, totally confused.
"Punish me if you want, but leave him alone," Arnett pointed to the raven-haired boy in his arms. "He's innocent. He did these things only because I pushed him, put all the blame on me, but leave Hayden out of that, I'm begging you!"
"Enough!" Daniel raised his voice, immediately regretting it. "Someone, please explain to me what's going on," he continued, with a much softer tone.
"Did Arnett kiss Hayden again? You shouldn't scold them. It's not wrong. You and daddy do that all the time," Emery spoke in his quiet, soft voice.
”Is this what the two of you were doing? Kissing each other? Just that?” Daniel asked, half-worried, half amused about the whole situation.
"Yes, I walked in on them kissing each other," Tarquin confirmed, smirking, "and I remembered the second time you and I were in the same room, you wildly calling my name while..."
"Yeah, I got the idea, I was there," Daniel smirked, then turned to the two teenagers, a somehow stern expression on his face. "It was only kissing? Nothing else happened? Not now, or the other times you kissed?"
"No, I swear, I didn't touch Hayden like that, I love him too much. I...I would never hurt him, in any way," Arnett said in a passionate, sincere voice.
”I believe you,” Daniel smiled. ”Well, you could kiss and touch all you want, boys, but no sex until marriage. And I mean it, gentlemen! Oh, no blow jobs, either, because they count as sexual activity, so...”
After finishing breakfast, all the kids, Arnett and Hayden included, were packed and sent to Elliott's former residence, where Rayne and Gerrard currently lived, since Christine had moved in with Martin Cornelius. There, the kids were to spend almost all day, their parents occupied with the meeting.
Indeed, shortly after the kids left, their uncles, aunts and the other members of the team started to arrive, one by one or in groups. As usual, Elizabeth and Liam, the dynamic duo, came accompanied by Jamie Stuyvesant, while Lexy Lazarus-Beragon and Moira gave Benji Van der Meerwe a ride. The two of them, who gotten married three months before Daniel and Tarquin did, were expecting their first child.
With Lucas Kennilworth and Theodore Dunvale on an undercover mission in Baghdad, Valerie was by herself, so she decided to move in with Darien until her fiancee returned. The only ones who didn't show up were Willard and Edgar, but that didn't surprise anyone.
"OK, people, show me what you have," Daniel said without further introduction, once Eugene, Elliott, and Rayne joined them, everybody taking a seat.
"Hey, my friends, I would like to know who of the three of you is Rayne Calhoun," Benji gestured to the three men who'd arrived last. "I didn't have the pleasure of meeting the gentleman in question until now, and I have something for him.
"I am Rayne Calhoun," the doctor said, extending his hand. "It's nice to meet you, and yes, this is the first time I've seen you, too" he smiled.
"Benjamin Van der Meerwe, but everyone calls me Benji. This one's for you, sir," he said, pulling a thick envelope out of his jacket.
"Thank you very much," Rayne smiled, taking the envelope from the young man's hand and opening it. At the sight of the content, his jaw dropped to the floor, eyes widened in surprise. With shaky hands, the redhead put the papers back into the envelope, deciding to study them later.
"So, last time we met," Christine started, "Elliott and Mallory came up with the idea to go through all the legal agreements the victims, missing persons and potential targets signed with Isaac Williamson. As expected, we found a lot of issues, confirmed by some of the professors who generously offered to help us."
Clearing his throat, Jamie Stuyvesant also spoke. "I checked the signatures on the documents, and most of them are forged, just as Christine and the guys suspected."
"I talked to some reputed psychologists and psychiatrists I know, as Daniel suggested last time we met, and they are willing to take a look into the potential targets' medical history and reevaluate their cases. As for the pills that they were prescribed Rayne determined their composition, but we are still working at finding an effective antidote," Elizabeth said.
”What do you mean by effective antidote? Something more powerful than the stuff you and the other therapists are currently administrating to the targets?” curiosity was noticeable in Daniel's voice and facial expression as he asked the question.
Rayne looked at the raven-haired man, his admiration for the younger man growing by the day. He wasn't one of those people who stick only to what they learned in college — thinking that they know everything about anything. On the contrary, Daniel Bloom was always open to new things, he had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, always wanting to learn more.
”The antidote currently being administered to the patients stops the effect of the pills Carter prescribed. However, the damage done persists, and we are helpless about this. What we want is to create an antidote that could reverse the effects, restoring the brain to its previous function,” Rayne explained.
”If you succeed in restoring the brain function to normal, would they still have memories of what Carter put them through? Or would they be erased?” Daniel asked, continuing to express a great interest in the subject. ”Could any of the victims, for instance, stand in court, testifying as a credible witness?”
”Unfortunately not, since they won't be able to remember anything of their previous experiences. We can't fix that, so it would be better to find a witness who wasn't affected by the pills so severely,” Rayne sighed in frustration.
”Yeah, we could, for instance, ask the gangs affiliated with the House to help us find our cousin Ezra, Uncle Benjamin's son. Something's telling me he was not affected by the goddamn pills,” Liam suggested.
”An excellent idea, cousin,” Daniel smiled in the redhead's direction. ”Since you proposed it, I think you should also be in charge of the operation.” After a brief pause, he spoke again. ”Well, if there aren't other matters to discuss, I declare this meeting closed.”
The members of the team said goodbye to Daniel, Tarquin, Eugene, Elliott, and Rayne, heading to their respective cars. The only ones who stayed behind were Christine, Martin Cornelius, and Liam, who went to Rayne's place to visit the kids. The doctor wanted to accompany them when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Daniel.
”I would like to have a word with you, at the clinic,” the raven-haired man said, a tired, pleading look in his eyes.
Rayne took a look at him, seeing the heavy bags under his eyes, the pale face, the overall exhausted look. His worry spiked, going through the roof, as the professional in him could feel something was wrong with Daniel.
”OK, get into my car, I'll drive. First, I have to go to my place, to get the keys to the clinic. I suggest telling Tarquin where you're going, just in case,” Rayne spoke.
Daniel nodded in understanding, going into the house. He found his husband in his little office, working at his computer. ”Rayne wants me to go with him to the clinic, to show me how that antidote works. I'll be home for dinner,” the raven-haired man whispered in the blond's ear.
”Mmmm, good, because I'm already starving,” Tarquin purred, darting the tip of his tongue over his pink, full lips.
On the way to Rayne's clinic, now filled with the latest models of medical equipment, Daniel noticed that the doctor was tense. He wasn't, even on a good day, the most talkative guy on the planet, but this time it was completely different, from his posture to the way his hands were clenching the steering wheel.
”Look, relax, everything will be all right on Monday, the judge will see through the bastard's lies, and he will give you full custody of Gerrard. I have this feeling,” Daniel gave the redhead an assuring smile.
”It's not about that...well, not only about that. Does Tarquin know why you left with me? Have the two of you talked about your state of health?” As the raven-haired man didn't answer, Rayne shook his head. ”Very bad, I advise you to do that as soon as you get back home.”
”But I don't want him to worry over this, too. He has a lot on his plate already. The kids, the job, dealing with the whole Elliott-is-my-abandoned-twin situation and all that pile of shit that bitch Antonia throws in his direction...It's just too much, Rayne,” Daniel gave the redhead a worried look.
For a while, the doctor stayed silent, his lips tightly pressed. Then, he started to speak in a flat voice. ”And if it would be the other way around? What if Tarquin got sick and he didn’t want you to find out, because you already worry too much over a million other things? What would you feel like?”
Daniel looked at Rayne, finally getting his point. As usual, Alastair's son was right, making him understand how it feels to walk in the other's shoes. More, by hiding
things from Tarquin, pretending to protect him, Daniel wasn't much different than Conroy, the bastard of Rayne's ex, who kept him at arm's length by invoking the same stupid pretext.
”Here we are,” the doctor got out of the car, nodding to the two solid Russians who were guarding the entrance to the clinic.
”Shall I...um...'get naked?” Daniel nervously stuttered, fumbling with the buckle of his belt.
”Yes, because I want to perform a physical examination and it would be challenging for me to do that with your clothes on. Sorry, but this is how these things work,” Rayne gave the other man an apologetic smile.
He nodded, starting to remove his clothes and fold them neatly, searching for a hospital gown to cover his nakedness. ”Do you have..” Daniel asked in a shaky voice, only to be cut short by Rayne, who helped him into the hospital gown he brought from the back.
”Sorry for making you wait, I didn't have anything prepared around here,” the doctor apologized. Then, putting a hand on the other man's shoulder, he added in a soft voice. ”Look, Daniel, you are safe here, with me, this examination won't be like the ones you had to endure at the lab.”