by AKM Miles
“I have no idea. I’m hiring a detective to try and figure it out. The police will be here, but I don’t know what they can do until you remember something. I swear, Derek, I’m putting a camera by that elevator. Too many bad things are happening on it. It’s only been used by office personnel and us but I’m not allowing anyone else to get hurt there.”
“That’s what I thought,” Derek mumbled.
“Hmm? When did you think that? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What?”
“You said you thought I should put a camera by the elevator. When did you think that?”
“I don’t know. I just know I thought it. I can’t remember when I had the thought. I can’t remember a lot, huh? I’m sorry.” Derek thought he should be able to remember someone beating him up, for heaven’s sake.
“Don’t you worry about it. Dr. Singer said it was common with concussions as bad as yours for there to be some amnesia. You seem to have only lost the beating itself. We’re lucky that you weren’t in a coma or worse. I don’t know what you got hit with, but it was big since it got your neck, shoulder, and the back of your head. Then something hit your face. Your cheekbone is cut and there’s still a lot of swelling.” His hand hovered over Derek’s cheek, but didn’t touch him. “You just rest and don’t worry about it now. It’ll come back to you. Until then, you won’t be alone. I’ve hired someone to stay outside your door until I can take you home.” Max leaned down and very softly kissed Derek’s lips, lingering, but not putting pressure. He was taking such care. Tears came to Derek’s eyes as he felt helpless.
“Shh, baby, it’s okay. I know you hurt and you’re frustrated that you don’t remember, but you’ll be okay and we’ll take such good care of you. Michael can’t wait for you to come home.”
“I miss him, and you. I miss you.” Derek hated sounding so wimpy.
“Are you scared? Don’t be. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Trust me, okay?”
“Of course I do. I’m just being a baby. What time is it?” he asked, wanting the conversation away from his feelings.
“It’s time for you to get some rest. I’m going to go and get Michael. He’s making you a card at school. He was so worried about his Daddy Derek.”
Derek smiled and faded.
He was awake when Max and Michael came back. Michael hurried over and whispered, loudly, “Derek, there’s a big man standing outside your door. He’s scary-looking, but he let us in. Look, I made you a card today.” He handed the wrinkled sheet to Derek, who took it with his left hand.
If it wouldn’t have hurt so much he’d have rolled his eyes. There was a bed and a figure in it and a big yellow bag hanging off the bed, a really big yellow bag. Derek looked up at Max who was covering his mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t be caught laughing. Traitor.
“You’re really intrigued by the bag, huh?” he asked Michael.
Michael leaned in toward Derek and said, trying to whisper, but not quite making it, “Did they really stick something up your peepee hole?”
“Yes, they did, but I didn’t know about it because I was asleep. You remember I slept for two days?” Michael nodded. “Well, if they hadn’t done that, and I couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom, I might have just wet the bed.”
Michael gasped, looking at Derek with confusion on his face which tickled Derek. Michael couldn’t figure out if he should laugh or not. Derek chuckled at Michael not wanting to hurt his feelings, but was dying to laugh at the thought of Derek wetting the bed. Then he heard Max chuckling, too, so Michael was released and he laughed, wrinkling his nose.
“Is that for real?” he asked.
“For real, little man. As soon as they let me up to walk around they’ll take it out and I can go to the bathroom.”
Now Michael was serious again, saying, “Will it hurt you?” Concern was clear on his face.
“I don’t think so. It’ll be all right, hon. Don’t you worry.” Derek put his hand out and smoothed it down Michael’s cheek. “Thank you for the card and for coming to see me.”
“I miss you. It’s not the same without you there anymore. Betsy and Sara miss you, too.” He was so earnest.
“I’ll try to get better as soon as I can so I can come home. I don’t like it here without my two guys.” Derek tried to move a little, but pain shot through his shoulder.
“We got the go-ahead to bring you some good food, so we thought we’d have supper with you tonight. Later I’ll take Michael home and I’ll be here after I take him to school in the morning. We’ll talk to the doctor and see when you can go home. Has he told you anything?” Max sat down and pulled Michael onto his lap.
Before Derek could answer Michael turned to him and asked, “Can I go get the supper from the man outside?”
“Yes, you may, Michael. Thank him for holding onto it for us,” Max said.
“I will, Daddy.”
Max took the opportunity to stand and lean over to kiss Derek for the few seconds that Michael was gone.
“Mmm,” Derek said. “I wanna come home.”
“I want you there, so much, but I’m worried. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why someone would beat you up so badly. They could have killed you, Derek.”
They heard the bag drop behind Max and Michael was looking at them with huge eyes that were slowly filling with tears.
“Who could have killed Derek? Daddy? Daddy?” His voice was getting louder with each word. Max sighed, clearly upset that he’d been caught up in Derek and let Michael hear him talking.
“We don’t know, Michael. Come here, buddy. I wasn’t going to tell you because I didn’t want to scare you more, but someone beat up Derek and left him lying at the elevator door that goes up to our house. I found him. Well, he called me and told me to come down there and when I got there it was too late to help him. Whoever did it was gone and all I could do was call for help. That’s why I have the man outside the room to protect Derek. I don’t want anything to happen to him.” Max talked slowly and calmly to Michael and Derek could see how the words affected the little boy.
Michael looked from Derek to Max and back again, not saying anything. Tears started rolling down his face, one right after another. He still didn’t say anything.
Derek said, “Put him up here with me, Max.”
Max did and Michael burrowed into Derek’s side, being careful, but getting as close as he could. Derek was able to wrap his left arm around Michael without too much pain, but that pain wouldn’t stop him from comforting the boy he loved so much.
“I’m okay, Michael, and we’ll be very careful. I don’t want to do anything that would take me away from you.”
“I’m sorry, Derek. It’s all my fault,” Michael said, sniffing, as more tears fell.
“What? No, it’s not. How could it be your fault, honey?” Derek asked. Max had moved closer and had his hand on Michael’s shoulder.
Max said, “Why do you think it’s your fault, Michael?”
“Because she took me and you had the police punish her and now somebody beat up Derek.” He started to sob now. “I’m sorry, Daddy Derek. I’m sorry you got hurt.”
“Michael,” Max said, “I don’t really think this has anything to do with Tawna, but I’ll have my investigators look into it. As far as I know, she’s not even in the same state as we are. This was not your fault, Michael. Look at me.” When Michael turned his head and looked at Max, he leaned down and said, “I promise you this has nothing to do with you. Get that out of your head. You know I don’t lie to you, right?” He got Michael’s nod before going on. “Now, give Daddy Derek a kiss and we’ll see if we can still eat that supper.”
Michael reached up and kissed the bottom of Derek’s chin before he carefully moved off the bed. Derek looked at Max and said, “Thanks.”
“It’s a good thing we have sandwiches and a sealed plastic dish of macaroni and cheese. I bet it’s fine. Let’s have a picnic on Derek’s bed, huh?” Max helped Michael empty the
bag and Derek rolled the head of his bed up a little.
They ate and talked quietly to each other, trying to act like Derek hadn’t been badly beaten and left alone. When they left, Derek thanked Michael again for his card and said he couldn’t wait to get home to be with them. They both kissed him goodnight and left.
Derek was worn out from the time spent with them and after the nurse came in and saw the pain in his eyes she asked him the level of pain. He told her and she gave him just a little something for it and he was soon asleep.
He woke up to a sound at the door. Was Max back? It was dark in the room, but he pushed the button for the nurse, not being able to reach the string that would turn on the light over his bed. There was another bump at the door and suddenly it opened. He saw the silhouette of a man. For some reason, he knew this wasn’t a doctor or the guard from outside.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Hello, faggy boy. I’m gonna finish what I started.”
Fear filled Derek as he lay in that bed with the man stalking over to him, clearly with menace on the agenda.
“Hey! Help me!” He yelled, wondering where the nurse was and why no one was coming to see what he needed.
“Wasting your time, they’re in a meeting before the shift change. It’s a shame you had to hear what you did.”
“What are you talking about? What did I hear? Who are you?” Derek honestly wanted to know.
“Don’t tell me you don’t remember the other day. How do you think you got here?” The man was by his bed now, looking down at him. Derek couldn’t make out any features at all.
“I swear I have no idea what happened to me. I thought I fell. Did you beat me up? Why? What did I do to you?” Derek knew in his condition there was no way he could defend himself. He wondered what happened to the guard outside. He wondered if he was going to die right here in the hospital. And he wondered why.
Suddenly a nurse’s voice came on asking what he needed.
“Help me. There’s a man in my room. He—” The next thing Derek knew the pillow was jerked out from under his head and placed over his face. Fear took over and he thrashed around trying to get some air. His right arm was nearly useless, but he tried to fight back with his left; tried to push that pillow away. The movements were killing his shoulder, neck, and head, but he didn’t want to die, damn it!
Derek heard voices and the door opening. He heard a nurse yell something and she must have rushed over and tried to pull the intruder away from him. Derek felt a lessening of the pressure on the pillow as the man must have taken one hand away and pushed her hard, knocking her to the floor. She hit the tray table on the way down, making a huge amount of noise.
Now her voice added to the cacophony, “Help. Room 315. Help! Help!” Derek was aware of the man moving and he heard her gasp and realized that the man had kicked her to get her to shut up. Now he felt a harder pressure on the pillow, very forceful, and then it eased and he heard the man cursing as he ran out of the room.
“Stop! Security!” He heard doors slamming, it sounded like the one to the stairs that was a few door down from his room. He used his left arm to push the pillow away and gasped for air.
Suddenly the room was full of people. Several nurses were there, helping the first one off the floor, a couple were at his bedside, taking the pillow and easing it behind his head and helping him to get back into some semblance of a comfortable position. He groaned, as there was no such thing to be found.
“We’re going to call Dr. Singer, the police, and do you want us to call Mr. Martin?”
“Yes, call Max, please.” He felt bad, because he knew it would scare Max and if Michael woke up he would freak out, but he needed Max, needed him very much. Everything that was injured in the first beating was hurting like hell and he was still gasping. Though he was able to breathe now, he still felt like he was starving for air. God, that had scared him! He began to shake in earnest as he realized that someone had just tried to kill him, actually, kill him in his bed.
He looked to the chair to see the nurses talking to the one who’d been hurt. He knew her. She was one of his favorites, always kind and thoughtful.
“Thank you so much. You saved my life, Missy. Are you okay?” He was concerned for her and, along with that thought, came another. “Hey, what about the guard outside the door?”
“He was on the floor,” Missy said, “That’s why I knew something was wrong and then I heard you call out. I didn’t have time to get anyone else. I wasn’t much help. I’m sorry he hurt you again. He could have killed you, Mr. Campbell. I wasn’t able to get him away from you.”
“You tried. That means a lot to me. Is someone checking on him?” Derek’s head and shoulder were pounding. He was afraid he’d reversed all the good the last few days of rest had done.
The thought of even more time here made him shake even harder. But if he went home would Max and Michael be in danger, too? Oh, God, now he had something else to be freaked out about. They weren’t doing anything for him that couldn’t be done at home, but he wasn’t sure he should go there. Why couldn’t he figure out what was going on? He needed to find out what the man was talking about, remember the things he’d said.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Derek’s room was pretty much Grand Central for the next hour or so. The police arrived before Max got there so he was in the process of telling them about waking to a noise and then seeing the figure in the doorway. Derek told them it was too dark to see the man’s features and he didn’t recognize the voice. He tried to remember exactly the words the assailant said to him.
“So he called you ‘faggy boy’? Do you think that’s why he came after you? This was a hate crime? Maybe you came onto him and pissed him off, something like that?” The statement was in the form of a question.
Derek answered firmly, “No way. I would not come on to anyone. I’m in a relationship that is very strong. This guy may know that I’m gay, but it’s not because I came onto him.”
“What the hell is going on here? Derek, are you okay? Move! Let me get to him.” That was Max and, surprisingly, the police did move out of his way. His hero. Max reached out to him, but stopped short, clearly not sure if it was safe to touch him.
“It’s okay, no new wounds. He just tried to smother me with a pillow,” Derek said, thinking he was relieving Max’s fear, but that was clearly not the case.
“He what? Where was the guard? I want to know what happened here and I want to know right now.” Max moved closer, put his hand on Derek’s left shoulder, lightly, but there, nonetheless. It made Derek feel instantly better. Just that touch, that connection. Oh, how he wanted to be held tightly in Max’s arms again. He sighed. “Are you okay, really?” Max seemed to be able to ignore everyone else in the room as he leaned down and looked into Derek’s eyes.
“I really am, now. I was scared I was going to die, Max. If that nurse, Missy, hadn’t come in when I called out he would have succeeded. He knocked her down and then kicked her when she tried to call out for help. I owe her my life, Max. She saved me,” Derek said, his head tilting to feel more of Max’s hand cupping his cheek. He needed, oh how he needed, some quiet, alone time with Max. Not for sex, though that would be nice, but he just wanted to curl up and feel safe and loved without all the chaos that was his life right now.
Max leaned down and pressed his lips gently to Derek’s and lingered, giving Derek some of what he needed, calm and peace for just a few seconds at least.
“Wait, who’s got Michael?” Derek asked.
“I called Cindy in again. She’s so good about being there in emergencies. I’ll have to find a special way to thank her. I couldn’t wake him and scare him until I knew what was going on.”
“Excuse me, Mr., uh, Martin, is it? I understand you are Mr. Campbell’s, uh,—” one of the officers paused, not knowing the correct term.
“We’ll settle for partner, since we can’t get married here. I own Martin’s Department Stores, and Derek is not o
nly my assistant in the company, but my partner in raising our son, Michael. Derek was beaten three days ago and left at the door of the elevator that goes up to the penthouse we live in. We don’t know who did it. He can’t remember it and no one saw who did it. I hired a guard to protect him here, and can someone tell me what happened to Mr. Hunt?” Max asked.
“Right here, Mr. Martin. I’m so sorry. Someone tossed something down the hall and when I turned toward the sound they hit the back of my head. I went down hard. I let you down. I apologize to both you and Mr. Campbell. I shouldn’t have fallen for that trick.” Mr. Hunt came in as he talked, a bandage on his head and a sling on his arm.
“Are you okay, sir?” Derek asked. He hated thinking that not only the nurse, but this man, too, had been hurt because of him.
“Yeah, don’t you worry, son. I just landed hard on my shoulder. I’ll be fine. I understand if you want to let me go. I didn’t do what you hired me to do.” He stood, not looking into their eyes.
“You went down in the line of duty. You’re not fired, but can you continue with your injuries?” Max asked.
“Oh, yes, sir. It’s just a knock on the head, and this isn’t my firing arm,” Mr. Hunt said. “I would ask that you hire another couple of men, though. It looks like you’re going to need round the clock protection. You mentioned that you have a young son. Are you worried about his safety?”
“Oh, God, Max, what if they went after Michael to get to me? If they kidnapped him, I’d give myself up to them to get him back. You know I would. No one can hurt him.”
“Mr. Hunt, do you have others that could join us here within the hour for a strategy meeting?” Max said.
“Yes, sir. I’ll get my three best guys in. One will cover the boy and the others will trade off on Mr. Campbell here.” With that, Mr. Hunt started out of the room to make his calls and Derek had another terrifying thought.