by J. C. Allen
I’m good.
We’re good.
I thought of taking the bus back home, but given my experiences with creepers and Chuck and the possibility of him following me to the hospital and, God forbid, ratting us out to the Black Falcons and them coming and…
Slow down. Breathe.
Well, it just made sense to get something faster. So, I dialed out to Matty. I leaned back against the bench, a wave of happiness flooding me.
Things would be okay!
“Eve? Is everything okay?” Matty answered, sounding worried, after only two rings.
“Things are fine!” I said. “The hospital called! Derek is awake. Can you pick me up? I could take the bus but I don’t want to wait.”
Matty chuckled.
“Told ya he’d wake up. And don’t worry, I’ll be right over. Where are ya? The museum or that book place?”
Blushing at the question, realizing that I had to come clean about my little adventure, I confessed.
“I’m in… uhh, I’m in Samsville.”
The line was silent for a long moment.
“Matty?” I said.
Matty just gave a long… long… very long sigh.
“Yer goddamn lucky that Derek loves you so much,” he said. “Damn lucky!”
“Y-yeah,” I said with a nervous chuckle. “Pretty lucky, huh?”
“I’ll get ya, no complaints. But that boy owes me a pizza.”
I just laughed, thanked Matty profusely, and hung up. I looked into the bag at the photo of Italy, the one that Derek had pointed out all those days ago. We might just have to head there soon. You were talking about it the morning after we killed Rock, you know.
And then I realized the person most deserving of a gift in that moment didn’t even have one.
I stopped at a small shop selling cotton candy and decided that I’d buy a bag for Matty for all he’d done. He deserved a small gift after everything he’d been dealing with for me.
Well, really, he deserved way more than a small gift, but I just didn’t think I could ever repay him to that extent.
But I think he rewarded himself just as much, because in what seemed like a much faster time than expected, he showed up with the roar of a familiar sound, one that would appease both him and Derek alike.
The sound of his motorcycle.
“Told ya it would only be a matter of time,” he teasingly said.
“Oh stop!” I said. “How many times do I have to tell you you were right?”
“Gay or not, a guy never gets tired of hearing that he was right. But, I dunno, how ‘bout one more time?”
“Fine, you were right,” I said. “Besides, you got your bike back, isn’t that enough?”
As if to make a point, Matty revved the handle bar, his eyes brightening even behind his sunglasses.
“I jes felt naked without this girlie here,” he said. “Don’t give a faggot’s fuck if I ain’t in shape to ride. I’ll take my chances with her.”
“I can see why,” I said, admiring the enormous size of his forearms and legs straddling the bike—I didn’t want to say it too loudly, but I had a feeling that he might have even surpassed Derek in muscle size.
Nah.
But it’s close.
Of course, if I were anyone else…
“Anywho, everything all good?” Matty asked. “Anythin’ get down while you were here? Any Falcon sightings or anythin’ like that?”
Yeah. Chuck showed up.
He showed up and scared me nearly to tears. Made me think this war’s gonna start all over again. He knows about Derek and I. He knows probably about way more than I care to know. If he knows this, the Falcons know it.
He’s gonna bring the war back to us. It’s going to be hell.
And yet…
I couldn’t help but feel that worrying Matty about my brother would only serve to distract from the real problems. Chuck might have been a hurtful bastard, and his time in prison had certainly appeared to turn him into a real creep, but I had to see Derek first, long before I ever contemplated warning Roost about one single mole in the grand scheme of things.
Hopefully, based on what he’d told me about needing to get the hell out of town, I figured I’d never even see Chuck again—a sad thought initially, but one I began to get over pretty quickly. He did a good job getting in my head, but he didn’t seem at all interested in establishing residency there.
Calling upon all the acting prowess I’d acquired as a whore, I plastered a phony smile for Matty and shook my head.
“Not at all,” I replied. “I just got a gift for Derek…”
Then, my smile shifted into a sincere grin as I pulled out the bag with the cotton candy in it.
“… and a little something for you!”
“Somethin’ for me?” he asked, his eyes gleaming teasingly. Poor Matty looked like no one had ever bought him a gift—unlike me, he wasn’t the greatest at hiding his feelings.
“Yup!” I smiled, pulling out the clear plastic bag of bright pink cotton candy. “Your favorite color even!”
“Cotton candy? My favorite!” he said. “This is the best! Thanks, girlie! I guess ya earned yer ride home!”
The look on his face truly seemed genuine and sweet.
It was almost enough to make me forget that I had just stone-faced lied to him about running into a potential threat to the entire Savage Saviors.
“Anyway, shall we go visit yer Prince Charming, Princess?” Matty said.
“Don’t even,” I rolled my eyes, fighting not to laugh. “Are you gonna be the jester in the court?”
“Jester?” Matty said mockingly. “Puhleeze! I’mma be the frog that yer handsome friend kisses to turn into a big gay fat naked man!”
“Oh my,” I said, my mind going to that imagery to a rather unflattering degree.
“And on that note!” he roared, kickstarting the engine and motioning for me to get on. “Let’s gooooo!”
The thrill of being back on a bike combined with the anticipation of seeing Derek awake again made me forget everything bad that had happened in the previous couple of hours. The furious wind pushing against my face didn’t feel like a hurricane, but a cleansing breeze designed to clear my skin of any imperfections.
OK, that was a bit of an exaggeration—that wind was no joke.
But I certainly fully believed everything about the excitement and anticipation I felt. That was very, very real.
When we pulled up to the hospital, Matty stopped at the entrance and motioned for me to get off.
“I’ll go find parking,” Matty said.
Despite his words, I knew he was going to be offering me a bit more time than would normally come from simply parking a motorcycle. Looking back at the mostly-empty parking lot, I wondered why he’d even bothered pulling up front when he could have just parked and been done with it.
“Sounds good!” I said, playing my part in our little dance effectively.
At that moment, once more seeming to read my thoughts, Matty swatted his hand at me, casting me away.
“Off with ya!” he demanded.
And off I went, smiling my thanks back at him.
Feeling like I was floating, I headed through the hospital doors, took a deep breath, and continued on, walking slowly, through the halls. The surroundings blurred, and I was distantly aware that I couldn’t even remember talking to the receptionist in the waiting room or passing up through the elevator.
Despite this—despite how quickly and effortlessly it all seemed to be happening—it didn’t seem quick or effortless enough; every step felt like a slow-motion trudge through cold waters.
And then, just like that, I was reaching for the door handle. Feeling so very, very—
“What do you think? That it’s going to be okay? That you’ll just have some happily ever after with your Savior? You’re dreaming. This is the real world…”
I frowned, my hand stilling just over the entrance to Derek’s room, as Chuck’s words return
ed to haunt me. I tried to ignore them.
I had to ignore them. I had to make sure that while Derek was still in a fragile state that he didn’t have to deal with this nonsense. That was my own battle—not his.
“Damn you, Chuck,” I muttered under my breath. “I will not let you ruin this for me!”
I clenched my eyes shut, stopping in the hall and leaning against the wall.
“C’mon, girl,” I said. “Fight the battle later. Say hi to your boyfriend and make him feel as alive as he really is.”
Then, finally, I forced myself to turn the knob before anything else in my head could try to stop it.
Everything felt perfect at the sight of Derek’s open eyes.
19
Derek
She was even prettier than I remember seeing her last.
Maybe it was the drugs in my body, maybe it was the delight of being alive, maybe it was the fact that someone had finally given me goddamn warning they were coming before just barging into my room without warning.
But I swore to every God there ever was and would be that Eve, upon walking in, had a literal halo around her head. She was so goddamn beautiful, wearing that perfect smile of hers, that I had to believe an angel had literally descended into my room.
And goddamnit, I was wearing nothing but a hospital gown and some wires in my arms to greet her. If she was the epitome of sexiness, I was the epitome of making a woman dry just by sight alone.
“God damn! Nothing should look as good as you look right now,” I said with a smile.
“Hi, Derek,” Eve said, blushing.
She was blushing! Blushing! Like a teenager meeting her crush!
My God, she could not be more beautiful right now. The least that I could do was get up to greet her.
So, working to sit up—working to seem more presentable—and succeeding in tugging the increasingly annoying network of tubes and wires littered across my body, I winced and rolled my eyes. I yanked on the wires to get them to move, but I only produced a hell of a lot more pain, causing me to grunt and grimace—again, this was not the image I had in mind when I thought of being sexy for Eve.
“Sorry,” I groaned. “Here I am, probably looking like complete and utter shit.”
Eve’s face twisted in a brief instant of varying micro-expressions, most of them revolving around pity and sorrow. I hated having people pity me; I hated seeing Eve sad.
Simply put, I hated seeing how pity and sorrow was twisting such a gorgeous face.
C’mon big boy. Get it together.
“OK, let’s try that again,” I said, holding up a hand as if asking the teacher for permission to move forward. “This, uh, experiment is a work in progress.”
“Derek—”
But I didn’t dare let her tell me it was OK to not do anything, because it was not, damnit! If she had come here within just an hour of me waking, I could get up within just a minute or so of her arrival.
Even if I broke every goddamn machine in this hospital. Even if I had to pay a medical bill that would make millionaires shit their pants.
Growling, I snatched the tubing leading to the morphine drip and yanked it out of my arm, wincing at the exiting needle’s bite and hurrying to hide the growing bead of blood that followed it on its way out. A small, nervous-sounding bark of worry escaped Eve’s lips, and I caught sight of a bag in her left hand that had been previously angled away from me. Then, hurrying to compose herself, she repositioned herself—once again putting the bag out of my sight—and worked a rather convincing mask of apprehension atop a still concerned face.
It was a cute look from her, but given the apprehensive motherly look she was giving me, I didn’t dare push my luck.
“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to leave that in,” she scolded me, taking a bold-yet-awkward step inside.
There was a renewed confidence about her that was, admittedly, quite intoxicating to behold, but that bag of hers and her ongoing mission to keep it hidden was clunking up the effect. That, I thought to myself as I worked to get a glimpse at whatever it was she was trying to conceal, needs to be taken out of the equation.
“Gotta take it out,” I said matter-of-factly. “Otherwise I’m going to have to walk out of here still wearing it in my arm.”
I gave her a coy smirk and a playful shrug, which did quite well in hiding the severe pain that my body felt.
“Sort of muddies up the effort of sneaking out if your clanging around with medical equipment all tagged-up in your veins.”
She just sighed, knowing full well that no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop me from coming to her. Couldn’t stop me from leaving this place. And couldn’t stop me from making sweet, sweet love to her when we got home.
Not that I don’t think she minded in the least.
“What’s in there, by the way?” I said, nodding to the bag.
“They said you could leave?” she asked, ignoring my question and the painfully obvious package that she had carried in with her. “Something tells me they wouldn’t have given you permission at this point.”
”I said I could go,” I said passively, already beginning to unplug more of the diodes scattered across my chest. “I’m Derek Knight, you think a few simple medical devices are going to hold me down?”
She sighed again. I think she secretly enjoyed watching me brute-force my way out of here, though she would never admit it—at least, not here in the hospital with a bunch of nurses around.
“So. What’cha got there?” I said, ignoring the whine of a nearby machine as my vitals were suddenly robbed from its scans.
I kind of imagined a doctor getting an alert that my vitals had flat-lined, sprinting in here, and then rolling his eyes when he saw me, all bandaged up and in a hospital gown, forcing my way free like a monster from various plugs in a horror movie.
Eve’s eyes drifted to the angered machine, and then they rolled again. She seemed pleased to have something other than the bag to roll her eyes at. I grinned playfully at this, yanking another wire—this one all-but glued to my left temple—and giving her another excuse to roll her eyes. She did, but just as playfully.
“I… I don’t think it works that way, I don’t think you can just leave. I mean, Matty—”
“Probably not,” I admitted, ripping the last batch of wires free from my body—“but I don’t exactly like playing by the rules. And ol’ Matty is too much of a teddy bear to fight those kinds of rules. Unless I’m here, of course, but don’t go telling him I said that.”
The look on Eve’s face suggested that if I had said that line a minute later, I’d hate Roost in here glaring at me and saying he’d beat my ass when I could handle getting my ass beat. Oh, good. I’ll have backup when I take on the nurses.
“So,” I said, refusing to let her get off so easily. “You gonna tell me what’s in the bag?”
Eve rolled her eyes once more, groaned in defeat, and finally succumbed to a smile, which just as quickly turned into a giggle.
“I think I’m gonna show you something else first,” she said. “You’ve done your part and I’m tired of waiting.”
She closed the distance between us, planted a kiss on my lips—heaven, just pure heaven—and set the bag gently on my lap.
“You can’t leave until you look at it, though,” she said.
“You stalling so the docs come here?”
“I’m stalling until I make sure you don’t kill myself because you’re too horny and excited to stay in one place.”
Touche.
I looked down at what Eve had plopped in my lap as she stood over me. It was an unmarked paper bag. Fancy, but not emblazoned with any brand name or logo. A pair of woven, cream-colored drawstrings looped up from either end of the widest lengths of the opening, and, peeking out just over the edges—the contents just slightly longer than the bag was tall—was a ruler-straight length of black plastic.
It took me a moment to realize that what I was looking at was the outer edge of a frame. Sq
uinting at this, confused, I took this by either corner and began to pull out whatever it was. I kind of appreciated the idea that this was something unexpected, although I was surprised that I couldn’t even begin to guess at what it was.
“The frame is a cheap piece of shit,” Eve injected. “But I figured we could find something nicer to put it in after you got out of here.”
I smiled at that, deciding to add that mission to the day’s plans.
Admittedly, that was not a long list. It pretty much consisted of getting the hell out of here, taking Eve home, getting her naked in a hurry, and then ordering an entire pizza store to be plopped down at my house.
I pulled out the picture in its entirety, listening to Eve continue as the photo came into view.
* * *
“I remembered your story about visiting there,” she said, smiling at what I could only imagine was a look of shock plastered across my face as I took in the familiar sight of a photograph of a scenic, sea-front view of a Roman town I’d gone to during a family vacation as a boy.
I hadn’t even placed any thought into the photo when I saw it—it was a mere observation of something I had once done. It held the same weight as if watching a commercial for a cruise liner mentioning taking place in the Caribbean. And yet, despite that lack of real interest on my part, Eve had paid close attention… and if she were paying attention to that, she was certainly paying attention to everything else in the process.
If there were any guilty feelings about ditching the hospital to spend the day with her, they were gone in that instant. Not that they were really there. But now it’s gone from a want to a need.
“You… you went back to Samsville to get this?” I asked, hoping my voice wasn’t breaking as badly as it felt like it was. “Eve… really?
Eve shrugged and tried to look casual as she said, “I was in the area.”
I gave her a face. She could do many things well, but act cool and confident in the face of my romantic questioning was not one of them. Not that I cared in the least, of course.
I remembered the ride we’d taken to get there, remembered how great it felt to have her sitting behind me on my chopper as we sped towards the small town during its monthly Sundays in Samsville festival. I hadn’t resented a moment of that ride—hadn’t resented a moment of that entire night, to be fair—hell, hadn’t resented a moment of our entire time together—but it was no quick trip.