by Sean Michael
Bake followed, taking the stairs two at a time. "Fuck. Fuck."
"Devin. You and Bean stay down here with me." That was Clay, solid as hell.
He nodded. His sweet boy would be safe. Now to get his spicy boy out of the clutches of serial fucking killer Mike.
Frank was up the stairs faster than he could be, slamming through an interior door. "No. No fucking way. You get off him, you bastard."
Bake could hear sobbing. He went running in, not giving a fuck that he didn't have a gun. He was going to kill the prick. He went in, stopping short at the sight of his lover, bound and bruised, naked and spread, with a naked man kneeling between his legs, fingers slammed into his boy's body. Oh, fuck no. No way.
With a roar, he jumped on the asshole's back, yanking him away and pushing him to the ground.
"Bake! Bake, man. Ease up. I got cuffs."
This Mike asshole... God knew what he'd done to Dare, what he'd been doing to Dev. He wasn't going to ease up for anyone. He pulled his arm back and slammed his fist into the asshole's face.
The fucker grunted, then laughed. "He's mine now. Mine. You'll never get him back."
"Fuck you!" He hit the man in the face again, then went for the ribs.
Frank grabbed his shoulder, and Marcus grabbed the fucker, pulling him to his feet. Frank held him as he fought, struggled to get to fucking Mike again.
"Get him in the other room. Geoff will be here in a second. I hear the sirens."
"Motherfucker! I'll kill you!" He kept struggling, but fucking Frank was strong.
"Get him the fuck out of here, Marcus! So we can get this boy up!"
Oh, God. His boy. His Dare.
He let Marcus have the fucking asshole and turned to Dare. "Boy."
Dare had been beaten, face and head bruised and bloody, eyes moving randomly.
Oh, fuck him raw. He sat next to Dare and carefully pulled his boy up against him. "I have you now. He can't hurt you."
"No! NO! NO!" Dare was shouting, fighting him, kicking and screaming. "DARE! I'M DARE!"
"Darius!" He barely had a chance to blink before Dev was hurtling in and shoving him away. "Dare. Dare, it's me. It's me. I have you."
"Devvy. Oh, God. Oh, God. Run. RUN. RUN!"
Frank was on the phone. "Get us a fucking ambulance over here. Now."
Bake wrapped his arms around both of them. "You're safe, Dare. So is Dev. You're both safe."
"Devvy... Run away. There's a monster. There's a monster in the flowers. Run away."
Devin shook his head. "No, Dare. I'm not leaving you alone."
"It's okay, Dare. We have you now, and the monster has been killed. Neither of you ever have to go back to the flower shop. Do you understand? Dare? You're safe. Dev's safe." He would tell Dare over and over if it's what his boy needed to hear.
"Devvy... There's a monster..." Dare started shaking, sobbing softly.
"No, Dare. No. You don't have to protect me. I'm here. I'm going to keep you safe. I promise."
"The EMTs are here, guys. You need to move and the police need to talk to you, Devin." Frank's voice was oddly gentle.
"I'm not leaving him." Dev sounded fierce. "Never again."
Bake put his hand on Dev's shoulder. "I'm here with him, sweet boy. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to him. You're strong enough to go talk to the police while the EMTs take care of him. I know you are."
Devin's gaze was vicious, fierce. "You don't let them hurt him, do you hear me? You don't let them leave him alone. I trust you, but just you."
He met that gaze head on. "I have him, Devin. I won't let them hurt him, and I won't leave him. Not for anything."
"Okay. Okay." Devin turned to Frank. "Come on. Let's go. I want that fucker locked up. Now." He'd never heard his sweet boy sound so hard.
All it took was one look back at Dare, though, and he got it. He wanted to kill someone. No, he wanted to kill the animal who'd done this, and then he wanted to tear this whole fucking place down with his bare hands.
He grabbed Dare's hands just as the EMTs moved in. "I've got you, Dare. You're safe."
"Devvy. Run. Run away. There's monsters. There's monsters that bite you and I'm Dare and..." His boy started shaking, convulsing, and the EMTs shoved him out of the way.
"Come on. Come on, man. Stay with us, now."
He kept talking, giving Dare his voice to hold onto. "Come on, Dare. Devvy's safe. You're both safe. Come back, boy."
They loaded Dare onto a stretcher. "Does anyone know what the man gave him?"
Gave him. It all dropped into place. Devvy wasn't allergic to anything at the florist's. "No, but that asshole's been drugging his brother for weeks, maybe longer. He'd come home tired, pale, shaky, exhausted."
"He should get a doctor to check him out, make sure he hasn't been poisoned." They took Dare downstairs, and when Clay saw him, the man snarled, cheeks flushing a dark red.
Bake nodded. "I know. The line to beat that animal to a pulp starts right behind me."
"Jesus... did he... I mean." Clay's fists clenched and Bake could hear the seams on the man's shirt start to give. "Where is he?"
"He'd better be on his way to fucking jail. Dev's talking to the cops. You stay here until he's done and then bring him to the hospital, all right?" He wasn't leaving Dare alone, not even to make sure Dev got to the hospital okay -- he'd made a promise.
"You got it. Bean? You following Bake or staying here?"
"Stay until Clay comes, but follow him in my truck." He tossed his keys at his twin and then turned his attention back to Dare. They'd made it to the ambulance, and he wasn't going to let anyone keep him from climbing in and parking his ass next to his boy.
"Devvy. Devvy, there's monsters..." Dare's eyes were open again, but the man wasn't focusing on anything, wasn't seeing him.
"Dare. Darius. It's Bake. Focus, boy. Dev is safe. The monster is gone. Do you hear me?" He looked at the EMT. "I'm coming with you."
"Come on in. They'll need his medical information at the hospital. Poor guy."
Bake growled softly. "His older brother will be following as soon as his twin's finished with the cops. Clay will have all that information." And he needed to get it. In fact, they needed to get to a lawyer when all this was done and make sure he and the twins had rights with each other when it came to things like hospitals.
"Okay."
Dare started crying again -- deep, terrified sobs that wracked the lean body.
It broke his fucking heart. He climbed into the ambulance and grabbed hold of Dare's hand, stroked the poor, beautiful cheek.
"Please... I'm Dare."
"I know you are. You're my spicy boy."
"There's a scary monster. Watch out. He wants to eat us."
"The police have him now, boy. You're safe. You hear me, Dare? Safe."
Bloodshot eyes rolled, trying to focus on him.
"That's right, spicy boy. It's Bake. It's your Sir. I've got you. You're safe now. Dev, too."
"There's a monster, Bake. He hurt me."
"What did he do to you, boy?" He kept tight hold of Dare's hand.
"He hurt me, but I'm not Dev. I'm not."
"No, spicy boy, you are not Dev."
Dare's eyes closed. "I want to go home."
"Hospital first. Dev will meet us there."
"No. No, Devvy needs to run away. Run far away."
"Dev is safe. He's with Clay and Bean. He's safe."
"Clay... Clay won't cook for him..." Dare's words were fading in and out, making less and less sense, but it didn't matter. They were at the hospital, and the EMTs were whisking him away.
Bake pushed in with Dare as far as he could, but he was stopped before the double doors to the emergency room patient area.
"I'm sorry, sir. Patients only. You'll have to wait in here at admissions.."
Jesus fucking Christ. "Will someone tell me how he is?"
"Of course. Please have a seat, and we'll come out and get some information from you."
He growled and started pacing.
Bean burst through the doors. "Clay sent me on. How is he?"
"I don't fucking know. They went through these doors and they wouldn't fucking let me go with him. That's my boy in there, Bean."
Bean's hand slipped in his. "He'll be okay, brother. He will."
"He has to be, Bean. I'm not losing my boys."
"No. No, you won't." Bean sighed. "What happened, Bake?"
"That son of a bitch Dev was working for was drugging him, and when Dare went in to quit for him, the guy went psycho killer and kidnapped him."
"Fucking weird. Why'd Dare go?"
"Dev didn't want to upset Mike."
Shit, they might not have realized Dev was gone until it was too late if Dare hadn't been the one to go in.
"Ah." Bean nodded like that made perfect sense.
Bake started pacing again. "I promised Dev I'd stay with him."
"Dev was screaming his head off at the guy when I left."
"Clay was with him, right?"
"Yeah. Clay. Marcus. Frank. The cops." Bean sighed, sat. "Are you going to put them in my room or turn it into a hobby room?"
"You moving in with him? It's that serious?"
"Yeah. Yeah." Bean smiled at him. "And they're moving in with you."
He nodded. "They are. And they won't be staying in your room." He smiled back, and for just a second everything felt normal.
"I love you, brother." Bean met his eyes, and he could feel his twin, with him, in him. Loving him.
"Me, too, Bean." He wrapped Bean in a hug, getting one in return. It made him stronger, having his twin on his side.
"He'll be okay. He'll have you and me, Devin and Clay. We'll help."
He nodded jerkily, gave Bean a last hug, and looked at the doors where they'd taken Dare. "Don't suppose you'll run interference for me so I can go find him."
"Anytime, brother. Anytime at--"
Before he could finish, Devin burst through the doors. "Where is he?"
Bake caught his sweet boy in his arms. "The doctors have him."
"That motherfucker hurt him!"
"I know." He held Dev tight. "I know."
"Was he making sense? Did he tell you what happened?"
"He was in and out of it, Dev. Bean was just about to distract the nurse so I could slip in and find him. Let's go together."
Dev nodded and marched up to the intake window. "I'm Devin Gimble. Take me to my brother. Now."
"I'm sorry, sir. You'll have to wait here until the doctors are finished."
Dev's fist slammed on the counter. "I need to see him. Please. He's my brother."
"I'm sorry, sir, but yelling isn't going to help."
Bake wrapped his arm around Dev's shoulders and tugged him back, nodding to Bean, who took Dev's spot at the window.
"Come on, we'll just slip in as soon as Bean's got her attention."
"Okay. I need to see him."
"That's what we're going to do." He kept an eye on Bean and the nurse, casually walking them around to the doors. As soon as the nurse was absorbed in whatever bull Bean was spinning, he grabbed Dev's hand and pushed in through the doors.
Devin moved quickly, heading down the hallway like he knew where Dare was. It seemed he was right, because the curtain Dev slipped behind held Dare, the man quiet, still, bandaged, IV lines coming out of both arms.
"Shit." Dare looked worse, somehow, against the pristine sheets and with all the lines going into him. Bake went around to the other side so they could each hold a hand, so they could surround him.
"Dare? Dare, can you hear me?"
The heart rate monitor's beeping sped up.
"He heard you, Dev! We're here, Dare."
"Dare, I'm so sorry. I'm right here and you're safe. I'm not leaving you. I'm going to stay right here, I swear."
"It's not your fault, Dev. You didn't know this would happen. None of us did." Hell, if they'd known, they'd have taken the fucker down as soon as they'd figured it out, and none of this would have happened.
"No. No, I didn't know. You're so brave, Dare. You protected me from the monster, and I'm going to protect you from now on. Forever. I promise."
"How about we all protect each other, hmm?" He looked across at Dev, meeting the man's eyes. "You're my boys, and I will never let something like this happen again."
"You promise?"
"I swear it." No matter what it took, he was protecting his boys.
Dev nodded, forehead resting on Dare's shoulder. "I'm so sorry you got hurt. I love you."
"He loves you, too, Dev. More than anything. Don't forget that." Bake stroked Dev's hair and then Dare's. His boys were together again, and they were both going to be okay. He had to believe that.
"What are you two doing in here?" Bake looked up, meeting Chris Wicker's eyes. Oh, God. The nurse was not only a friend, but a member of The Hammer. "Hey, Bake."
"He needs us, Chris. Don't kick us out." He held out his hand to shake Chris'.
"You'll have to be quiet, okay? How's he doing?" The nurse came over, shaking his hand and then checking vitals.
"You tell us. His heart beat went up when he heard Dev's voice, but he hasn't said anything or opened his eyes. Did the doctors figure out what he was dosed with?"
"Ketamine. A number of small doses, via injection, with a large dose of oral pills at the end. We've pumped his stomach."
"Isn't that what vets give horses?" He wasn't even sure what he was asking anymore, he was just seeing red.
"Yeah. It causes hard-core hallucinations, serious shit. He was about half an hour away from OD-ing."
"Fuck!" It made him even more angry, that that animal. That he. That. Bake settled for growling.
"We're going to want to keep him for a few days. He has a broken cheekbone, a broken nose, and one eye is scratched up. They did a rape kit for the police."
He made a noise in the back of his throat. "And what was the result?" He managed to get the words out around his clenched teeth.
"I'm sorry, it'll be a few days before the police release the information. I did it, though. There was mild swelling and evidence of lubrication, but no bruising, no tearing. I'm hoping that you got there before, Bake."
He nodded. "Thanks, man." He thought he had. That asshole had his fingers inside Dare, but he was praying that was the worst of it, that Dare hadn't been penetrated by that monster's prick. He wanted to hurt something, badly. Preferably Mike fucking Mattheson.
Devin was whispering to Dare, soft and low, fingers holding on tight.
Bake let Devin be, figuring he needed to do this, and leaned against the wall. They all needed to get moved into a room where he could sit and Dev could curl up on the bed with Dare.
"Is there anything I can get you two? I have other patients to check on."
"Do you know when they're going to move him? We'd probably be more comfortable in a room."
"It'll be late tonight before a room opens up."
"You sure we can't take him home with us?" Get Dare into the big bed, where he belonged, surround him with their love.
Chris sighed, leaned close. "Call Doc, hmm? He'll be able to help more than me."
"Of course! I don't know why I didn't think of that myself." He gave Chris a hug. "Thanks, man. I'm glad family was here when we got in."
"Anytime, man. Remember, cell phones outside."
He grumbled but nodded. With any luck, Clay'd already thought of calling Doc and he wouldn't have to leave his boys.
Sure enough, within half an hour, a familiar face appeared, Doc grabbing Dare's chart. "So, boys. He's still sleeping?"
"Yeah. Thanks for coming, man. We appreciate it."
"It's what I'm here for. His vitals look strong. I want him here overnight, though. We don't know if there's any brain damage -- from the drugs or the blow to the head. And I need to know about that eye -- whether he can see out of it."
Devin whimpered, pressing closer to Dare.
Bake growled a
little and reached to squeeze Dev's shoulder. "He's going to be fine, boy."
"Is he? Brain damage? This is Dare!"
"There isn't going to be any brain damage." Because neither of them could bear it if there was. So there just wasn't going to be any. Period.