West had to feel much, much more so. Yet he’d been brave enough to reach out to Axel.
Axel was flattered and honored, and quite enamored of West. Yes, he was a vampire. That was frightening. But West was more than a vampire. In fact, that was only a small aspect of who he was.
Axel had had hours to reflect on West. He was the kind man in the desert, who’d protected Axel and comforted him. He was the tender lover, the timid, innocent lover, the dutiful son, the caring brother, and so much more. Axel had barely begun to discover all the intricacies that made up the man, and he wasn’t going to walk away from him.
But West might not return. That was what Axel worried about as he paced. If West decided Axel wasn’t worth the trouble, if he had time to think about the way Axel had reacted, the fear and mistrust that had taken Axel over for those first minutes upon realizing that West was a vampire.
“If, if, if!” Axel groaned and shook his head. He was angry at himself, though he knew he hadn’t overreacted. If anything, he’d been a lot calmer than most people would have been in his situation. Maybe.
A knock on his door had Axel’s hopes soaring until he recognized the cadence of it. Jukie. Damn it. Jukie always knocked in his rhythmic way. It used to amuse Axel but now it just irked the shit out of him.
Axel strode to the door when Jukie began knocking again. He knew the man well enough. Jukie wouldn’t just go away.
“What?” Axel snapped before he even had the door opened all the way.
Jukie was jittery, his eyes darting everywhere. “I—I think—” He gasped then coughed.
West wanted to shout at him, but his anger turned to fear when Jukie’s eyes rolled back and he dropped to the floor like dead weight. “Fuck!”
Axel flung the door open and dropped to his knees. Jukie was frothing, his body convulsing. Axel didn’t know where to touch, what to do. “Help!” he shouted before scrambling up so he could grab his phone off the coffee table. Even leaving Jukie for that long scared him.
He didn’t know if it was drugs or booze or both—or something else entirely—that was causing the seizure that racked Jukie’s thin form.
Axel dialed nine-one-one as he returned to Jukie’s side.
Down the hall, a couple of doors opened and voices reached Axel. He ignored them as his call was answered and he began describing Jukie’s condition.
Someone knelt across from Jukie and rolled Jukie to his side.
Axel glanced up and relief flooded him as he saw that it was West. West didn’t look at him. Instead, he felt for a pulse and lifted Jukie’s head from its awkward angle.
More people came out and gathered around. They were gawkers, Axel thought angrily. Fear tended to make him unreasonable at times, and as he watched Jukie’s limbs twitching and shaking, as he heard the wet, thick breaths slow more and more, Axel learned a new kind of fear.
He and Jukie weren’t close, but they had been at one time, and he’d thought, somewhere in the back of his mind, that they’d have a chance to mend their differences and be friends again.
He only realized it in that moment, when Jukie’s eyes widened and bulged, and his entire body shuddered, then went still.
“No!”
West did something to Jukie’s mouth. Axel’s vision blurred and a great, painful sob was wrenched from him. He could make out West’s form hunched over Jukie, heard him muttering, counting.
And Axel began to pray, fervently, honestly, to any god that would listen.
When the EMTs arrived, West moved back and to Axel’s side.
Axel was dimly aware of the fact that he was still crying. West pulled him into a strong embrace.
“They have a pulse,” West murmured in his ear.
Axel hadn’t heard anyone say that, but he’d hardly be able to, considering his current state. He struggled to calm down, knowing he needed to be alert and aware of what was happening.
With West offering comfort and support, Axel got himself together before Jukie was wheeled away on the gurney.
“Where is he being taken?” he got out, his voice a bare thread of sound, his throat raw and sore.
“Memorial, about a mile away. Do you know what he took?” one of the EMTs asked.
Axel shook his head. “No. His room is beside mine, if someone wants to go look for…for whatever might have caused that.”
He needed to call Yolanda.
He needed West. It was probably too risky for West to come with him to the hospital. There’d be reflective surfaces, windows, things like that.
West seemed to know what he was thinking. “I’ll be there. Just give me a few minutes.”
Axel didn’t question it. He believed West, and that told him again how important the man was to him.
Chapter Twenty
“Thanks, Terry.” West blinked at his reflection. With the sunglasses on, he looked like a normal human being. The makeup felt really weird, though.
“You look fine. Go.” Terrence pushed him toward the hotel door.
“Thanks.” West slipped out, knowing that single word wasn’t adequate enough to express his gratitude. Terrence had appeared within minutes of West’s call, carrying a bag of ‘beauty supplies’, as he’d called it. Ten minutes after that, and West was on his way to the hospital. He made a mental note to thank Terrence fully later.
Even knowing he should pass muster, West was nervous as all get-out. He entered the hospital and tried to avoid looking at anyone else. He knew the floor Axel was on, since Axel had texted him. West found the bank of elevators and waited impatiently with several other worried-looking people until one arrived. People filtered out much slower than the ones that entered.
West hated being packed into such a small area with so many bodies. He could smell their blood, and either he was imagining it, or he could pick up hints of fear and regret, happiness and relief. He’d ask Herve about that later.
When the elevator stopped at the third floor, West murmured, “Excuse me,” as he wended through the people on the elevator. The waiting room was down the hall and to the right.
“West,” Axel said, coming up out of the chair he’d been sitting in. A few people looked at them.
West didn’t care. He hugged Axel and stroked his upper back. “Any news?”
“Not yet. I can’t get hold of Yolanda, either, and Jukie’s parents… I don’t even have a number for them.” Axel sighed then stepped back. “I think we’re going to have a long wait.”
West suspected the same. “Do you want something to drink? There’s a vending machine down the hall.”
Axel shook his head. “I’m too nervous. I—I—” He bit his bottom lip and the tip of his nose began to turn red.
“Come here.” West led Axel out into the hall, away from the majority of prying eyes. “It’s okay. Cry if you need to. Jukie’s your friend.”
“Not anymore,” Axel rasped. “We haven’t been friends in a long time.” Tears pooled in his eyes.
West knew how to comfort. He had done so many, many times for his siblings. Taking Axel into his arms, he whispered reassurances that he hoped would come true. There was unfinished business between Axel and Jukie that would tear Axel up if Jukie were to die. West didn’t think Axel was carrying a romantic torch for Jukie. He wasn’t worried about that. But unresolved anger and hurt could poison the person left behind.
If the worst happened, and Jukie died, West would do everything he could to help Axel deal with Jukie’s death.
Everything he could do in a week.
West needed more time. Herve wasn’t going to give it to him. Herve’s number one concern was the safety of the coven, not West’s romantic life or Axel’s pain.
West held Axel until he stopped crying, then West led him to the closest bathroom so Axel could clean himself up.
Axel blinked a few times as he looked at West’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. “How—”
“Makeup,” West answered. “Terry fixed it.”
“The sunglasses cov
er your eyes.”
West nodded. “Yeah. There’s no makeup for them.” And he wasn’t going to take off the glasses and let Axel see that in the mirror. It freaked West out big time to see it himself, and he thought he might even have nightmares from it.
He really didn’t know how he could accept all the weird changes in himself, but not trying meant being defeated by what he’d become. That wasn’t happening.
Axel didn’t ask him to remove the glasses. They left the restroom a few minutes later and it was only once they were in the waiting room, with no reflective surfaces, that West dared take them off.
An hour passed as he and Axel sat speaking in muted voices. They talked of mundane things—mostly it was West sharing bits of the children’s days and funny stories.
The second hour dragged by.
Axel sighed and rubbed at his temples. “I’m hoping it’s a good thing if the doctor hasn’t come to tell us anything yet.” He took out his phone. “Let me try Yolanda again.”
West wasn’t sure what the long wait meant. He just hoped that, whatever happened, he could be there for Axel.
Chapter Twenty-One
Yolanda arrived about half an hour after Axel finally got a hold of her.
“This is my fault,” she started in. “I fucking knew he was using and I should have dragged his ass to rehab!”
“You can’t make someone go to rehab,” Axel told her. “Jukie’s an adult and he’s the only one who can save himself.” If he survives this. Jesus.
“I know that, in here.” Yolanda tapped her temple. “But my heart is telling me it’s my fault anyway. Especially since he’d asked me to hang out tonight and I said no. He was already fucked up when he called me and I just couldn’t deal with another night of him being wasted. If I’d been there, he wouldn’t have ended up here.”
“Maybe not this time, but it would have happened soon regardless. You aren’t his keeper, Yolanda. Neither of us are.” He risked putting an arm around her.
Yolanda rested her head on his shoulder. “Yeah, I know. You for sure ain’t responsible for him after the way he did you. He treated you like shit and—” She pushed away from him and glared. “And who is that handsome man watching you like he wants to eat you up?”
Axel might have blushed, though it’d been so long since he’d done so he wasn’t certain. He glanced behind him. His heart felt like it actually did a little flip in his chest as his gaze landed on West. “He’s someone very special to me.”
West did blush.
“Aw, well he is a sweetheart, I bet.” Yolanda walked past Axel and held her hand out to West. “I’m Yolanda.”
“West.” They shook hands.
Yolanda sat beside West.
Axel moved to his other side and perched on the edge of the seat.
“How long has he been here?” Yolanda asked.
“Hours. Almost three,” Axel replied. He arched an eyebrow in her direction. “Where were you?”
“Having sex with this freaky chick I picked up,” Yolanda answered bluntly. “She was really loud. Like, a screamer loud. S’why I didn’t hear my phone.”
“Oh my god,” gasped the woman two seats to Yolanda’s right. She covered her mouth, her eyes huge as she gawked.
Yolanda slowly turned to look at her. “What? You gotta problem with that?”
The woman shook her head frantically. Then she uncovered her mouth. “It’s, er, it’s very hot.”
Axel wasn’t certain if she meant temperature-wise or sexually, but he was inclined to go with the latter.
Yolanda muttered something about ‘damn right it was hot,’ then movement in his peripheral vision caught Axel’s attention. He looked in the doorway and saw a white-coated doctor standing there.
The doctor pinpointed him immediately. “You’re here for Jukie Daniels?”
“Yeah, I am.” Axel stood quickly and flapped a hand beside him. “We are, I mean.”
“No family of his here?” the doctor asked.
Axel noted the name on his tag, Dr. Waggoner. “No sir, Doctor Waggoner. We can’t get ahold of his parents.”
“He is an adult.” Doctor Waggoner sighed and stepped out into the hall, gesturing at him to follow.
Axel took West’s hand and Yolanda traipsed along with them out of the waiting room.
Waggoner led them into a small office. “I’m not supposed to share anything with people who aren’t family, but that rule frequently gets bypassed.” He sighed and sat on his desk, rather than behind it, then rubbed his eyes. “Jukie is in a coma, and I can’t say that he’ll survive it. The amount of alcohol in his system, combined with methamphetamines, could be too much for him to recover from. He might be in a coma for the rest of his life, however long that could be. He may die, soon. There’s just no way to know at this point. If you can keep trying to reach his family, I suggest you do so. Also, I’ll have a social worker come in and get any phone numbers and other contact info you can provide.” He sighed again then stood up and stretched, his back popping loudly. “Any questions?”
There were dozens of them running through Axel’s mind, but every one of them vanished the second the doctor asked that.
“I’ll let you know if anything changes with him. He can have one visitor for now. If you can sneak past Nurse Whittaker. She’s a stickler for following visiting hours.” Doctor Waggoner walked to the door. “I hope none of you are messing with the crap Jukie used.”
“No.” Axel wasn’t the only one with the denial. He thanked Doctor Waggoner and after the doctor strode off, Yolanda nudged his shoulder.
“Go back to your room,” she ordered. “I ain’t letting some nurse stop me from seeing Jukie. Jukie wouldn’t be happy to wake up to you, anyway. I’m not being mean, you know how he’s been.” She shook her head. “He just can’t grow up.”
Axel did know. “You’ll call me if anything changes?”
“Duh. Go on.” She made shooing motions at him.
Axel nodded. He left Yolanda there and once he and West were outside, Axel stopped West.
West looked at him, worry clear in his expression. “What do you need?”
Axel had an easy yet complex answer for that one. “You.”
“You have me.” West swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “We need to talk.”
Axel didn’t want to talk. He ran the back of his knuckles over West’s soft dick. “We can talk later. Tonight, I need you. I need you to fuck me and make me forget everything but you.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Axel’s need was palpable. West could feel it rolling off him, yet to have sex without talking first seemed disingenuous on his part at the very least, and dishonest as well.
They were emotionally entangled, and growing more so with every moment they spent together. Axel might feel that he needed a physical release with West as soon as they reached the hotel, but come later, when West explained to him about Herve’s time limit on their relationship…
“We need to talk,” West said again.
Axel grunted and flagged down a taxi.
West tightened his grip on Axel’s hand. “Axel, I know you’re hurting and worried for Jukie, but—”
“I don’t want to talk,” Axel snapped. “I don’t want to fucking think. I just want to be pushed out of myself for a little while. Out of my head.”
West wanted to give Axel that. He would, just as soon as Axel listened to him. West didn’t press as they got in the cab. He remained silent, though he watched Axel, noted his irritated breaths, his scowling and the worry lines etched on his brow.
Soothing him was paramount for West, because he cared for Axel and he’d never liked to see anyone, or anything, hurting. He was now even more torn between giving Axel the physical release he needed, and talking to him first.
What decided him for certain was the way Axel all but dragged him out of the cab and through the hotel lobby. There was no waiting for the elevator as Axel shoved the door to the stairwell open.
&nb
sp; West barely had time for the door to close before Axel growled and shoved him against the wall. “Axel—oomph!” His glasses went flying as Axel kissed him, holding on to West’s face with both hands, framing it with trembling fingers.
The rich, oaky scent of Axel’s arousal filled West’s nose as he gripped Axel’s hips. He spun them around, pressing Axel to the wall and taking control of the kiss. There was no gentle coaxing this time. West’s own need flared with a sudden, urgent burst he couldn’t contain. He moved one hand around to grab Axel’s butt, the other between them to squeeze Axel’s dick through his clothing.
Axel moaned into the kiss and bit West’s lip almost too hard.
The zing of pain was mild and brief, and inside, West shoved back the memories from that dark alley. Tonight, right now, was about him and Axel, not the past.
West slanted his mouth and kissed Axel with more force. His lips ached and his fangs wanted to drop but West refused to lose control to that extent.
Axel humped into his grip, feeding more and more needy sounds into West. He let go of West’s face and instead nudged at West’s shoulders.
West sucked on Axel’s bottom lip, pulling it out then letting it go before tipping his head back. “What? What do you need?”
Axel shook his head and began working his pants open.
West felt a trickle of unease. They were in a public place, a stairwell. A quick glance assured him there were no cameras, but still, the chance of being walked in on—
“Please,” Axel rasped, freeing his dick. “Please, West.”
West’s own cock was throbbing, he was so hard. Axel’s tip was glistening with pre-cum, the head darker than the shaft.
West’s mouth watered, but getting down on his knees was a little more risky than he felt capable of being. He licked his palm, and Axel groaned, eyelids dropping down as if he couldn’t keep them open.
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