Stay Lucky: a Single Dads Gay Romance

by Leta Blake

  Grant shivered and planted a kiss on Leo’s forehead.

  Leo said, “See? I told you.”

  “Yes, obviously, you turn me on like no other,” Grant said, sarcastically.

  “Charmer,” Leo laughed.

  “Leo,” Grant began, but was interrupted by a nurse coming into the room, dragging a cart along with him.

  “Sorry, Dr. Anderson,” the nurse said. It was the same nurse who for whatever reason often flirted with Grant, and now he gave Grant the same look through his lashes that he always did. “I just need to get his vitals.”

  Grant moved away from Leo to give the guy some space to take Leo’s temperature and blood pressure. But the nurse couldn’t seem to stop looking Grant’s way and smiling softly. Grant huffed in annoyance.

  “Seriously?” Grant asked.

  The guy was going to flirt with him in front of his sick, morphine-filled boyfriend? Grant was going to have to learn this kid’s name and make his life hell. Clearly, he didn’t understand how this worked at all, or that Grant was not interested.

  Leo looked between the nurse and Grant, and then giggled. “Oh, he likes you,” Leo said to Grant. “He thinks you’re hot.”

  The nurse flushed a little, though he couldn’t seem to stop himself from looking at Grant again.

  Grant rolled his eyes, saying to the nurse, “You didn’t think you were being subtle, did you? If a man high on painkillers can see what you’re doing, I can assure you that I’ve figured it out by now, too.”

  “He’s a doctor,” Leo slurred. “He knows things.” Then Leo laughed again. “You’re pretty cute, though. Should I be jealous?” And Leo looked up at the nurse with such a coy, flirtatious expression that Grant’s stomach curled with possessive irritation.

  The nurse, whom Grant would definitely soon make sorry for all of this, smiled down at Leo and said, “No need to worry at all, Leo. He doesn’t even look at me once, much less twice.”

  Leo laughed loopily. “Yeah, he’s kinda in love with me.”

  The nurse grinned. “I know. Everyone knows.”

  Leo nodded and closed his eyes happily as the blood pressure cuff swelled on his arm. “Yeah,” Leo sighed. “He’s great.”

  The nurse bit his lip and looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Now, Leo, don’t rub it in.”

  Leo snorted and chuckled again. “I can’t help it! You should know! Everyone should know!”

  Grant rolled his eyes. Leo was exuberant when high. To say the least. Grant wondered if Leo was also like this when drunk. He’d probably never get a chance to find out.

  The nurse patted Leo’s arm as he took the blood pressure cuff off. “126 over 89,” he reported. “You’ll be out of here in a few hours, Leo,” he said. “My name’s Aiden if you need anything, okay?”

  Leo nodded and waved him off.

  Aiden took the opportunity to smile at Grant again and mouthed, “He’s cute.”

  Grant glared at him, and Aiden just laughed and left the room, pulling the cart behind him. Grant leaned over Leo’s bed and whispered, “You’re ruining my reputation.”

  “He’s hot,” Leo said. “Should I worry?”

  “Yeah, you should worry,” Grant said. “Worry that I’m going to make his life hell.”

  “Aw, Grant, he can’t help it!” Leo said. “You’re just so sexy!”

  Grant couldn’t help but laugh at that.

  “It’s bound to happen. Just don’t encourage him,” Leo said, and yawned. “I’m tired.”

  “Rest. I’ve got to go check on some patients. Is it safe to leave you here alone? Or will you be calling Aiden in for extracurricular fun?”

  Leo waggled his eyebrows. “I’m high. I can’t be responsible for my actions.”

  “Uh-huh.” He kissed Leo’s forehead again. “I’ll be back.”

  “A’right,” Leo murmured. “Be sleepin’.”

  Grant paused in the doorway, and Leo was already out. He glanced around, saw that no one was looking, and he blew a small kiss toward Leo’s bed.

  • • •

  A few hours later, Grant groaned as he walked out of the elevators on Leo’s hospital floor to find Curtis Banks standing at the nurses’ desk outside of Leo’s room, surrounded by ogling fangirl nurses. And one fanboy nurse—the very flirty Aiden.

  “I thought you left,” Grant said to him. “A month ago.”

  “I came back,” Curtis said.

  “Obviously,” Grant muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “You should star in more horror films.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Curtis asked, crossing his arms over his chest, too, and squinting at Grant angrily.

  “You know, that clichéd ending where the monster just won’t stay dead? You’ve got that part down pat, don’t you? Coming back again for more?”

  Curtis’s lips twisted into a sneer. “You don’t know anything about me. Or about me and Leo.”

  Grant pursed his lips. “I know enough. Enough to say I don’t want you here. And enough to know he doesn’t either.”

  The nurses’ eyes flicked between Grant and Curtis with interest. Grant thought that at any minute a magical bowl of popcorn would appear in their hands to go along with the show.

  Curtis shook his head. “You know, if I were a different person…. You know what? Never mind,” Curtis said throwing up his hands and starting to turn away.

  Good riddance, Grant thought.

  He paused and turned back, “Look, I have Hannah. She showed up at my place in LA, and my assistants there contacted me. I left my film set to go back to California and talk with her. I’ve brought her to Blountville to do the right thing by Leo, okay? That’s all I’m here for, so take your attitude and—”

  “What’s going on here?” Leo stood by the door of his room, his hospital gown flapping open in the back, lines hanging loose from his arms, and his face looking swollen with retained fluids. “Curtis?”

  Grant and Aiden rushed to Leo to help hold him up. “You’re supposed to be in bed,” Grant said irritably.

  The other nurses busied themselves with coming to aid Leo, too.

  “I’m fine,” Leo said, pushing Aiden, Grant, and the other nurses away, his focus back on Curtis. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you that I didn’t want to see you anymore? If this is about Lucky, we had an agreement—”

  Grant swallowed, taking hold of Leo’s arm again. He raised an eyebrow at Curtis, waiting for him to pass on to Leo the bomb he’d just dropped.

  “It’s Hannah,” Curtis said.

  Leo glared at Curtis, his lips tight, and his head tilted with suspicion. “Hannah?”

  “Yeah—it’s a long story, Leo. Maybe you should get back in bed. You don’t look so good.”

  “Is she okay?” Leo asked, and Grant felt Leo tremble under his hand.

  “Yeah, she’s fine,” Curtis said. “Well, kinda. I mean, she’s here. In the hospital. I just checked her in. She needs a few weeks to get clean again, and then she’s going to donate her kidney.”

  Leo shook his head. “No, that’s…I can’t take it.” His eyes were wide and wild. “She needs to take care of herself, and she…she’s a drug addict, and she might need that kidney—”

  Grant steered Leo from the doorway back into his room and then into the bed with Aiden’s help. Leo’s skin was gray, and a film of sweat stood on his upper lip. Grant motioned at Aiden to get the crash cart ready just in case, and Curtis bent down in front of Leo, his blue eyes full of worry as Leo swallowed and seemed to fight for a good breath.

  “Shh,” Grant murmured pulling out his stethoscope to listen to Leo’s heart. “Be calm, Leo.”

  “Be calm! How can you say that?” Leo exclaimed, but then he clutched his chest and moaned, before going gray and limp.

  “What is it?” Curtis asked, looking desperately to Grant. “What’s wrong?”

  Aiden bustled around pressing buttons and calling the doctor on duty, as Grant said, “It might be his heart. You
need to back away. Now.”

  Curtis lurched away from the bed, and Grant moved aside, too, as Dr. Matthews and Dr. Muresan both came into the room. Though it took everything in him, Grant managed to stay back while the other doctors examined Leo and meds were pushed. He released his long-held breath as Leo’s skin pinked up again.

  Dr. Matthews shook his head at Grant and motioned for him to step outside the room. “You’ve got to keep him calm. Everything in his system is taxed right now. You know this, Grant.”

  Grant nodded, unable to speak over his racing heart.

  “For now, for the immediate time frame, he’s okay. We want him checked back in, though, after this incident,” Dr. Matthews said with a deep frown. “I know he’ll fight us on that, but he needs to consider this a warning. And, dammit, Grant, we need to find a kidney.”

  Dr. Muresan nodded at Dr. Matthew’s final statement as he exited Leo’s room. “The sooner the better,” he added.

  Grant let out a shaky breath and stood in the door, watching as Curtis took Leo’s hand and said things that Grant couldn’t hear. Leo gazed at Curtis with conflicted, tired eyes. They needed a kidney. The sooner, the better, like Muresan had said. And Curtis had brought Hannah back to them.

  Grant pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Now, he had to convince Leo to take what his sister could give. They were running out of options, and Grant’s shaking knees and trembling fingers told him that he’d never been more terrified.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Hey, Doc,” Aiden said, passing Grant a patient chart. “I checked in on Leo earlier, and he had a visitor I thought you’d want to know about.”

  After the scare the other day, Leo had been checked into the hospital until they could figure out how to best handle the congestion around his heart. Lasix was usually a good option for draining the excess fluid, but Leo’s kidneys couldn’t handle the strain, and so they were monitoring him closely, trying to strike a balance.

  “Curtis again?” Grant asked.

  Curtis had been visiting daily, and Grant was trying to be patient about it, but it was starting to wear thin. At least Curtis wasn’t making Leo angry anymore, instead claiming that he understood that they were over, and that he just wanted to see Leo get well. Grant wanted that, too, but he wanted Curtis to be on the other side of the country when it happened.

  “No, Dr. Anderson,” Aiden said. He caught his breath when Grant turned his full attention on him, and then he blushed. “Um, sorry. You just—um, anyway.” Aiden laughed and said, “Right. It was his sister.”

  “Okay, then,” Grant said, sighing. “Great. Is she still in there?”

  “No, she went back to the psych and detox unit a little while ago. She was smiling when she left? So, maybe that’s a good sign.”

  Grant nodded his thanks and stepped into Leo’s room prepared for anything at all. Leo’s emotions were unpredictable when it came to Hannah.

  “Hey,” Leo said as soon as Grant shut the door. “How were rounds?”

  Grant rubbed his face and groaned, “Boring. Not a single patient with any exciting diagnoses today. Maybe tomorrow.”

  Leo smiled and waved Grant closer. “Aw, are you okay? Need a serious car accident with perforated lungs to make it all better?” he cooed.

  “Yeah,” Grant said. “That’d be good. Arrange that for me.”

  Leo snorted. “I’ll work on it.”

  “No,” Grant said. “You’ll work on getting better. So, your sister’s kidney…” Grant raised his brows.

  Leo sighed and adjusted his blankets. “I guess Aiden told you she was in here. He’s trying to get on your good side. Probably in case I kick it. You realize he’s positioning himself to cheer you up after my death with blowjobs and casseroles.”

  “I wish that were funny.”

  “What? You can’t joke about my death? Does it scare you too much?” Leo laughed.

  “Uh, yeah,” Grant said. “As a matter of fact.”

  Leo’s face softened, and he waved Grant even closer.

  When Grant was close enough, Leo jerked him down by the collar of his shirt. “I love you,” he whispered.

  “And I love you too,” Grant said irritably, rubbing his eyes, not finding the jokes at all amusing. Casseroles and blowjobs from Nurse Aiden were no substitute for Leo. “So, your sister’s kidney. You’re going to take it.”

  “You sound like Memaw,” Leo said. “She’s already called to tell me the same thing.”

  “Then it’s settled.”

  “Yeah,” Leo agreed.

  Grant stared at Leo in surprise. He’d expected another fight, and he’d been ready to deal with whatever upset Hannah’s visit might have caused, but Leo seemed calm, relaxed even, as he stared at the opposite wall and nodded slowly.

  “Yeah, it’s settled,” Leo said. “She’s got to detox, and then we’ll schedule the operation. She’s…different this time.” Leo shrugged. “I can’t explain it. But she really wants this, and her doctor thinks that it might even help her stay clean, give her an added incentive to keep healthy. I don’t know.” Leo raked a hand through his hair and looked stressed again. “I just know I promised Lucky to be here for her, and I’m running out of options, Grant. I guess I have to do this.”

  Grant pulled up the chair and sat beside Leo’s bed, taking his hand. “I’ll bring that little girl in here every day and make her tell you how scared she is that you’ll die if that’s what it takes.”

  “No,” Leo said. “I know how scared she is. And I have to do what I have to do. For her. Hannah doesn’t come first anymore.”

  Grant nodded, raised Leo’s hand and kissed Leo’s knuckles. Leo squeezed Grant’s hand and gave him a wan smile. He shifted in the bed and sat up slowly.

  “Curtis’s been here again,” Leo said, sighing. “He wants to know if he can have Lucky for a few weeks this summer.”

  “Oh?”

  “He wants to take her to Scotland with him. He’s filming a movie with dragons.”

  “Huh, strange. I thought dragons were make-believe. Leave it to Mr. Banks to school me,” Grant said, flipping through Leo’s chart, darting his eyes over the information the nurses had been recording like clockwork every two hours.

  Leo laughed, but his heart wasn’t in it. “Yeah, well, that part’s all going to be CGI’d in later. Curtis went into great detail about all of that. He’s pretty excited to do so much work with a green screen. He likes to exercise his imagination, he says.”

  “You don’t sound happy at the idea of her going.” Grant snapped Leo’s chart shut, satisfied with what he’d seen there. If things continued at this pace, Leo might be able to go home for a few weeks before the surgery. That would be good.

  “I’m not,” Leo said. “I mean, I guess I should be glad that he wants her around and in his life, that he’s making the effort, but…I’m not.” Leo looked at Grant, searching his face. “How do you feel about it?”

  Grant shrugged. “I like the carrot home with us where she belongs, but it’s your choice. He’s still part of her life. And I’m not her father, so…” Grant pressed his lips together. “That’s that.”

  Leo swallowed. “Yeah, but if you were, you know, her father. What would you think?”

  Grant said, “I’m not. But Scotland’s not a third world country. He loves her. And that’s all I’ve got to say on the matter.” Grant stood up and tucked Leo’s blanket in around his feet, taking a moment to run his hand over Leo’s warm skin.

  Leo looked a little disappointed, but he nodded and lifted his head up to meet Grant’s kiss goodbye. Leo’s lips were soft, and Grant tried to deepen the contact, but Leo pulled back, smiling and blinking slowly, as if dazed.

  “Later,” Leo said softly.

  “That better be a promise,” Grant said, and Leo nodded, looking breathless and aroused.

  At that moment, a nurse buzzed through. “This is Patricia. Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, fine,” Leo said.

  “A
ll right. Your heart rate jumped, and we just needed to check.”

  “S’all good,” Leo said.

  Grant smirked and Leo smiled, ducking his head.

  Grant was anxious for Leo to get home for a lot of reasons, one of which was purely selfish. Their sex life had been put on hold with Leo always hooked up to monitors. The nurses would know if they got up to anything just by Leo’s heart rate.

  Grant kissed Leo’s cheek softly and turned to go. “By the way, I’m stopping by the farm tonight.”

  “You are?” Leo asked.

  Grant said, “Yeah, even though your mom and dad are staying out there with Lucky, for some reason the carrot wants me to be the one to tuck her in. So…” Grant shrugged.

  He didn’t mind doing anything for Lucky. He just didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

  “Thank you,” Leo said, his eyes soft. “Thank you for being there for her.”

  “Yeah, well. She’s a good kid,” Grant said, leaving out that he cared about Lucky, that he wanted her to be happy, and that he wanted the three of them to be happy together, whatever the hell that meant.

  “She really likes you,” Leo said.

  “I like her, too.” Grant waggled his fingers. “Adios.”

  Leo smiled and called out a quiet goodbye as Grant left the room.

  As soon as Grant was around the corner from the curious and observant Aiden, Grant pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sheriff Memaw Marie’s number.

  “Mission accomplished,” Grant said.

  “He’s taking the kidney?” Marie demanded.

  “Indeed he is.”

  “Well, hallelujah!” she said emphatically. “I knew I could count on you to make him see reason.”

  Grant leaned against the wall in the corridor and said, “Well, surprisingly the credit isn’t mine. The kidney donor herself made the plea, and Lucky was the glue that sealed the deal.”

  “Excellent news,” Marie said. “Hannah—for all her problems—loves her brother. She won’t screw it up this time. I’ll see to that.”