“What else can I do?” Mark whined.
“Nothing. Just don’t do anything stupid,” said Dom, unable to focus on anything else other than getting Seth into the passenger seat. His muscles protested, but he managed to position him eventually, and as soon as Seth’s seat belt was buckled, Domenico ran around the car and got inside, immediately rushing to the only road there was. He switched on the high beams to light the way and bolted into the narrow channel of the road at as high a speed as he could muster. Leaves and branches were black and golden as they slapped the windshield, and Dom leaned forward, desperate to see as much of the road as he could.
“Seth, talk to me.”
Seth took a shaky breath. “I didn’t know alligators liked Cheetos.”
“What? What are you talking about?” hissed Domenico, afraid that Seth was getting delirious. It was still a long way to the nearest hospital.
“Mark was hanging out around where I set bait. He threw them Cheetos. And they came.” Seth’s words came after pauses, as though it was hard for him to gather his voice.
“They?” Domenico felt as if the blood drained out of his body, fear suppressing anger at the irresponsible kid. “There were more?”
“Just small ones.” Seth took a deep breath and squirmed in his seat to have a look at his leg. “But I saved him.”
Dom wanted to say that he should have let the little fucker die, but he knew Seth would hate him for it, and there wasn’t anything he could do now anyway. Frustrated, Domenico hit the side of the steering wheel and bit his lip. “Yes, you did. But now your leg’s hurt, Hero.”
Seth gave him a weak smile in the darkness. “Now I’m a hero, too. But my leg doesn’t hurt.”
Domenico swallowed hard, stiffening immediately. Could it be Dana had made the dressing too tight? “But can you feel it? Is it numb?”
“N-no. I don’t feel it very well… I’m dizzy.” Seth’s breaths were shallow, and Dom was sweating enough for them both. After all they’d been through, this would have been the stupidest way to die.
Dom stopped the car and switched on the light, leaning down to look at the dressing. He slipped his hand under the bandage, to the tune of Seth’s moans, but the dressing was fine. It had to be shock. It had to be. Seth had enough nerve damage in his hand already. Domenico couldn’t believe something like this could happen to them again. It wasn’t as if people were bitten by those things all the time, was it?
“You hold on,” he whispered, starting the car again. “It’s gonna be fine. I’m gonna get you anything you want once the doctors are done with you.”
“Can I get a hammock?” Seth muttered, getting paler by the second in the faint light from the front of the car.
Domenico nodded, and spoke, his voice thick with emotion. “Sure. I’m gonna hang it for you myself.”
Seth smiled with his eyes closed. “You’re the best…”
Domenico sighed and forced a smile, grabbing Seth’s hand over the gearbox. “No, you are the best thing that happened to me,” he said, as his thoughts trailed to all the deaths he cared about, to the countless fallen brothers, and funerals, the kisses good-bye. Seth wouldn’t be one of those lost. Domenico refused to let that happen.
Seth was pale, thin as an old, starving man. His body had given up way before Dom’s did, even though it was Dom who had let the illness loose in Seth’s body. And as Seth’s cool hand slowly relaxed and slid from Domenico’s fingers, the heart rate monitor flatlined, with the most horrifying of sounds.
Domenico stared at his peaceful face and gently petted the bony jaw line. He had been ready for this for a long time, and yet watching his beloved deteriorate and suffer for such a long time had been the most horrific experience. Now at least, he was not in pain anymore.
Blinking back the tears, Domenico walked up to the door and locked it, before returning to the bed and slowly moving Seth to the edge of the mattress and climbing in under the blankets. Seth’s body was still warm, and he cuddled up against it, kissing the dry skin of the stubbly cheek.
“We’re going to be together soon,” he promised and slid his hand underneath the fabric of his pants, pulling out his small knife. Domenico had never told Seth, but as soon as he realized his partner was dying, he made a promise to himself that he would follow. There would be no life for him without Seth. He did not want to continue his earthly existence alone and lost when his beloved was waiting for him in purgatory.
Dom winced when the sharp steel pierced through skin and tore the muscle and vessels down from his wrist. The numb pain radiated all over his arm, but he wasn’t finished and soon the other forearm was open as well.
The blade clattered against the floor, and Domenico gently nudged Seth’s face toward him. The brown eyes were still open, and though unfocused and lifeless, they were still as warm and beautiful as the day Domenico understood just how much Seth meant to him. Dom kissed the parched skin of his lips and waited, covering Seth with his scent minute by minute.
Domenico shivered, pressing tighter against Seth as he looked into his face, growing increasingly colder. But that was good. They would be together soon. His eyelids felt like they were made of lead when the freezing cold turned into warm numbness in his fingers and toes. He was slowly fading, but as he curled around the lifeless shell that remained of his man, he couldn’t be calmer. Just before darkness swallowed him whole, Seth blinked, and his mouth twisted into a thin line. Domenico stopped breathing.
“You killed me,” said Seth harshly, just before Domenico fell down into the tar-black clutches of death.
He woke up to moans and whimpers, trembling skin sliding against him like a swarm of vipers, but when a cold hand squeezed around his dick, Domenico jerked to his feet with a scream. It was completely dark, and yet he could see for miles and miles on end. Dozens of bodies with skin white as paper were crawling his way. Their faceless heads were wet with saliva spilling from identical, gaping mouths. They dragged their fat cocks on the black ground and touched the huge, pink holes between their buttocks. His name was on all their mouths.
Domenico kicked back a hand reaching for him and dashed toward a rock nearby, screaming Seth’s name with growing despair. His open wrists were dry, his veins devoid of blood. He was dead, but Seth was nowhere in sight, only thousands of faceless creatures in heat.
Dom cried out so loud even his stomach ached with the effort, but no one answered him as his scream resonated over the monotone chanting of his name.
He was trapped here forever.
Domenico jerked out of the dream, almost falling off the chair as his heart rattled with panic. Seeing Seth fast asleep made him relax into the backrest, desperately trying to calm down. His first instinct was to cradle Seth’s hand in his and find peace in its warmth, but he didn’t want to disturb his lover’s sleep. In the end, it took him several minutes to chase away the nightmare that clawed at the most fundamental fears in his life. But there were so many plaguing him recently that he was starting to consider them a fact of life.
He stared at the peaceful face of his lover pressed against a pristine white pillow. It was now slowly growing brighter outside, and after a long procedure, Seth had dozed off due to an IV with some kind of sedative. Fortunately, the damage done by the alligator was reversible, and for what happened, Seth had been lucky. The surgery went fine, and all the stitches would eventually be gone, leaving even more scars. It choked Domenico up to think that maybe there was truth to the dream, and if he had something lying dormant in his blood, his bad seed could do what the alligator couldn’t, and neither could the Villanis. If Seth’s worries were true, Dom would be the one to kill the man he loved.
He had lied about being Seth’s brother to be allowed to stay, but that only happened after security tried to throw him out for being aggressive. He wasn’t ‘aggressive’ he was just scared for Seth. How was he to even know if the doctors here knew what they were doing? It was too far to any of his contacts, and he didn’t want to risk revealing himself anyway, so he ne
eded to trust the staff of the hospital, but trusting strangers wasn’t in his nature.
Constantly being on the move was not optimal to say the least. They needed to finally make the move to Mexico and put roots down, so that in an emergency they would have more people around, more of a structured environment. Everything was up in the air right now, and they needed a home, not a damn pickup truck.
Seth was now on a diet of antibiotics, and Domenico was determined to check every single pill that went into Seth’s mouth. He’d heard a lot about situations when the wrong drugs were administered or wrong quantities, and now that he was here, in an uncomfortable chair at Seth’s bedside, it was his mission to ensure his lover would get well as soon as possible. He was lucky to have hidden cash in the seats of their pickup, so at least he didn’t have to worry about payment for any services the doctors could come up with. A young pretty nurse was clearly interested in Seth’s health, and Domenico couldn’t blame her—she had no idea her chances with the best-looking patient at the ward were zero. But if that strictly non-professional interest would get Seth better care, Domenico was ready to butter her up. Even though she looked more like an underwear model than a nurse and Dom wasn’t all that certain about her credentials.
She came over again, this time with a tray of food, and put it on the little table next to Domenico. As she leaned over, he noticed a black pattern on her skin where the shirt she wore under the scrubs rolled up a bit. “Don’t tell anyone I got this for you,” she whispered and winked at him, to Dom’s utter confusion. Did she want a threesome? And since when were people with tattoos allowed to work in hospitals? Was this not a health hazard?
He smiled back at her though and shrugged. He’d make sure she used latex gloves when handling Seth’s leg. “It’s good to have friends in high places.”
She left Domenico with a tray of cut roast chicken in some kind of sauce, macaroni and cheese, a biscuit, cooked corn, and other delicacies Domenico despised. Only now that the fear was over, he was also hungry. On second thought, Dom dug in, watching Seth rest with drug-induced slumber. At least when Seth woke up, Dom could surprise him with good news—he’d done the test, just to pass the time waiting for Seth to come back from surgery. And even though he still dreaded that the results could come out positive, at least he was trying to meet Seth’s expectations. A step in the right direction. Maybe he would not lose Seth. Maybe there was still a chance everything would be fine.
“What’s that smell?” Seth groaned before he even opened his eyes. “Fuck, it hurts…”
Domenico put the tray on the table and shifted closer, grabbing Seth’s hand. “I’m here. It’s just food.”
Seth opened his eyes and squeezed Dom’s hand, yawning. “I’m so happy it wasn’t the hand this time. I’ve done so many rehab exercises…”
Domenico kissed Seth’s palm and cuddled his face up against it, breathing in the scent of skin, along with a faint aroma of disinfectant. “Yeah, it should be fine. You’ll just have to stay here for a few days.”
“Did you wrestle an alligator, or did I dream that up?” Seth frowned, but at least his gaze seemed more focused.
Domenico laughed and kissed the middle of Seth’s palm again. Now that he thought about it, it had been a crazy thing to do, and he might have ended up dead. “I’m your personal crocodile hunter.”
“I was angry about the pig, but I’m happy you killed the gator. Did you make sure to keep the body?”
Domenico sighed but then broke into a laugh that just wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t believe Seth was still upset about the damn piglet. “I was busy taking you to the hospital.”
“Maybe call Mark about it. Fuck, we need to get him a phone. Dana?” Seth was getting more flustered over the gator’s body than over the fact it was Mark’s fault that he would be limping for a while.
Domenico groaned. “We need to get him a phone? Really? What next? Maybe we should decorate a nursery for him at our new home?” And he didn’t really want to speak to Dana at the moment.
Seth shut up and fell back to the pillow. “You’re sure he’s fine?”
“Pretty sure.” Domenico cleared his throat. “You said he got the alligator to attack? If it wasn’t for that kid’s stupidity, you and I would be lying in a bed right now.” Domenico frowned at the one Seth lay in. “A dirtier one, but at least there would be space for me. And your leg wouldn’t have any holes.”
“He didn’t know what he was doing…”
And speaking of the devil, there was a knock at the door, and Mark walked in with his hands in the pockets of a new pair of jeans. “Hey…”
Domenico’s smile dropped, suddenly replaced by a blaze of fury. He got up and walked up to Mark, grabbing his hair. “Cheetos? Are you for fucking real?” he hissed, shaking the kid.
Mark grabbed Dom’s wrist, trying to wiggle out of the grip. “Ouch! Ouch! Dom, please. I wasn’t thinking,” he whined.
Seth sat up in the bed, propping himself up with both hands. “Dom, come on, let go of him. He’ll know better now.”
Domenico pushed Mark at the bed, pacing in front of the door. “Eat the damn mac and cheese. That shit smells,” he groaned, watching Mark and Seth as they both stared at him.
“I just wanted to say that I was so sorry…” Mark bit his lip, glancing at Seth. “I’ve caused so much trouble, and you still saved my life.”
“That’s fine, kid,” Seth said even though his new set of scars wouldn’t be fine at all.
Domenico sneaked the carrot cake out of the tray and pushed it whole into his mouth. Of course, now it would be poor Mark who’d be the center of attention. How typical.
“Did you take Seth’s bike?” he asked once he was done with the cake.
Mark swallowed and turned his gaze to Dom with guilt painted all over his face. “I climbed into the back of the pickup yesterday. I needed to know Seth was fine,” he whined.
Domenico exhaled and rubbed his forehead. But this time, there was no anger in him. He was exhausted, and all he wanted was to doze off next to his man. “You know where we are? Let’s fucking hope no biker needs to have his appendix removed,” he said, looking at the door. Of course, the nearest hospital would be in the town where they made enemies. That was just their luck.
Mark pulled a phone out of his pocket, catching shallow breaths. “I’ve got that Jed guy’s phone, and I looked through it. He’s got a gay dating app on there, and I’ve got the video he tried to make of me in that restroom. When the phone fell, it caught his face as well. I’d blackmail the shit out of him, and he wouldn’t dare touch us!”
Domenico saw red. He rushed to his feet and slapped Mark across the face. Breath caught in his throat as he snatched the damn phone from the boy’s hand. “There’s no us! What the fuck? This is just another reason for him to go after us. And by us, I mean myself and Seth. I am not about to take a bullet for you, and my fiancé’s suffered enough because of your idiocy!”
“Dom, come on… He’s still a child,” Seth tried.
Mark held on to his cheek with his other hand, which probably ached even more than Domenico’s palm. “I just meant—”
Domenico tossed the phone on the chair and angrily messed up his hair. “Stop getting on my nerves! Wait at the main entrance, and I’ll have Dana pick you up. Go with her and stay the fuck in the swamps! You and I are gonna talk once Seth gets better.”
Mark opened those stupid pouty kid lips, but said nothing in the end and stormed out of the room, as if he was about to cry again. Babysitting him was the last thing on Domenico’s agenda.
Domenico rolled his eyes and looked at the tray of food. “And he didn’t eat the fucking smelly noodles,” he muttered, still buzzing on the inside.
“I don’t think he came here for them,” Seth grumbled, pulling up the comforter to look at his leg.
Domenico shook his head and slowly walked up to Seth, choosing Dana’s number. “You know he can’t stay here anyway. Let him lay low at the swamp with Dana, and
then he’ll go where no biker will get him.”
“I know, I know. It’s just nice to have people around. Make connections.” Seth made an attempt at the macaroni and cheese but pushed it away after the first forkful. “Even Ryder. I liked talking to him. Sure, I couldn’t tell him even a quarter of the stuff you know, but I didn’t feel so disconnected anymore.”
Domenico looked at Seth’s sweet, handsome face and gently brushed his fingers through his hair. “I get it, he was a straight guy.”
Seth smiled and went for the roast chicken in the end. “I knew he wouldn’t stick around in my life, but I enjoyed his company.”
Domenico couldn’t stop feeling a tiny bit jealous anyway. Couldn’t he provide everything Seth needed? “Only as a friend?”
“Yes, Dom. Only as a friend. Not everyone wants to fuck me, you know?”
Domenico rolled his eyes and sent the message he typed in the meanwhile. At least Dana would get Mark out of his sight. “Yeah right. You’re like the fucking gay Holy Grail. Can’t think of anybody who wouldn’t want to fill you at least once.”
Seth’s jaw dropped as he looked up at Dom. “And why’s that?”
Domenico leaned against the wall, uncomfortable with the topic. “Because you’re so fucking radiant. Sweet, hard, fucking pretty but not like a doll.”
Seth nodded. “I like that. I can live with that.”
Domenico walked up to the bed and sat in the chair, slipping the biker’s phone into his pocket as he touched Seth, watching him eat. If only he could stop constantly worrying and give Seth the kind of life he needed.
Domenico hadn’t moved from the hospital the next day. He only left Seth’s room to use the cafeteria and buy some snacks. Other than that, he spent about fifteen hours dozing off in the chair, watching TV, and playing cards with Seth. Seth was in pain, but the pills helped him enough to actually be eager for distractions, which Domenico was happy to provide. It was rather nice to have this time to spend with only each other. Seth told him all about a food blog he wanted to run one day, where he’d pay homage to his mother’s cooking, and how he was already looking for cameras online to take great photos of his creations. It was the sweetest, non-mafia related conversation and reminded Domenico just why he was so grateful to have a man like Seth when they were surrounded by sharks.
Guns n' Boys: Swamp Blood (Book 3) (gay dark mafia erotic romance) Page 14
