About six feet from them stood a carbon copy of baldy, only a good twenty-five years older. The older man had a gun in his hand and was pointing it at Pete.
Now Gabriel could hear the old guy shouting, “Let him go. I swear I’ll shoot that little piece of shit right now.”
“You better be a good shot, because sonny is a dead man and you are too. Look around Marvy, have you ever had so many guns pointed at you?” Treb asked.
Gabriel looked down at his hand that was holding a gun, aimed right at Pete’s uncle’s head. He hadn’t even known he had pulled it out. Looking at Marvin, his finger tightened on the trigger.
With the blood roaring in his ears, Gabriel watched in slow motion as a small hole appeared on the middle of Marvin’s forehead. Then blood and brain matter splattered as the back of Marvin’s head exploded outward.
Time returned to normal and Gabriel looked down at his still cold gun.
Gabriel jumped as he heard the sheriff’s voice say. “I’ve wanted to shoot that son of a bitch for years.” Looking back over his shoulder, Gabriel saw the sheriff putting his gun back into his holster. “Let’s get this place secured so the DCI can clean this up.”
Gabriel could care less about securing anyone. He had only one person he was heading for. Seconds later he dropped to his knees next to the still unconscious Pete. With a flick of his knife the rope binding Pete’s wrists was cut and Gabriel gently laid Pete down on the ground.
Gabriel clicked into professional field medic mode and lifted an eyelid to see if Pete’s pupils were blown, he then put two fingers to his neck taking Pete’s pulse and ran swift efficient hands over his torso and limbs to see if there were any apparent broken bones.
“I’ve checked all of the men Treb took out.” Jack came up beside Gabriel. “They’re all going to be fine, eventually. How’s he doing?” Jack immediately dropped down beside where Gabriel had stopped his examination and was concentrating on Pete’s right foot, still incased in a dirty ripped tennis shoe.
“Possible broken ribs, facial bones and foot,” Gabriel said. “I’m going to leave the shoe on so it can hold in a lot of the swelling and act as a stabilizer.”
By now Gabriel was in total professional mode. If he wasn’t he would be using his knife to carve his name and then some pieces off of the man who was now yelling at the top of his lungs as the sheriff handcuffed him and was reciting the Miranda rights to. The yelling could be because Treb was standing right in front of the guy. From the angle he was in he couldn’t see exactly what Treb was doing, but it had to be good with the way the guy was screaming.
“Gabriel,” Pete whispered.
Chapter Eleven
They ended up finding an old dirty blanket and used it to carry Pete out of the woods. Gabriel was holding a corner next to Pete’s head, keeping up a steady stream of words, so that he knew Gabriel was there. Alex, Tony, Jack, Damian, Treb and Shane had a hand-hold of the blanket, walking in unison, making Pete’s ride as smooth as possible.
When they reached the ambulance parked on the edge of the woods, the EMTs took one look at Treb and stark fear crossed over their faces. Gabriel found it a little out of the ordinary that the EMT attending to Pete always made sure Gabriel was right next to his pretty, even when they loaded Pete into the ambulance. On the ride to the hospital, Gabriel heard the driver talking on the radio. “Heads up, we have a Rescue for Hire patient on the way in, possible head injury.” Gabriel couldn’t figure out why the driver had to warn the hospital about Pete’s association with Rescue for Hire.
At that point he didn’t care. The feel of Pete’s hand in his kept his heart from beating out of his chest in fear. Gabriel kept talking to Pete telling him anything he could think of. As long as Pete’s grip stayed firm Gabriel knew he was okay.
At the hospital a doctor and a nurse met the stretcher in the lobby of the emergency room. They stopped about four feet away from the stretcher and looked at Gabriel. “Are you his partner?” the doctor asked.
“Yes, I am,” Gabriel answered. “I’m also a field medic.”
Both the strange-acting doctor and nurse visibly relaxed. Gabriel also noticed the EMT’s had abandoned the stretcher and were over by the exit door.
“What are his possible injuries?” the doctor asked. He and the nurse still didn’t move closer to Pete.
“Doctor, I’m finding this behavior highly unusual,” Gabriel said. He was starting to get pissed. His Pete needed medical attention.
“Mr…”
“Simmons,” Gabriel stated.
“Mr. Simmons, this hospital has treated a Rescue for Hire employee before. I believe his last name was Walker. We learn fast around here and we now know when a Rescue for Hire employee comes in here with a head injury, we need to treat him a little differently.”
Now Gabriel was getting a picture of the situation. Treb with a head injury had to have been a nasty situation for everyone involved. But was he going to point out that Pete wasn’t an official employee of Rescue for Hire? Nope.
“I see,” Gabriel said. “This is Pete Kenyan. He has a possible head injury, including facial bone fractures, possible fractured ribs and foot. I’m not sure if he is totally coherent, but he does have a firm grip on my hand.”
“Okay, let’s get him to room one.” At the doctor’s orders the EMTs rushed over and pushed the stretcher through a pair of solid wooden automatic doors, with Gabriel right next to Pete all the way.
* * * *
Gabriel shifted for the tenth time on the hard cloth-covered chair in the waiting-room for family of patients in surgery. It had been two hours since they had taken his pretty Pete away to perform surgery on his injured foot. The bastard cousin had broken a lot of tiny bones in that foot and they’d had to call in a foot specialist to repair it.
Next to Gabriel, Shane shifted his big body in the torture device called a waiting-room chair. Next to Shane sat Tony, typing away on his ever-present laptop.
“It’s a good thing they found he only had a minor head injury and the bone in his cheek is only cracked,” Jack said. He was sitting across from Gabriel, his arm around the back of sweet Pip’s chair.
“You’re right, it could be much worse,” Gabriel agreed.
“And only one rib is cracked, the rest are just bruised,” Bret chimed in. He was sitting in the circle of Cade’s arm next to Pip.
“Yep, only one was cracked,” Gabriel said.
“I suppose it wouldn’t help to say that the foot will eventually heal,” Alex said. His partner, the gorgeous, famous chef, Leo DeLuca, was sitting by his side.
“It will heal,” Gabriel agreed.
So, you want to tell me what you’re really planning?” Cade asked.
Gabriel looked up into the serious blue eyes of his employer and knew he hadn’t fooled the man one iota.
“Truth?” he asked.
“Yep,” Cade answered.
What the hell, Gabriel thought. “The first chance I get, I’m going to take a knife and cut Howard into little pieces.”
“Cool. Can I watch?” Treb said.
“You are not going to watch, because he isn’t going to cut anyone.” Damian put his hand on Treb’s leg.
Gabriel watched Cade study him for a moment. Gabriel refused to back down. He would even the score at what that piece of shit did to Pete.
“Nah, you can’t cut him up,” Shane said. “If we all went to jail, who would rescue all the people that need our help?”
At that moment Gabriel realized this team, this family would stand behind him. If he decided to take revenge, they would all take the fall right along with him.
* * * *
Pete looked over at Haley sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed.
“So the sheriff came in and said Howard is in jail on multiple felony drug and a bunch of other charges,” Pete continued. “Turns out they had turned the whole second floor into a meth lab.”
“How come that doesn’t surprise me? How come I’m not ev
en surprised that they lived in the first floor while all those chemicals were there on the second floor?” Haley asked.
“Because you had to live with them all those years,” Pete answered.
“What happens now?” Haley asked.
“The house is condemned, because of all the chemicals that seeped into the walls and floors. They had to call a hazmat team to clear all that crap out of the house. The sheriff said they found a whole room full of drugs.”
“We should blow it up,” Haley said.
For the first time in a long time Haley looked twenty-one instead of forty. No one should have such dark circles under their eyes as Haley did. Pete wondered how much actual sleep Haley was getting.
“I’ll look into it and see if we can,” Pete said. “I talked to Damian and he said it was okay for you to pack up your stuff from the dorms and move into the apartment above the hangar.”
“Why,” Haley asked.
“Why not,” Pete countered. “You’re not in danger anymore. The college is only twenty-five miles away. If your beater can’t make it, I’ll buy you a new car. Apparently I have money now.”
“Tell me what happened with that. You didn’t call me until everything was over,” Haley complained.
“Head injury, remember? I wasn’t quite with it for a while,” Pete said. “Yesterday a lawyer from St. Louis came here and I had to sign a bunch of papers. Apparently my mother had a lot of money, but even though she got pregnant with me she refused to marry my father.”
“Smart lady,” Haley observed.
“She set up a trust fund and left everything to me if something happened to her,” Pete explained. “Unfortunately she had them put in the will that I couldn’t get the money until I was twenty-five. That included the house and land. So until I turned twenty-five, my father was appointed as my guardian.”
“Again, smart lady,” Haley said.
“Why do you say that?” Had Haley forgotten what a rat bastard his father was?
“Because, that way you stayed alive. It would be the only way that bastard could have access to the land and money,” Haley pointed out.
“Except until I was twenty-five the money in the trust fund could only be used to pay the taxes,” Pete said.
“So now you’re rich and can do anything you want. What’s next?” Haley’s fingers were clutching the wooden arms of the chair so tightly his knuckles were turning white.
“Well, when Gabriel gets back from his shower, he’s taking me to Cade’s house to recover.” Pete smiled, just feeling happy. “Until my foot is healed, stair-steps are out. That’s why you can move above the hangar.”
“But what are you going to do with your life now that you have all kinds of money?” Haley’s fingers were still clutching the chair.
“Gabriel’s going to rescue people and I’m going to fly planes.” Pete was kind of confused. “We’re hoping to figure out where we want to build a house and what kind of home we want.” Pete knew the smile he felt spreading his face wide, probably looked sappy. “Oh, and Tony was here when the lawyer was. They had a huge discussion and Tony arranged everything so that my money is making money.” Pete shrugged his shoulders. “His words. Gabriel said Tony was an accountant and made gobs of money for the team.
“So you’re staying around?” Haley asked.
“Of course, where would I go? You and Gabriel are here.”
Before his eyes Haley relaxed and smiled. Lifting his arm, Haley looked at his watch and frowned. “I have to go. I’ve got a class in an hour.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Pete said. “Pip used to work at the community center and still keeps up with things there. He said there’s going to be an opening for a fulltime teacher for the four-year-olds starting with the new school year. You should have your teaching certificate by then and he said if you wanted to apply, he would put a good word in for you.”
“Oh.” Haley’s gray-blue eyes were wide and his mouth was half-open. “Um, I’ll get something together and get it to him.”
Pete laughed at his cousin. Things were turning around for both of them. With a hug, Haley left, his step lighter than Pete had ever seen it.
Five minutes later, Gabriel entered the room. His clothes were tucked under one arm and jet black hair was still wet from his shower. He looked scrumptious.
“Hello, handsome.” They had only been apart about a half hour and Pete had missed him.
“Hello, pretty Pete.” Gabriel smiled and put his clothes in Pete’s bag sitting on the end of the bed, ready to go home.
Pete had an idea. “You know how they have a mile-high club for airplanes?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, we could join the mile-high club for a hospital.” Pete’s cock was warming up to the idea.
“You do realize you’ve only gotten up from that hospital bed a handful of times this last week.” Gabriel pointed out.
“So, I feel good.” Pete pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, winced when his lip hurt, and released it. He couldn’t figure out why Gabriel wasn’t jumping at the chance to have sex. It would be exciting.
Gabriel leaned over the bed and braced his hand on either side of Pete’s hips and brought his lips down on Pete’s. Although he enjoyed the gentle kiss, he wished it was down and dirty.
“I’ll make you a deal, pretty Pete,” Gabriel whispered against Pete’s lips.
Pete would have agreed to anything at that moment. “Okay.”
We’ll get you out of bed and to the bathroom.” Gabriel paused. Pete liked what he was saying so far. “If by the time we get you changed into your clothes, and you still want to fool around. We can.”
“I agree.” This was going to be easy peasy.
Gabriel went to the corner of the room and picked up the walker and set it by the bed. Pete had already decided that once he was out of the hospital he was using crutches, not an old person’s walker.
Pete pushed down the covers, feeling a sharp stab in his side from his cracked rip protesting his leaning forward. Ignoring it Pete slid his legs a few inches, intending to slide them off the bed so he could set on the edge. Pain lanced through the whole side of his body.
“Maybe I need a little help,” he said.
With a few gasps of pain, Pete made it to a sitting position on the bed with his legs hanging off. He did not want to acknowledge that sweat now covered his face and his knives were stabbing into his side with every breath he took. His face also felt heavier on the side where his cheek bone was cracked.
Looking at Gabriel’s face, he could see the man was trying to look neutral.
“Okay, maybe sex is out,” he admitted. “But there’s a bench in the bathroom. I could sit on it and give you a blow job.” Pete was sure he could do that.
Gabriel picked up the walker and set it right in front of Pete. Raising his hand, he put his thumb against Pete’s bottom lip and then let it travel over his swollen cheek. “We’ll see, pretty Pete.”
Pete frowned at Gabriel’s obvious reluctance. “Don’t you want me anymore?”
Gabriel stood up straight before Pete and crossed his arms over his wide chest. “I will always want you, but I won’t hurt you.”
Pete snorted, “Says the man who has threatened to give me a spanking for going out in the woods without telling him what was going on.”
Now Gabriel was frowning. “I didn’t threaten. I promised. Because you are getting that spanking. And believe me, by the time I’m done with you, you will be so happily worn out, you’ll probably be asleep before your cum dries on the sheets.”
“Hmmm.” Pete couldn’t think of a response to that. Besides, his cock now was half-hard. “Well, let’s get to the bathroom.”
Pete with Gabriel’s help carefully collapsed on the bench in the bathroom. He desperately tried not to breathe too deeply and make his side scream any more than it was screaming now. Shit he hurt.
Now he couldn’t figure out how he was going to get his clothes on. He was sure his legs had
ten tons of weights on them and his arms refused to move.
“Gabriel,” he pleaded.
“It’s all right, pretty Pete. It’ll just take a few minutes and then we’ll get you back to bed until the nurse brings in your discharge papers.” Pete loved how good Gabriel always treated him.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too, pretty Pete.
* * * *
Driving up the long gravel driveway, Gabriel could just catch glimpses here and there, through the trees, of a big yellow backhoe moving around. Finally, the woods parted, and before him was a half torn down farmhouse with a huge hole dug in the ground next to it.
Parking the truck next to Pete’s piece of shit vehicle, Gabriel sat there a moment and took in the scene in front of him. His pretty Pete and Haley were sitting on short lawn chairs under a big maple tree, watching the destruction of the old farmhouse. On either side of them sat Bret and Pip. On a blanket, Harry was busy chewing on a plastic bone chew toy.
Gabriel couldn’t hold back the laugh at the spectacle the four men made. All of them were shirtless, with bright-colored long baggy shorts on and wearing white-framed plastic sunglasses. White visors matching their glasses kept the sun out and their blond styled hair just so. Because the legs of the chairs they were sitting on were so short, their own legs were stretched out in front of them, their feet adorn with turquoise flip-flops. Of course Pete only had one flip-flop on. Soon he would be fitted with a walking cast after having multiple surgeries on the foot Howard had injured.
Getting out of the truck, Gabriel noted the large glass in each man’s hand containing a pink concoction which included a lot of ice. Of course each glass also had an umbrella in it.
“Are you four having a party, pretty Pete?” Gabriel asked. He smiled at how happy looked so gorgeous on his pretty bird.
“Yes, we are. We’re celebrating the obliteration of the hell-hole Haley and I grew up in. May our dear-old-dads never rest in peace.” Pete raised his glass and touched it to Haley’s and then Bret’s and Pip’s.
Gabriel's Pretty [Rescue for Hire 6](Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 10
