by Tia Fielding
“Looks like shock,” Dad said quietly and held out a hand for Emil. “Do you want me to take your arm?”
“Y-yeah,” Emil said and let Dad lead him after all the other people.
It was the first time they’d touched in weeks, and Emil couldn’t even try to think about it on a deeper level.
HE MUST’VE blanked out again. They were at the hospital all the way in Woodruff, which was an hour away from Acker. Jason opened the car door for him, so he could get out of the back.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
The three of them went inside, and Jason immediately sought out Lotte, while Dad took Emil to where they were tending to Makai. Nobody cared about where Emil went because he was with the sheriff.
He sat down in a chair by the room where they were examining Makai and tried not to panic.
Dad came to sit with him, and Emil leaned closer until their shoulders were touching. Dad tensed for a moment but then relaxed again.
“He’s going to be okay. He needs to be stitched up and given fluids for the shock, but he’ll be fine.”
It was oddly telling how Dad talked about Makai first. “He doesn’t have anyone here, Dad. Nobody.”
“I think Mr. Miller is a friend of his. Remembers him from when he and his brother came here as kids. They were Benjamin Elfman’s grandsons.”
“Right, I think he mentioned that.” Emil couldn’t be sure, but right then, he wasn’t sure about anything. “He’s not a bad guy, Dad.”
Dad sighed deeply, then after a long while of silence said, “I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He dove into the building after Joie. If he was selfish, that wouldn’t have been his first instinct. But still, everything I said earlier stands. Be careful, but you’ll obviously be fine around him.”
Emil realized that Dad thought Makai himself might not be that dangerous. He seemed more afraid of things and people that might come with having a former convict in town. Not that Makai had that kind of company or was that kind of man. Emil didn’t believe that for a moment.
“Nothing’s gonna happen to me, Dad.”
“I know.” His tone belied the fact that he didn’t believe himself.
Emil leaned to him harder. They sat there until Jason came to them from wherever they’d taken Joey.
“He’ll be fine.” The first words out of Jason’s mouth made Emil slump in his seat. “Concussion, a few scrapes, but he doesn’t even need stitches. The EMTs said that if Makai hadn’t done what he did, there’s no chance Joie would’ve gotten out of it with that little.”
“Yeah, it looked bad. I think it could’ve gone really bad without Stone there,” Dad said in a serious tone. “He took the brunt of it all.”
Emil trembled for a moment, but then a nurse came to them from Makai’s room.
“He needs IV fluids, and we’ll keep him for a couple of hours just in case, but he has been stitched up. With some TLC, he’ll be fine in a few days,” she said brightly, and Emil flushed red.
“Thank you,” Dad told her and got to his feet. “I’ll go talk to him, get his statement, more or less. More officially. I mean he told what he could while he was trapped, but you know.”
“Yeah.” Emil stayed behind, and to his surprise, Jason sat down too with one seat between them.
They didn’t speak, but somehow having someone he knew being nearby calmed him a bit. His anxiety was lessening right up until Dad stepped out of the room and looked at Emil. “He’s asking for you.”
Emil got to his feet and swayed a little. “Whoa….”
“I’ll get you something to e—” Dad stopped himself and looked away awkwardly.
Having had his son kidnapped because of his job was one thing. Having his son kidnapped and tortured and starved because what you did for a living, trying to provide to that son was a whole other ball game. Especially when you couldn’t do much to help with the healing. It had been years, but everyone who had ever been close to Emil carried parts of his trauma, and sometimes they could forget about it for a moment. Other times, something as mundane as food came up and brought it all up once again.
“Get me a protein bar or two and a soda with caffeine?” Emil asked, hoping he could get them down. “I can go get something for myself later, see what looks good.”
“Okay. My shift is supposed to end within an hour, so I’ve called Mom to come pick us up. Jason is going to take the cruiser, and if they let Joie out, he’s taking them home.”
“Sure.” Emil took a deep breath and tried not to concentrate on the fact that he’d have an hour in a car with his parents and Makai, because there was no way Dad would leave Makai to fend on his own here, no matter what he thought of the guy.
“I’ll be right back,” Dad said and walked off toward the cafeteria.
Emil went to the door and put his hand on it. He didn’t care that Jason might see him being nervous. Hell, in some ways, Jason was a friend. He’d seen Emil right… after.
He pushed the door open.
Chapter Seven
MAKAI WINCED as he shifted in the hospital bed. This definitely hadn’t been the way he’d seen the day going. Idly he wondered if anyone had turned off the radio. If not, he hoped he’d remembered to get some new batteries for it. The thing was ancient, but he liked it. Replacing it with a new plug-in model seemed like cheating.
The sheriff had seemed… nicer. Makai vaguely remembered being under the rubble, protecting Joey’s small body with his own, and answering the man’s questions. He’d repeated them now, and Makai had had to tell him he felt fuzzy about the details. He remembered the yelp from Joey and then dashing forward with the thought of “oh fuck, the shed” in his head.
The nurse had told him it was the shock of it all. He was hooked up to an IV and had an oxygen thing under his nose. He had said a firm no to the mask: it reminded him too much of someone holding a hand over his mouth, not that it did the same thing at all.
The door opened, and a weary-looking Emil slunk in.
“Hey,” Makai said, just to say something.
Emil avoided his gaze but walked closer and closer to the bed, until he stood right next to it. Makai felt like just breathing could scare Emil away.
To his shock, Emil glanced at him through his lashes and swallowed hard, and then his eyes watered and he almost threw one hand on top of Makai’s and clutched it.
“I’m so sorry!” Emil’s tone sounded more like a pained hiss than actual speech, and the tears brimmed over, falling down his cheeks.
“What? No,” Makai managed to say, giving Emil’s long battered-looking fingers a gentle squeeze. He didn’t know what had happened to Emil, but he knew what once-broken fingers looked like, and someone had done a number on Emil’s. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Or well, it was mine for not knocking the thing down before, if we’re blaming someone.”
“No. I should’ve known to look after Joey better,” Emil insisted quietly.
“Hey, me too. I was there as well. I knew what was at the end of the path better than you.” He looked at Emil until he raised his gaze to meet Makai’s. “Can we try not to blame anyone, including ourselves?”
Emil gave him a small smile. Then it wobbled, and he averted his gaze again but at the same time clutched Makai’s fingers tighter.
“What’s going on, Emil?” Makai asked gently, hoping not to spook him.
“I… I haven’t held anyone’s hand in months. A virtual stranger’s… not in years. More than five years.”
“Okay.” Makai waited with a weird fluttery feeling in his stomach as Emil gathered his words to speak again.
“I don’t know… I mean I haven’t even asked if you’re… into….” Emil looked so uncomfortable.
Makai decided to help him out. “Yes.”
Emil’s gaze snapped to his like a magnet. “Yes?”
“Uh-huh. It’s just….” He trailed off, then decided that Emil deserved the truth for his bravery. “I always thought I was straight becau
se I was with a girl when I went into prison. And there….” A tremor traveled through his own body.
“Oh….” Emil squeezed his fingers, and Makai flashed him what he hoped was more of a smile and less of a grimace.
“Yeah. So, I’ve never done anything consensual with a guy. And the nonconsensual things… there was a lot of that, in the first prison.” He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I haven’t really had much therapy, either. There’s bound to be triggers and shit I don’t even know.”
Emil nodded, and his hand twitched in Makai’s, but he didn’t pull away. Makai wasn’t sure if he was holding back from retreating or battling his own memories or both. “I get that. Something really bad happened to me when I was seventeen. I’ve been in therapy ever since, for five years. I think….” Emil gnawed on his lower lip for a moment, then looked just past Makai, not able to make eye contact, it seemed. “Would you want to like, talk about this shit? Just so we’re on the same page?”
Makai admired bravery, and this was Emil being brave as hell. “I want to get to know you better. So yeah, I think we could do that.”
Emil relaxed visibly, and slowly pulled his hand back from Makai’s. He thought Emil had gotten enough, or almost too much, human contact for one day.
To his surprise, Makai felt relief too. Things were suddenly so damn real.
A knock sounded from the door, and the sheriff stepped in.
“Here,” he said and gave Emil some soda and protein bars. “Sit and eat, son.”
Emil took a seat by the bed, close enough for the sheriff to notice, it seemed. A thoughtful expression passed across his face, and then he took the other chair in the room and sat on the opposite side.
“So, I think we should get a little crew together and clear out the boat shed,” the sheriff said out of the blue.
Makai felt his eyes widen. “Oh, but—”
“No buts. It’s way too much and unsafe for one man to do by himself, and we have plenty of able bodies in this town. I’m sure the deputies will want to help, at least.”
“He has stitches,” Emil reminded as he struggled to open the protein bar.
Without thinking, Makai held out a hand toward him and took the bar, opened it, and handed it back to Emil. His head felt achy, but not too bad. He assumed it would be expected, having had a building—even a small one—collapse on him.
“Well,” the sheriff grunted. “If you make some food and have beer for everyone, keep them fed and oversee the job, that’d work.”
Makai thought for a moment and decided that it couldn’t hurt, and at least it would be done then.
“Okay. I don’t know where to get a dumpster. Any thoughts?”
“Don’t you worry, I know where to get it. I’ll handle everything we need for it except the food, and bill you later.” There was a small grin on the sheriff’s face, and Makai was all for taking what he could get.
“Sure.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Any ideas on how I’ll get home from here?”
He was starting to get a headache, and he was supposed to tell the nurse that.
“My wife is coming to pick me and Emil up, so you can ride with us if you want to.”
Emil gave Makai a dramatic wide-eyed look that made him chuckle.
“You don’t have to wait for me if this takes a while.” He turned his head and felt dizzy. The headache got worse too. He blinked a couple of times and saw the sheriff get up and leave the room. Then a nurse came in and shined a light into his eyes. “Oww, what…?”
“Yeah, we’re so keeping you overnight, Makai Stone,” she murmured and took his pulse again.
She said something about a doctor coming to see him soon, and he sighed. Fuck. There went any chance of him going home today. That reminded him of the responsibilities he had. He looked at Emil.
“Could you go take care of Mouse and the babies?” he asked, and the nurse who was doing something with his IV froze and then turned to look at him.
“Mouse?”
“She’s a cat,” Makai said, as if that explained everything.
“A gray cat,” Emil added for her benefit. “And of course. I think… weren’t you going to the Target tomorrow? What if…?” He swallowed hard and looked at the soda can in his hands. “What if I take your truck tomorrow and drive here to get you? I want to go to Target too, so….”
The sheriff fidgeted in the seat he’d reclaimed and Makai looked at him.
He didn’t want to ask the man if he was allowed to hang out with his son, but fuck it, the situation was annoying as it was.
He didn’t have to even open his mouth, because Sheriff Newman lifted his hands in surrender and gave them a hint of a smile. “Don’t look at me. Your choice.”
“If you feel comfortable driving the thing, then sure,” Makai told Emil.
They both knew he meant if Emil would feel comfortable inside the vehicle with him for an hour on the way back.
Emil smiled at him briefly. “Yeah, I think I can handle it, as long as it’s stick gear. Never learned to drive automatic.”
“Oh, definitely old enough to be stick,” Makai assured him. Then another spike of the headache made him squeeze his eyes shut. Shit.
“Okay, son. Your mom texted that she’ll be here in twenty minutes and wants to go to Anthony’s for pasta, so we should meet her there.”
Emil tensed, then relaxed again. Makai was pretty sure it was about the food but didn’t ask.
“I’ll see you on… Saturday?” Sheriff Newman asked Makai who belatedly remembered the discussion about tearing down the shed.
“Uh, yeah. Works for me. Eleven?”
“We’ll be there.” He got up and went to the door, nodded at Makai, and left.
Emil swallowed audibly in the quiet room. Makai turned his attention back to him.
“I’ll ask the nurse what time she thinks you’ll be released in the morning and come before that, okay?” Emil smiled hesitantly, but there was something akin to daring in his gaze.
“Absolutely. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Makai wanted to touch Emil’s hand again, for reassurance, but he couldn’t initiate these things, at least not yet.
“And I’ll go by your place and feed Mouse and clean the litterbox when we get back to Acker tonight.”
“Thank you.”
Emil ducked his head, he seemed to be trying to decide on something. The decision was made, and he walked around the bed to get to the door but touched Makai’s sheet-covered foot on his way.
“Bye.”
“Bye, Emil.”
MAKAI DIDN’T sleep well, mostly because the bed wasn’t meant for a man his size, and then because of the nurses who came to check up on him intermittently. The doctor had decided he had a minor concussion.
In the morning he got to take a shower to wash the dust off his skin and hair, and a lovely middle-aged nurse came to help him protect the stitches. Since he didn’t have his phone, he couldn’t call Emil to bring him fresh clothes. Luckily the weather looked like it would be nice, so wearing yesterday’s clothes wasn’t such a struggle, even if he’d have to walk out of there in a slightly tight-for-him scrub top.
Makai wondered if they’d have the talk today, maybe during the drive back to Acker, or not. He wasn’t sure he felt ready for it. Only part of that was the niggling headache he still had.
He should’ve known Emil was more thoughtful than Makai gave him credit for. When he appeared in the room where Makai had been transferred for the night, he had a bag in hand and a coffee in the other.
“Oh my God, Emil.” Makai groaned when Emil handed him the large latte.
Emil blushed. “Thought you’d need that. Here’s some clean clothes. I hope you don’t mind I went through your stuff?”
“What? Oh no, not at all. I would’ve called you if I’d had my phone.” Makai took a sip of coffee and made a happy sound.
Emil handed him his Nokia with clear distaste in his gaze. “This was in your kitchen. I think it’s yours.”
Makai laughed. “Yeah, that’s the one that needs replacing, badly. I don’t know which smartphone to get, though, or the laptop. They’ve changed so much in the last decade.”
“I can help you with that,” Emil said brightly. “I assume you’re not against dropping some money on them if they’ll last you a while?”
“Not at all. I’d rather do that, especially living in Acker, than have to find someone who can fix them or replace them.”
“Okay, so I’ll suggest an iPhone, and you can get an Otter Box for it, that’s this fancy cover that’ll keep it safe, and then maybe an Acer laptop, a bit more expensive one so it won’t be old next week, you know?” Emil spoke as he walked to the window to look out.
“I understood about half of that, but okay, whatever you say,” Makai teased, making Emil laugh.
“What else were you thinking of getting?”
“The cat tree, if we find a nice one. Some clothes, new pillows and blankets and stuff like that. And I’d like to stock up on food, too. Canned goods and other stuff that doesn’t spoil. It’s not like I can’t get it from town, but I’d rather have something at the house. There isn’t a real pantry, but there’s a closet in the kitchen corner that I think was used as one.” He drank his coffee and looked at his phone for the time. The nurse should come by with his paperwork and instructions on the stitches soon.
“Did you get paint for the house yet?”
“Yeah, a light yellow, it should look nice. I should probably paint the walls inside as well, but I just think I’ll get posters and things. Maybe do the walls if there needs to be any other bigger renovations at any point in the future, you know?” He slid off the bed and picked up the clothes. “I’ll go change.”
Emil nodded and looked out of the window, but Makai could see the flush rising on his cheeks.
Half an hour later, they were in the truck and heading to Target. Makai could tell Emil was a bit nervous about being in the truck cab with him but tried not to show it. Luckily the first bit of driving wasn’t long, and they got to the store fast.
