“I picked you up at the airport yesterday. Yesterday, Patrick. You’ve been back for a day and you get in a fight in the locker room. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Patrick’s eyes narrowed in anger. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Patrick, honey, you’re hitting people. At work. That’s not normal. Even for you.” Her crossed arms were doing a good job of highlighting her cleavage, but they did nothing to distract from her irritation. Of course, that might have been different if Patrick hadn’t been gay. He was fairly certain that most men would’ve been staring at her breasts, not the angry green eyes.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Patrick—”
“I said that I don’t want to fucking talk about it!” He snarled and took a step toward her. A sharp finger stabbed into his chest with enough force to make him back up again.
“You do not get to snap at me, Patrick Samuel Hawkins! I am your friend, and I care about you.”
Patrick sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I know. I’m sorry that I snapped.”
Justine moved into his personal space and placed a hand over his now-crossed arms. “Pat, hon, I’m worried about you. You’ve come back from a month-long vacation more stressed than when you left.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Sparky. Please, just leave it alone.” Patrick gave her what he hoped was a convincing pleading stare.
“Fine, I’ll let it go.” Justine gave him a steady stare. “For now.”
“I’m going home. I told Bryce that I’d take Bingo, so I have to go and get things ready.”
“You’re getting a dog?” There was surprise and what looked like a faint hint of approval on Justine’s face.
“Yes.”
“Good for you. You need someone to look after you.”
“And you think a dog is going to be able to do that?”
Justine snorted. “You sure as hell aren’t doing a good job of looking after yourself. If you were, you wouldn’t have gotten your annoying ass shot.”
“I didn’t get my ass shot, I got my shoulder shot.”
“You know what I mean, you jackass.”
Patrick managed to give Justine a slight smile. “I just might.” Patrick leaned down slightly and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
“You better.” Justine gave him a partially mollified look before she turned and strutted out of the locker room.
Once sure that she was gone, Patrick let out a sigh and fell back against the lockers. The chill from the metal seeped into his skin, causing a twinge in his injured shoulder. He grimaced and pushed away from the bank of lockers and headed back to his still open one. Reaching inside, he grabbed a clean shirt and pulled it on. His shoulder throbbed as he forced it first into the T-shirt and then into his jacket. Grabbing his gym bag, Patrick closed his locker and left the locker room.
Patrick managed to avoid running into anyone as he left the station. He was starting to feel like an idiot for picking a fight with Burt. Justine was right. He really needed to get his head on straight. Maybe having Bingo in the house would help. Patrick was running out of ways to keep his mind off the pain of being without Brad. It felt like a part of him was missing. And that, more than anything else, was what had Patrick so scared.
PATRICK groaned as he stepped into his empty house. His abs hurt. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to get a tattoo after he had tormented himself with sit-ups, but he just hadn’t been able to bear the idea of going home to an empty house. A house that didn’t have Brad in it. But it would soon have a dog in it. Although one couldn’t really replace the other. Patrick just hoped that Bingo would be able to help fill the void that Brad had left.
Tossing his keys on the table by the door, Patrick headed to the couch. He tugged at his shirt as he sat down. Not only was his stomach sore, but the shirt he was wearing kept dragging against his newly pierced nipple. He was starting to understand the weird look Keegan had given him when he had shown up at the tattoo parlor and demanded the tattoo and the piercing. Patrick groaned when his phone started to ring. Stretching for it wasn’t going to be fun.
Patrick grabbed the phone with a hiss of discomfort. “Hello?”
“Hey, Pat, it’s Jeremy.”
“Goldilocks, what’s going on?” Patrick settled back against the couch with a wince.
“Are you busy?”
“Not really. Why?”
“Can you do me a favor?”
Patrick frowned at the phone. “You want me to do you a favor?”
“That’s why I called.”
“This is new. You don’t usually ask me for favors. Is it sexual?” Please God say no, ’cause I don’t think I’m up for anything.
“No, you perv. I need you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“I need you to go and pick Caleb up at the hospital.”
“Who?”
There was an annoyed sigh on the other side of the phone. “Caleb Bradshaw, the guy who helps out at the Humane Society.”
“The tall guy with the nice ass?”
“Yes, that would be him.”
“His name is Caleb?”
“You and Justine were the arresting officers on the drug case with the guard dogs that he rescued. How the hell do you not know his name?”
“I was just calling him ‘Hot Animal Rescue Guy’ in my head.”
“Sometimes I just want to smack you.” Jeremy’s exasperation was clear even over the phone.
“Kinky. So, why is he in the hospital?”
“He was bitten.”
“By a dog?”
“No, by a person.”
“I didn’t realize that you ran that kind of place, Goldilocks.”
“Shut up.” Jeremy gave an annoyed sigh. “Look, the Humane Society sent over a bunch of abused animals that they found at some guy’s house. Caleb was helping to unload them here when this guy came roaring up, jumped out of his car, and started screaming how the animals all belonged to him and we shouldn’t be allowed to take them. Caleb tried to get him to back down, and the guy bit him.”
“What type of guy bites someone?”
“You do.”
“Yes, but I do it during sex, not on the street. Now get to the part where you need me to go and pick him up.”
“When he left in the ambulance, I told him that I’d go pick him up and bring him back. I talked him into leaving his car here. Some of these animals are a lot worse off than we thought, and now I can’t leave.”
“And why can’t Cam get him?”
“Cam has decided that today is a wonderful day to wander around in the woods and take photos.”
“We still have woods around here?” Patrick glanced at the clock. It was only two. “I can go and get him, but I have to be home by four.”
“Why, hot date?”
“No, I’m taking Bingo, and Bryce is bringing her over when he gets off work.”
“You’re taking Bingo?” Jeremy sounded surprised.
Patrick glared at the phone. “Yes, I’m taking Bingo. Is that a problem?”
“No. I think you and Bingo will be a good fit.”
“Thanks. So, is there anything else that you want from me, or can I leave and go get your friend now?”
“You can leave. Thanks for this, Patrick.”
“It’s not a problem, Goldilocks. I’ll talk to you later.” Patrick hung up the phone with another small wince. Moving hurt. He really was starting to think that getting the tattoo after torturing his abdominal muscles was a stupid idea.
Groaning as he lurched to his feet, Patrick slowly moved back to the table where he had dropped his keys. Thankfully, he still had his jacket on. He didn’t want to think about how much it would have hurt to put it back on. He snatched up his keys and made his way back to his car. At least this was a way for him to get out of his empty house for a bit longer.
The d
rive to the hospital was quick, and one that he could do in his sleep. With all of the appointments that he had had after his back injury three years previously, Patrick was pretty sure that he could make the drive with his eyes closed. Numerous checkups after a bullet in a spine tended to imprint the drive in one’s memory. Finding a spot in the crowded parking lot took a bit longer than Patrick had expected. Apparently Caleb wasn’t the only one with an emergency.
Patrick slipped into the hospital while pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head. Waving at a nurse that he knew, Patrick navigated through the chaos and into the emergency exam area. He let his eyes travel around the rather busy room until they landed on a familiar tall figure. As he made his way closer, Patrick was finally able to get a good look at the nurse who was helping Caleb.
Keith looked incredibly small next to Caleb’s rather astounding height. He was sitting on an exam table and Keith’s blond head still only came up to the middle of his chest. As Patrick dodged a rather harried-looking nurse, he was able to finally hear the other two men.
“I don’t understand how you managed to let a person bite you.” There was a hint of annoyance in Keith’s voice.
“It’s not like I did it on purpose.”
“A giant like you can’t keep some crazy animal abuser from taking a chunk out of your arm? That’s pretty sad, Caleb.” Keith’s head was bent over Caleb’s injured arm, so he didn’t see the blush that started on the other man’s face.
“Aw, come on, Frisky, give the poor guy a break.”
Keith’s head snapped up, and a bright smile spread over his face. “Hey, Trick!” Keith leaned away from Caleb long enough to rise on his toes and give Patrick a brief kiss. “When did you get back?”
“Yesterday.” Patrick leaned over Keith’s shoulder to take a good look at Caleb’s arm. “Damn, Stretch, how the hell did you manage to let some freak do that to your arm?”
“He latched on. Kind of like a pit bull.”
“That doesn’t sound pleasant.” Patrick rested his chin on Keith’s shoulder as the other man continued cleaning Caleb’s arm.
“No, it hurt like hell.”
“Don’t worry. Frisky here will stitch you up good.” Patrick gave Keith a brief squeeze.
“Um, thanks.” Caleb’s voice was starting to sound uncomfortable. Patrick watched the way his eyes kept shifting between his injured arm and where Patrick had his arm wrapped around Keith’s waist.
“Trick, man, do you think you could let go of me? I don’t want to stitch Caleb’s arm to my scrubs.”
“You sure about that? He’s kinda cute. If you stitch him to your scrubs you can take him home with you.”
“You do have a point,” Keith agreed. He pulled away from Patrick’s arms and focused on Caleb. “So, not that I don’t like seeing you, but why are you here?”
“Jeremy sent me to get Caleb.”
Caleb looked up and met Patrick’s eyes. “Is everything okay?”
“Apparently, he’s swamped.”
Keith snorted in amusement. “And he thought you would be a suitable replacement?”
“Hey, I can drive.”
“You’ll probably try and molest him in the car.”
“I can behave myself.”
“Uh-huh,” Keith muttered. He put one final stitch in Caleb’s arm and then straightened. Grabbing the gauze off of the tray next to him, Keith started to wrap up the stitched wound. “You need to keep this clean.”
“I will,” Caleb replied.
“And make sure to take all of the antibiotics the doctor gave you. The human mouth is full of bacteria. You don’t want to get an infection.”
“Wow, your lecture is almost as scary as the one Julian gave me.”
Keith turned, and Patrick found himself staring down into angry hazel eyes. “Julian gave you a lecture because you’re an idiot and you let your bullet wound get infected.”
“How do you know it was infected? I don’t remember telling you.”
“I know it was infected because the last time you had to take antibiotics I had to mash them up and put them in your food to make sure you took them.”
“I was wondering why you kept feeding me.”
“This may be a stupid question,” Caleb interjected, “but are the two of you dating?”
“No,” Patrick replied. He felt a tad guilty for how quickly the denial had come out, but he couldn’t bear the idea of dating someone who wasn’t Brad. As depression crashed back over him, Patrick could feel the pain in his freshly decorated skin once again. The teasing had been a nice distraction.
“No,” Keith agreed, “but we used to date.”
“You still seem really close.”
“We are really close, aren’t we, Trick?”
“Yeah, we are,” Patrick replied. He ran his hand down Keith’s back in a silent apology for the way that he had snapped out his denial. When Keith pressed back into the touch, he knew that he was forgiven. That was the one thing he could count on Keith for: the young man knew how to read his moods better than most. It was probably due to how much time they had spent together when Patrick was in the hospital. Keith was the one who had had to deal with Patrick’s many mood swings.
“Well, Caleb, I’m all done with you. If you head over to the nurses’ station, they’ll give you the papers that you need to sign before you can leave.”
“Thanks.” Caleb slid off the bed and onto his feet. Once his full height was revealed, he towered over Keith’s small form. He was even taller than Patrick’s six foot two. He nodded at Keith, then turned to Patrick with a small smile. “So, is my personal chauffeur coming to the desk with me?”
“He’ll catch up,” Keith answered for him. “I need to talk to him for a minute.”
“Okay.” Caleb smiled and made his way over to the nurses’ station.
“So, what is it that you need to talk to me about?”
“How are you?”
Looking into the concerned hazel eyes of his friend, Patrick felt the walls he had slammed up to hide his pain start to crumble. “I can’t—”
“Pat?”
“I can’t talk about this now, Keith. I just can’t.”
“Okay.” Keith reached out and grabbed his hand. “You know that I’m here for you, right?”
“I know.” Patrick pulled him close and kissed the top of his head. “I’ve got to take Caleb back to the animal clinic.”
“Call me?”
“I will.” Patrick gave his hand a brief squeeze before making his way over to the waiting Caleb. “Come on, Stretch.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“I like nicknames.” Patrick paused to look Caleb over from head to toe. “Plus, you are freakishly tall.”
“Do you even know my real name?”
“Yes, Caleb Bradshaw, I know your real name.” Patrick grinned at him. Sometimes he really loved being a smartass. “Ready to go now?”
“You’re a cocky shit, aren’t you?”
“I can be.” Patrick nodded toward the exit and started walking. It only took a few steps for Caleb’s long legs to catch up with him. Once they were outside, Patrick pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and quickly lit up. He sighed as the first bite of nicotine hit his system.
“I didn’t know that you smoked,” Caleb commented.
Patrick turned slightly and gave the taller man a dirty look. “Problem?”
“Those things will kill you.”
“Don’t make me light you on fire after Keith spent so long fixing your bitten arm.”
“Um, okay.” Caleb held up his hands in defeat and motioned for Patrick to lead him to the car. Keeping the glower in place, Patrick stalked toward his car. Caleb easily kept pace with him. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Yes, you did. You think you can say anything you want and get away with it just because you have a nice ass and big puppy eyes.”
“Um, thank you?” Caleb gave a weak smile and slowed his pace, so he ended up walkin
g slightly behind Patrick. Patrick shook his head as he felt a smile cross his face. Nervous attractive men were so much fun.
“You know, just because Keith and I aren’t dating and I think you have a nice ass doesn’t mean I’m going to toss you across the backseat and have my wicked way with you.”
“You know, I could walk home.”
“Just shut up and get in the car.” Patrick unlocked the doors and winced as he climbed in. Bending hurt. Stupid new tattoo.
“Are you okay? You look like you’re in a bit of pain. Do you need to go back inside?”
“You know, I’m starting to think that you might be a bit too nice for your own good. I’m fine. It’s just a tattoo. Hurts when I bend.”
“You got a tattoo on your stomach?”
“Yes. And I pierced my nipple. Wanna see?”
Caleb turned red all the way to his ears. “No, that’s okay.”
“Just thought that I’d offer.” Patrick smoothly pulled into traffic and headed toward the clinic. He lowered his window so the smoke wouldn’t bother Caleb. “So, are you dating anyone?”
“What?”
“You asked if Keith and I were dating, so now I want to know if you’re dating anyone. It’s polite to answer the same question that you asked.”
“No, I’m not seeing anyone.”
“So what are you doing this weekend?”
“Not going out with you.”
“Ouch. You sure know how to wound a man’s pride.” Patrick glanced over at the passenger seat and gave Caleb a pout. It was the same pout that had helped him get laid through most of university. Not that he was trying to get laid. He was just having fun teasing Caleb.
“It’s not that I don’t think you’re attractive.”
“You think I’m attractive?”
Caleb snorted. “You know that you’re attractive. You’re just not my type.”
“I take it your type is non-male?”
“If I say yes, will you leave me alone, or will you just try harder?”
Patrick laughed as he pulled the car to a stop in front of the animal clinic. He turned in his seat so he could look directly at Caleb. Staring into Caleb’s hazel eyes, Patrick attempted to read him. Underneath the nonchalance that Caleb was apparently going for, Patrick could see a rather large amount of nervousness. “I won’t push, Caleb. Hell, I’m just picking on you ’cause I like the shade of red you turn when you’re embarrassed.”
Broken Wings Page 2
