Sylas tensed when her eyes dropped to their linked hands.
But then he would swear she was brighter than the sun when she smiled. “It’s about damn time. Introduce me,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“Jojo, this is Sylas…..my boyfriend,” Grainger said with a smile at Sy.
The pause he made between Sylas’ name and the words my boyfriend had felt like it had lasted hours. His heart had actually stopped, he was sure of it. But then those two words had fallen from Grainger’s lips and everything was perfect.
Sylas Thorne was somebody’s boyfriend. Out in public.
Even better than that, he was Grainger Peele’s boyfriend, a man who was perfect in more ways than Sylas could ever name.
Sylas smiled at Grainger and then stuck out his hand to Jojo, “It’s wonderful to meet you,” he said.
She batted his hand away, “Darling, hugs are mandatory for boyfriends. Come here,” she said as she pulled him into her arms.
“Careful, Jojo. He’s recently had surgery.”
She pulled away, “Oh honey, are you alright?”
Sylas was so relieved that she didn’t ask him what had happened that he grinned and nodded, “Yes, ma’am. Grainger has been taking very good care of me.”
Grainger linked their fingers together and pulled him back into his chest, pressing a kiss to the side of Sy’s head, “It’s been my pleasure, babe.”
Jojo snorted a laugh, “I’ll bet it has. And honey, I’m Jojo. Ma’am is for old ladies,” she said with a grin and a wink.
Sylas blushed as he smiled, “Yes, mmm, um, Jojo.”
“There’s a good boy. Do you like pumpkin?”
“I do, very much.”
“Perfect. I just pulled a tray of maple pumpkin scones out of the oven. I’ll go grab two. What would you like to drink?”
“Oh, um…” Sylas looked to Grainger for help.
“Probably not coffee right now, Jojo. How about one of your peppermint hot chocolates?”
“Perfect. Marley, honey?”
“I’ve got it, mama.”
Sylas turned to Grainger, “Aren’t you getting a drink?”
He grinned, “Marley’s got my tea steeping as we speak.”
He led Sylas over to a table and sat down across from him, keeping their hands linked on top of the table.
Sylas had a ton of emotions and thoughts churning inside of him -
Grainger wasn’t hiding anything, he was proud to let everyone know that Sylas was his. And he was his, wasn’t he? But he was his in a way that encouraged Sylas to be himself too. How amazing was that?
“I love you,” he blurted out and then his eyes went wide as he clapped his hand over his mouth, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. That was so inappropriate,” he mumbled.
Grainger got up without letting go of Sylas’ hand and moved onto the seat next to him in the booth. He released Sy’s fingers and wrapped his arm around his shoulders and then used his other hand to hold Sy’s chin, “I love you too, Sylas Thorne, so bloody much.”
He leaned forward and pressed their lips together.
And all was right in Sylas’ world for the first time in his life.
Forty-One
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vaughn
His heart was racing as he looked back into Caysun’s eyes. “Cay? Babe?”
“Hmmm?” Cay mumbled, his eyes beginning to lose their ability to focus.
He pulled a towel from the rack and tossed it to the floor, “I need you to pull your pants down and lie on the towel.”
Caysun snorted, “You want to fuck me in the middle of a gunfight? I’m game.”
He shoved his sweats to his knees, letting everyone in the room know that he was free-ballin’, then he clumsily dropped to his hands and knees and looked over his shoulder, “How do you want me baby?”
Vaughn probably would’ve laughed if his eyes weren’t glued to the hole in the back of Caysun’s leg, the one that was steadily pumping out blood. From where Vaughn stood, the wound was probably too low and far back to have tagged the femoral artery. At least that’s what Vaughn kept saying over and over in his head as he watched the steady flow as it pumped with every beat of Caysun’s heart.
“Robe,” someone said, and it took Vaughn a moment for the words to sink in. He blinked and looked over at the tub to see Miguel pointing at the back of one of the doors, “The tie on my robe.”
Vaughn yanked it, knocking to robe to the floor, then he dropped to his knees behind Cay, “Lie on your stomach, babe,” he said with a gentle press to Cay’s lower back.
Caysun’s knees slid out and he dropped to his stomach, “K,” he slurred.
Vaughn grabbed another towel and wiped away as much blood as he could and then he wrapped the robe sash around Caysun’s thigh and cinched it tight. He pressed around the wound with his thumbs trying to feel for the bullet, but it was too deep into the meaty tissue in Cay’s thigh. Field surgery on it would be painful as fuck but it could be done - Vaughn had done it before.
“There’s gauze and bandages under the sink,” Miguel said.
Casey started to push up, “Do not move, brother,” Vaughn growled, “I’ve got this.”
Caysun snorted.
Vaughn looked down at him, “What are you laughing at?”
“Your growly sexy voice. It’s……”
“Cay? Cay!” Vaughn said as he shook the man’s shoulders.
“What, asshole? What?”
“You passed out on me for a second there.”
“I did?”
“Yeah. You’re shot, babe.”
“I’m, I’m….sh-sh-shot? Fuuuuucck,” he groaned.
Vaughn moved over to the cabinet, opened it and pulled out hydrogen peroxide, gauze and bandages then he scooted back over to Cay’s side.
“This might sting,” was all the warning Caysun got before he poured the liquid over Cay’s wound.
“Fuck, shit, fucking fuck shit!” he shouted as Vaughn held his leg down while the rest of his body squirmed. “Did you pour acid on my leg?”
Vaughn chuckled as he wiped off the excess moisture, “Baby.”
“That shit hurts! And do I hear bubbling? What the fuck, dude. Did you turn me into a damn science experiment?”
Vaughn barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was worried about the wound but if Caysun was making jokes and talking, that’s what he wanted to hear.
Suddenly Caysun began laughing, like cracking up, out of control laughing. “You look like shit,” he said.
Vaughn frowned. Who the fuck…...his thoughts froze along with the rest of him when he heard the hammer of a gun being cocked and then felt the cool metal press to the back of his neck, “Hands up,” a snarly voice said.
Caysun was still laughing uncontrollably, “You look like you haven’t slept in weeks.”
“Try months, asshole,” the man snarled.
Vaughn was doing his best to assess the situation but without the ability to turn around to see if he was facing one man or more, but there wasn’t much he could do at the moment.
And if he moved too quickly and got his head blown off, that wouldn’t really help.
He’d like to avoid getting dead if at all possible.
“Miguel, you are such a grave disappointment,” the man said, clucking his tongue.
“I could say the same about you, El Diablo,” Miguel mumbled.
Vaughn’s eyes lifted and locked with Miguel’s and he watched the man lift one finger.
One. He could take on one, easy. All he had to do was distract the man enough that he moved his gun away.
He was just opening his mouth to say something when he heard…..
“Hello, Uncle”
The man behind Vaughn had the audacity to chuckle, “If I’m not mistaken, that’s the voice of my fairy nephew, Morgan.”
“I am not your nephew any more than Frank is my father.” the man growled.
“I am not afraid to die, M
organ.”
“And I’m not afraid to kill you, Grady.”
“Neither am I,” a wall of a man said as he stepped into the other door, his shoulders so wide they barely fit through the door.
“Luther,” Grady whispered, his eyes wide.
“Put down your fucking gun, O’Toole.”
Vaughn could feel the gun trembling in O’Toole’s hand. With one final growl, the gun pulled away. “Don’t think this is over,” he said as Vaughn spun to his feet, grabbed the man’s wrist and wrenched it behind his back. “My cuffs are in that bag,” he indicated the bag on the floor.
Morgan looked in the bag and came out with the cuffs which Vaughn slapped on the man’s wrists with a satisfying wince and grunt of pain from O’Toole.
“Grady O’Toole,” he said, “You are under arrest for kidnapping, attempted murder and anything else I can drum up.”
“Attempted murder? I didn’t try to kill anyone?”
“No? Poisoning someone with drugs will eventually kill them, you know that, right?”
“He’s fine,” O’Toole said, lifting his chin at Casey.
Vaughn growled as he bunched the front of O’Toole’s shirt in his hand and pushed the man into the wall behind him, “He is my brother, you son of a bitch, and he’s going to have to fight this addiction the rest of his goddamned life!”
“Vaughn,” Casey said from behind him.
“No, brother. I should kill this fucker for what he did to you.”
“Vaughn!” Casey said again, this time with alarm in his voice.
“What?” Vaughn said as he turned to look at Casey.
Casey’s eyes dropped to the floor.
“Oh shit!” Vaughn cried as he dropped to his knees. “Cay? Cay? Wake up, babe!” he said, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks as he felt for a pulse. “Caysun, baby, please. Don’t do this. Don’t you fucking leave. You promised you wouldn’t leave!”
This can’t be real, this can’t be real, went through his head on a mantra as he breathed into Caysun’s mouth and began compressions on his much too quiet heart.
Forty-Two
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caysun
The incessant beep, beep, beep of the machines if what finally brought him back. It was so fucking annoying that he just needed to tell someone, make it fucking stop!
He tried to say that as his eyes blinked open but there was something keeping him from speaking. He tried to reach up to his face but there were wires and cables attached to his hand that prevented him from moving too much.
“Easy there, bud,” a deep voice said, and he felt a hand on his arm, “I’ve called the nurse. Hang on just a minute.”
Caysun frowned. He thought he recognized that voice, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of was that it wasn’t Vaughn’s voice. Where the hell was he? Was he gone? Did something happen to him? Or had he run away? That last thought was the one that made Caysun fight harder to open his damn eyes. Even if what he saw broke his heart.
He moaned as he forced his eyelids up and then blinked a few times at the bright lights. They rolled around a few times before they landed on a face. Morgan? Why was he here? If he was here, that meant that Vaughn was…..
A tear escaped from the corner of his eye and rolled down his temple.
“Hey, don’t cry. Are you hurting?”
He dipped his chin in a nod.
“I’ll get a nurse,” Morgan said but when he tried to step away, Caysun grabbed onto his wrist.
Morgan turned back, “Hey, easy there. What’s wrong?”
How was he supposed to ask where Vaughn was without his voice?
And did he really want the answer to that question?
Another tear slipped out.
“Everyone is okay, Caysun. Casey is fine, Miguel is giving his statement to the FBI, Teeg and Cade are fine.”
Caysun drew a V on Morgan’s palm with the tip of his finger. Then he did it again.
“V?” Morgan said.
Caysun nodded and his heart raced. He sure as fuck hoped that Morgan could figure that out.
“Vaughn?” he said.
Caysun whimpered as he nodded.
“He…..” Morgan began but he was interrupted by people coming into the room. “Mr. Rourke, you’re awake! My name is Ray, I’m your nurse. Doctor Farr is on his way to check you out and take that breathing tube out so you can talk, okay?”
He nodded once then winced when the nurse began to pull on the tape on one side of his mouth as another man joined them at his bedside – this Doctor Farr, he presumed.
The doctor continued, “Your throat is going to be sore so we’ve got some water here for you. I don’t want you to talk right away. Give your throat a little time to heal.”
Don’t talk? Don’t talk? How was he supposed to ask about Vaughn?
The doctor put his palm on Caysun’s chest, “When I pull this out, it’ll probably make you gag, just let it happen and cough it out. We’ve got a basin here for you.”
If Caysun could’ve laughed, he would have. Make him gag? A one-inch tube? Yeah, right. Caysun Rourke hadn’t met a dick yet that had made him gag.
His eyes met Morgan’s, who was standing off to the side, and from the way they were sparkling he knew that the man was holding back a laugh of his own.
“On three, okay?” the doctor said as he gripped the end of the intubation tube.
Cay gave a quick nod and the doctor tightened his grip, “One.”
They all heard shouting out in the hall but the doctor kept his focus.
“Two.”
“No! I will not stay away. I don’t give a shit how many people are in there. I am going in, just try and stop me!”
“Sir! Sir! Please, I just need,”
“NO!”
Morgan rolled his eyes, “Oh for fucks sake,” he mumbled then he turned.
Caysun’s eyes were glued to Morgan’s retreating back until the moment the door was flung open.
There was Vaughn, his hair wet from an obvious shower, his chest heaving as he dragged two security guards, who had their hands clamped on both arms, into the room.
“Sir! There’s too many people in the room!”
“Yeah! Because your dumb asses are in here with me!”
“Three!” the doctor said and then he pulled.
And Caysun coughed, and then he heaved. Into the basin and onto the nurse’s gloved hand. Slimy yellowish liquid that gurgled out of his throat. Way to impress the new boyfriend, he thought as he spit a few times and then rinsed his mouth out with the cup of water that the nurse handed to him. He’d never been more embarrassed in his life.
“How about we get this catheter out too?” the doctor said.
Oh, yay, new goals! Now he was more embarrassed than ever in his life. Fucking fantastic.
“Should we clear the room?” the doctor said as he glanced at Vaughn.
Vaughn glared back, “No you should not. I’m his boyfriend and I’m not going any-fucking-where.”
The doctor looked back at Caysun, silently repeating his question.
Caysun knew when to capitulate. He nodded his head at the doctor.
The doc lifted the sheet from the bottom, exposing Caysun’s bottom half, including his naked junk, he realized when the cold air hit him. Fantastic. Now it’s a party.
“Try not to yell, remember that throat,” the doctor said.
Remember it? It burned like a motherfucker. How could he forget……
“FUCK!” he croaked out, sounding like a swearing barking seal, when white hot pain shot out of his dick.
It took him a second to realize that Vaughn had clasped his hand and he was now squeezing it so hard that Vaughn was wincing. He backed off his grip as he tried to breathe through the pain, “Sorry,” he whispered.
“Don’t be. I’ve been at the receiving end of that. Twice. It’s never pleasant.”
Caysun frowned at him and Vaughn knew exactly what the man was thinking, or r
ather wanting to know. “Later, babe. We’ve got all the time in the world.”
Those words brought a smile to Caysun’s face. He brought the back of Vaughn’s hand to his cheek and rubbed against it like a cat. And that’s when he noticed…
A beard? He had a freaking beard?
How long had he been out?
“Ten days, six hours and,” his eyes glanced up at the clock on the wall, “Twenty-three minutes.”
Jesus
Vaughn reached down to cup his chin, “I shaved you twice but then that asshole Morgan told me I smelled too bad and he kicked me out to go shower. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up.”
“No,” he said in a raspy whisper, “Here now.”
Vaughn pressed their foreheads together, “I am, and I’m not going anywhere. I swear.”
It took about thirty minutes for the hospital staff to get him cleaned up, unplugged from what was no longer needed and plugged back into what was. The entire time, Doctor Farr hovered in the background glancing over at Vaughn. After about the tenth time of the two of them looking at each other, Caysun had had enough. “Either you’re hitting on my boyfriend or there’s something you’re not telling me. Either one could get you punched in the face.”
Fuck, that hurt his throat.
Vaughn barked out a laugh while Doctor Farr gasped, “Oh my lord, I am not hitting on your boyfriend. If I did my husband would, well, let’s just say that it wouldn’t go over well….at all,” he said as he stepped closer to the bed.
Caysun frowned, “Well, my leg is still attached to my body, so I know you’re not worried about telling me that I lost it, so what’s wrong?”
Doctor Farr took a deep breath and sighed it out, “When the bullet fragmented in your thigh, some of the pieces did some nerve damage. You have what’s called femoral neuropathy.”
“Is it permanent?”
“That we don’t know yet. It could be permanent, it could go away within a few weeks or it could take years for it to heal. A lot of that depends on getting you into a good physical therapy program with someone who specializes in this.”
“Do you know anyone?”
There was that look between Vaughn and Doctor Farr again, “I do,” the doctor said.
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