Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
“ C ome on, guys. I need to go to my girls! I need my phone!”
Dev needed his head to stop pounding.
“We need to make sure you don’t have a concussion,” the doctor insisted. “You stay put, and I’ll come back and see how you’re doing in a bit.”
The nurse came around the curtain right after the doctor left. “Mr. Marx? There’s a Bryan St-Vincent here to see you?”
“Bryan? Let him in. Please.” Maybe Bryan could help him get out of here.
It took a few minutes, but then the nurse held back the curtain again and let Bryan in. “Dev. Oh, man, you’re awake. Are you okay?”
“Headache. I want to go home. Did you bring the kids?” He needed to know his girls were okay.
“No, I left them at the apartment with Jennie. My friend from the community center. She brought tacos for them to eat. They’re safe. Did they say you could go home?”
“Not yet. Can you talk to them?”
“The doctors? And tell them what? I give you permission?” Bryan pulled the chair over next to his bed. “Seriously, are you okay?”
“They think my arm is broken. They did X-rays.” He wanted to cry.
“Oh my god!” Bryan put a hand on his side. “Does it hurt bad?”
“Only when I move or breathe.”
“You’re not going anywhere until they get you fixed up. I can’t believe he showed up and did that!” Bryan took a deep breath and stroked his side. “It’s going to be okay.”
“What happened? Did he get away?”
“He did not. Your security guard showed up in time to watch me bash him over the head with one of your chairs. It didn’t survive—I’m sorry about that. Anyway, the cops were close behind him and they arrested him. And he threatened to come back and kill the two of us, so they sure as hell had better keep him. The kids are good. They’re freaking a little bit. I think if you could give your girls a call, they’d really appreciate it.”
“Did you bring my phone?” Could you dial it?
“Shit, I didn’t see it so I thought you had it with you. We’ll call on my phone then.” Bryan pulled it out of his back pocket and dialed the newly entered number for Marley’s phone. “Hey, Marley. I have your dad here. He wants to talk to you.” Bryan handed him the phone.
“Daddy! Daddy, are you okay? Are you hurt? Everyone’s watching a movie. Are you okay?”
“Hey. Hey, I’m fine. Seriously. I’m going to come home with a cast, and I have a bump on the head.”
“You’re hurt, Daddy!” Marley sounded like she was only just holding it together.
“Just a little. I’ll be home tonight, no question.”
“Promise?”
“I do.”
Marley sniffed, and he heard her take a deep breath. “O-okay.”
“There you go. You breathe, and tomorrow, we’ll have a pajama day.” He thought a day off school was probably more than reasonable.
“Pajama day tomorrow!” Marley called out, and he heard Juni cheering in the background. “Thanks, Daddy. See you soon?”
“Soon. Be good for—” He glanced at Bryan, who mouthed ‘Jennie’. “—Jennie, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy. She seems nice so far. Love you, bye!”
“I guess I’d better get them in here to get you a cast if you’re going to go home tonight,” Bryan said, pocketing his phone.
“I’m going to. Dammit. They just need to get on the ball.”
“Let me go see if I can’t rustle someone up to get this happening. No leaving without me.” Bryan looked him in the eye. “I mean it. The kids are okay, and a trustworthy adult is with them. You can wait until they get your broken bones set. I’ve heard stories about bad things happening because people’s bones didn’t set properly, and I don’t want that happening to you.”
“No. I have to have my arm to work.” He suddenly felt intensely queasy. “Water?”
Bryan looked around. “Back in a sec.” And good as his word, he wasn’t gone long at all, coming back with a plastic glass with a straw in it. “Here you go.” Bryan held the straw to his lips.
“Thank you.” Dev could hear the water hitting his belly.
“Do you think you could manage some food if I go get you something? You never got supper in the end, and that can’t be helping anything.” Bryan touched his cheek gently, his face a little tender from Grant’s punches.
“Something easy? Just—come back, please.” He was a little wigged out, and Bryan’s presence made him feel better.
“You want me to stay until the doc gets back instead? I totally can. There’s a vending machine out there. I can grab you some chips or something.”
“Just stay. I don’t think I’m hungry. I’m just tired.” And the adrenaline was fading. Again.
“Okay, I’m not going anywhere. Wait, let me just…” Bryan went to the curtain and pulled it open. “Hey, can we get someone in here to tell us what’s going on? We really don’t want to leave AMA, but if someone doesn’t get this cast thing happening, we will.”
Okay, that was pretty hot.
Seriously.
He was grinning when Bryan came back in.
“Someone is coming to talk to us,” Bryan told him, returning his smile. “We will get you out of here tonight. Hopefully with something to stabilize that wrist.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I hope so.” He tried to smile; he really did feel better now that Bryan was here with him. It grounded him somehow. “That was scary as hell.”
“It was! I can’t believe he got up there. I can’t believe he showed up at all. He was always so sweet. Aside from the whole stealing all our money thing of course.” Bryan shook his head. “Sorry. Sorry. This is about you, not me.”
“No. No, it’s about us. I mean, you were there. Your kids were there too.” He was pretty sure Grant would have been happy to beat down Bryan next if he’d had the chance.
Bryan nodded, shuddered slightly. “It was horrifying. I’m worried they’re not going to keep him in jail, despite the fact that even after he’d been arrested, he threatened to come back and do worse.”
“How safe is your house?”
Bryan paled. “Oh god.”
“Okay. While he’s in custody, go get things for the boys, get clothes, computers. Do you have friends that can help? You can stay with me until things cool down.” This was all his fault. Besides, he could think of worse things than having Bryan living with him.
“That’s an awful lot to ask of you. Three extra people?” Bryan shook his head. “We couldn’t.”
“I have tons of room. The boys know me. I have security, and they’re going to be psychotically careful now.” He tried to reach for Bryan, crying out at the pain. “Please. Let me help. Stay with me.”
“Okay, okay. Just don’t hurt yourself anymore, okay?” Bryan put a hand on his good arm. “We’ll stay. You’re going to need my help anyway until that wrist heals.”
“Do you have friends you can call? I’ll be okay here until they cast me up.”
Bryan frowned. “No, I’ll stay until I can get you home. We’ll figure out what I need to get from my place tomorrow. The boys can sleep in their underwear. Hell, so can I.”
“Well, then, let’s get this cast on. I want you and your special things over at the flat so you’re safe.”
“Thanks, Dev. You don’t know what it means to me to know there’ll be a layer of security between us and Grant.”
“Yes, I do. I care about you, and this is all my fault.”
“All your fault? I seem to remember it was Grant’s fists that were flying—you were just defending yourself.”
“Yeah, but I did the billboard.”
“Oh… I guess that’s why he attacked now.” Bryan shook his head. “He deserved that, though. He deserved that and more. This is still his fault and not yours.”
“He’s insane. I’m so sorry, but his new guy deserved to know.”
“I agree and I don’t blame you. This is all on Grant. He’s the one who ripped us off. He’s the one who chose to come into your home and hurt you when he got called out.”
The curtain shifted and the doctor came in. “Not interrupting, am I?”
“No,” Bryan said immediately. “We’ve been waiting for you to come and fix his wrist. He needs to get home, we both do—there’s kids.”
“Yes. And there’s the guy that did this.” Dev waved his arm carefully. “I need to get home.”
“Well, to be honest, we’d like to officially sign you in and keep you overnight.”
“No,” Bryan spoke up before he could say anything. “He needs the cast on and he needs to go home. I’ll be there. I can wake him up every hour or whatever it is you need me to do, but his girls need him. So how long is this going to take?”
“A couple of hours, minimum.”
Dev nodded. “Do you want to go back to the house?”
“Do you need me here?” Bryan asked.
Yes. But he made himself shake his head. “No. No, I’m a big boy. Go grab clothes and your laptops, the boys’ favorite toys, you know.”
Bryan nodded slowly. “While we know he’s still in jail. You got it. I’ll do that and get back to the apartment. You get that wrist taken care of and come home to us.”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll be there as soon as I am released. Promise.” He needed to get home to his girls, to Bryan and his boys, to know they were all safe. All of them.
“We’ll hold you to that, but until you get there, I’ll hold the fort down.” Bryan leaned in and kissed him real quick on the lips, his eyes going wide as he stood back. “I, uh. Yeah.” Then he turned tail and left.
Dev touched his lips with his good hand.
Oh.
Oh, wow.