Date = 14 April
Place = San Francisco (UCSF Medical center)
POV – Enrique
“I’m so glad you guys are okay.” Thalia leans her head against my shoulder, her arm hooked through mine. I found her in the reception area. We walk a few steps in silence and then she burbs out a little giggle. “I still can’t believe you were almost raped … eh … is it the correct term for men … I mean … guess it is,” she chuckles again, “but that’s like such a contradiction … the biggest playboys in the book getting sexually harassed against their will.” Her laughter echos down the hall and she holds her tummy with her free hand. “Can you imagine the headlines?”
“Why are you here again?” I ask sarcastically, teasing her.
“Ug, and here I was thinking that you’d be glad to see me, Sport,” she pats my arm.
“Do you even know what that means?” I’m hoping Aria told her. But no such luck. Thalia pouts her lip and shakes her head. Seems like everybody calls me that, but no one has a clue what it means … except for my lovely stupid girlfriend.
“Nope, but I like it. It suits you.” We turn a corner and wait for the elevator. “Can you remember what happened?” All jokes are gone. She lifts her head and looks pensively up at me.
“No, not really. I remember feeling hopeless cause I couldn’t move and then Lee entered the room. The next thing I know I woke up in the hospital.” The door slides open and we get into the lift. For some reason I don’t tell her that I saw the three guys attacking Lee and I lost all hope. I thought we were gonna die. Maybe I’m not saying it cause I feel grossly embarrassed. I had no faith in Lee while he managed to save us all. And judging by the damage to this face and knuckles, he put up one hell of a fight.
“So little Lee managed to safe you … ” she sounds a bit surprised, and I don’t blame her, “all by himself?” Yeah, that part is still a mystery to me. I recall that there were three guys … one with a gun. How Lee managed to take hold of the weapon is almost unthinkable … but he did.
“Yeah, it’s unbelievable.” We walk down the corridor.
“I’ll say. He’s smaller than me.” She’s right. Lee is the same size as Mel … and that’s not exactly the proportions of someone that you would imagine winning a fight against three big men. I open the door on my left.
“Surprise,” Thalia screams as we enter the room. Mel jumps up with a little startled frightened scream that rips my heart. She scares so easily these days, not yet fully recovered from her ordeal with that bastard Darren … and I wonder if she’ll ever be her old self.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Damion’s face lights up from the hospital bed. He looks much better now, but Deimos insisted he stays in hospital a while for observation – comprehensible since he almost died. Mel grabs a laughing Thalia in a tight hug.
“How did you get here? When? Why?” my sister babbles.
“Well, Emilio just dropped me at the airport when I phoned you … and since you told me what happened, I decided to come for a quick unexpected check in before my flight leaves.”
“Emilio?” Mel asks in a teasing voice. Thalia blushes and looks around as if trying to find the nearest escape route. She settle her gaze on the floor.
“Eh, he’s a guy I met about a month ago. We went on a couple of dates. That’s all.” Thalia keeps her eyes diverted.
“Eeehhh,” Mel shrieks, “you have a boyfriend!” She grabs Thalia’s shoulders and shakes her in excitement.
“Mm, no, it’s way too soon for that.” I watch a quick expression of pain flashing over Thalia’s pretty face. I know. She told me one night when I stayed over at her place during a gig in Chicago. She got pretty drunk and told me how she started dating a doctor in Rome while working there, how he abused her, even raped her, and almost killed her, before she managed to leave. She quit her job and came to Chicago to start a new life. I don’t think she even remembers telling me that, and I never mentioned it again. Hell, I’m not even sure her family knows about it.
“And what does this Emilio dude do for a living?” Damion asks, looking a little pissed. Maybe he knows about her ex.
“He works for his family’s company. They have lots of businesses all over the world.”
“We’re back,” Aria walks into the room with some take-away bags from Deli Board, followed by Kiara and Lee. Jackson carries in a suitcase that he drops on the floor. Ilkay and Alejandro are having a serious discussion with Axel while they too stroll into the room.
Aria gives a little yelp and grabs Thalia into a ferocious hug, without letting go of the parcels in her hands. Kiara embraces both of them. I hope the frickin sandwiches are not ruined now cause I’m fucking starving.
“Eeh, it’s so good to see you girl,” Aria shouts as the group breaks up.
I stare at her, now casually dressed in some jeans and a green shirt, her red plumes falling in lose curls down her back. I returned before her so Ilkay could do one final checkup, so the last time I saw her she was sleeping naked in my bed. My mind wanders to images of us in the on-call room. At first it was a little painful, but in the end it was the hardest most satisfying fuck I’ve ever had. It took six condoms, a fuckload of O’s and more than an hour before my dick limped back to a semi-erection – at which Ilkay order me to soak in a warm bath. So we went home where I got to give Aria a couple more screaming orgasms – inside the tub and out. After a few hours sleep that was the end of that. Back to normal. To which I’m very thankful. I don’t think I could survive a needle being stuck in there.
“Are you here for long?” Kiara’s voice breaks through my muddled mind.
“No, I’m flying out tonight.” Aria start taking out some sandwiches from the paper bags and hands them over to each of us. I love the subs from Deli Board. Is that why she got them? To please me? I look at her and she immediately blushes again. Even her dainty ears are red. She’s so fucking cute and I think I’m in love. The word hits me between the eyes and I run my fingers through my hair. I take one of the sodas Lee carried in and gulp down a big sip, my throat suddenly dry.
“There are some clean clothes for Damion,” Jackson says, “and we checked in on Logan. Aria made him a smoothie and he’s now sleeping off a serious hangover.”
Aria hands me some food and the instance our eyes meet her face turns to crimson. Is she also thinking about our sexual marathon. I wink at her and take a bite, struggling to swallow it down. Maybe it’s still some after-effects from the drugs. It must be.
“How are you feeling?” Ilkay asks Damion.
“As if a bear knocked me out so a rat could chew on my balls,” Damion glowers.
“Well, you would be a little sensitive down there … we had to draw blood a quite few times to get it back to normal. You’re just lucky we got it down in time,” Ilkay teases, “or my sister would have been the last thing you fertilized.”
Damion snorts. “I guess I should be glad I was out for all that. Just wish I could deflate it the same way Enrique did.” Then he looks at my sister. “Maybe we could still sneak into that on-call room, just to make sure everything still works properly.” Mel hits him playfully on the shoulder, but then she kisses his cheek before saying: “We don’t need to go there, this room can lock from the inside.”
“Ug, seriously,” Jackson wails.
“Why are you so glum … didn’t you guard the door for Enrique?” Damion asks in all seriousness.
“Yeah … but that’s different … he’s my brother,” my twin grumbles.
“And Mel is your sister,” Damion continues to banter with Jackson.
“It’s just different, alright.” Jackson sounds peeved. He takes a big bite from his sandwich and looks at his roommate.
“So, Lee,” he starts with a mouth full of food, “what exactly happened out there?” All eyes fall on the littlest guy in the room. His pretty face has a bruise on the right cheek that already turned a yellowish green color. Somehow it matches his eyes. Above his right brow is a white band-aid.
“Well, when I got into the room there were two guys and two girls. The girls were undressing them. I managed to knock out one guy, but another man entered with a gun. The girls ran away. Long story short there were a fight and I managed to get hold of the gun, so I could force the men to stay put until the police arrived.”
“You knocked out a guy … and then disarmed another man … all by yourself?”
“Yeah, so?” Lee stares forcefully at Axel.
“Wow … it’s just a little surprising, that’s all,” Axel stutters.
“Why, because I’m small?” the midget asks uptight with a cocky stance, sticking out his chin as if he’s ready to take on the world. He’s a brave little chap that’s for sure. And he’s earned my respect. And friendship.
“Among other things.” Jackson mumbles staring into his mate’s eyes. One pair as stormy as the other. I swear these two are gonna destroy each other.
“Never mind that, did you recognize any of them?” Ilkay asks cracking the tension. Lee keeps quiet for a moment as if he’s contemplating what to say.
“The guy I knocked out … I think he works for the Old Man.”
“How do you know that?” Alejandro asks.
“I’ve seen him before … once … but it was in Washington.” Is it just me or does Lee sound a little dodgy as if he’s hiding something.
“Washington?” Jackson asks and I know that look … my brother is observing everything in his microscopical way … and Lee is on his radar. So it’s not just me. Jackson also thinks something is off. Lee takes a deep breath.
“Ug, let’s just say I’ve come face to face with this dude called T-bone. Well, Mr. T works for the Old Man … and the man I knocked out is one of his goons.”
“Why did you meet with this T-bone?” Jackson now frowns and steps closer to Lee. But Lee doesn’t back down, instead he just tilts his head more as to look Jackson in the eye.
“That’s a moo point.”
“A what?” Mel let’s out.
“A moo point – like a cow’s opinion – like it doesn’t matter! Haven’t you ever watched ‘Friends’?” Lee says in a squeaky voice … his pitch high as if he’s getting frustrated. “Ug, forget it, the important thing is that the Old Man has something to do with this and we must find out why.”
“Why would the Old Man help us against Harry, but now try to get us raped?” Damion asks the million dollar question. As far as I know (according to what Garcia told us) the Old man is a retired mafia boss and one of the good guys. He owed Garcia a favor … that’s why he helped. But that’s all over now, and he’s not even in the States. So why would he invert himself in something this stupid? What could he possibly get from all this? Why would he be interested in our sex life?
“Can you remember the girls?” Jackson asks all of a sudden. Is he talking to me? No, he’s looking at Lee.
“Yes, but I’ve never seen them before. One blonde, one brunette. They were wearing some skimpy lingerie … oh, and the blonde had on some shit-ass shoes … red stilettos … Prada if I’m right.”
“Holy fuck!” Ilkay gasps. I couldn’t say it better myself. I find Jackson’s eyes across the room. Could it be the same girl as the one on the surveillance tape?