An Unexpected Win (10 page)

He fervently hoped that Carter meant the bottle of aspirin and not a booze bottle. He fetched a cold bottle of water and the tall container of aspirin. Returning to the bedroom, he handed them over. “If it’s really bad, you could probably take three.”

Carter dumped half the contents in his hand. “Maybe
thirty-three
.” He slapped the handful of pills at his mouth.

Trey gaped. “What are you doing?” Out of instinct he slapped Carter’s cheek, causing his mouth to spring open, spilling many of the pills.

His lover’s eyes blazed. “What the fuck are
you
doing?” He backhanded Trey, sending him reeling to the floor.

“Carter, stop it!” Trey’s tears fell, not because of being struck, but because the man he loved continued to shove aspirin into his mouth.

He grabbed the water bottle and washed the first mouthful down.

“No!” Trey snatched the pill bottle and threw it as hard as he could down the hall. Aspirin went flying, but they were at least out of Carter’s reach.

“Leave me alone,” Carter muttered, his own tears falling. “You don’t want to be here. I don’t have anything for you anymore. I got nothin’ for nobody. Just get out, and let me die in peace.”

Trey scowled. “You’re not going to die by swallowing a bunch of aspirin. Believe me, I know.” He’d tried the same stunt one particularly bad night during high school. The next morning he puked and puked, but he hadn’t died or come close to it.

“You think you know everything,” the man mumbled, sinking back into his pillow.

“And you know nothing, if you think I don’t want to be here. I love you, Carter. I have for three years. Nothing has changed.”

“You’re a fucking lousy liar. Everything has changed and you just won’t admit it. Get out, Trey.” He screwed up his face and screamed, “Get out!”

Trey scooped up all the aspirin he could see on the bed, and glanced around quickly. He didn’t spot anything right off that Carter might use to hurt himself, but he wasn’t taking any chances. “I’ll leave you alone, but you need to sleep. I’m going to check on you. If you do anything to hurt yourself I’ll drag your ass to the hospital so fast that all you’re going to get is a bad case of diarrhea. I swear to you, Carter. Don’t try anything. You’ll regret it. I’ll have your ass on every life support system known to man. Then you’ll really know what it means to want to die.”

Carter waved him off. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

“Prick.” Trey stomped out of the bedroom, stopping long enough to grab the room key. If Carter got up and locked the door, he could get back in quickly.

He hurried down the hall to call Hawk, but realized he didn’t know his phone number. Deciding that he’d still be at the hospital, he looked up the number for St. Mark’s. The woman who answered the phone didn’t know Hawk, so Trey asked to speak with Cindy in admitting. They put his call through.

“This is Cindy.”

“Cindy, hi, this is Trey Mitchell. I’m a friend of Hawk’s, Yuma Nighthawk? I was there with him earlier this week.”

“Oh, sure. Hi, Trey. What can I do for you?”

“I don’t have Hawk’s phone number but I really need to speak with him. It’s kind of an emergency. Can you tell me if he’s still there?”

“He is. I was just watching him giving tae kwon do lessons to some of the children. Hang on, I’ll get him.”

“Thanks so much.” Hold music sounded in his ear. Trey smiled.
Tae kwon do lessons?
Was there anything Hawk didn’t know how to do? He glanced back toward the bedroom.
God, I hope not.

“Hello.” Hawk’s commanding voice made him feel calmer already.

“Hawk, it’s Trey. Carter’s in trouble and needs your help.” He bit his lip. “I need your help.”

“What happened?”

“He left me a bunch of drunk voicemails, so I decided to come see if he was okay. He’s not okay, Hawk. The house is a sty. I think he’s been drunk all week.” His voice cracked. “Now he’s talking about killing himself and I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m on my way.”

Relief poured through him. “I’m sorry to bother you with this. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“Don’t apologize, you did the right thing. Will you be okay for the time it takes me to get there? If not, you should call nine-one-one immediately.”

“I think we’ll be okay. I’ll watch him.”

“Stay close, make sure he doesn’t try anything. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Thank you.” Trey disconnected the call and willed himself to be calm. He unlocked the front door then went to look in on Carter.

“Stay the fuck out!” He grabbed a bedside lamp and threw it at the door.

Trey backed out and heard the porcelain shatter against the wood.
At least he’s okay.

He stepped into the bathroom and blinked when he saw his reflection. Besides his purple swollen eye, the other side of his face was now puffy and red. He wouldn’t be able to go out in public for a week.

Back in the hall, Trey leaned against the bedroom door, listening. When he heard Carter’s breathing slow and become steady, he peeked in again. The distraught man had fallen asleep. He stayed there, head against the wall, eyes closed, for what felt like forever.

Finally, the front door opened. “Trey?” Hawk called.

He hurried to meet him. “Oh, thank God. Thank you so much for coming. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Hawk gazed up and down his body and Trey remembered that he was naked…and bruised. The lack of clothing didn’t seem to shock the man as much as the condition of his face. He moved in front of Trey and cupped his cheeks. “Sweet Jesus! Are you all right?”

“It looks worse than it is.”

Hawk gritted his teeth and spoke slowly, putting emphasis on each word. “I am going to fucking kill him.”

“Hawk, no!” Trey grabbed his arm. “He got a little combative. It’s no big deal.”

He drew Trey into the circle of his arms. “It’s a very big deal and I promise you, if Carter Perry knew what he was doing, the man is dead meat.”

“He didn’t know. At first we fought about his wanting a drink. He wouldn’t listen to me, so I tried to seduce him into forgetting about it. He was so filthy I had to help him shower first. But after that, he just couldn’t get it up. He seemed like he wanted to, but it didn’t happen. After a while he asked for some aspirin. When I brought him the bottle he started chugging them down.”

Hawk shook his head. “Stupid fool. All that’s going to do is make him sick.”

“I know,” Trey murmured breathily, remembering all too well.

Hawk pulled back and gazed at him. “It’s a sad statement about our society that three out of three gay men have tried to swallow a bottle of aspirin to make the pain go away.”

Trey smiled. “Can’t get much sadder than that.”

Hawk chuckled, and kissed his swollen cheek. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

His heart thudded in his chest. “I am now.”

Holding his face firmly, Hawk added, “You know I’d do anything for you?”

“I do.”

“Then we’re going to get Carter through this. But we may not be enough, babe. He might need some counseling, or rehab. We’ll take it slow and see what happens.”

“Rehab?” Trey shivered. “I can’t believe it’s gone that far. I should never have left him.”

“Don’t blame yourself! None of this is your fault.”

“He blames me. He thinks I don’t want to be here, and would rather be with you.”

“Perceptive son of a bitch,” Hawk muttered. “Who
would
want to be here?”

Trey’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t leave him in this condition. No, I don’t want to be with him like this, but he’s not usually
like this
. This is new. This is awful. I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s why you called me.” Hawk kissed his forehead. “Do you trust me, Trey? I mean, really trust me?”

He answered without hesitation. “Yes.”

“Then let me do what I need to do. It might not be pretty. But something has to be done.”

“Tell me how I can help.”

He turned to go down the hall. “Just stay behind me for now.”

“Watch the broken porcelain on the bedroom floor.”

Hawk raised his eyebrows at Trey but proceeded on, stepping over the spilled pills in the hall. In the bedroom, he shoved the biggest chunk of the lamp out of his way and stepped carefully around the rest. Moving to the side of the bed, Hawk examined Carter’s condition without touching him. “Looks like he’s just sleeping. Did he swallow many aspirin?”

Trey shook his head. “Some. I slapped most of them out of his mouth.”

Hawk smiled and pointed at the bruise on Carter’s cheek. “I can see that. Glad you got at least one good lick in.”

“Oh, I got plenty of good licks in. Real juicy licks. They just didn’t have any effect on his floppy dick. I think that upset him more than he let on.”

“I’m sure it was the alcohol. If I thought he wouldn’t try to pound the crap out of me, I could probably rouse the big guy. But I suspect what he needs most right now is sleep.”

“I should clean up this mess. If he wakes up and steps on it, he could hurt himself.”

Hawk picked up a shard of porcelain. “Or use a piece of it to
really
hurt himself.”

Trey frowned. They worked together to get up as much of the lamp as they could, then took it to the garage trash. He glanced at Hawk. “You don’t think he truly wants to die, do you?”

“Nah. He was fun and full of life last weekend. He’s depressed about the direction his life is heading. I doubt he’s used to being alone. He simply spiraled out of control before he realized what was happening.”

He bit his lip. “What are we going to do?”

Hawk pulled him into his arms. “The first thing
you’re
going to do is to stop worrying. I told you I’d take care of this, and I will. I promise.”

“I love you,” Trey said softly.

“I love you too. And I know how important Carter is to you, so therefore he’s important to me as well. We’ll get through this together, babe.”

Trey sighed. “I’m worried again.”

He felt the pull of Hawk’s smile against his cheek. “What about?”

“About losing you. Neither one of us has wanted to admit it, but our time’s growing short. We haven’t figured out what we’re going to do about that.”

“Who says we haven’t?”

Trey pulled back and gazed up at him questioningly.

Hawk smiled, his expression determined. “I’m not going to lose you.”

A nervous chill ran down his spine. “You can’t kill Carter!”

A booming laugh shook Hawk’s chest, rocking Trey to his core. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got a plan, and it doesn’t involve bloodshed.” He nipped at Trey’s neck. “Not much, anyway.”

Trey wrapped his arms around Hawk’s neck and held on tight. He never wanted to let go, and prayed, somehow, that he wouldn’t have to.

Hawk cradled his new love gently. Trey had been through so much already. He’d give anything to take away his pain, leaving him with nothing but smiles. If that included bringing Carter Perry into their lives, then so be it. But only if the stubborn man was willing to clean up his act. If he wasn’t, then all bets were off.

Carter was the better known gambler, but Hawk liked a good gamble now and then as well. His last big bet had brought Trey into his life. The next one would keep him there.

He placed a finger under Trey’s chin and raised his face. “Kiss me, and say you want me more than anything ever. Because that’s how I feel about you.” Their lips came together in a hungry, passionate kiss. Mouths still touching, Hawk murmured, “I need you in my life, now and forever.”

“You need me?” Trey’s voice trembled.

“God yes! I can’t explain how much I need you.”

“As your slave?” he asked hesitantly.

“As my partner, my lover, my soulmate, my friend. When we play, yes, I desire to dominate you as much as you crave being dominated. But that’s only part of what I want and need from you.” He ground his knee into Trey’s crotch, rubbing his firming erection.

Trey gasped. “What else?” he panted between kisses. “What do you need from me?”

“Everything,” Hawk breathed into his mouth.

His lover’s arms tightened around his neck. “That’s what I want to give you. And that’s what I need from you in return.”

Hawk was thrilled at the words. “Everything,” he agreed. He cupped Trey’s ass, pulling him up and into him. “Every day, for the rest of our lives.”

Their kiss deepened. Under different circumstances he’d strip and be inside his lover while they were both so caught up in the moment. But there was still a matter to take care of. A very important matter.

Carter.

“Trey?” his scratchy voice rang out from the bedroom.

His lover froze and glanced at Hawk.

“It’s okay. I have a plan, remember?”

“Hawk has a plan,” he repeated to himself.

“That’s right. Just keep telling yourself that.” He slipped one arm around Trey and kissed the side of his head. “Come on. Let’s see how Mr. Carter Perry likes my plan.”

They strolled to the bedroom but when they arrived, they separated.

“Carter? You doing okay?” Trey asked.

“Head still hurts.” He rubbed his temples.

Hawk spoke up. “You’re not getting any more aspirin.”

Carter’s eyes popped open. “Oh, hell no. I should have known you’d be here.”

“You should have, because I made a promise last weekend and I always keep my promises.”

Carter waved a hand. “I don’t remember this morning, let alone last weekend.”

“I do. I told you I’d take care of Trey, and I intend to do just that.”

He frowned at Hawk. “Well, you’ve only got a few more days to worry about it. Then he comes home, and he’s mine again.”

“Not so fast. When I got here today, Trey had a black eye and a swollen cheek. I wouldn’t be taking very good care of him if I let him come back here.”

Carter rose to his feet. “You won’t be ‘letting him’ do anything. He knows where he belongs, and what he needs to do.”

“You’re right about that.” Hawk allowed his gaze to travel down Carter’s nude body and back up again. He smiled. “Damn, you’re smokin’ hot. I have a very good memory of time spent with you. Time I wouldn’t mind repeating.”

Carter seemed thrown off kilter by the comment. He waved a hand. “You’re full of shit. We never spent any time together.”