Committed to You (20 page)

I closed my mouth and took away that thing from his lips so he could talk. “Who did this?”

Pipe coughed. “I … I-I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I fucking asked.”

“Relax, Jay.” Evie dragged over a chair so that Pipe could step down on it as I unbuckled the top of the contraption.

After another minute, we’d finally freed him. It all fell away from his body, this morbid black thing that appeared more like a harness for a horse or a shiny leather chair for the deviant and obscene. I had no idea Pipe owned anything like it. He did things outside of our group, wicked stuff that he knew I couldn’t stomach. He kept most of those activities from me, but I knew he shared tons of the details with Evie.

But cutting and contraptions? What the fuck?

“I’m okay.” He collapsed into the chair. “I just need that first aid kit over there.”

He gestured to the huge box near the door. Evie rushed over there and pulled it to him.

“Take out the cloth, gauze, medical tape, and alcohol.” Pipe wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. Blood still trickled down his chest, little red beads that glittered when they hit the light. This close, the scent of blood rose in the room. I wasn’t exactly sure if I should let him handle the wounds himself, but since he had a first aid kit right on hand, I figured he knew what he was doing.

“Thanks Evie.” He took the stuff from her. “Can you get me a bowl of soapy water? I want to clean the cuts.”

“Shouldn’t we use alcohol or hydrogen peroxide?” She rushed away.

“There’s no need. Soap and water works just fine.”

“I don’t think so, Pipe,” she called out from the suite’s bar area. “I’m getting some hydrogen peroxide from the front desk.”

“No. Hydrogen peroxide can slow down the healing.”

“What? Says who?” Evie asked.

“Says recent medical research. Don’t you read?”

“Not when it comes to how to better clean stabbing wounds to my chest, but apparently you know all about healing stabbings!”

“No one stabbed me.”

“Whatever.” Evie brought out a small bottle and a wash cloth. “Here’s some rubbing alcohol.”

“I don’t need it, but if it will make you two feel better then fine.” Pipe yanked everything out of the first aid kit, grabbed the other stuff from Evie, and began gently cleaning the long cuts. The chemical odor of alcohol replaced the metallic scent of blood. The whole time he breathed in and out at a slow pace that seemed to calm us all down. No one said anything. I just focused on his chest rising and falling as he dabbed at his sliced flesh and the white gauze tinted to blood red.

How could he be so composed when his whole fucking chest is cut and scarred?

“Why aren’t you two wearing any clothes?” Pipe finished cleaning and pulled out these long bandages. Each was five inches in length. He must’ve specially ordered them.

Why does he have all of this stuff here? How long has he been letting someone cut him?

“Don’t worry about why we don’t have any clothes. Who did this?” I asked.

“Relax, Jay.” Evie turned back to Pipe. “We went swimming in our undies; that’s why we’re half naked. Someone took our clothes.”

“Did you see anybody take them?” Pipe asked.

“No.”

“So then you probably just forgot where you put them.”

“We didn’t forget. Someone stole them.” Evie flipped him off.

“I don’t know.” Pipe placed a bandage on the beginning of one cut. “It was pretty dark out there and you are both messed up—”

“We’re messed up?” I touched my chest. “You know what? Let’s forget about the topic of Evie’s and my clothes and talk about why you were hanging from some leather death trap and bleeding!”

“I’ll be okay.” Pipe rubbed his nose and with shivering hands. “These are minor cuts. You see? They stopped bleeding on their own.”

“That’s not what I fucking asked you.”

“Jay, chill out until he’s finished, at least.” Evie helped him wrap the gauze around his whole core.

There’d been tons of it in the kit, lots of things to use if a person had accidentally slipped and got stabbed repeatedly. If there was one thing Pipe believed in was a healthy sexual appetite, but he never did it to the detriment of his own health. I could see Pipe agreeing to be cut, but making sure all items were nearby in case of any emergency. The presence of the first aid kit told me that Pipe not only wanted to be hung up like he had been and cut, he’d probably been doing this for a while.

But the cutting isn’t you? You haven’t changed that much.

“How long has this been going on?” I gritted my teeth. “How long has this son of a bitch been hurting you like this?”

“Listen to Evie and calm down,” Pipe said.

“Why do you both keep telling me to calm down!?”

“Because you’re yelling and pacing.” Evie stopped me.

When did I start walking back and forth?

I stopped. “Okay, fine. Maybe I do need to calm down, but that doesn’t mean you fucking avoid the question.”

“I’m not avoiding it. I’m simply not going to answer.” Pipe’s fingers continued to shake as he placed the unused items back in the kit. Evie left and then returned with a waste basket and a bottle of bleach in her other hand. “No, Evie. I already have my maid coming over to clean the area. She knows what to do and does a fantastic job.”

“Okay. I’m going to get you something to eat,” Evie said.

“I’m not hungry,” he said.

“You’re supposed to eat after lots of blood loss,” she countered.

“Says who?”

“Says the damn nurses that give people cookies after they give blood.” She stomped off to the bar and snatched up a bag of nuts. “Stop fighting me and eat.”

Slumping back in his chair, Pipe groaned, but took the bag of nuts, tore the top open, and threw a few in his mouth. “Happy?”

“Yes.” She placed her hands on her hips. With everything going on I’d forgotten that she was only wearing that silver bra and panties.

Pipe hadn’t ignored it though as he drank her body in and grinned. “Damn, Jay. This sight must be killing you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why did he leave you like this?”

Pipe looked away. “Can we talk about this later?”

“No,” Evie and I said in unison.

“This bastard we’re talking about is Pipe’s new boyfriend?” I asked Evie.

She nodded. “And he’s into knives and other freaky shit—”

“It’s called knife play, and it’s something that can be beautiful and intense between two consenting adults.” Pipe lay his head back on the edge of his chair and closed his eyes. “I consented to everything, so it is okay.”

“But does he always leave you like this?” Evie asked.

“No.” Pipe’s voice was a low whisper. “Tonight, he was upset.”

Well he hasn’t seen me upset.

“I want to meet him,” I said.

“No.”

“Well, I want to meet him too,” Evie added.

“Hell no.” Pipe bared his teeth at us.

“This is unacceptable, Pipe. I can’t let you be with someone that’s going to hurt you like this.” Evie got down on the floor by his chair and held his hand. “This isn’t cool. I won’t stand by you if you’re going to keep messing with this sicko.”

“You don’t understand, Evie. He didn’t really leave me alone.”

“No?”

“Never.” Pipe rubbed his shut eyes. “Someone’s always watching me. They’ll be a medic in here soon to check the wounds.”

As if signaled, a man in khaki pants and a black shirt walked in with a leather case. “Mr. Walters, may I come in?”

“Yes,” Pipe said.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” As if we didn’t exist in the room, the doctor peeked through the bandages, flashed a small light into his eyes, and began his evaluation as if Pipe had come to visit him in the hospital.

“Doctor or not, I don’t agree with this,” I said.

“I don’t listen to my father. What makes you think I’m going to listen to you?” Pipe refused to open his eyes and look at me, which told me he didn’t mean any of it. “This is the man I’ve chosen to love.”

“Is this why you wouldn’t let me meet him?” I asked.

“No.” Pipe blew out a long breath. “There’re other reasons.”

“Like what?”

“Like you just wouldn’t like him.”

“I hate douche bags. Is that what he is?”

“According to your idea of the world, probably.”

I formed my fingers into fists. “How long has he been cutting you like this?”

“He doesn’t usually cut me.” Pipe opened his eyes. “And I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s been a long night. I want to go to sleep.”

“No.” I stepped forward. “We need to talk about this.”

“Why? Do I judge you?”

“You’re not on me.”

“No, I’m not. You got Evie and Cynthia to be with you, and did I judge? I supported all of you, and when Evie was clearly unhappy, I supported her leaving. I just don’t want people to be hurt. We like what we like when we’re behind closed doors. We love who we love when we choose to love them. Stay out of my business, and I’ll stay out of yours.” Pipe waved the doctor away and slowly rose. “Let’s finish this examination in the back.”

“We’re not done, Pipe,” I said.

With the help of the doctor, he staggered toward his bedroom. “If you need clothes, check the closet in my spare bedroom. Other than that go fuck yourselves, and I’ll see you two in the morning.”

“We can talk about it then,” I called back.

“Mind your own business,” he replied right before shutting his bedroom door.

No way.

His nonchalant attitude wasn’t good enough for me. I’d just walked in on him hanging from hooks and leather, like cattle, with blood dripping down his chest. He told me to mind my business. Never. He was more than a friend, he was my brother. I loved him more than I cared about most people in this world. To see him hurt was my undoing that night, to see him destroyed with tears on his face was something I would erase in my mind after beating the shit out of the guy who caused it.

I have to meet this son of a bitch.

I checked Evie’s sad face. “What’s his boyfriend’s name?”

“I only know the first name.”

“What is it?”

“Frederick.”

“That all you know about him?”

“Yes.” She didn’t turn my way. It was something about the way she seemed to avoid looking at me that told me she was full of shit.

“What else, Evie?”

“Nothing. Let’s put on some clothes and rush down to get the keys to our rooms.”

I seized her wrist and twisted her around to face me. “What else?”

“He’s married.”

I cringed. “I’m going to break his legs.”

“You can’t break them. He’s supposed to be pretty powerful down here.”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“Which is why Pipe doesn’t want you two to meet. You have no idea how to control your temper, when you think someone you love is being messed with.” She embraced me, tightening her arms around my waist and squeezing me into her. My body relaxed. The boggling thoughts that had flooded my mind, eased a little. “Jay, you have to understand this most important fact, you’re not the savior of any of us. You’re one man, and you have to accept the fact that Pipe is going to be Pipe.”

“What does that have to do with me breaking Frederick’s legs?”

“It’s violent and that’s something you need to get together if you want to go pro.” She released me and walked off to Pipe’s spare bedroom.

“Maybe I don’t want to go pro.”

“Oh be quiet. You’ve been dreaming about playing in a professional football league since we were kids.” She opened the door and turned on the light.

“Aww, that’s true, but what else was in those dreams?”

“I don’t know.”

“You, Evie. You were in those dreams too.”

“We’re not having that discussion.”

“Are you telling me to fuck off too?”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” I mumbled.

Boxes packed the room. They stacked on top of the bed, covered every inch of the floor, except for a small little path that Pipe had probably used to walk around in the space. Clothes piled the boxes to the top. Clothes and lots and lots of accessories—huge sequined hats in bright garish colors, gaudy metallic pants lined with animal fur, so many shoes, from sneakers to platinum six inch high heels.

“I’ll never find anything that I could wear in here,” I admitted.

“I was just thinking that you wouldn’t wear any of this stuff.” Evie laughed.

It sounded good to hear after the shock that had just hit us. I chuckled with her.

She bent over one of the boxes. That sweet lush bottom jiggled under that silky fabric. My dick returned to steel. It was such an immediate reaction. In one moment, I’d been thrown a crazy scene with Pipe, blood, knives, and leather. Later I discovered myself in a room with a half naked Evie, and all worry fell to the floor. Suddenly, my anxiety for Pipe rushed from my mind, and a drowning horniness replaced it, sinking deep into my pores and making my body its sensual home.

“Maybe there are a few solid colors in here.” She dug deeper, lowering herself some more into the box. “Everything I’m seeing right now is either florescent plaid or just crazy flamboyant. What do you think?”

I licked my lips. “Let’s just spend the night here. It’s already late. I don’t feel like putting clothes on and then running down to the bottom level to get cards and then coming all the way up to open our doors, when we could just crash here.”

Sighing, she glanced over her shoulder and caught my expression. Her mouth dropped open as if she was shocked to see the arousal traveling across my face.

“What?” I asked.

“There’re too many boxes and stuff in here.” She bit her lip and let her eyes journey down to my erection as it pushed against the fabric. “We’ll have to sleep out on the couches in the living room.”

Is that all we’ll be doing, sleeping?

“I remember seeing blankets in the small linen closet next to the guest bathroom. I’ll get them for us.”

She paused as if unsure. “Okay.”

I hurried away. She walked out to me in the living room while I formed a make-shift bed in the center of the space. I’d taken off all the cushions and placed them on the floor. Next I layered them all with several sheets, blankets, and pillows.