Omorphi (78 page)

“What do you mean, the dessert, Christy?” Anna asked.

“You know the girl of the relationship is the twink?”

Sophia chuckled softly. “Not the girl. Do you mean to say the more feminine of the two men?”

“Okay, like this. Michael and Jake tell me this is from the dessert Twinkie because it is creamy delicious on the interior. One time we’re at a restaurant and the waitress asked if we wished for dessert, and Michael said no because he had one.”

Everyone but Nero erupted in laughter, and Nero simply rolled his eyes and shook his head in dismay.

And so the evening went, Christy enamored with his new favorite place, and Nero a tortured soul, the victim of merciless teasing by the flamboyant and overly flirtatious waiter.

“W
E
’
RE
going to go for a walk, and we’ll be home in a while, Papa,” Jake said.

“Here? In this area?” Nero was flabbergasted.

Jake chuckled. “Don’t worry, Michael and Christy will protect us.”

Michael turned away in a failed effort to stifle a laugh, and Christy smiled up at Nero. “There is nothing to be concerned about,
Kýrios
Santini. I am the hero Twinkie and not afraid of bears.”

Michael couldn’t help it. He cracked up. “Twink! Not Twinkie!”

Anna and Sophia burst into laughter. “Okay, Jacob, we will see you at home.” Anna pinched his cheek.

“Ow.”

“Security will follow you in the car. Be careful, all of you,” Nero cautioned before reaching for Anna’s hand and leading her to the valet stand. She looked back over her shoulder and winked at them.

“Your dad’s never going to forgive us,” Michael said as they strolled down the cobblestone sidewalk.

“I know, but it was so worth it,” Jake said through a laugh.

“Oh, look at this!” Sophia exclaimed.

Christy joined her at the storefront window and stared in awe at the beautiful clothing. “I want to come here when it is open, Michael.”

“Okay, we’ll check it out this weekend.”

They began walking again, and this time Christy found a storefront window that he liked. Michael looked up at the red neon sign. It read
Pleasure Chest,
and he began to laugh. “I don’t think you want to go in there, babe.”

“It says it is a toy store.”

Jake and Sophia began to laugh, and Sophia pointed to a large dildo and a whip in the window display and explained. Christy backed up so fast he ran into Michael.

“This is a terrible store.”

When Michael saw the fear in Christy’s eyes, every ounce of humor fled him. “Yeah, babe, you don’t want to go in there. C’mon, Jake.” He put an arm around Christy.

Jake and Sophia turned from the window display, and concern filled Sophia’s eyes upon seeing Christy’s distress. “Oh, Christy, I’m sorry. We didn’t think.”

Michael thrilled when Christy put his arm around his waist, and he hugged him to his side. It was the first time Christy had ever put his arm around his waist as they walked.

“This is a terrible store,” Christy repeated.

“It’s definitely for those with unique taste,” Jake offered.

A dark limousine passed them slowly, heading in the opposite direction, and made a U-turn in the middle of the street to the sounds of angry horns and rude gestures from drivers. There was a loud screech and the sound of multiple cars colliding. They looked back over their shoulders just as the limousine pulled up to the curb beside them.

Jake released a cry of pain, and Michael turned. Something slammed into his lower back and sent pain zinging up his spine and leaving him breathless, right before something hit his right leg hard enough to cause his knee to give way. He went down hard, nearly sightless with pain, clutching his knee and thigh. “Jake!” The next thing he heard was Sophia scream. The back window of the limousine lowered silently, and Michael recognized the stringy-haired, unkempt man in spite of his blurred vision.

“Get in the car, Christophoros.”

Michael pivoted on the sidewalk, straining to find Christy. He stood frozen, having gone to his faraway place. “Christy!” Michael shouted at the top of his lungs.

Christy’s eyes flickered once, twice, and focused on Michael.

“Run!” Michael shouted.

“Get in the car, Christophoros!” the ugly man barked.

Christy took a small step toward the car.

“No, Christy, don’t!” Michael shouted as he tried to get to his feet, and his leg failed him. He went down hard on his shoulder.

“Your punishment worsens with each second it takes you to get into the car. Get in, Christophoros. Now!”

Christy flinched and took another step toward the car.

“No, Christy, no! Run! Please! Just like you learned in self-defense! Run, baby, please!” Michael begged.

The man raised a riding crop and flicked it against the window frame, and Christy jumped and took another step toward the car.

“No, Christy! Run! Run for me! Oh God, baby, please! For me! Run for me! Please, I’m begging you! Run!”

“If you cause me to leave the car, Christophoros, your punishment will begin with your most sensitive body parts!” the man barked again.

“Don’t, Christy! If you love me, run! Please run, baby! Run for me! Run!” Michael’s beseeching ended in an agonized cry.

The vicious man opened the car door, and Christy bolted.

T
HE
emergency room was chaos as two doctors tried to stop Jake’s head from bleeding and another tried to calm a hysterical, bloodied Sophia. Strapped to a gurney, Michael was in agony as he yelled at the EMTs who brought them in.

“Undo the freakin’ straps! My leg is killing me!” Though he was in blinding pain, he didn’t care. All he could think about was Christy. When Christy ran, the limousine had followed, and he had no way of knowing whether Christy got away. He needed to get out of there and find him. “Undo the straps!” he shouted again.

One of the EMTs who signed paperwork at the nurses’ station turned to him. “We’ll be there in a sec.” After a moment, he returned to Michael with the second EMT in tow and undid the Velcro straps. “You’re lucky it’s only your kneecap that’s dislocated and not your knee.”

He glanced at the brace they’d put around his knee and the Kold Paks that lay on top of it. Yeah, he was lucky, but he didn’t care. He needed to get out of there. He tried to sit up, and the effort made him cry out in pain.

“Careful,” the EMT said as he helped him sit up. “You took a good blow to the lower back.”

Didn’t he know it. It felt as if his organs had turned into lumpy, soupy mush inside him. “What about Jake?”

The EMT glanced at the doctors who worked on him. “He got hit in the head pretty hard.”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“That’s a question for the doc.”

“We’re going to move you over to this gurney.” With the help of the two EMTs, Michael slid off the gurney to place the foot of his good leg on the floor. With monumental effort and the help of the EMTs, he pivoted on one foot and sat on the other gurney. Black spots danced in his vision as pain shot from his kidneys straight down his leg and almost made him pass out.

“It’ll be a few minutes before you see a doctor.”

“Can I get something for pain?”

The EMT glanced at the occupied doctors and nurses. “Let me see if I can find a free nurse.” Michael watched as he walked to the nurses’ station, spoke with a nurse for a few moments, and walked back to him. “She’ll give you something in a minute. Take care.” They piled their gear on the gurney he’d just vacated and wheeled it away.

“I understand you’re in a lot of pain, Mr.… Sattler, is it?” the nurse asked as she approached.

“Yeah.”

“This will hold you over for a few minutes until the doctor can see you.”

She pulled the curtain closed around them, and he could no longer watch as they worked on Jake. “Is Jake going to be okay?”

She gave him a tight smile as she injected his arm, and his pain immediately began to ebb. “I’ll let the doctor know that you’re concerned about him.” She patted his shoulder and departed, leaving him alone in his curtained cell. He moved his leg a little and found that whatever the nurse had given him had worked immediate wonders for his pain. It was now a dull, throbbing roar in his head. He sat a little straighter and found that his back pain had also eased. He slid off the gurney carefully and put his good foot down first. Then carefully, gently, he set his other foot down. He winced at the pain, but it was nothing like it had been a few moments ago. He stepped once and found that he could put a bit of weight on his leg. It would get him out of there.

Hobbling to the curtains, he peeked through the one-inch gap. Everything was still chaos. Sophia’s screams had dwindled to sobs as she sat on a gurney on the other side of Jake, and the doctors worked silently, quickly on him. Raw anguish and sadness banded his heart at the thought of losing Jake, and tears burned in his eyes.
Don’t think like that! He’ll be okay!
For once, he appreciated the stupid little voice in his head.

He opened the curtains a little wider and peeked around them. Police officers huddled at the far end of the hallway, talking to their security guards.
Where the fuck had they been when all this went down?
No one paid any attention as he slowly hobbled from the ER and slipped out the pneumatic glass doors.

“Michael!” someone called.

He looked up just as Jorge pulled to the curb in front of him and shoved the passenger door open. “Get in.”

Michael hobbled and nearly fell into the car seat. Lifting his bad leg with the help of his hands, he managed to get both his legs into the car. “How’d you know I was here?”

“You’re all over the news, man. Are you all right?”

Ignoring Jorge’s question, he asked. “Did the cops find Christy?”

“No. The news said half the police force and the FBI are out looking for him. I decided to go look for him too, but wanted to see if you and Jake were okay first. Are you okay?”

“No, but I have to find Christy. Did anyone try calling his cell phone?”

“I did. It went straight to voice mail. How’s Jake? The news said you were jumped by a couple of guys with baseball bats.”

Michael shook his head and bit his lower lip in an effort to stave off unbidden emotion. He hadn’t seen what hit him. He only knew that he’d seen stars for a few seconds. “The doctors are working on Jake. He’s hurt pretty bad. Head to the twink zone.”

“Why?”

“The only way I can find Christy is to start from where this happened.”

Jorge put the car in gear and drove from the parking lot. “So, one of those evil bastards came all the way over here from Greece, huh?” he asked as he turned onto the main boulevard.

“Yeah.”

“That is seriously creepy, Michael.”

Michael told Jorge exactly what happened and couldn’t help the hitch in his voice when he finally said, “I had no freakin’ idea where security was, and I don’t know if Christy got away.”

“The news said that a limo caused a huge car accident, and your security detail was caught up in it. They didn’t see what happened until it was too late.”

Well, that answered that question
. Michael only nodded as he looked at the passing lights and tried to remember what time they’d left the restaurant. It had been around eight o’clock. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was eleven now. Three hours had elapsed since Christy had run. There was no telling where he could be.
If
he had managed to elude Yosef. Big fucking
if
. The misery, despair, and utter fear he felt for Christy was only made bearable by the pride he felt because Christy had run. It was nothing short of a miracle.

“Why didn’t Christy tell us who he was?” Jorge asked quietly.

“I told him not to. It doesn’t matter who he is, and it would only become gossip and ammunition at school.”

“Well, the news blew his cover.”

Michael sighed in acknowledgement. “It would have been blown sooner or later.”

Jorge turned onto DILF Street. “The news said you were jumped in front of the Pleasure Chest.”

“Close to it.”

The street was much quieter now, the earlier traffic all but gone, the spent flares in the street the only evidence of the car accident caused by the limousine. Jorge slowed the car and pointed a short block ahead. “A couple of news crews are still there.”

“Shit.”

He pulled the car to the curb and put the gear in park. “What do you want to do?”

Michael closed his eyes and tried to remember which way he’d lain on the sidewalk when Christy ran. He remembered pivoting on the cobblestones to find him but hadn’t paid attention to the surroundings. “Did the news say which way Christy went?”

“Security cameras from the shops show that he headed south and turned down an alley.”

“What alley?”

“Between Le Monde and the bookstore.”

“Go to the alley.”

T
HEY
drove past the news crews slowly. When they reached the scene of the crime, Michael cringed at the amount of blood that remained on the cobblestone sidewalk, and his worry for Jake multiplied exponentially. It suddenly dawned on him that his parents might not have heard anything yet. He searched his pockets for his phone and didn’t find it. “Do you have your phone?”

“Sure.” Jorge dug it from his pocket and handed it to Michael.

Michael made to call his mom and had to think for a minute to remember her number. He always speed-dialed her. It took a minute, but he remembered it and punched it into the phone. The call went straight to voice mail, and he hung up. “Did the news say anything about our parents?”

“They said they couldn’t reach yours for comment, and Jake’s dad was with the FBI, the police, and some Greek general, and his mom was at the hospital with you guys.”

Michael frowned. He didn’t remember seeing her, but they probably hadn’t allowed her into the treatment area. He dialed his mom again. “Mom, it’s me. You’re going to hear about a horrible accident on DILF Street….” He paused. He couldn’t remember the real name of the street. “What’s the name of the street?”