The story you are about to read contains explicit material one may find offensive. It contains homosexual acts and behavior between consenting adults. If you know you're not supposed to be here or you know this material will upset you, please hit your back button immediately and get out of here. The story is fictionally written with real life experiences. Any similarities of plot, names, setting, etc. are totally coincidental.
Chapter eight - The hospital
Adam and Ryan hurriedly walked into University Hospital. The possibility that Taylor could be dead sent a piercing feeling to Adam's heart. He tried not to think about it until he was sure, and the only way to be sure was to find the doctor who knew about Taylor's condition. They both stopped at the front desk and asked the secretary a series of questions. While they were trying to find information about Taylor, a medium-built young man approached them.
"Excuse me, I'm Doctor Thomas Cordovan. I overheard you asking about Mr. Hastings and I would like to talk to you about him. He said, looking at us with great concern. "I assume one of you must be Adam?"
"Yes, I am." Said Adam, with sadness in his voice. "Please tell me that he's going to be OK."
"Come, this way." Said Doctor Cordovan, as he led them to a sitting area.
All three of them sat. Doctor Cordovan sat facing Adam and Ryan.
"I have some good news and some bad news." Doctor Cordovan started. "The good news is, Taylor is alive."
Adam sighed deeply and was relieved beyond measure to hear that his man was still breathing.
"Doc, what's the bad news?" Ryan questioned, carefully.
"I know you've heard by now that Taylor's accident was horrific." Said the Doctor. "I don't want to alarm you more than necessary, but I want you to stay optimistic."
"Come on, Doc." Adam pushed, irritated. "What's wrong with Taylor?"
"A few of Taylor's internal organs has been injured." Doctor Cordovan started to tell them. "His rib cage was badly fractured, and he suffered a minor concussion to the head."
"Do you have to perform surgery?" Adam sorely inquired.
"We probably will." Said the doctor. "Taylor has minimal damage to his left kidney, and his lungs. There are also a few blood vessels that were punctured, but that, too, was minimal. The only severe damage to his body was his rib cage. But we can expect Taylor to have a speedy recovery, especially because of how young he is and how he took care off his body. His body will repair itself at a rapid rate."
The mentioning of how young Taylor was, made Adam think about the conversation he and Taylor had in the kitchen, hours before this tragedy had happened. Today was Taylor's birthday and Adam was so heartbroken to see something like this happen to him. Nevertheless, he was relieved that Taylor's prognosis was promising.
"Now I've tried calling his parents, but they live in another state." Doctor Cordovan said. "I'm sure they'd like to be here with their son. Your name was the first to appear on Taylor's identifications as an emergency contact, and I figure you must be someone important to him."
"Yeah, we're lov..., we're very good friends." Adam stuttered, not understanding why he held back from telling Doctor Cordovan the truth about their relationship.
"Well, you must be a really good friend to him." The doctor smiled. "Would you please try to call his parents again, I have to attend to the situation at hand."
"Doc, when can we see him?" Ryan asked, as the doctor stood up.
"I'll let you know." Doctor Cordovan said, as he patted Ryan on his shoulder and then left them.
A few minutes later, Rouge showed up. He met Adam and Ryan sitting in the waiting area of the West Wing, where Taylor was situated.
"Hey!" Rouge hailed, softly.
"Hey!" Adam hailed back, with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, man."
"What for?" Rouge asked, pretending to be concerned.
"I'm not myself right now." Adam said tearfully, and then wiped his eyes.
"You don't have to apologize, I know Taylor meant a lot to you." Rouge said, sitting next to Adam and then placed an arm around him.
"This is so unfair that a shitty thing like this had to happen to him." Adam said, breaking down completely. He placed his head on Rouge's chest and cried.
Ryan sat looking at them. He wanted to comfort Adam too, but he didn't know how to console a man in Adam's condition. He started to think about his brother Eric and how he missed him so much. He began to wonder why life had so many sorrows in it, and even though he was grateful for the gift of life, sometimes he wished he hadn't been born.
"How did you know Taylor was in an accident?" Adam questioned, as he rose from Rouge's chest.
"Um, the news." Rouge said quickly. "When I heard, I rushed over here immediately. I know Taylor was someone special to you and I just wanted to be here for you."
"That's nice of you, man, but why are speaking as if Taylor is already dead?" Adam questioned without suspicion.
"He's not?" Rouge asked surprised, but tried to appear happy.
"No." Adam told him. " As a matter of fact, the doctor told us that he thinks Taylor is going to pull through this just fine."
"I see." Rouge said, trying to conceal his disappointment. "I guess we have something to be thankful for, huh?"
Adam didn't say anything. He just barely smiled. A few hours went by, and then Doctor Cordovan appeared. Ryan was slouched across a few chairs, Rouge was drinking a cup of coffee, and Adam just sat still. That was until he saw Doctor Cordovan.
"Doc, is everything OK?" Adam questioned with much concern.
"Well I'm hopeful that it's going to be." The doctor started. "Let me update you on what we've done. We had to perform a minor surgery to stop the internal bleeding. Fortunately, his punctured wounds weren't that serious. We ran some tests to check for any brain damage and the results came back negative. His rib cage is going to take some time to heal, but so far, everything else seems to be OK."
"Doc, thank you so much." Adam said gratefully. "So can we see him now?"
"You can, but I must warn you, he's still unconscious." The doctor told them. "But for now, only one at a time is allowed.
"You go." Ryan told Adam, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, we'll be right out here." Rouge said, seething under his fake smile. Angry that his plan had been foiled, but committed to not giving up any time soon. He decided to use the time that Taylor spent recovering, to get closer to Adam. Yes, he was going to do everything in his power to win Adam's love.
Adam followed the doctor to the room where Taylor was resting. When Adam saw Taylor, tears rolled down his cheeks. Doctor Cordovan smiled and then left them alone. Adam drew near to Taylor's bedside and held his hand.
"Baby, it's me." Adam said, with tears streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you on your birthday. I prayed so hard for you and I'm so blessed to still have you here on earth with me. Baby, I don't know what I would do if you left me. I'd die of a broken heart."
Taylor squeezed Adam's hand slightly, and Adam smiled, leaned over and kissed him on his forehead.
"I know you can hear me, babes." Adam said, running his fingers through Taylor's hair. "I love you so much. I can't wait to get you back home with me, so that I can take care of you."
Meanwhile, Rouge was outside on his cell phone with his partner.
"Where the fuck are you?" Came the voice over the phone.
"I'm still at the hospital." Rouge said irritatingly. "Our target is still alive. What do you want me to do?"
"Don't do anything!" Said the voice, forcefully. "Just lay low, and try to work on Adam's emotions. This could work out better than I thought. Maybe it's best that Taylor remains alive. It would do more damage if a cute Nicaraguan guy, like you, took Adam from him. Just stick to what I tell you to do and everything will be OK."
"What about this Ryan guy?" Rouge asked.
"What about him?" The voice asked.
"Well, he might be a problem."
"How so?" The voice inquired.
"He might be young, but he's still upset about his brother's death." Rouge told the voice. "And I believe he came here to Florida to do an investigation on his own. I mean, Adam told me he was here for college, but I don't buy that. What if he suspects me?"
"How the fuck he's going to suspect you?" The voice questioned. "That boy doesn't know his left foot from his right. Well, if he decides to play detective, then you know what to do, we can't let anyone link Eric's death to us."
"You have me doing all the dirty work." Rouge told the voice. "I want you to know, if I go down, you go down too."
"Well, you better make sure that your ass doesn't go down." The voice retorted angrily. "I invested too much of my time and money into this shit and I depend on you to do your part."
"Don't worry about me, I'll do what I was paid to do." Rouge said, and then hung up the phone.
When Rouge turned around, he met Ryan standing behind him.
"How long have you been standing there?" Rouge asked in a paranoid voice.
"Not long." Ryan said looking at him. "I just wanted to get some fresh
air."
"How long is not long?" Rouge Questioned.
"Dude, if you're worried about me eavesdropping on your conversation, don't be, because I didn't hear anything." Ryan said seriously. "I'm not that type of person."
Rouge searched Ryan's eyes for any dishonesty, but he couldn't tell if the boy was telling the truth. He didn't know whether to do something drastic, like leading him somewhere dark and then killing him, or wait to see if Ryan really didn't hear anything. Before he could make a decision, Ryan interrupted his thoughts...
"So, you knew Eric too?" Ryan questioned innocently.
"What?" Rouge asked angrily.
"I asked did you know my broth..."
"I heard you the first time." Rouge interrupted. "No, I did not know your brother. Why did you ask me that?"
"I don't know, just making conversation I guess." Said Ryan.
"How old are you?"
"I'm 18. Why?" Inquired Ryan.
"Just asking. You seemed a bit older." Said Rouge.
"Yeah, my friends tell me that all the time." Ryan said, smiling.
"Well, don't be too quick to grow up. Enjoy being a teenager while you can." Rouge said, with a hidden agenda.
"You're talking to me like you're so much older than I am." Ryan told him. "How old are you?"
"Don't worry about it, kid." Rouge said, brushing him off. He didn't want to get friendly with Ryan. He was trying to figure out what he should do with him. He thought this boy could be playing him for a fool and he didn't want to take any chances.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Rouge asked.
"Sure." Ryan agreed. "Just let me tell the secretary where we're going, so if Adam starts to look for us, he won't be worried."
"Nawh, don't worry about that, we're not going far." Said Rouge with a fake smile.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, come on, it'll be fine." Rouge assured him.
Rouge knew that Ryan didn't know his way around Tampa, so he took every advantage of the situation. He and Ryan walked down this dark alley and everywhere around them looked desolate. Rouge kept looking around, inconspicuously, making sure that no one was around. Ryan walked and talked about Eric, while Rouge constantly felt the bulge that was stuffed in his waistline. It was a small handgun that he kept on him most of the times. Suddenly, Ryan started to get uneasy about his surroundings.
"Man, this place look like a ghost town." Ryan laughed, nervously. "Where are we?"
"Oh just in the back of the hospital." Rouge smiled. "It's quite beautiful during the day."
"Don't you think we should be getting back now?" Ryan suggested. "Adam may be looking for us."
"Are you afraid of the dark?" Rouge jested, but started to reach for his handgun.
"Only when I don't know where the hell I'm at?" Ryan laughed, but he was really ready to turn around and go back the way they came.
"Are you telling me the truth, Ryan. Rouge asked seriously.
"Of course I am, why would I be lying to you." Ryan said, a bit bemused.
"I'm talking about that phone call back there at the hospital." Rouge said, taking out his gun and holding it next to his leg. It was dark, so Ryan didn't see the gun.
"Man, you still worried about that?" Ryan questioned tensely. "I've told you, I haven't heard a word you said on that phone."
"Don't bullshit me, Ryan!" Rouge said with anger in his voice. "Tell me the fucking truth!"
"I am telling you the truth." Ryan said, in a fearful voice.
Rouge stopped walking and held up the gun towards Ryan
"Keep walking until I tell you to stop." Rouge told Ryan in a gravely voice.
"What the fuck is going on, man?" Ryan cried.
Rouge walked up to Ryan and placed the gun against the right side of his head.
"Now, I'm going to ask you one last time, how much of my conversation did you hear?"
"OK, OK, OK, I'll tell you." Ryan profusely cried.
"Oh, so you do know something." Rouge said sarcastically. "You lying ass bitch!"
"Please. Please don't kill me, I'll won't tell the police anything." Ryan pleaded for his life. "I swear, I won't tell anyone."
"You mother fucker! You think I'm gonna trust you now?" Rouge taunted. "You lied to me, how do I know you wouldn't turn me in?"
"You have my word." Ryan cried.
"Nawh, your word is not good enough." Rouge said. "Walk!"
"Please, man, you don't have to do this." Ryan tried. "Come on, man, don't do this."
"Walk!" Rouge commanded Ryan.
Suddenly, Ryan took off running down the alley. Three shots were fired in the dark. Ryan dropped to ground and Rouge backed up and ran in the other direction. Did he kill Ryan? He didn't know, and he couldn't check to see if he was dead, because a car with bright lights was making a turn in the alley the same time he fired those shots. Rouge trembled as he reached for his cell to called his partner.
"I fucked up, man." Rouge said, in a fretful voice.
To be continued...
Chapter eight ends here. I hope you're enjoying the plot as much as I'm writing it. Stay tuned for the coming chapters and read as this mystery unfolds before you.
I want to say a special thanks to Daryl, my editor. He helped the story to flow, as it should.