Code blue, p.19
Code Blue, page 19
What a freaking day.
“Crowd’s gathering downstairs,” Ryan announced. “Media, papzz, fans. It’s all over social mdia.”
Aaaaand this day just got impossibly worse.
Ryan gave me another look. “Ambrose is trying to fix it.”
I almost felt bad for yelling at him.
“You guys will have to leave via one of the service entries,” I said. I sounded tired, even to my own ears. “Kitchen, laundry, utilities. Hospitals have several. We just need to speak to hospital security and call our drivers, or even a cab.” I looked up at Ryan. “Just ask for the hospital’s head of security to come see us. I’ll speak to them. No big deal.”
Ryan nodded, his phone already to his ear as he walked out.
“We should let the FBI know too,” Roscoe said quietly. “Agent Zielinski or whatever his name was.”
I made a face. “Well . . . I’m probably not his favorite person either. He came by this morning . . .”
Christ. Was that today?
Roscoe stared, then he laughed. “Oh, Steve.”
I growled. “He assumed me and Jeremy . . . You know, that’s not even the point. The point was that he assumed something. What kinda cop assumes anything in the middle of an investigation? So I told him what I thought about that.”
Now it was Roscoe who made a face. “He assumed you and Jeremy, huh?”
“Please don’t start.” I shook my head. “Because that is the reason for this whole mess.”
He was absolutely going to say something but Maddox appeared at the door. “Babe?”
Roscoe went in, and a few very long moments later, Ryan returned with the head of security.
With Robbie and Ryan, we discussed an escape plan, and I called the drivers to let them know where we needed them to be.
Ryan went in to see Jeremy for a few moments before he left, and then it was just me and Robbie. “Just us, huh?”
He smiled. “Jeremy’ll be fine, boss. And I’m sorry about the singing thing. I didn’t think you’d get into trouble because of me.”
“It wasn’t because of you.”
It was because of me.
It was all because of me.
I sighed. “What a fucking mess.”
Roscoe appeared and gave me a kind smile. “He wants to see you.”
Oh.
Was I ready to see him?
No, and yes.
I stood on unsure legs and went in. Maddox sat beside the bed. Roscoe went and stood by him. Jeremy looked . . . well, he looked awful. Still beautiful, and he still took my breath away. But now for another reason.
I wasn’t prepared to see him so vulnerable.
He had a patch of hair shaved above his temple and an angry purplish line through it. It was about two inches long and had been fixed with surgical glue, and I couldn’t tell if it was bruised or just the terrible lighting.
He was pale and looked tired as hell.
“Hey,” I murmured.
“Ryan gone?” Roscoe asked.
“Yeah.”
“Can we stay?” Maddox asked.
I shrugged, because I’d assumed he’d be the one person staying. But Roscoe answered. “We should go,” he said, giving Maddox’s shoulders a squeeze. “The doc said only one person can stay, and given the FBI case and the need for security, it has to be Steve.”
I could see Maddox considered arguing, but after turning back to Jeremy, and a silent exchange between them, he nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
God, he was leaving me with Jeremy . . .
Maddox gave Jeremy a soft kiss on the forehead before they walked out. “Text me when you know you’re allowed to leave.”
“Will do.”
“Robbie knows how to get you out. The driver’s been notified,” I said.
Roscoe gave me a nod.
And then it was just Jeremy and me.
My insides were heavy and I was afraid of what he might say. I wasn’t even sure if he wanted me to sit with him.
“Hey,” I said, not sure how close I should go.
He lifted his hand off the bed and it took me a second to realize it was an offering. I somehow got my legs to work and took his hand. He squeezed my fingers and I could have cried.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“Can I get you anything?”
He swallowed but gave a gentle shake of his head. “Just stay with me.”
“Okay.”
He slow blinked and let out a heavy breath. “Feel bad.”
Oh shit. “Can I get the doctor for you? Want me to press the button?”
“No. Feel bad for what I said. Did.”
Oh.
“How about you don’t worry about that right now. You just rest.”
“Wanna go home.”
“I know. I’ll take you as soon as they let me.”
He was quiet for a few long seconds. “I’m sorry. About before.”
“You mean I’m not fired?”
His hold on my hand tightened. “No. Well, if you let me drink tequila again, probably, yeah.”
I chuckled, so relieved. “Noted.”
“Maddox said you yelled at Ambrose.”
I groaned. “I’ll have to apologize. I was out of line.”
“Madz said what you said was right.”
“Ambrose is a good guy. He deals with a lot. He caught me at a bad time. Which is not an excuse. I’ll call him later.”
Jeremy sighed again, slow blinked a few times, but kept a hold of my hand. “Thank you. For pulling me out of the water.”
“Maddox got to you first.”
“You helped. Or so he said.”
“You don’t remember?”
He shook his head a little. “No. I remember puking on the ground and being in wet clothes.” He made a face. “Feel like I wanna puke but can’t. They gave me something. I dunno. I’m never drinking again.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“That I’m an idiot.”
I smiled at him. “Pretty sure she didn’t say that.”
“Yep. It’s in my file and everything.”
“I see they gave you a bit of a haircut.”
He frowned. “Maddox took a photo and showed me.” He let his head roll to the side so he could see me better. “Am I still pretty?”
I looked him right in the eye, and even though my stomach swooped and my heart squeezed, I told him the honest truth. “Jeremy, you’re so much more than pretty. You’re so much more.”
His eyes met mine and he nodded as if he finally understood something. His chin wobbled a little and he got teary, then let out a shaky breath.
What was that reaction?
“You okay?”
He nodded again but then shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Jeremy?” I whispered.
His grip on my hand was tight, like he was afraid. I wanted to say so much more. I wanted to stupidly tell him everything. I wanted to lay it all on the line. I wanted to ask what he was so afraid of. Was it me? Was it this?
But a nurse bustled in, startling us both. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or thankful.
“How’s the patient?” she asked as she checked his IV and the monitor he was hooked up to.
I went to let go of Jeremy’s hand but he kept ahold of mine. “I want to go home,” he said.
“We need to go through the concussion test,” she said. “Do you remember the four pictures we showed you?”
“Beach ball, house, cat . . . keys.”
The nurse smiled. “Good.”
“Can I go home now?”
“One more test. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Oh,” I said, stopping her. “Can he sleep? I should’ve asked before. He’s tired. It’s been a big week.”
She smiled. “Sure he can.”
When we were alone again, I put my other hand over our joined ones. “Want me to turn the lights out? Need a drink or some ice?”
He smiled sweetly. “Just stay with me.”
My heart knocked against my ribs. “Okay.”
He slow blinked once, then again, but this time his eyes stayed shut. I studied his handsome face and the awful wound on the side of his head and the shaved strip of hair. It was bruised. I could see that now.
Was it normal for a personal security guard to sit and hold their charge’s hand?
No, it wasn’t.
Was our relationship normal?
Not anymore.
What were we, exactly? Friends? Close-professional? Just professional? More than that?
I had no idea.
There was something between us, and it scared him. Hell, it scared me, and I was gay. He had, up until whatever this was, considered himself straight. And now he was having confusing feelings for a guy.
For me.
He was clearly unsure and had some issues to work through, and we’d probably need to have some kind of conversation about it.
Not to mention all the other stress he was under with the fixated person and the media circus.
Right now he needed to not be alone, and he needed someone to hold his hand. And that someone just happened to be me.
Needing a distraction while he dozed, I scrolled through the internet to see what the media was saying about him.
I shouldn’t have looked.
Atrous was trending. That was no surprise. They usually were.
But the footage of Robbie singing and playing the guitar had gone viral. And it wasn’t just him. It was the band singing and dancing, clearly drunk.
And me, in the background, leaning against the door, looking on, laughing and smiling at all of them.
Smiling at Jeremy.
Of course, the Atrous fans had examined every millisecond of the footage. Every frame in detail, every movement, every single thing. Not just the clothes everyone wore, but jewelry, hair-styles, shoes. The back of Jeremy’s house, Amy in the reflection of the windows recording the whole thing, and me, of course.
The headings and grab lines were terrible.
The Iceman smiles!
Steve ‘the Iceman’ Frost thaws out.
Normally stoic and serious, but smiling as the band sing in the backyard, head of security, Steve Frost . . .
Footage of Atrous enjoying some downtime even has Steve the Iceman smiling . . .
Atrous security manager smiles only for Jeremy while Maddox and Roscoe get cute . . .
For fuck’s sake.
Admittedly, most of the accolades were for Robbie and his ability to play the guitar and sing. Robbie was also trending on all major social media sites.
They were all trending to some degree.
Clearly posting a video of the band drunk-dancing and singing hadn’t been a great idea.
No wonder Ambrose was pissed.
There was also mention of paramedics being called to Jeremy’s home address, but it hadn’t really picked up momentum yet. The drunk-dancing video had the spotlight for now.
More sites were reporting it as a rumor, and ‘our sources say’ kind of bullshit. Given he was obviously drunk in the dancing and singing video, most reports were connecting the dots. One person had even claimed to see Maddox and Roscoe entering the hospital.
I mean, they weren’t wrong. But they had nothing confirmed.
Jeremy groaned and I almost dropped my phone. I retook his hand and looked him over. He was still asleep, from what I could tell. So I forgot about my phone, about the internet, about the world outside, and just watched Jeremy instead.
The doctor allowed him to leave after the next concussion test. He remembered the images correctly, four consecutive times in separate intervals. With promises to return if he experienced any dizziness or blurred vision, vomiting, or onset headaches, we were allowed to get him home.
I’d called in a company driver and he picked us up from the service dock and drove us back to Jeremy’s home. He was so tired, he’d almost fallen asleep on me in the backseat of the car. Not that I minded, but I had to rouse him to get him inside.
The house was mostly dark, but a sleep-rumpled Riko met us in the hall. “Sorry, I fell asleep.”
I wasn’t surprised, since he’d been up since 3:00 a.m. and it was now going on . . . I checked my still-not-working watch. I had no idea what time it was.
“No worries,” I said as Jeremy went on ahead. “I better get him to bed. And Riko, sleep in tomorrow. I don’t think any of us will be up too early.”
“Okay, boss.”
“Night.”
I caught up to Jeremy as he was taking the stairs to his room. “Hey,” I said, resting a hand on the small of his back. “Not so fast.”
“Hm” was all he said.
I managed to get him into his room and I pulled the covers back from his bed. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Hm. Shower or bed?”
I wasn’t expecting that. “Uh . . .”
“Bed,” he said, answering his own question. “Should change.”
The hospital had given him a change of clothes, donated from local churches, or so the nurse had said. It was a pair of brown pants and an old blue button-down. He looked bohemian chic.
If I wore that, I’d look homeless.
Regardless, it was better than the wet clothes he’d arrived in, and I was very grateful they’d given him anything.
Jeremy unbuttoned his shirt and let it drop to the floor, then he undid his pants and stepped out of them. Completely freaking naked. When he said he was going to change, I hadn’t realized he meant right where he stood.
Christ.
But he got into bed, pulled the covers up to his waist.
Say something, Steve.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked.
“Hm,” he said as he lay down, very careful of the right side of his head. Then he reached out and patted the other side of the bed. “Will you stay?”
Uh, what?
Had I heard him correctly?
“Please,” he mumbled. “Stay.”
Holy hell.
“Um, okay,” I whispered.
I walked around his giant bed, and even in the dark, I could see his eyes on me. I lay down on top of the covers, facing him, pulling a pillow under my head. He didn’t smile at me. In fact, I think he looked scared.
But he reached his hand out and I took it. My heart was thundering, banging against my ribs.
This was absurd.
He closed his eyes, and in just a few seconds, his grip on my hand loosened when he fell asleep.
Wow.
What a day.
I tried not to overthink the fact I was in Jeremy’s bed, holding his hand while he slept. And I tried not to think about the fight we’d had earlier, all because he’d seen my scars and I wouldn’t tell him what’d happened.
That was what the whole fight had been about. He thought I didn’t trust him, but that wasn’t the case.
Lying there, watching him sleep, I knew come morning I’d tell him the whole story. It would mean outing myself to him, it would open a box I could never close.
I didn’t know what it would mean or how it would end. But after the day we’d had, it was the right thing to do.
But that was tomorrow.
Right now, I had every intention of staying with Jeremy for a few minutes, until he was sound asleep. Then I’d go back to my room and leave him be.
But I was so tired. So, so tired. I just had to close my eyes for a second . . .
I jolted awake to a light-filled room, startled, heart racing. I didn’t know where I was, what time it was.
Until I noticed Jeremy, lying there facing me, smiling despite the fresh wound on his head.
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Fuck. Sorry. I fell asleep. How’s your head? Need me to get you anything?”
The corner of Jeremy’s lips curled upward in a half smile. “You’re wearing my clothes.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
He was clearly feeling okay.
“Yeah, I took a dive in the pool yesterday fully dressed. Maddox brought these clothes to the hospital. He wore something of yours too.”
His eyes softened and he blinked, still kinda smiling. “It looks good on you. Bit tight.”
“What time is it?” I asked.
“I have no idea.” He reached over and took my wrist, looking at my watch.
“It died yesterday.”
Jeremy frowned. “From going in the water?”
“Yeah.”
He lifted my wrist closer. “At five thirteen. Is that the time I went into the pool?”
I nodded. “Sounds about right.”
He sighed. “I dunno where my phone is. At the bottom of the pool, probably.”
I tried to think. “I don’t remember seeing it.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “I don’t think I want to find it. I want to lie low for a few days.”
I remembered the social media hype about their drunk video from yesterday and the rumors about his trip to the hospital. And I thought about the people we would have to call this morning. Maddox, Luke, Wes, Blake, Ryan, Ambrose . . . God, I had to apologize to Ambrose. I had the sudden urge to throw my phone in the pool too. “You should call your mom.”
He smiled again. “I’ll need to borrow your phone.”
I studied his wound, his scar, for a bit. There was some bruising, but it looked otherwise healthy. “How’s your head?”
“Sore.”
“You have pain pills and antibiotics. We brought them home from the hospital. But you should eat first. You hungry?”
“Mm.”
I sat up and swung my feet to the floor. “I’ll make you some breakfast.”
Jeremy sat up and pushed at the covers, quickly pulling them back up. “Uh, Steve? I’m not wearing any clothes.”
I shook my head. “Because you stripped last night. Don’t you remember?”
He squinted. “I remember getting undressed. I didn’t realize I was naked.”
I laughed as I spotted my phone on the bedside. I picked it up, and ignoring all the missed messages and phone calls, I saw the time was 9:20 a.m. “Holy shit. We must have slept for ten hours. I have so many missed calls.” I was in so much trouble. I made my way to the door. “Eggs and bacon in ten minutes.”
