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Bake beamed at him. "Of course you can."
"Thank you." His head ached, but it was better, being awake. "Where's Devvy?"
Another smile, and Bake nodded his head. "Look to your right."
There was Dev, curled up next to him.
"Dev."
Dev's eyes popped open. "Dare." Those hands found his cheek. "How are you?"
"My head hurts. You look tired."
"You've been out of it for awhile," Bake told him, squeezing his hand.
"He didn't hurt you, though." The monster hadn't hurt Devvy.
Devvy sighed. "They took my blood. He'd been drugging me. You saved my life."
"You did good, Dare." Bake sounded so proud of him.
 "I just..." He didn't want to think about it. "What happened?"
"You went in to quit for Devvy, and Mike pumped you full of drugs, kidnapped you. He tried to make
us believe Dev was running away with him, but given Dev was at home..." Bake shook his head. "If you
hadn't gone in, we wouldn't have figured it out in time. You saved Devin."
"He..." Dare shook his head. "My head hurts."
"You're dehydrated and probably hungry. You've been out of it for days. I'll call the nurse, see what she
can do for you."
"Can I go home?" Nurse? No, he couldn't afford this.
"We'd love that, wouldn't we, Dev?"
Devvy nodded. "Now, Bake?"
Bake looked at him and at Dev. "If you can stand, I'll take you home."
"Okay." He took Dev's hands, squeezed them. "Scoot off the bed. I want to go home."
Devvy nodded. "You be careful. You haven't eaten in a long time. Watch the IV deal."
"We'll need to take that out," Bake noted.
"You can't do that!" Dev sounded scandalized. "You're not a doctor!"
"So we're going to walk out of here with the IV still in him?"
Dare rolled his eyes, grabbed the needle, and yanked it out. Oh. Ow. And also, dude. Blood. Lots of
blood.
"Shit." Bake grabbed his arm and pushed a couple of tissues against it.
Dev stood up, eyes huge, cheeks pale. "Dare. Dare. I. Should I push the button?"
 "Not if you want to go." Bake grabbed Dev with his free hand. "It's all right, sweet boy. Let's sit a
minute, let the bleeding stop, and see if Dare can make it to his feet so we can go home. If he can't, we'll
call the nurse and tell her I accidentally caught it on my watch and it got pulled out."
"Should... clothes?" Dev's eyes were huge.
Dare nodded. "I need clothes, Devvy."
"We've got extras for me and Dev to change into." Bake grabbed a sports bag and pulled out a pair of
jeans and a T-shirt.
He nodded, the room swinging a little bit. "Take me home."
Bake nodded. "You're standing, that's good enough for me." Bake helped him into the jeans, tugging
them up and taking care of the zip and button.
"Can you just leave? Can you? Dare, this is crazy."
"Home." He was sure.
"It's what we've wanted since we got here, isn't it, Dev?" Bake kissed Devvy softly. "Let's get our man
home. I'll handle the hospital when they call to bitch us out."
"They'll call to get their money. Let's go. Hurry." Although he wasn't sure he could hurry.
Bake's arm came around his waist, supporting him. Dev came around to his other side. "Come on, boys.
Before the nurses cotton on."
Dare nodded. Hurry. Before the monsters came. Hurry.
They walked down the hall toward a bank of elevators, no one seeming to notice them. Maybe he was
invisible. Maybe he was really dead and no one knew. The elevator doors opened, Clay coming out, his
eyes going wide.
"Hold the elevator, man." Bake waved at Clay and hurried them along.
 Clay nodded, holding the elevator door, staring.
"The boys need to go home," Bake murmured as they stepped into the elevator, the doors closing
behind them.
"You snuck out of the hospital? I'm proud. My truck's close." Clay looked so proud of them.
"Excellent. Mine's on the other side of the damn grounds." Bake tugged him closer. "Lean as much as
you need to."
"Home. I just..." God, his head hurt.
"Fifteen minutes, boy. Clay, you got a bottle of water in that truck of yours?"
"You know it. Lemonade, too. Is he gonna be okay, man?"
"He needs water, food, and to be fucking home. Hell, Dev's been trying to get him home since we got
here."
They got to Clay's truck and Bake bundled him into the back, Dev on one side of him, Bake climbing in
on the other as Clay slid behind the wheel. A bottle of water appeared in front of him.
"You want me to take you to your truck or straight home? Me and Bean can get your vehicle back, if
you want."
"Yeah. Just get us home, man." Bake helped him drink some of the water. "We're gonna get you home
where you belong."
"Home." He was fading again, leaning hard against Bake, his fingers twining with Devvy's.
"Ten minutes, Dare." Bake was warm and solid. There.
"Okay. You promise he won't be there?"
"I swear. He's in jail."
 He closed his eyes, shivered. Devin's hands slid over his arm, petting him, and Dare could feel his
brother's worry.
The truck was moving, but Bake was still there, holding onto him. Exhaustion was trying to get him
again, trying to suck him down into darkness, into worry. Dev and Bake's hands were on him, though,
relaxing and comforting as their warmth seeped into him.
"I... Did someone call the restaurant? Did I miss my shift?"
"It's all taken care of, Dare. Your boss understands you can't go in."
"Okay. I'll go tomorrow."
Bake snorted but didn't say anything, just patted his arm. His eyes closed. Tired. He was so tired.
"You should have something to eat when we get home, Dare. You want some soup? I think we have
some chicken noodle in the freezer."
"I'm not hungry. Just some juice."
"Chicken broth is good for you."
He didn't answer. He wasn't hungry. He was just tired.
The motion of the truck nearly had him asleep when it finally stopped and Bake murmured, "We're
here."
He nodded. "Okay. Okay." His arms and legs felt so heavy.
"We don't have any nurses to impress -- I'll carry you in." Bake's arms wrapped around him.
"Love." He rested his head on Bake's shoulder, trusting.
Bake squeezed him. "Yeah, I love you, too, spicy boy."
 "I'm not Dev. You can tell us apart."
"Of course I can. I see you both, hmm? You and Dev aren't the same person."
"No. No, we're not." He shuddered. He was never pretending to be Devin again.
"Dev, pull down the covers and then strip. He needs skin on skin." Bake placed him gently down on the
bed, the mattress so comfortable compared to the hospital bed. He sobbed softly, hiding his face in the
pillows.
Hands slid over him, pulling the T-shirt and the jeans off his body, and then he was sandwiched in
between Dev and Bake, their bodies supporting him. Then Bake pulled his little barbell off the nightstand
and there was a quick, short sharp pain as it was slid back into his right nipple. They must have taken it
off at the hospital; he hadn't even noticed.
"It's okay," Bake murmured, soothing his nipple. "You're home now."
"I'm sorry." He was. So sorry.
"Shh. Not your fault. Besides, you saved Dev's life. I don't think you need to be sorry for that."
"I... I can't. I need to..." He was beginning to shake, shudder. Where had Clay gone?
"We've got you, Dare." Bake held him close, Dev snuggled into him on the other side, hands clutching at
him. "What do you need?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]