Guns n' Boys Book 1 Part 2 (38 page)

“Peter. Open up,” Seth hissed, knocking at
the window again. Dom was bleeding so bad all Seth could think of
was getting him in, getting him safe, stopping that fucking blood
draining from the beloved body.

Peter bit his lip but walked up to the
window. He raised his hand, and watching it levitate over the
handle was one of the most excruciating sights in Seth’s life.

“What’s wrong?” he asked from behind the
glass

“Peter, come on, open up.” Seth slammed his
palm against the frame, but it only caused Peter to step back.

Seth wasn’t waiting anymore. He pulled out
the gun from his jacket and pointed it straight at his ex. Seth
wouldn’t hurt him, but he needed to push the guy into action. All
he could think of was Dom’s life on the line. “Open the fuck up,”
he rasped.

Peter opened his mouth, and his chest
expanded, but he quickly unlocked the window and stumbled back, his
eyes on the barrel. “Seth, why are you doing this?”

“I’ll explain everything, just… help me,
Peter. Help me.” Seth was shaking as he pulled Dom inside.

A chubby man in just his pajamas came into
the room. He looked a bit scruffy with his brown hair in a mess. He
rubbed his eyes, but the moment he saw the gun, he was wide awake
and pulled Peter close.

Seth couldn’t care less. He dragged Dom in,
catching his legs at the last moment to prevent them from hitting
the hard floor. His senses were in havoc, and he barely registered
the gasps coming from behind his back.

“God, we need to call an ambulance!”

“No, no, no. Peter, listen.” Seth pulled the
blinds shut, dimming the light in the room. “We can’t go to the
hospital. Oh, God, please help him. I didn’t know where else to
go.” He put the gun away and kneeled by Domenico to stroke his
blood-clotted hair.

But Peter pulled closer to his new boyfriend,
who watched the events with a cow-like stare. “What is this? What
did you get yourself into?”

“I’ll tell you everything, just please, help
him first. I beg you, Pete. He’s dying…” Seth rubbed his eyes,
crying again. This was all too much. “There’s nowhere else we can
go.”

“Why not to a fucking hospital?” muttered
Peter but bolted out of the room, his footsteps echoing down the
hallway.

“Peter, if you have any friendship left for
me, don’t call the police,” Seth yelled, absentmindedly stroking
Dom’s hair. It was in sticky streaks, like the fur of a dead sewer
rat.

“You’re Seth, aren’t you?” The new boyfriend
asked, standing there awkwardly instead of fucking doing
something.

“Zach, bring some hot water and clean
towels,” commanded Peter on his way back with the biggest home use
first aid case Seth had ever seen. Peter being a bit of a
hypochondriac with relatively easy access to medication had its
advantages sometimes.

“Are you sure it’s fine?” Zach asked but
already stepped toward the door. He turned on the light, and Seth
stiffened at the mess that was Dom’s face. He wasn’t even sure what
had happened to him.

“Please help him,” Seth whispered, tearing up
again. “Dom? Domenico?” His breath hitched, and he pulled some of
the hair off Dom’s face, only now realizing Dom hadn’t said
anything in a while. He was limp in his arms, and when Seth
frantically leaned down to listen to Dom’s chest, all he got was a
strangled, shallow rhythm. His mind filled with dark fantasies of
himself being forced to leave Dom’s body somewhere, only to flee,
all alone and hounded by the Family to the end of his days. Dom
would have wanted him to at least try to escape.

He couldn’t stop the big tears spilling down
his cheeks as Peter opened his magic box and pulled on a pair of
latex gloves. “What’s wrong with him?”

Seth sniffed and started pulling Dom’s pants
off with shaking hands. “He’s been shot. And I think a bullet
grazed his face… What can I do?”

“Oh, fuck... oh, fuck...” Peter was blinking
rapidly as he watched the mess. Peter always had a tendency to
overreact, but the low edge in his voice didn’t mean anything good.
“Is it still inside?” he whispered, trying to push Dom to the side
to gain access to the back of his leg.

“I don’t know!” Seth swallowed, gently
patting Domenico’s cool cheek and hunching over him. “Dom? Dom?
Come on, sweetie, are you with me?”

Zach came back with two bowls full of water
and a set of bandages just as Peter exhaled, his face relaxing.
“Thank fucking God. It went through, and the blood is clotting, but
he’s still losing some because he’s been moving, I assume. It
doesn’t seem like it’s an artery,” he said, fumbling with his kit
while giving orders to his new boyfriend. Within two minutes,
Domenico’s unconscious body was resting over two clean sheets, and
Peter was scrubbing his skin with vodka.

“Oh, God, don’t hurt him. Are you sure you
know what you’re doing?” Seth’s voice was shaking as he watched
on.

Peter slowly raised his head and arched an
eyebrow at him. “Shut up,” he muttered, raising a curved needle and
thread.

Seth took a deep breath. Then another, but
stayed silent. He had to trust Peter knew what he was doing. As a
dentist, Peter had sewn people up, had training in it. He was the
only person who could help. And on top of that, Peter was someone
the Family knew nothing about, he knew Dom had made sure they
didn’t know Seth’s former real address. Seth felt nausea curling
around his throat when the curved needle went into flesh, only to
emerge and dive again. Zach followed Peter’s orders and helped out
without complaint, like a good nurse. Seth kept checking if Dom was
still breathing. As much as he tried keeping quiet, he couldn’t
help the tears streaking down his face every now and then. Dom had
to live. Seth couldn’t carry on all alone. He needed Dom, needed
his strength. Even thinking about losing him now, after the chase,
after the escape through the sewer, made the hole in his chest
broaden, ready to swallow him and lock him forever in his grief. It
didn’t help that he was watching Peter repeatedly pierce the skin
with the needle, sewing the flesh together like a torn jacket. It
wasn’t good enough. Nothing was.

Zach’s big hands though were surprisingly
gentle for a guy of his size. He cleaned Dom’s skin with warm
water, his moves steady and calm.

“It’s gonna be fine. Peter will help you,”
Seth whispered over Dom. He exhaled in relief when he noticed the
bullet didn’t go into his head, though he had to avert his eyes
when something pinkish and white loomed from underneath the flap of
ripped skin between the eyebrows.

“He can’t hear you,” muttered Peter,
completely absorbed in the task at hand. His forehead was as marred
with wrinkles as the knee of an elephant.

“I didn’t want to drag you into it, Pete…”
Seth looked to his ex, unable to communicate how grateful he was
for the help. Domenico was his life now, his only future.

“Save it. Tell me I won’t have the police on
my doorstep,” growled Peter and finished the exit wound.

“You won’t, I promise this will all go away.
Zach, thank you too.”

Zach looked at Seth, his face pale. “I… Um…
yeah, It’s the right thing to do.”

Seth nodded and gently used the warm, wet
towel over Dom’s hair and forehead.

It took agonizingly long in Seth’s mind, but
Peter managed to patch up Dom’s leg and dressed it in a clear
pressure-packaged bandage. It was when he progressed to putting
Dom’s other wound together that Seth had to look away again. He was
afraid to watch that perfect face being hurt even further.

“So, what happened, spill it,” grumbled
Peter.

Seth never stopped stroking Dom’s hair. God,
he loved that hair so much. If Dom died, he’d keep some, just like
he promised, but as soon as he thought that, he let out a sob
again, already feeling guilty for that idea. “My family… They’re
not good people, Peter. They’re after us, but we managed to lose
them. You probably heard the police sirens before.”

“What does that even mean? Do you realize how
fucked up this sounds?” said Peter as Zach excused himself to make
some tea.

Seth tried to think of something sensible.
“They’re really homophobic. I mean,
really
. They actually
tried to shoot us.”

“That’s a fucking good reason to go to the
police.”

Seth swallowed and stroked Dom’s hand. “We
shot some of them. We need to run, I don’t want the police
involved. He’s…” Seth looked down at Dom’s face even though its
sight physically hurt him. “Domenico is kind of on the wrong side
of the law. I mean… Not totally. He’s like, on the gray side…”

“He could fucking die here, because I don’t
have any blood, no IVs, no proper equipment... Who knows, maybe
something’s damaged on the inside. Must be a fucking big problem if
you still want to stay,” snapped Peter.

“They want to kill us. So he
is
fucking surviving this. You hear me? You’re not leaving me,” Seth
hissed at Dom, but squeezed his hand tighter. Domenico didn’t even
twitch as the ugly, blue stitches lined up on his cheek, nose and
forehead, patching the torn skin into one swollen piece.

“Great, now make an unconscious man swallow
antibiotics,” grumbled Peter.

Seth envisioned passing them in a kiss, but
he knew it was a stupid fantasy. “How do we do that?”

“We don’t, he could choke to death.” Peter
leaned back and pulled off his gloves. Just in time for Zach to
bring them tea. “Zach, could you see if the stairs are clear?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” The guy lowered his
head to quickly kiss Peter and rushed out again.

Seth looked at Dom’s handsome face, now
marred with the scar and all the swelling.

“I can’t promise you he’ll be pretty after
this,” said Peter, as if guessing Seth’s thoughts.

“It’s nothing. As long as he lives. That’s
all I want. He’ll be perfect.” Seth watched Peter dress the wound
and cover the horrific sight.

Peter fell back on his ass, watching them
with his lips pressed tightly together. When he finally spoke, it
was only a rasp. “How long had you been cheating on me?” It was the
strangest thing to ask among bloodied pieces of cloth, and with an
unconscious man right next to them.

Seth glanced at him. The question came like
from another life. “I… no, don’t even say that. I met him later.
After I left for Italy. After the kidnapping.”

“Why would I believe that? We hadn’t been
getting along well for the last few months of the relationship,”
muttered Peter, reaching out to grab a cookie from the tray.

Seth leaned closer and embraced him with one
arm, but Peter immediately pulled away, hunching his bony
shoulders. He seemed so tiny after the months with Dom. “I have no
reason to lie.”

“Whatever. I hope he lives.”

“He’s a strong man.” Seth got up and started
getting the dirty clothes off Dom. He checked again if his lover
was breathing, and yes, warm air grazed his ear. “Can I do the
laundry? Put him into bed? Do you have any of my old clothes or did
you burn them?” he tried to make it sound funny, but he couldn’t
force a smile.

Peter slowly got up and sat down on a chair.
He poured himself a cup of tea, face tense. “Maybe I should have
given them to the poor, but they’re in the basement. You can use
the guest room.”

“Thank you, Pete, thank you so much.” Seth
gently untied the knot of the tie under Dom’s neck, but his lover
didn’t move, completely out of it.

“I still hate you for what you did to me,”
grumbled Peter.

“This Zach guy, um… is he good to you?” Seth
took a deep breath and started putting Dom’s clothes on the
side.

Peter sighed. “He’s a sweetheart.”

Seth covered Dom with a blanket. For a
surreal moment, he thought about how angry Dom would get that his
clothes wouldn’t get the dry-cleaning treatment. “Are you sure he’s
gonna be fine?”

Peter put down the cup and dragged his hands
down his face. “He should be in a hospital. Don’t count on
miracles.”

Seth rubbed his eyes and picked Dom up to
take him to bed. Limp as he was, he was still heavy. A silly smile
bloomed on his lips against better judgment. “He’s Catholic. God is
on his side.”

Peter raised his eyebrows at him without a
word.

Seth looked at the clock on the flowery
wallpaper across the small room. Curled up under a blanket, in
clean clothes, he’d been watching the rise and fall of Domenico’s
chest. He was tempted to lay his head down on it and listen to his
lover’s heartbeat, but it could make breathing difficult, so he
settled on listening every now and then.

Dom’s handsome face was puffed up and
swelling, the uneven blue stitches hidden under a pristine
dressing.

“I love you. I’ll take care of everything,”
Seth whispered, stroking Dom’s hand with his thumb. He just hoped
they’d have enough painkillers to pull through this once Dom woke
up. Because he would wake up. Peter had even asked Zach to make a
dash to the dental clinic for more supplies. They had managed to
wake Domenico up with smelling salts. He wasn’t fully conscious,
but the brief moment was enough to have him swallow some
amoxycillin and hot chocolate, which was good enough according to
Peter.