Chapter 16

Aug 12, Friday afternoon

"Phone for you, doll."

Loren reached out to take the phone from Lorelei. As he propped his drink on his chest, he said, "Loren Spears here."

"Mr. Spears, this is Markus Brit. I'm with Patient Services at Mercy Hospital. Are you acquainted with Mr. Todd Jacobs?"

He sat up so abruptly, he almost spilled his drink. An anxious, dark feeling descended over him as he frowned. "Yeah, I know Todd. What's wrong?"

"Mr. Spears, there's been an accident. Mr. Jacobs had you listed as his emergency contact. He's in surgery right now. Can you come down to Mercy Hospital? We're going to need some information."

He didn't even bother to ask how bad it was. "I'll be right down there."

"You don't even need to ask, baby. Where we going?"

"Mercy." Loren set his drink aside, got up, and disappeared into his bedroom to get a shirt and shoes. A few seconds later he returned to the living room, carrying his shoes and followed Lorelei out to the car. After they both got in, Loren put his shoes on.

"You got your cell phone, Loren?" She started the car, checked quickly for traffic, then pulled out into the street.

"Yeah, I'll call you when I'm done there." Loren could barely focus and hadn't even buckled his seat belt.

"Fasten up and don't worry, darling. I'm sure he's fine."

After he fastened the belt, Loren closed his eyes. It wouldn't do him any good at all to try not to worry. Inside he felt scared as hell, his thoughts filled with rising fear. What if he lost Todd? A low, pained sound emerged from him.

"Baby, it'll be all right." Lorelei squeezed his hand.

"I don't want to lose him, Lor. I can't lose him."

"Not gonna happen. Not a feisty piece like Todd."

"We need to stop at Todd's house. He keeps a folder for emergency information in his office." Loren did his best to quell the feeling scaring the hell out of him.

The moment Lorelei pulled up to Todd’s house, Loren sprinted into the house. He knew right where to go and grabbed the folder from Todd's file cabinet. When he returned to the car, Lorelei pulled out of the drive and headed to the hospital.

Todd barely even noticed the rest of the drive. He was too worried though he desperately tried to keep everything leashed. When they arrived at the hospital, Loren nearly bolted out of the car in his hurry to get into the hospital.

At the receptionist desk, Todd said, "I'm here for Todd Jacobs."

Nodding to him, the clerk checked her computer screen. "Mr. Jacobs is in surgery. You'll need to go down to the admissions office and fill out the paperwork. It's down the hall and second corridor to the right. There's a sign above the door."

"Thanks." Loren walked down the hall to the admission office, and Lorelei trailed behind him.

The sign on the wall told Loren he had to take a number then sit and wait his turn. Yanking one of the paper tabs from the machine, he muttered, "A fucking number."

After she glanced up at the digital number on the wall then over at the piece of paper in Loren's hand, Lorelei said, "At least you're next."

Both of them sat down in the outer office of the room. Several other people were already being waited on, and Loren tried his best to be patient. He was just too fucking worried about Todd, and wanted to know what the hell was going on. Lorelei sat beside him, patting his hand as they remained silent.

A lady got up from one of the admissions desk, and as she passed by Lorelei and Loren, she gave them a wan smile. A few minutes later, one of the secretaries called out, "133."

Jumping up, Loren moved to the desk and sat down. "Loren Spears. I'm here about Todd Jacobs. Is he all right?"

She gave Loren a sympathetic understanding look, but shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Spears. I don't have that information. What's Mr. Jacob's full name?"

Loren gave it to her. A moment after she typed it into the keyboard, she said, "Mr. Jacobs is still in surgery. When we're through with the paperwork, you can go up to the third floor waiting room. As soon as the surgery is done, the doctor will come out and talk to you."

"I have all the necessary information for Todd in this folder." He gave it to her and settled back in his chair to try to wait patiently.

The women leafed quickly through the papers before she smiled at him. "I have everything I need here. You can head up to the third floor now, Mr. Spears."

Returning to where Lorelei sat, he muttered, "He's on the third floor. I'm going up there now."

"You want me to come with you, baby boy?" Lorelei squeezed his hand tightly as she stood.

"No, you go ahead and get home, Lor. I'll be all right. If I need you, I'll call."

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before she left. Loren headed toward the elevator. Upstairs, he found himself face to face with another clerk who couldn't tell him a damn thing about Todd's injuries. One of the nurses stepped forward and motioned Loren to the other side of the circle desk.

After he was told Todd was in the recovery room, Loren headed down the hall, following the nurse's instructions. Entering the large room, he saw there were several other occupied beds there. When he spotted Todd's pale face, he walked quickly over to him and settled in the chair near the bed. At first, he had to stay out of the way of the nurses hovering around Todd. Once they'd finished, he pulled the chair closer then reached for Todd's hand.

"Mr. Spears?" The doctor stood at the foot of the bed, a chart in his hands. "I'm Dr. Linsom."

"Is Todd going to be all right? What happened to him?"

"He will be fine. Are you his partner?"

Since the doctor seem to understand, Loren didn't hesitate. "Yeah, I am."

Loren's fingers curled gently to Todd's hand as he stared up at the doctor. "How long will he be in the hospital?"

"The accident he was in was pretty severe. I'd like to keep him for the next couple of days at the very least," Dr. Linsom said. "Then, if he's doing better, he can go home. He's going to need a lot of rest regardless. Is he the type who's hard to keep down?"

"Todd is a workaholic. Unless I tie him to the bed, yeah, he'd be hard to keep down." For the first time, Loren smiled.

"My Eric is the same way." Dr. Linsom chuckled and nodded as he hung the chart on the end of the bed. "I can get you his room number. There's a chair up there that folds out into a single bed-type thing so you can get some rest. He'll be in there in an hour or so."

After he nodded to the doctor, he pressed a kiss to Todd’s hand before reluctantly releasing it. His lover looked so pale, and all Loren wanted to see was Todd's eyes opening to look at him. Even with the doctor’s reassurance, Loren still worried. "Yeah, I guess I will."

***

"Mr. Spears?" The nurse patted Loren's shoulder gently. "Mr. Spears, Mr. Jacobs is here. He's awake, but really groggy. Can I get you something to drink?"

With a start, Loren woke up and looked quickly around. It took him a moment to sit up and nod to the nurse. "Any soda?"

When he saw Todd lying in the bed, he shifted the chair enough to get close to his lover.

"Sure. Is Pepsi okay?"

The other nurse finished setting up the IV stand on Todd's other side and finally left the room. The nurse who'd been speaking to Loren smiled down at him.

"Are you brothers?"

"More than that I'd say." Loren gave her a bit of a smile as he reached for Todd's hand, curling his fingers around it. He really didn't care at this point what anybody thought.

"He'll be fine, Mr. Spears. We'll take good care of him and have him back to you in no time." She patted their hands and left the room.

"Loren?"

"Thank you." He nodded to the nurse then turned quickly to Todd. "I'm here, babe."

Todd smiled as best he could, which wasn't really much. "Hi, gorgeous. Is it bad?"

"Yeah, it is, but the doctor thinks you'll be all right. As long as I tie you to the bed." Loren talked in a light, reassuring note.

He started to laugh, but ended up wincing. "Fuck, it hurts. Thanks for coming, baby."

"Any reason you think I wouldn't?"

"Just…" Todd sighed and closed his eyes as tears escaped them. Then he just nodded and squeezed Loren's hand. A moment later, he was asleep again.

Settling in the chair, Loren relaxed and kept hold of Todd's hand. For the longest time, he simply studied his lover, reflecting more deeply on what they had together. As one hand held tight to Todd's, the other stroked softly against his face.

Loren finally realized his own feelings for Todd in the wash of anxiety, fear, and need that had gripped him since he'd received the phone call. He leaned over to press a soft kiss to Todd's lips, whispering, "I love you, babe."

He knew Todd had come to rely on his presence. But how deeply that went, Loren wasn't sure at all.