The Virgin Master (46 page)

Realizing that the doctors would have no way to even suspect his slave status, Jeremy spoke up
.

“How long will Evan be in this coma?”

“We think we should leave him there at least a week. After that we will begin to gradually bring him back up. He should be fully conscious in about nine days. Feel free to visit him and talk to him. I think comatose patients hear and benefit from hearing visitors talk to them. He will be in intensive care in about thirty minutes. Then you can go see him one at a time.”

To his surprise all the other men thought that Jeremy should be first to see Evan. Jeremy tried to defer to Allen, but the man insisted that Evan needed to hear Jeremy’s voice. Jeremy slowly wheeled himself into the intensive care unit. Instead of being in a curtained off cubicle, Evan had a private room with a door and an interior window located only a few feet from the nurse’s station. Jeremy figured that had to be due to Evan’s status and wealth. Right now he didn’t care that Evan was getting special treatment. After all, most of their trouble, and the fact that Evan lay there beyond Jeremy’s reach right now was also due to his power and position. He took the pain
…
he might as well be able to reap the benefits. Jeremy pulled his chair as close to Evan’s bed as possible and
began
  crying before he knew that was going to happen.

Evan’s pale skin gleamed in the slightly blue light of the halogen light bulbs. He seemed made of porcelain with features delicately painted on the surface. His
copper
hair lay plastered
dark
against his head with sweat. His lips were slightly parted and had chapped and split
.
Jeremy guessed that was from being quickly
intubated
and then later having the ventilator disconnected. He looked around blearily until he found a tube of lip balm and spread it on
generously with trembling hands. Taking Evan’s hand gently he held it like a lifeline.

“Hey, Evan. Frank won’t bother us anymore. Remind me to tell you that story when I get you home. Jeff and Tom helped get me in here so I could see you; I don’t think I would have been able to stand waiting alone at home until somebody remembered to call me.”

Although he had been determined to try to be upbeat, his determination failed him at the sight of Evan’s frail, barely breathing body, lying in a web of tubes.

“Please…..please, Evan; don’t leave me here alone. I need you so much. There’s so much to tell you and so much….” Jeremy’s voice cracked and he stopped to swallow and try to pull himself together. After a few minutes, he tried to continue.

“I know you know I love you. But we’ve never really had a chance to just enjoy being with each other. I’ve always been injured or we’ve been worried about something. I just want a chance to show you how happy we can be. We’ve been pretty great even with all the drama
. I
magine what it could be like if we didn’t have to work around injuries or lawsuits or other major problems. I’m going to finish working on the project you started, last week
.
Jeff and I will send out the final bids this afternoon. We’ll keep rolling along as best we can. But…nobody could possibly replace you. Not at work. Not in…my heart.”

Jeremy had to stop again. He panted and tried very hard not to just sit there and sob. He was wasting his time.

“Anyway. They won’t let me stay long. If I could, I’d crawl in there with you and hold you until you wake up.  Please, when you’re ready….please wake up. I need to see your eyes. I need to hear you say you love me. Oh, God, Ev, please don’t die.”

A nurse stuck her head in the door and tactfully tried to ignore the sobbing.

“I’m sorry sir; I can’t let you stay any longer. I think there are some other visitors.”

Jeremy nodded, hanging his head, and made his way back to the waiting room.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The nine days Evan spent in a medically induced coma crawled by like nine years
,
one long pointless day bleeding seamlessly into the next.  Each second dragged appreciably. Jeremy had stopped noticing the pain in his lower back and the numbness in his ass that came with sitting in a wheel chair for hours. These sensations now just seemed normal. Jeff and Allen insisted that Jeremy go home every night to sleep and try to eat, pointing out that Evan seemed fine for somebody in a coma
. H
e hadn’t developed any infections and the doctors were pleased with his progress. He reluctantly agreed only because he didn’t want to be alone in Evan’s room in case something went wrong and his slave status was discovered. So far, all the nurses and doctors just accepted his presence and seemed completely oblivious.

Being home also allowed Dr. Hatcher to continue treating Jeremy’s injuries. His back had stopped being so sensitive and he had recovered full range of motion of his arms and shoulders. The cut on his throat still glowed an angry red and needed scar revision, but it seemed to be healing well. Dr. Hatcher treated Jeremy just like anybody else and Jeremy relaxed in his company. Marta tried to tempt Jeremy with his favorite foods, but he had no appetite. He ate a few bites at every meal, realizing that he needed to try to keep his strength up and that his body needed nutrition to continue to heal. He couldn’t get the two images of Evan out of his head. The mini-movie of blood exploding from his chest as he fell to the floor and now his corpse-like stillness as he lay in the intensive care unit, festooned with tubes and wires. He never even thought about Frank.

All the forced inactivity had allowed Jeremy’s legs to heal well enough that now he could walk short distances without his crutches or the wheelchair. He and Jeff continued the wheelchair ruse more for disguise purposes than anything else, but as he healed, he tended to pace. That would certainly send red flags up if a nurse walked in and caught him up and out of the chair. With Tom’s blessing he returned to the gym and began to gradually
work back up to his normal routine, although Tom cautioned him that it might be six months, or longer, before he could do any real work with his legs.

Jeremy knew Evan was alive but he looked enough like a corpse to fool anyone. The only signs of life came from the beeping monitors and the occasional whooshing noise of the automatic blood pressure cuff. If Jeremy stood very still and concentrated he could discern the slight rise and fall of his lover’s chest as he breathed. Sometimes, when he was alone in the room, he pulled the wheelchair up to Evan’s bed and laid his head down on Evan’s arm just to have some kind of contact. He talked to Evan nearly continually
,
telling him about deals he and Jeff were planning; about food that Marta would cook for him when he got home
.
W
hen they were alone he told him how very much he loved and needed him and what he planned to do to prove it.

Now, Jeremy also had to worry about Frank Owens. A very disturbed Mark had called him to say that Frank’s body had disappeared before the police arrived to check it out. All that remained were the widely spattered blood stains and one of Frank’s fingernails. Mark had obsessively watched the security cameras. He could see the body sliding off screen, but could not make out who or what took hold of it. They agreed that it probably had something to do with the drug cartel; but neither man could decide what the removal of the body meant. The police were completely baffled.
At least I don’t have to worry about DNA evidence being recovered from the body now
. Jeremy tried to take comfort in that thought, but he also worried that the drug cartel would now target Evan even harder for vengeance.

Evan didn’t wake up when removed from the coma inducing drugs. The doctors remained encouraging, saying that the long surgery and the shock Evan’s system had undergone from the injuries and the surgeries, not to mention the amount of personal stress he had been dealing with right before the shooting caused him to be exhausted. Dr. Wilson explained that it wasn’t at all unusual for a patient to slide up into normal sleep state and continue to sleep for quite a while. From what he could tell from the monitors, Evan no longer could be classified as comatose, but he was in a very deep sleep. He needed it. All Jeremy knew was
that he really needed to look Evan in the eye and know he was going to be okay.

After Evan’s vital signs had been stable for three days, he
was
moved to a regular room. Allen told the nurses that Jeremy was Evan’s life partner and they stopped enforcing visiting hours. Once a day, Jeff would come and haul Jeremy back to the apartment to shower, shave, change clothes and eat whatever Marta left. Jeff knew he couldn’t make Jeremy sleep there
.
Jeremy now slept sitting in his wheelchair at the side of Evan’s bed, usually clutching Evan’s hand. The nurses found it sweet and left him alone. Jeff came in every day for a couple of hours and Jeremy tried to work. After a few days he guiltily realized that he welcomed the distraction.

Another week came and went and Evan did not wake up. Dr. Wilson remained encouraging; Jeremy tried to keep his heart from sinking, but felt despair tugging at him. He redoubled his efforts to engage Evan. He even thought about giving him a blow job but the catheter prevented that. He started bathing Evan himself; taking the supplies out of the hands of a somewhat resentful nurse’s aide every morning, taking the opportunity to make the experience as sensually stimulating as he could. Sometimes, Evan would sigh and Jeremy’s heart would stop and he would gently call Evan’s name. Still he slept.

*****

Dr. Wilson came in early and watch
ed
as Jeremy slept, bent at the waist, his head and torso gently touching Evan’s motionless body. Jeremy’s right hand entwined with Evan’s. Jeremy’s sleeve had gotten pushed up and Dr. Wilson frowned as he saw something black on Jeremy’s wrist. As he watched, Jeremy turned his arm slightly and Wilson gasped loudly enough to wake him up.
A bar code. Jeremy had a bar
code. He was a fucking slave.
Jeremy sat up and saw that Dr. Wilson’s eyes were trained on his hand. He looked and panic erased all traces of fatigue as he knew he saw his bar code. They stared at each other for a minute.

“What do you want?” Jeremy asked quietly.

Dr. Wilson knew he meant to offer him something for his silence. The fact that Wilson still stood there and hadn’t raised an alarm probably made Jeremy believe he would be open to negotiation. Dr. Wilson thought about Jeremy’s devotion to Evan throughout his stay in the hospital and the fact that Evan’s father obviously approved his presence here. He knew what he should do
…
and what he wanted to do.

“Does he know you’re in here passing as a citizen?”

“You must know he doesn’t.”

“So if I call security
it’s all on you then?”

“He’ll still get fined.” Jeremy buried his head in his hands. “I love him. I can’t….he needs me.”

Jeremy swallowed his fear. “Look, Dr. Wilson, I don’t know what your situation is, but believe me I know exactly how lucky I am. I was one step from being sold to a man who would have just used me as a whore when Evan bought me. I know you can tell that I love him. Is there nothing we could do to resolve this situation without causing more harm to Evan? He needs me.”

“You think you speak for your
m
aster? “

“I can, but if it would make you feel better to speak to Allen, we can wait for him. He’s on his way. What are you going to do?”

Jeff and Allen came into the room at that moment and immediately grasped the situation when they saw that Jeremy’s bar code was visible and he wasn’t making an effort to cover it.

Dr. Wilson turned and held Allen’s eyes. Allen looked at Jeremy for answers.

“Jeremy, what seems to be the problem?”

Dr. Wilson answered.  “This man is a slave passing as a citizen. Obviously, Evan is unaware of this crime, but you, just as obviously, are.”

Allen smiled slightly, “You never answered Jeremy’s question. What are you going to do?”

Dr. Wilson’s
eyes
flitted over to Allen and then back to Evan. Suddenly he realized who they were. “I guess all the accusations about inappropriate emotional attachment were true, huh? How much did it cost to buy off slave regulation?”