Liability

  Kim had snagged a box of tissues on their way in and was working on her third from it.

  He glanced at her and then at Cole. “You’re his boyfriend?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He slowly nodded. “And that makes her, what? Mason’s submissive or slave or whatever?”

  Cole felt heat and then cold flash through him at the same time. “I…I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  Corbin leaned back in his chair. “The truth.”

  He glanced at Tilly, who was unhelpfully stunned into silence, apparently.

  Cole took a deep breath. “Mason said Friday night he wanted to talk to us about planning for the future, together, and—”

  He waved him quiet. “Simple question. You his boyfriend? Yes or no.”

  “Yes.”

  He pointed at Kim. “She his girlfriend, too? Or whatever you want to call it?”

  Cole nodded. “Yes, sir. She’s our girlfriend.”

  He nodded. “Thank you. That’s what I needed to know. His momma’s not against him being gay, but not sure how she’ll feel about this. I needed to know to run interference. Louise gets something stupid in her head, hard to change it.” He snorted. “I won’t cause trouble for you guys. I’m guessing you’re something special to Mason, from the way he was talking about you.”

  Cole choked up. “Thank you, sir.”

  “How involved you want to be with his care?”

  “We will take care of him.”

  Corbin’s gaze narrowed. “Even if he’s a vegetable?”

  “We love him,” Kim tearfully whispered. “He’s alive. That’s all I care about. I want to take care of him.”

  The man’s expression softened. He reached over and patted her shoulder. “Sorry. I know I’m an asshole.” He blew out a long breath. “Okay. You said they caught the little bastard that did this to him?”

  “Yeah,” Cole said. “They did.”

  “I bet it was that pest he dated from Nebraska. Last time I had dinner with Mase, he was telling me about the guy. I told him he should have blocked him a long time ago, but he didn’t want to be a dick about it.” He shook his head, disgust on his features. “My son being a nice guy nearly got him killed.”

  “The cops will probably want to talk to you about that,” Tilly said.

  “They give me five minutes with the little asshole, they won’t need to talk to me about anything.”

  Cole now completely understood why Mason had talked about his father the way he did. And he liked the man. Cole had honestly been worried about a worst-case scenario of having to fight Mason’s parents to help care for him. At least one parent was on their side.

  “You and me both,” Cole said.

  “Hey, you two would look even worse in prison orange than me,” Tilly snarked from across the table.

  Corbin glanced at her. “You into this stuff, too?”

  Tilly now had her hands clasped on the table in front of her. “Not with them, no. I have plenty enough of my own confusion at home, thanks. But yes, we’re all…friends in common, as they say. Similar interests and relationship dynamics.”

  Corbin stood, wincing. “I’m glad you two want to help him. I’ve got this damned arthritis and I’m lucky to get around on a good day. I was afraid you were going to be all thanks, but no thanks.”

  Kim hugged the guy. “Please don’t take him from us,” she tearfully begged.

  Cole wasn’t sure how to peel her off the man, but then Corbin hugged her back. “No, honey. Don’t worry. I can tell you care about him.” He finally let her go and grabbed a tissue from the box on the table. “Let’s get this over with. I want to see my boy.”

  * * * *

  Cole left Kim in the waiting room with Landry and headed back with Corbin and Tilly. Corbin had hooked an arm through Tilly’s and Cole trailed behind, now seeing the man’s slow, pained gait compared to theirs.

  When they reached the room, Cole stepped in close when Corbin actually rocked back on his heels at the sight of Mason in the bed.

  “Motherfucker,” the man muttered as Tilly tightened her grip and Cole prepared to help catch him if he passed out.

  Cole couldn’t fault him. His stomach still churned in a bad way.

  They got him into the chair on Mason’s right side and Cole moved to stand at the end of the bed while Tilly stood next to Corbin and explained things to him.

  The man’s eyes filled with tears that spilled down his face. Cole spotted a box of tissues and grabbed them, passing them to Tilly for him after taking a couple of his own.

  Corbin quietly sat there for a moment, apparently processing things, slowly nodding his head. “I know you told me out there it was bad, but… This is bad, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, sir,” Tilly said. “It’s bad. But he’s stable.”

  “But it’s still bad.”

  “Yeah. It’s still bad.”

  Slowly nodding his head, Corbin reached out and touched Mason’s right hand, which lay on top of the covers. “He in any pain?”

  “No, sir. He can’t feel anything right now. He’s completely sedated so his body can try to heal itself.”

  “And his brain.”

  It took her a moment to answer. “And his brain. Other than monitoring him, medicating him, keeping him hydrated, and keeping him comfortable, there isn’t much they can do for him right now but let his body heal. The type of skull fracture he has, there’s no surgery they can do or anything they can…fix. Everything they can fix, like his wrist, his internal injuries…that’s all they can do for him at this point. They’re talking about putting in a feeding tube sometime over the next few days so they can get him nutrition. For right now, they want to let some of the trauma to his body stabilize first. Especially in case they have to take him back into surgery.”

  More slow nodding as Corbin apparently tried to process that. Cole realized he’d rested his own hand on one of Mason’s feet, which were encased in pressurized cuffs to help prevent blood clots, and he’d been stroking Mason’s toes where they peeked out at the end.

  Corbin noticed, his gaze slowly rising to meet Cole’s. “Please close the door, son. So the three of us can talk.”

  Cole reached behind him and slid the room’s door shut, nodding to the nurse, who was sitting just outside at the station between Mason’s room and the one next to it and working on a laptop.

  Corbin’s gaze was still fixed on Cole’s when Cole turned back to him. “I wouldn’t blame you if you want to bail on him,” Corbin said, his voice choked. “This is a lot, and you’re not married to him. I mean…this is bad.”

  Cole shook his head. “I’m not bailing,” he quietly said. “Neither of us. I love him. We both do, me and Kim. He’s my boyfriend, and he’s her Master.”

  The older man seemed to be pondering that. “He meet her first?”

  “Kim and I were together for two years when we met Mason. He started teaching us about BDSM. She’d wanted to try it. It’s not really my thing, so I gave them permission to play, and then things got…”

  “Complicated,” Corbin said.

  This whole time, Tilly stood there, quiet, arms crossed over her chest, listening.

  “Yeah. Really complicated. Stop me if I’m giving you too many details.”

  “Did I say stop? I want to know who the hell you two are to my son. Keep going.”

  Cole took a deep breath. “I gave them permission to do more…things, because, frankly, I kind of liked watching them. Both of them. And Mason and I started talking and I was…curious. Then he and I got involved romantically. So now we’re boyfriends, Kim’s my girlfriend, and Mason is Kim’s Master.”

  “Two years with her, huh?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How long you all been with Mason, then?”

  “Mason and Kim have been play partners for about two months. Mason and I have been lovers for about a month. A little over. As have Mason and Kim.”

  Corbin sat back in the chair. “After a mont
h, only a freakin’ month, you’re ready to take care of a guy?”

  “I don’t expect you to under—”

  “It was a simple question. Yes or no?”

  “Yes. We were supposed to start talking this weekend about the future. Mason said he wanted to talk about the future. A future with all three of us. This changes nothing for me. I love Mason. I still love him, I’m going to love him. And if you try to fight me and Kim about this, we’ve got a couple of friends who are attorneys who will keep you busy until Mason’s awake enough to tell you himself how he feels about us. I don’t care if he’s back to his old self or he never gets out of that bed. I love him. I know he loves us. That’s all I need to know, because I know if I was the one in that bed, he’d be fighting this hard for me, too.”

  The man went quiet for a long time, staring at Mason before swinging his gaze onto Cole once more. When he spoke again, the man’s voice sounded choked, breaking.

  “When Mase and I…went to dinner…last week, two weeks ago, whenever it was…” He paused, wiping at his eyes. “I always tease him a little. Ask him if he’s met anyone.”

  He reached out and stroked Mason’s hand again. “Usually he laughs it off.” His fingers rested on top of Mason’s hand. “Every time. Changes the subject.” He patted his son’s hand. “Not that night.”

  Corbin blew his nose and looked up at Cole. “He said, ‘Dad, I met a guy. Name’s Cole. Long story. Kind of complicated.’ I asked complicated how, and he wouldn’t tell me. But he had this look in his eyes. He smiled in a way I ain’t seen him smile since he was a kid. Said, ‘Mom’s gonna shit a brick.’ Which, of course, made me laugh. I said well, lots of stuff can do that, son. He said, ‘No, this is different. But I’m happy. And I hope when I can introduce them to you, you’ll be happy for us.’ Now, at the time, I thought I misheard him. Or some frickin’ royal ‘them’ he meant, meaning you. One guy. So I says, ‘You in love with this Cole?’ And…”

  His voice broke. Tilly handed him a couple more tissues. Cole realized he’d been holding his breath and had to suck in a lungful of air or pass out.

  Finally, Corbin could continue. “And he’s wearin’ this smile, right? This whole time, he’s got this gorgeous smile. He says, ‘Yeah, I’m in love, Dad. I think this is it.’”

  He finally looked at Cole. “So if you gonna abandon my son, treat him like some sort of liability, do it now, while he’s unconscious and don’t know any better, and me and his mom and stepdad, we’ll take the blame for running the two of you off. You say you’re gonna stay by his side, then you better live up to your word, or I’ll be sitting in the county jail with that little fucker after I run over you.”

  Cole’s vision blurred and he wiped at his eyes. “I love him, sir. I love him as much as I love Kim. And she loves him. I promise you, we won’t let you or him down. Whatever it takes, whatever he needs, whatever we have to do, we’re here for the long haul.”

  “Okay.” Corbin slowly nodded and had trouble getting up from the chair. There wasn’t room for both Cole and Tilly there, and since she was already there, Cole let her help the man up.

  Corbin walked down to the end of the bed and opened his arms to Cole for a hug.

  Cole didn’t care that he was crying now as he hugged the man. “I love him so damn much, sir. I don’t want to lose him.”

  “My son’s got a stubborn streak in him,” he said, patting Cole on the back. “Every bit as big as the one I got. Anyone can fight back from this, he can.” He stepped back and Tilly handed out another round of tissues. “Your parents know about all this?”

  “Not yet. They’ve met Mase, but it was before he and I were involved. They think he’s a good friend of ours.”

  “And her parents?”

  “I’d rather not talk about her parents.”

  He snorted. “Assholes?”

  “Complicated.”

  “Fair enough.”

  The way he said it, sounding almost like Mason, nearly broke Cole’s heart.

  “Let’s go back out there so I can talk to her,” Corbin said. “Kim’s her name?”

  “Yes, sir.” Cole slid the door open.

  He stopped, sadly smiling. “Heh. Explains something else, then.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A few weeks ago, I was jokin’ with him. Told him he needed to get a puppy or a pet or something, and I thought he’s gonna wet his pants how hard he laughed, and he said, ‘Got it handled, Dad.’ Guess he meant Kim, huh?”

  Cole cast a loving look back at the man in the bed, then his gaze settled on Tilly, who wore a smirk.

  “Guess he did, sir.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kim was sitting with Corbin’s arm around her shoulders and going through another weepy stage when Louise and Hank Schorfield entered the waiting room a little after noon.

  Corbin spotted them first and reached across Kim to poke Cole in the thigh to get his attention. Corbin tipped his head toward them.

  Cole stood, recognizing them from pictures at Mase’s condo. Louise led the way, her hazel eyes twisting Cole’s heart and tearing it from his chest. Now he knew where Mason got those.

  He stuck his hand out. “Hi, I’m Cole Singleton. Mason’s boyfriend.”

  “Hello.” She shook with him. “My husband, Hank. You must be the man Mason told us he was dating.” She glared down at Corbin. “Hello, asshole.”

  Corbin smirked up at them. “Long time, no see, cunt. Hank.”

  She glared down at Kim. “At least this one looks legal.” Hank reached out to touch his wife’s shoulder, but she shook him loose.

  Cole remembered Mason mentioning the two had a contentious relationship, but…holy hell.

  Corbin hooted and grinned up at Cole. “Oh, please, let me tell her? Please?”

  Across the way, Tilly snickered. Landry leveled a dour gaze at her. “I’m sorry,” Tilly said. “I like the old coot. I can’t help it.”

  Kim was, fortunately, oblivious to all of this. Between her exhaustion and grief, she wasn’t paying any attention.

  Cole opted to try to divert the conversational train. “Um, Mrs. Schorfield, this is Tilly. She’s a family friend, and a nurse. She’s helping us all negotiate—”

  Tilly slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh, and Corbin and Landry didn’t help things any by laughing with her.

  “—our way through this.”

  “Sorry,” Tilly said. She stood and shook hands with the woman. “I’m sorry. We’ve got a baby at home, and none of us got any sleep last night, and I’m sort of punchy when I’m sleep-deprived. Tilly Cardinal-LaCroux and my husband, Landry.”

  Cole tried glaring at her but Tilly avoided eye contact with him. Then again, maybe that was better, because maybe she was trying not to laugh.

  I know Mason will laugh about this when I tell him.

  That thought nearly took his knees out.

  Not so much that thought, exactly, but the one that followed on its heels, that he hoped Mason would be able to understand him and get the joke.

  That was a bucket of cold water on his emotions.

  Cole had Kim stay behind with Corbin and Landry while he went back with Tilly and Louise and Hank, as they’d told Cole to call them. Tilly’s mode turned somber and professional as she gave them the same run-down she’d given Corbin, including the fact that they just didn’t know what Mason’s prognosis was going to be, and the wide range of possibilities for the outcome.

  They were standing around Mason’s bed, Louise dabbing at her eyes when she softly spoke to Cole.

  “Did you know he came down to have dinner with us a couple of weeks ago?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He told us.”

  She forced a smile as she patted Mason’s right hand. “I’d tried to fix him up with a friend of ours. I didn’t know he was dating you then.” She finally looked at Cole. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to disrespect you.”

  He hoped she felt as charitable about the situation when she
learned the full truth. “It’s all right. It’s…complicated.”

  “That’s what he told me when I called him the next day.” She shook her head. “Honestly. I’m a modern woman. I don’t want to watch whatever you two do in your bedroom, but I love my son.” She turned her focus back to Mason, her husband draping his arm around her shoulders.

  Tilly and Cole were standing at the end of the bed. Tilly grabbed his upper arm and held on tight with a death grip, her lips now pressed together in a thin, tight line. Then she rested her face against his shoulder like she was trying not to cry.

  “Oh, please,” she whispered. “Let me tell them!”

  “Bad girl, no cookie,” he whispered.

  That only made it worse, Tilly now choking and snorting and trying to make it look like she was crying, and failing miserably.

  “Excuse me,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

  He gave her credit for trying. She nearly made it to the ICU’s doors before she started bawling with laughter that rang through the entire unit before the door swung shut on the sound.

  “She’s a nurse, huh?” Hank asked.

  “Used to be. She works for a movie production company now. She’s actually known Mason a lot longer than I have. They were friends even before he moved to Nebraska.”

  Louise’s eyebrows went up. They looked drawn on with a pencil and Cole couldn’t…stop…staring at them. “Oh! Wait, I thought she looked familiar. I think we’ve met her before, at a Christmas party at Mason’s, years ago. She had a boyfriend named Cris.”

  “Still does.” Cole squeezed his eyes shut as he realized what he’d said. “I mean, her husband.”

  Movement caught his eye. Tilly reappeared behind him in the unit’s doorway.

  “I thought she said her husband’s name was Landry?” Louise now sounded confused and suspicious.

  Tilly clapped a hand over her mouth and tried to disappear again, but Cole snagged her arm, dragged her into the room, smiled at the nurse as he held up a finger, and slid the door shut again.

  Tilly had her fingers wrapped around the footrest of the bed and was staring down at Mason’s feet.