Page 52 of Bassist With Benefits
“Where’s your I.D.?” Alan reached across the bed and grabbed her wrist so she didn’t run off.
“Whoa!” Brandon took Alan by the shoulders and pulled him away from the nurse, but not before Alan wrestled the syringe from her hand.
“We don’t know what she just gave him!” Alan examined the empty syringe, and then quickly checked Jeremy to make sure he was still breathing.
“Can we see your I.D?” Derek asked the nurse, skepticism leaking into his voice.
“Of course.” The nurse scowled and pushed her hair off her shoulders to reveal the nametag pinned near her collar. “It’s right here. Lorraine Johnson. And I only gave Mr. Kagan another dose of his pain medication.”
Cam, who was standing next to the woman, inspected her name tag. “We’re very sorry. But you have to understand, someone did just try to kill him.”
“Well, no one is killing him while I’m on duty.” She held her hand out to Alan and pursed her lips to the side. “The syringe, please.”
Alan felt his cheeks redden and presented the syringe along with a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”
She snatched it out of his hand, deposited it in a red plastic bin specifically for used needles, and marched out of the room.
“What the fuck was that about, Alan?” Brandon asked. “You practically hurled over the bed.”
Alan felt like an idiot, because no one had tried to kill Jeremy. Someone had tried to kill him. Jeremy just got in the way. “I don’t know. I got freaked out.”
The door opened again, and the same pissed-off nurse entered, dragging a chair behind her. “You look like you plan on staying a while, so you may as well get comfortable.”
Cam took the chair from her and dragged it across the floor next to the bed. “Thank you.”
“I understand how it is,” she replied. “Stress and anxiety can be overwhelming. It doesn’t mean you have to stand all day. I’ll have some more chairs brought in.”
The addition of four chairs in the room was cumbersome, but they were together. Fans and paparazzi had followed the ambulance to the hospital and flowers had started arriving while Jeremy was still in surgery. The room was now crowded with colorful blooms. It was comforting for Alan to be huddled together with his best friends, but a stampede of elephants was still running a marathon inside his chest. Worry had his blood pounding in his ears, and there was a physical pain in the center of his chest that manifested from the fear of losing the one person who meant more to him than anyone else in the world.
Eventually, they all dozed off to the white noise of the monitors beeping in the room. Alan’s neck hurt and he kept shifting in the uncomfortable chair. He rolled his neck to the side to stretch out a kink and caught the light reflecting off of Jeremy’s eyes. “You’re awake.” Alan jumped to his feet and held onto the railing of Jeremy’s bed, waiting for his friend to say something.
Derek, Brandon, and Cam rushed forward and surrounded the bed.
“Do you want us to call the nurse?” Derek asked. “Or Felix?”
A short laugh fell from Brandon’s throat. “Why would he want Felix?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want some water?” Cam asked.
Jeremy ignored them and rested his eyes on Alan. “You’re alright.” Jeremy let out a long, relieved breath and closed his eyes. “Thank God.” He started to raise his arm from the mattress, but winced and stopped, and his lips pulled back into a painful grimace.
Alan took Jeremy’s hand between his palms. There was so much he wanted to say, but none of it would pass the baseball stuck in his throat. His eyes were beginning to water, and it took all his strength and composure not to sob like a babbling idiot.
Jeremy’s hand squeezed tighter around Alan’s. “I was drifting in and out all day. I heard people talking.” His voice was weak, so he cleared his throat. “I couldn’t tell if it was you or not. I was going crazy wondering if you were OK, but I couldn’t stay awake.” A small smile appeared on Jeremy’s lips, and a tear slipped out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you.”
“I love you, Jeremy.” The words flew out of Alan’s mouth. He gently cupped Jeremy’s face in his hands and placed a long, deep kiss on his lover’s lips. Their mouths were pressed together, sealing their love inside, but it filled the room. Alan was vaguely aware of his friends’ surprised gasps and murmurs in the background, but he blocked everything out except the delicious taste of the man he loved.
Jeremy’s lips were quivering under the kiss, and his breaths were deep. He abruptly pulled away and buried his face in Alan’s shoulder, hanging onto the hem of Alan’s shirt with a fisted hand and pulling on it as if he was trying to bring their bodies together. “What the hell took you so long to say it?”
The gentle sob that accompanied Jeremy’s words nearly toppled Alan. He hugged Jeremy tighter, still mindful not to disturb his wound. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t want anyone to know, or why I didn’t figure it out years ago.” Although Alan was through hiding the relationship and how much he loved Jeremy, their friends were listening and some things still needed to be said in private. “Can you give us a minute alone?” he asked over his shoulder.
Derek, Brandon, and Cam had blank expressions on their faces, the whites of their eyes clearly visible under their wide-open lids. It took a few seconds before anyone answered or moved, but Cam finally broke the silence. “Sure. Let’s go, guys.” He took Brandon by the elbow and headed toward the door. Derek followed, with several disbelieving glances over his shoulder on the way out.
When Alan turned back to Jeremy, the man had the goofiest smile on his face. “I love you, Alan. I wanted to tell you so many times over the years. So many fucking times I just wanted to grab your face and kiss it.”
Alan smiled back, his heart so full he thought it would break a rib. “You’re so romantic.”
