I grab one guy by the scruff of his neck, catching him off guard, and slam into him. My fist connects with his jaw with an audible crack that sends him sprawling to the ground. As he lands, another guy tries to catch me off guard, but I'm quicker than he is.My fist connects…one…two…the third thrusts into his stomach, crumping him over. As he recovers, I knee the third guy in the balls and watch him drop.
The guy on the floor isn't moving and as I stand over him, I realize its Noah. Seeing him so beaten, my anger crests and I turn back to the bastards who are now making their escape. I'm torn as to whether I should let them go or go after them. But in the end, Noah wins.
I check the alley to make sure we're now alone and drop to his side unsure of where to touch. His face is bloody and swelling has already begun. There is blood around his stomach, and, as I lift his soaked shirt, I discover a shallow gash across his ribs.I didn’t notice any weapons,although I did notice a large ring on one of the guy’s fingers.
Cursing under my breath, my heart pumps with adrenalin as I realize that I need to get him to safety before they come back with reinforcements.
"I'm sorry for this," I whisper, as I slide my hands beneath him and haul him up. I stagger slightly under his weight but manage to get my legs working.
At the corner, I scan the area to make sure no one is waiting to ambush us and then quickly dash for my room. I only hope that I'm not going to live to regret heading for my room, instead of the truck to put miles between us, and the roughnecks.
Noah isn't a lightweight by any means so by the time I'm pushing into my room, I just manage to make it to the bed before I drop him on it. He doesn't move or make a sound when he lands.
Quickly turning, I make sure the door is secure before I root through my luggage for the medical kit I always carry.
Looking back to the bed and the man lying prone on the dingy cover, it hits me that I'm going to have to undress him before I can do anything. He isn't going to like me doing that. In fact, by the way he left the room, I'd even go as far as to say that if he wakes up while I'm stripping him, he'll come at me with his fists.
Inhaling, I reach for his ruined shirt and, gripping both sides, tear it the rest of the way up. At the neckline, I pull and it doesn’t take much for the shirt to part.
Pulling the sides apart, I gasp at the full extent of his injuries.
He should be in the hospital.
“I’ll live,” he hisses.
My eyes shoot up to his, and it hurts seeing Noah’s face lined with pain.I have a feeling that all the pain I’m witnessing isn’t just from the beating he’s just received, and that some of it has to do with our sharp words from before.
“I don’t know where the fuck to touch you.” I sigh in agitation, pointing toward his torso.
“No hospital...I think I’m going to pass out,so knock yourself out.”
As I watch, his eyes close and he’s out of it.
Before he comes around again, I quickly start to remove his clothes as carefully as I can, dropping them in the trash before I open the medical kit.
Chapter Two
Noah
Stretching, I wince as an intense pain rips through my body and causes the air to leave my lungs in a rush.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Forcing my eyes open, I blink rapidly at the brightness coming through the slats of the blinds. It leaves me unable to focus. As I turn my head away, I manage to keep my eyes open and realize Ramon is asleep on a chair in the corner of the room.
What is he doing here? Come to think of it, as I look around, nothing looks familiar.
I try to push myself up, but my head spins and the pain around my ribs drops me back to the bed.
Then it hits me.
What happened that night…last night?
‘Fag…homo…queer!’
I close my eyes, as the words become a vivid nightmare in my head. The words are a chant running through me as I remember...that night...those bastards shouting and running up behind me.
Wanting to hurl, my eyes snap open and I stare at the ceiling as I try to piece the rest of the night together. Then I realize that Ramon must have come after me.
I’d wanted him to.
I hadn’t wanted him to find me like he obviously did, but I’d wanted him to come after me. In an ideal world he would have come after me and told me he still loved me; that he’d never stopped. But we don’t live in an ideal world and I’m positive that he came after me to find out what my comment about him being dead if I’d stayed meant.
Ramon won’t rest until I’ve told him everything, and maybe that’s what I have to do.
Glancing at the man who still holds my heart in his hands causes a hitch in my breathing. Ramon is still a stunning man.
His muscular build, and Spanish heritage make him standout in a crowd. Anyone would be lucky to have his heart and, for a while, he had eyes only for me. Even up in Canada when we’d sweet talk the ladies out of their panties, his eyes were always on me. Every time he’d come, his eyes would be on me and not the woman.