Splinters by Thorny Sterling

Author:Thorny Sterling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance, cowboy, mm romance, male model
Published: 2014-07-30T04:00:00+00:00

ressed in the same clothes from yesterday, I hover on the fringes of the parlor while EMTs assess Elsie’s condition. When we couldn’t wake her up, Duke called for an ambulance. Waiting for them was the longest half-hour of my life. Watching them work on her, being unable to help her myself, is torture.

She’s so still. My Elsie never stops. Wake up. Please, wake up.

One man has already confirmed she’s breathing well, but he’s put an oxygen mask on her face. She’s hooked up to something monitoring her heart, and another man is starting an IV. I gulp as the needle slides into her flesh. It’s all so serious. I’m shaking, pacing, sniffing back tears. I know I’m losing it fast, but she’s unconscious, and they keep telling me to stay back.

“Breathe, babe,” Duke whispers, suddenly beside me.

I flinch, tearing my gaze away from Elsie’s pale form with an almost physical sensation of ripping free. When Duke wipes his thumb under my eye, I redouble my efforts to get it together.

“She’s so… It’s just…” I can’t find the words.

“I know. They’re workin’ on helpin’ her, though. She’ll be all right.”

He doesn’t really know that, though. I remember what those links said after he found me. I’d felt fine at the time, but date-rape drugs could cause a person’s breathing to slow to nothing and even put them in a coma. Whoever did this, if they gave her too much and she never woke up— Oh, my God, she could die. My stomach churns and I gag and cover my mouth.

Duke’s quick to shuffle me into the kitchen. I lean over the sink, hands braced for a storm, but I don’t actually vomit. I’m panting as Duke rubs my back. Heart pounding, I break out in a sweat and the shaking increases. My knees wobble.

“Easy, Al,” Duke practically purrs in my ear. He wraps one thick arm around my middle, like he’ll catch me if I fall. “Just breathe. You’re okay, and Elsie’s gonna be.”

I nod and try to regain some control. Is this a panic attack? I feel like I’m going to faint, or maybe my heart will explode. I suck in a few slightly deeper breaths, trying to resist shaking apart.

Duke leans a little against me, like a heavy blanket. “If they thought she was that bad off, they’d have scooped her up and drove off already. They’d have called for a helicopter. But they haven’t.”

Okay, that makes some sense, actually. I can feel his chest and stomach move against my back as he breathes, so I attempt to make my breathing match his. “That’s it,” he says, and it is working. I’ve got a handle on this now.

I stand up and grip his arm around me so he’ll leave it there. When he embraces me fully, notching us together back-to-front and pressing his cheek to mine, I feel so much steadier. I lean back on him and close my eyes. His hand lightly rubs my T-shirt against my belly.

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