“I’d better call the hospital right now and speak to one of the doctors in ICU,” Jase said.
“Why?”
“I want them to make sure Cory has the best care available,” Jase said. “I want them to know if there are any problems with Thomas’s insurance company, I’ll cover the costs personally. You have to be firm about these things nowadays when it comes to health care.”
Luis sent him a surprised glance. “You’d do that?”
“Of course,” Jase said. “Cory and I have had a few of our own long talks, some of which involved you and all that teasing business. He’s always been open and honest with me.
And I’ve not only grown to like Cory, I’ve grown to trust him more than any employee I have. He doesn’t know it yet. But I have plans for his future.”
Luis felt a sting in his eyes. “This is only one reason why I love you so much. You are the finest man I’ve ever known. You don’t know the meaning of the word revenge.”
Luis knew deep down he wasn’t as fine a man as Jase. Luis tried hard to be like him. But he had flaws and he knew it, especially when it came to craving attention from good-looking young men like Cory.
At that moment, as Jase reached for the phone to call the hospital, Luis made a vow. If Cory lived and came out of this, Luis would never flirt or tease him again. He’d never drop his pants and he’d never wiggle his ass in Cory’s direction. He’d never sit on Cory’s lap, wrap his legs around Cory’s waist, or joke about Cory’s dick again. Unless, of course, Cory really, really begged him to do it.
Chapter Eleven
On the way to the hospital the next morning, Jase and Luis picked up Thomas. He was waiting for them at the end of the easement road, holding a large canvas tote bag in one hand and a small bouquet of red roses fresh from his garden in the other. He climbed into the truck and twisted his elderly body sideways to sit down, as if he were about to lie flat across the backseat. He told them he hadn’t slept at all that night and he’d called the hospital every hour to check on Cory’s condition, which had remained stable. He clutched the canvas bag on his lap and said he’d filled it with healing crystals, meditation candles, and a bottle of holy water from a famous shrine in Europe he’d visited the previous summer.
Then he gazed out the back window and watched the scenery pass by in silence the rest of the way.
When they arrived at the hospital and walked into the ICU waiting room, they found out the doctors were giving Cory a test and they had asked the family to wait outside until they were finished. When Luis saw Jasper sitting alone on one side of the waiting room and Cory’s parents sitting on the other side, he knew they hadn’t arrived a moment too soon.
Jase and Thomas went over and sat with Cory’s parents. Luis plopped down beside Jasper and asked, “How’s it going?”
“Cory is still stable,” Jasper said. “But they still can’t predict anything yet. They said it was a good thing he’d survived the night.”
Luis smiled and reached for Jasper’s hand. “I’m not talking about Cory,” He said. “I called the hospital several times last night to check. I’m talking about how you’re doing?”
Jasper smiled. “I’m good. I fell asleep for about an hour last night.”
“I didn’t know you were coming back so early this morning,” Luis said. “When I dropped you off at your car last night I figured you’d sleep late.”
“I didn’t go home at all,” Jasper said. “When I got into my car I drove right back here. I couldn’t leave him alone in this condition. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.”
“You should go home now and get some rest,” Luis said. “And so should Cory’s parents.” He glanced across the room and noticed their heavy expressions and the dark circles beneath their eyes. “They look exhausted. We’ll stay here all day until you guys come back later. Jase wants to speak with someone in administration about Cory’s medical bills. If Thomas’s insurance won’t pay, Jase insists on paying for everything.”
“That’s very nice of Jase.” Jasper glanced at Cory’s father and frowned. “I’m sure Cory’s father will be relieved. He’s been worrying about that all night.”
“How are you getting along with them?” Luis asked.
He wasn’t prying, but he knew Cory’s circumstances. Cory had just come out to his friends and his family, and then he’d introduced Jasper to them as his partner in the next breath.
And from the distance between them all in the waiting room, Luis wasn’t sure what to think.
Jasper shrugged. “We’ve been civil. But there’s a strain. We speak when we have to speak to each other. But for the most part we remain in separate corners. Sometimes I catch Cory’s father staring at me with an odd expression. It’s like he’s dying to ask me a question, yet terrified to hear the answer.”
Luis sighed, remembering how his own Bible-carrying family back in Tennessee had disowned him after he’d come out of the closet. They tossed him out in the street, and he’d been forced to move in with an older man. “You have to be patient. This is all new to them and they are trying to process everything during a very difficult time and under very serious circumstances. I actually think it’s a good sign they haven’t banned you from his room or had you thrown out of the hospital. I’ve seen that before with gay couples. It’s not pretty.”
Jasper yawned and said, “I guess you’re right. They seem like decent people, and right now they are too heartbroken to do anything but sit and wait for the next doctor’s report. It’s like every time a doctor or nurse comes into the waiting room my heart stops beating and I get a lump in my throat. I just want to know there’s hope, is all.”
“I’m going to go over and talk to Cory’s parents,” Luis said. “I think they should go home now and rest. I think you should go, too. The last thing we need is one of you getting sick.”
It wasn’t easy to talk Cory’s parents into going home, but he finally convinced them he and Jase would remain at the hospital while they were gone and if anything significant happened they’d call them. His mother was harder to persuade than his father. At first, she set her jaw and folded her arms across her chest. When Luis suggested they both needed rest she grabbed his hands and started crying again. He hugged her and told her he believed Cory was going to be fine and he’d be back on his feet in no time. Jase supported him, and Thomas even went so far as to say he’d been reading Cory’s tarot cards and they said he’d survive this without any doubts.