I Spy a Dark Obsession

Strange silence, punctuated by soft beeping. Weird smells.

Then he realized he was a person. Alive. So there should be a body attached to his floating brain, right? He tried to wiggle something. Anything. With no results for the longest time. He wanted to cry out, but his mouth refused to work. Where was everyone? Had he been abandoned?

Or worse… was he dead? Was this the afterlife? Was he doomed to have only a consciousness drifting aimlessly in space, unable to cry out? No. He couldn’t bear that. Give him heaven or hell, but not this nothingness.

“Bastian?”

Frantic, he tried to find the voice. Where are you? he shouted, but just in his mind. Or so he thought.

“Easy. I’m here. You’re okay.”

No, he wasn’t. If he was, he’d be able to—

A touch, just there. On his arm. Arm? And a gentle hand stroking his hair. So good.

The touches seemed to spark his nerve endings, and a tiny thread of light awakened his body from his head to his toes. I’m not dead! God, what’s wrong with me?

With great effort, he concentrated on forming a question. “Wh-what…”

“It’s me, Katrina. You’re at the compound, honey. In the hospital. Do you remember getting shot? Can you open your eyes?”

He worked at opening his eyes. Remembering could come later, when his body was functioning better. His lids were heavy, but after a few moments, he found himself wincing at bright light, squinting to relieve the pain in his head. To focus.

“Head hurts,” he informed her. Was that where he had been shot?

“Oh, sweetie. I’m afraid that’s only the beginning.” A soft hand caressed his face. “Can you see me?”

Clouds of dark red hair swam in his vision. A beautiful face came into focus. A face dominated by worried blue eyes.

“Katrina.”

“Yes.” The blue eyes crinkled in a smile.

“Don’t… remember.”

“You will — don’t worry. You had surgery and you’re on good drugs.”

“Tired.”

“Then sleep. You’re okay now.”

“I am?”

“Yes.”

He must’ve slept, because the next thing he knew, he awoke for real, fully aware, with a vague recollection of Katrina being there and talking to him in soothing tones. Had he dreamed her presence out of wishful thinking?

One thing he hadn’t been dreaming, then or now, was the throbbing agony in his head, torso, and thigh. Three spots of pounding misery, shouting the news to the rest of his body that something awful as fuck had happened. Car wreck? Bar brawl?

No, wait. Something about Cory.

He’d been with Cory. In a motel room.

Shot. Bastian had been shot, and ran. What happened? It was all a jumble in his mind.

With great effort, he opened his eyes and waited as his surroundings came into focus. Hospital room. Probably at the compound. His gaze strayed to his bedside, where a familiar man was sprawled in a chair, snoring lightly. Bastian had never beheld a more welcome sight.

“M-Michael.” Jesus, his throat sounded like he’d gargled with asphalt. “Michael?”

Dark lashes fluttered open, and the man’s eyes widened as he bolted upright. “Thank God you’re awake. How do you feel?” His friend scooted his chair closer, laid a hand on Bastian’s arm.

“Chewed up and spit out,” he managed. “Hurts.”

Michael’s expression softened. “I know it does, buddy. I can give you a hit of morphine if you’d like.”

“Please.”

The other man picked up a device and punched a button on it. In seconds, Bastian felt the stuff flow through his veins, wrapping him in a nice layer of cotton. With the receding of the pain, the memories returned.

“Tio,” he gasped. “He was going to kill me.”

“That’s one asshole who won’t hurt anyone ever again,” Michael growled.

“He pointed his gun at me, and I heard a gunshot. I thought I was dead.”

“That was me blowing his head off. And you’re going to be fine.”

“Thanks,” he said quietly. “I owe you.”

“Cut that shit out. If I had protected you better, he couldn’t have gotten to you. That’s a mistake I won’t repeat.”

Bastian started to shake his head and instantly regretted the movement. After the bed stopped spinning, he said, “You can’t protect me. You won’t always be around, and—”

“Listen to me. I’m going to do a hell of a lot better job because when McKay springs you, you’re coming home with me.”

“I — what?” He blinked at Michael in confusion.

“I’m moving you to the estate. I’ve already taken the liberty of moving most of your clothes, and the other stuff you can sort later.”

His heart stuttered, joy and trepidation surging through him at once. With a dash of irritation joining the party. “Wait. I didn’t agree to this.”

“Yes, you did, the second I saw you bleeding out and beaten half to death,” he said, voice catching with emotion. “When I realized I could lose you and I knew real, honest-to-God fear for the first time in my life. When I finally understood that you own part of my heart and if I did lose you, I’d never recover.”

Stunned, Bastian stared at the man who meant more to him than any other and was so afraid he was misunderstanding. Making more out of Michael’s words than his friend intended. Strong fingers enclosed his own, and he looked down at them, wondering if the morphine was tripping him out.

“I think… you’re going to have to spell it out.”

Michael nodded, expression earnest. “Okay. First, I’m so sorry from the depths of my soul that I hurt you. But I was scared of the fact that I was capable not only of wanting a man sexually, but of having real feelings for him.”

“Any man?”

“No. Just you. I set out to prove what a big stud I am with the ladies, thinking my thing for you was a strange curiosity that would wear off. But that’s the thing about love — it won’t be denied and it doesn’t care about gender.”

“I — You love me?” he croaked.

“Yes, dammit! Shit, I suck at this.” He sighed.

Bastian couldn’t help but smile a little. “You’re doing all right.”

“There’s something else, though. Or someone else, I should say.”

“Katrina.” Closing his eyes, he waited for the ax to drop. “Of course, if you two have feelings for each other, it would be the easier choice for you.”

“What if I don’t have to choose? What if none of us did?”

That got his attention again. Fired his imagination. He opened his eyes and studied Michael, wondering how many more surprises the man would bestow. “Meaning we all try to make it work together? Katrina mentioned the possibility, but I never thought you’d go for it.”

“Me, either, but we were both wrong.” Enthusiasm lit his voice. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about the other day, when you all but threw me out. Not that I blamed you.”

Well, hell. If he’d just heard the man out — but that was in the past. “And?”

“I know Katrina has feelings for you, and that you two have been getting close. I know that you fucked her in her office.”

He couldn’t help but flinch. “Should I apologize?”

“No. She loves you, just as I do. She’s been here, right at your side, for most of the past twenty-four hours. I