14
1675 Words
Once Markus woke and told his side of things, Trace placed another call. This time, he contacted Kristoph, the second-eldest boy in the family. With three sisters – Mary, Helga, and Diane – and three brothers – Kristoph, Walter, and Elias – Trace was often overlooked as a child. Yet, when he truly needed someone, only three of his siblings readily answered his calls. Those three were Diane, a nurse at a maternity clinic in the capital, Helga, a lawyer, and Kristoph, an Inspector with the local police who still lived with their mother.
"Ja?"
"Hello, brother," Trace said with a hint of darkness in his voice. "I have a small issue that I could use your help with."
Kristoph laughed. "Anything for little Tracy."
"For f**k's sake," he muttered. "For the last damn time, I go by Trace!"
Another laugh, then, "So, what does my baby brother need from me that he cannot do himself?"
"Well, the problem is that if I come to Germany, Elias isn't going to live much longer," Trace said. "Felix physically and knowingly tried to kill Markus."
"You need me to help bury the body?" Kristoph laughed.
Trace snickered. "No. Not yet, at least. What I need is for you to pay him a special visit, if you know what I mean."
"Ja, I got you, Trace," Kristoph replied. Just by the sound of his voice, Trace knew his older brother was laughing. "That older brother of ours needs a good hard kick in the pants. Why did he turn on your boy anyway?"
Stopping himself, Trace looked to his son in the hospital bed as a nurse looked him over. Markus hadn't told the rest of the family yet, not after the way his uncle treated him like something the cat dragged in. Deciding that there was no real way to avoid it, Trace said, "Markus is gay, Kris. Elias likes to call him a stain on the family tree."
Fully expecting his brother to hang up on him, he was shocked to hear Kristoph curse out their oldest brother. "Mark is happy, ja?"
"Of course, he is," Trace confirmed.
Barking a laugh, Kristoph said, "Well then, his life choices are none of Elias’s business. Besides, Mark is not the only so-called stain in the family."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Don't say anything to the others, but I like to swing on the gate, if you get my meaning," Kristoph said quietly.
Trace laughed. "If you were waiting for me to tell you off, you've got a lot of waiting to do. I had to think long and hard about what I was going to do with my son. After some sound advice, I just said f**k it, and everything turned out okay."
The line fell quiet, and he thought that he'd lost the connection. "Kris?"
"Many thanks, little brother. I always knew I could count on you," he heard his older brother say. Trace laughed. Saying bye to the other man, he turned to face his son.
The glare on Markus's face could have frozen over hell. "What did you do, Dad?"
"Bite your damn tongue," Trace snapped. "I was talking to your Uncle Kris, and I found out some interesting information that I didn't know before."
"What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Trace sat down by the bed. "He's bisexual. I had no idea he was hiding a secret that big from the family, but it doesn’t matter to me. Not anymore. He adores the hell out of you and your brother. Elias won't be sending anyone else after you when Kris is done with him."
"Good," Markus replied, falling back to the hard hospital pillow.
Trace's eyes dropped to his phone. Reading the message that came through from Russell, he let out a relieved sigh. "Felix is gone back to Germany. Russell slipped him some knockout pills and paid off the pilot to tell the attendants to leave him alone until they land."
"I can't believe he got the better of me. All I did was turn around to change the CD I was listening to. The next thing I knew, his thumb was in my trachea, and I couldn't make a noise to save my freaking life." Markus's voice was laced with disappointment.
Nodding, his father said, "That sneaky, underhanded way of hurting people was Elias's modus operandi, too. If I'd known what was going to happen, I wouldn't have left you alone with him."
Suddenly, Markus paled. Something his father said during the call to his brother made him pause. "Dad, did he get to Luke?"
"He had him by the throat," Trace admitted. "But Jaxon stopped him."
"My boyfriend stopped Felix from hurting my brother?"
Trace nodded. "Your brother would be in the bed next to you if Jax hadn’t stepped in when he did. Forgot his fear of confrontation, and ripped right into your cousin like no tomorrow. I’m so proud of him."
As Markus thought over his father’s words, the shrill sound of a warning siren filled the room. Looking down at the caller ID, Trace cursed. Sliding the green button across, he said, "What do you want, Elias?"
"You dare to harm my child?" the other man shouted.
Rolling his eyes, Trace walked over to the window. "You can expect a visit from one of our brothers soon. The family didn't appreciate you sending your brat to hurt my kids."
The line went silent, and he counted back from ten as he waited for the explosion. "You will regret letting that black sheep live, Tracy."
"No, I don't think I will. My crotch goblins are good kids, and you have no right to play God with their lives. If they had been seriously hurt today, I was going to come find you. In fact, your only saving grace is that our sisters and mother asked me to let them handle it. Let that sink in a moment, brother. I’m no pushover, so don’t test the limits of my patience ever again." Trace was seething as he hung up the call. His hand clenched, and he heard the slight crunch of the phone in his palm.
"Someone's cross this evening." Ambrosia’s voice sliced through the tension.
Turning their eyes to the door, the two men winced. Trace waved his phone at her, “Dealing with family drama. So, what’s his prognosis?”
Ambrosia let the door close behind her as she walked deeper into the room. "The good news is that there's no damage to Markus's larynx, esophagus, or trachea. There’s some bruising, but no apparent permanent damage. All the tests came back clean, as well. However, we'll be keeping him overnight as a precaution to ensure there was nothing we missed."
Trace breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."
"Yeah, I hear you there," Ambrosia laughed. "Markus, soft foods only for the next week. I want you back here in five days for a check-up. That’s an order."
Markus grimaced. "Damn. The guys and I were going to have a movie night."
"Postpone it," Ambrosia said as she checked his throat. "Ring for a nurse if you find the pain too hard to handle."
Markus frowned darkly. "I apologize, but I don't take anything but acetaminophen for pain."
"You’re not the only one that’s been turning down meds. I’m glad, though," Ambrosia replied as she wrote down his vitals.
"Jaxon's staying at the apartment for a few days until David gets back, by the way. So you’ll be sharing a room with your boyfriend unless you’re okay with him and Luke bunking together," Trace commented as he sent a message to Thomas.
He laughed under his breath as his friend and partner sent him back two words: HELP ME. What Thomas could possibly need help with was beyond him, so he sent another message. Again, the phone dinged almost immediately. "Oh boy."
His face falling, Memphis scowled. "What's wrong, Dad?"
Trace grinned. "Kennedy put Craig Dawson in the hospital."
"Yeah, but his parents took him to the one on the other side of the city," Ambrosia grunted. She filled a syringe with a clear liquid before injecting it into the drip. "He slapped Kenni's ass, so she beat him into the next semester."
Markus suddenly felt his body getting heavy as sleep crept up on him. His eyes were closing of their own accord, and he was having trouble forcing himself to stay awake. "No! Amber, please, no..."
Watching as the eighteen-year-old finally succumbed to the medication, Trace raised a brow in amusement. "Is he okay?"
She nodded. "He's fine. I gave him a moderate dose of melatonin and doxepin to help him sleep so he doesn’t try to talk or overexert his throat while he heals. How's he been doing at home?"
"His insomnia's not been overly bad, but it's been affecting him mentally," he admitted.
"How so?"
Trace shrugged. If his son knew what he was really up to, he'd be in for an earful. "He's paranoid, and a little possessive-aggressive with a jealous streak. I think half of it is his own doing, but some of it can be attributed to the sleep issue."
"I'm going to write up a script for you to fill. If he doesn't take it, let me know. Tell him it's detrimental to his health to take the meds."
He blinked up at the woman in front of him. "I've come a long way, haven't I?"
"Well, if you count the fact that I no longer want to kill you, yes, you have. They have issues, but the boys seem to be perfectly fine. Markus was older when Bella left, so he probably remembered something that puts the fear of losing someone he loves in his mind," Ambrosia replied.
Damn.
Trace hadn't even given a thought to the fact that their mother leaving could have affected them so much. "I'll talk to him. To both of them."
It was one promise he was willing to keep to the bitter end.
- Writer
