Out of the Dungeon (7 page)

Roman looked up at the monitor. "Which one's
pulse?"

Zach pointed out the number. One thirty
two.

"It was one forty eight a minute ago," Zach
offered.

"Where do you want it?"

"Somewhere between seventy and ninety would
be good."

Roman leaned close again. "Jeff, listen to
me. I can't help you breathe because the machine is doing that for
you. But it's just temporary, I promise, and you know I'd never lie
to you. But your heart is beating too fast, and you need to slow it
down. I know you're afraid, and usually I'd help you breathe
through your fear. I can't do that right now, so work with me."

He turned his head to look for Zach, and
asked, "Can I touch his chest, or will that hurt him?"

"He's probably hurting. Touch is okay,
pressing down isn't."

Roman pressed himself against the bed rail
and leaned over Jeff. He threaded his hand between monitor wires
and laid it on Jeff's chest, let his fingertips rest beneath the
unbroken collar bone.

"Think about your heart, Jeff. My fingertips
can feel it beating. Can you feel it? If you can feel it, I want to
you to visualize slowing it down. Just tell yourself
slow down,
slow down, everything is going to be okay,
because everything
is going to be okay. The nurses and medical people are doing a
great job, but you have to help. You have to do your part." He
wanted to keep talking, keep soothing Jeff with his voice, but went
quiet because he knew he had to give Jeff time to process the
request.

A minute went by with just the sound of the
vent, and a couple of beeps from machinery.

"Nice," Zach breathed from behind Roman.
Roman glanced at the monitor. Jeff's pulse was down to
ninety-five.

"You're doing great, love," Roman said. "You
can't move your head because they did some surgery on your neck,
and now it's immobilized. You've got broken bones, and IVs and all
kinds of tubes and wires, and all this thrashing around means they
had to tie you to the bed to keep you safe.

"They're giving you great drugs, you know, so
let them work. You'll have loopy dreams to tell me about in a few
days."

Jeff's eyes opened briefly and Roman did his
best to smile. "They're going to kick me out now. Be good. I'll be
back in the morning."

Jeff blinked twice, the closed his eyes.

Dare looked up at the monitor. Pulse
seventy.

The other nurse came in, the woman, and Zach
introduced them. "This is Roman, Jeff's partner. This is the
wonderful Nurse Cathy. With a capital N." Then he asked the nurse,
"Can you stay with Jeff, Cathy, while I walk Roman out?"

When they were far enough away that Roman
didn't think Jeff could hear, he said, "You guys have my cell
number, right? I mean, you can call me anytime, day or night, if he
gets agitated and you want me to calm him down. I'm serious. I'll
come. Keeping him safe is my number one goal. And I'll do whatever
I have to do."

"I'll leave a note at the nurses' station,"
Zach said. "I wanted to give you the stuff that came up from the
emergency department," Zach said, reaching into the large pocket of
his scrub jacket and handing Roman a weighted zip-lock biohazard
bag.

Jeff's jewelry. Nipple rings, a slew of campy
glittery bracelets, four or five rings, an anal jewel attached to a
heavy stainless egg. And Jeff's collar. The links glinted like
tears under the fluorescent lights, and seeing it hurt Roman's
heart.

"I've seen patients' heart rates slow down
when they hear the voice of someone they love," Zach said. "But I
think what you did was more than just calm him. I think you
commanded him to be calm. I'd heard they cut the collar off him in
the emergency room." The nurse paused for a second, like he was
thinking through what do say next. "It's just… there's a kind of
humor behind closed doors in medicine, you know, and it can be dark
and doesn't seem all that compassionate. I think it's part of how
we insulate ourselves from the bad stuff."

"I know," Roman said. "I understand."

"Well, anyway. I laugh at stuff
inappropriately myself, I'm not going to tell you I don't. But
having this bag of Jeff's belongings floating around is like fuel.
I tracked it down so you can take it home."

"Thanks," Roman said. "I appreciate that. I'd
hate for it to be lost."

"Right," Zach said. "Medical care can be very
intrusive, and I suspect you and Jeff have quite an interesting
private life."

"We do," Roman said. "And it's good. We're
happy, and we'd like to get back to it."

"Well, that's our goal. Guide people out of
the woods and send them back to their life."

"It's good to be on the same page," Roman
said, hitting the down button to call the elevator. "Call me if he
gets agitated. Please. I'll come. And tell the next shift they can
call as well."

"I will. Take care, Roman."

Roman nodded. "Thanks. If you're on for the
next seven days, I'll see you tomorrow."

The elevator came and Roman stepped in.

It didn't surprise him that Jeff's jewelry
caused a stir among the nurses. Nipple piercings alone titillate a
lot of people. A collar often earned raised eyebrows and more. The
anal jewel would have surely been cause for comment by whichever
medical team discovered it. Roman almost smiled. Ah, to be a fly on
the wall in that room. He imagined the scene and chuckled. He
wondered when that story would catch up with Jeff in the intensive
care unit. Sooner than later, probably, considering Jeff had the
word
slave
tattooed in the crease between his thigh and
groin. And a tattoo on his right buttock of a heart and Roman's
name.

Roman certainly hadn't asked for or required
such tattoos. In fact, he'd been horrified when Jeff came home with
the buttock tattoo on Roman's thirty-fifth birthday. "It's a good
fake, right?" Roman had asked. "You know how much I hate that."

"It's real."

"Great. Now I can't spank or flog you there
for a month. You're lucky I have exceptional aim."

"Don't you like it?"

"Getting my name tattooed on your ass is
asinine," Roman had said. "People change. Lives change. It's
stupid."

"I don't care what changes, I will never
regret loving you. Never."

"Of course not. But when I kick the bucket,
you might regret having my name tattooed on your ass."

Jeff had laughed then. "Don't be morbid. I
can always have your name crossed out and replaced with the word
freedom or something. I almost had it say 'Property of Roman.'"

Roman shook his head. "That would have made
me crazy. I'd have made you have it removed."

"I know," Jeff had said. "That's what stopped
me."

"Good. Now, about my birthday."

"What about it?" Jeff had asked.

"I have this new contraption." Roman gave
Jeff the most wicked grin in his repertoire, and raised his
eyebrows.

"Really?" Jeff asked. "What kind of
contraption?"

"You're about to find out."

"Can I have a hint?"

"Hmm," Roman pretended to think about it.
"Plexiglas. And that's all I'm going to say at this point."

One memory leads to another, and Roman walked
out of the hospital thinking good, happy thoughts. Jeff would come
through this. He had to. And if the nurses figured out Roman and
Jeff had a kinky relationship and it set them all a-twitter, so
what? What Roman and Jeff had together was amazing, and Roman had
never been ashamed of being a dungeon master, and he wasn't going
to start being ashamed of it now.

V
anessa and Suede
arrived at the club just before ten on Friday night. Roman was
sitting in Dare's bar territory. "Hey, Roman." Vanessa greeted him,
talking softly, afraid she'd startle him. "How's Jeff?"

"Tied down on a bed with a machine breathing
for him, terrified and trying to wake up so he can figure out
what's going on. How do you think?"

The anger in his voice made Vanessa take a
step back. "Sorry."

Suede pushed past Vanessa and put both her
hands on both of Roman's shoulders. "I know you're upset and angry,
Roman, but don't take it out on my girl."

Roman shook his head. "You're right, Suede,
that was out of line. Vanessa, I meant no disrespect, I'm just not
right in my head at the moment."

Vanessa nodded. Roman looked like he'd had a
few drinks, like maybe he was half out of control. She'd never seen
him like this.

Dare set another drink in front of Roman, and
Roman flashed him a tight smile and said, "Good boy. Good, good
boy." He turned toward Vanessa and Suede and said, "I'm going to do
a demo, up on stage, with Dare. We're gonna make the whole place
cream their shorts."

"Not tonight, you're not," Dare said, leaning
across the bar to plant a kiss on the shadow tattoo on the side of
Roman's head. "You've had too much to drink."

"Have I?" Roman asked, and his surprise was
genuine.

"You have," Suede interjected. "And you're
too emotional to be controlling anyone." She waggled her fingers in
front of Roman's face. "I don't think I've ever seen you show the
effects of alcohol."

"That would be because I so rarely imbibe,"
Roman said. "Can't afford to lose control. Ever. But I'm okay so
far. C'mon, Dare, just a little demo. Get your ass out from behind
the bar and up onto stage."

Dare shook his head. "Not doing it,
Roman."

Suede smoothed her hands along the edges of
Roman's leather vest. "We all know you're the Top of all tops," she
said. "The Master of the dungeon. You don't have to prove it to
anyone here tonight. It wouldn't be wise or safe, and you'd regret
it in the morning."

Dare glared at her, then made an exaggerated
neck motion as he looked around the bar. "Loyal patrons. They
deserve a show on a Friday night."

"All right," Suede said. "Let me put on a
show instead. I'll go find some things."

She went around the bar and disappeared
through the door that led downstairs to the dungeon.

Vanessa watched her go, a tight ball of
nervous anticipation knotting her stomach. Oh no. Suede wasn't
going to… not like, tonight, here? Oh shit. Oh shit. Vanessa wasn't
ready for a public display. Sure, she and Suede had fooled around a
little and flirted a lot, but taking it to the stage?

Suede returned with a both a flogger and a
leather paddle hanging from her belt. She smiled a wicked smile,
and crooked a finger at Vanessa. "Come on, little girl, let's give
them a show." Vanessa, almost paralyzed with sudden anxiety, and
gave her head a little shake, trying to let Suede know she wasn't
so sure about any of this. But she could feel a smirk playing
around her own lips. She knew her reticence had nothing to do with
Suede. It was just simple, uncomplicated stage fright.

Suede flowed up the stairs at stage right,
stalked across to the DJ booth at stage left. Her boots tromped
hard enough to catch the attention of the customers. Vanessa
watched the DJ hand Suede the cordless headset microphone, and then
Suede was centered in a spotlight. Leave it to DJ Alex, prepared
for anything.

"Is this thing on?" Suede asked the crowd,
her voice settling over the room like liquid smoke. Oh yeah, it was
on. She had their full and undivided attention.

"Great," she said. "My name is Suede."

A cheer went up. Some hoots and hollers, even
a loud whistle.

DJ Alex got some appropriate kick-ass intro
music going.

Suede bent her knee and brought her booted
foot up high, then kicked it straight out at the audience. It was s
signature Suede move.

"Yeah!" Suede yelled into the mic. "Are you
with me?"

"Yeah!" the bar customers shouted back, and a
slew of them picked up their drinks and crowded close to the
stage.

"All right. We're gonna put on a little show
for you. But first. I already love you guys, and I hate to do this,
but I have to get a little serious before I can show you the fun
stuff. Ya'll know Roman, right?"

The spotlight found Roman sitting at the bar.
He almost looked like he was going to flinch away from the light,
but he dropped his chin to his chest and raised his arms,
acknowledging his identity.

"Stop the music, Alex," Suede murmured into
the mic.

The music stopped. The people clustered
around the stage stared up at Suede expectantly.

"I'm not gonna get into the details with
ya'll tonight, but Roman's partner was in an accident this morning.
He's in stable condition, but they're keeping him in intensive care
for a while. Heavy shit to lay on you, I know, because you came in
here to have a good time. And trust me, we're going to have a
kick-ass, wonderful time. And while we do that, I'm asking you to
cough up some dough for a healing fund for Jeff. Just toss it up on
the stage here when you like what you see, and that'll be good.
This club is part of our community, and a community takes care of
its own, right?"

"Right!" came the answer, shouted from the
club patrons.

"Music please, Alex, but not too loud."

The music resumed.

"Paging Vanessa to stage right, please.
Paging Vanessa."

Vanessa felt hot all over and just wanted to
crawl into a hole. But she went. As she climbed the stairs to the
stage, Suede told the audience, "Hey everybody, this is my new
girl, Vanessa. Vanessa, this is… everybody."

Vanessa could feel her face turning red. She
didn't know if she'd ever been quite this mortified. An impromptu
demo. Unplanned. Public.

"Stop right there," Suede said, and walked
across the stage to Vanessa. She put her fingers under Van's chin
and tilted her head so their eyes met. Suede was six inches taller.
She made Vanessa feel small and delicate. Suede smiled into
Vanessa's eyes, and Van felt herself becoming hypnotized, which is
what happened when she had Suede's full attention.