Page 36 of Twister

Daniel

After texting Jackson the room number Marshall was in, I used Rose’s phone to call my twin, Henry, figuring that he’d be pissy if I didn’t at least let him know about the loss of our house.

“Hey, Rose. What’s up?”

Keeping hold of Marshall’s hand, I leaned back into my seat and smiled sadly at the quiet, dependable gruffness of Henry’s voice. “Not Rose. Hey, Hen.”

“Dan?” There was a slight pause. “Everything okay? How come you’re using Rose’s phone?”

I felt my bottom lip wobble. “There’s been an… incident, Hen. Rose is fine,” I continued quickly, knowing that he’d freak if I didn’t lead with that. “So am I, but we’ve lost the house. I’m in the hospital—”

“What?” Henry squawked before I heard a flurry of activity on his side. “Thomas? Where’s my boss when I need him—”

“Henry, stop. I’m fine, I swear.”

“Then why are you in the hospital? What the fuck happened?” I could hear his voice changing with his location as he presumably went looking for his boss.

I tucked the phone between my shoulder and my ear so I could rub my temples. “There was a twister, Hen. It flattened the house. Everything’s gone.”

“Jesus, Daniel. But you said you’re fine, right?” There was a muffled noise before I heard Henry say, “Thomas, I gotta go. My brother’s in the hospital.”

“Henry, relax. You don’t need to come here. Be serious.”

“I am being serious, Dan. You’ll need help.”

Sighing, I gave up on holding the phone with my shoulder and dumped it on Marshall’s bed and switched it over to speaker.

“He said the house is gone. I don’t know. That’s why I need to leave.”

I bit my lip at the determination in my brother’s voice. It had been a long time since I’d heard him so obstinate about something. The recent arrival of his boyfriend, Blue, had obviously been good for him.

Someone spoke in the background, but not close enough to Henry’s phone that I could hear what was being said.

“I’ll let you know. It could be a few days.”

Jesus. He needed to settle down. “Henry—”

“No, Daniel. I’m coming. So will Blue once I tell him.”

I pressed my fingers into my temple again. “He doesn’t need to, Hen. Seriously. We’ll be fine.”

His voice wavered, letting me know he was on the move again. “Nope. The only reason I haven’t hung up on you to call Mom is because you still need to tell me why you’re in hospital.”

I sighed and looked at Marshall, squeezing his hand, wishing once more that he’d feel the worry through my grip and it would make him wake up. My bottom lip quivered when the love I felt for Marshall made itself known in my heart.

And it was love. I was sure of it now. I’d felt a fraction of this visceral need for Marshall only once before in my life—the day I married Jackson.

What I felt for Marshall, however, was violent. Vital to my continued existence.

I needed him more than my next breath.

And I would tell him exactly that and continue to tell him that every day for the rest of our lives as soon as he woke up.

Please wake up, baby.

“I understand now, Hen,” I said softly.

“What?”

“How you fell so quickly for Blue.”

A long pause. Even the background noise fell away as Henry stopped to absorb my words. “What do you mean, Dan?”

I swallowed hard, choking back a sob when I felt tears well in my eyes. “I met someone, Hen.”

Another pause, but the background noise picked back up again, this time with a heavy door opening and closing before the heavy echo of footsteps on concrete. “You have?”

“His name’s Marshall.” I leaned far enough forward to reach Marshall’s cheek with my free hand, ever so gently caressing his soft skin. “And I love him, Hen.” A violent sob ripped out of me. “He’s the one in hospital because he won’t wake up . He won’t wake up, Henry. Why won’t he wake up ?”

The tears flowed freely now, tracking down my cheeks as I picked up Marshall’s hand and pressed his palm to my lips. “Why won’t you wake up, baby? Please wake up….”

Through my heaving sobs, I heard another door open and close over the speaker and more footsteps, but this time they were much, much quicker before an out-of-breath Henry gasped out, “Blue? We need to go. Something’s happened to Daniel.”

Blue’s voice responded in the affirmative before they were on the move again.

“Daniel?” Henry asked, still out of breath, still on the move.

“Yeah?” I responded quietly, trying my hardest to get my tears under control.

“Text me the name of the hospital and the room number. We’re on our way. We’ll be there once we secure a flight.”

Blue’s muffled voice came through then. “I’ll call Roman. He’ll lend us his jet.”

“Good idea, angel,” Henry said before his voice became clearer when he returned his attention to me. “I’m calling Mom and Dad, Dan. We’ll all be there soon. I promise.”

I sniffled and sucked a shaky breath in before I responded with a quiet, “Okay.”

And with three short beeps, he disconnected the call, and I was alone again.

“Should we wake him?”

“No. Let him sleep, Rose.”

“Why does the nameplate thingy say Sparkle Marshall’s last name is Porter?”

“I don’t know, but we can ask your dad when he wakes up. But for now, we should be quiet so he can sleep, okay?”

Yeah, good luck with that, Jackson. Rose would never stay quiet if she had questions.

“It’s okay. I’m awake,” I murmured roughly into Marshall’s thigh, where I’d let my head rest however long ago.

I rolled my head further into his motionless leg, surreptitiously wiping the drool from my lips onto the thin hospital blanket that still covered him before lifting my heavily lidded eyes to see a worried Rose kneeling in front of me and a smirking Jackson leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

“Welcome back,” Jackson said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

Looking around for the cup of water that I knew I’d left on the bedside table, I smacked my lips, trying to get my mouth working again. “Like I was hit by a tanker.”

“Mm. I bet,” he said before focusing on Rose.

“Rose, can you get your dad a bottle of water from that vending machine we passed on our way in?” He dug into his back pocket to fish his wallet out, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for.

“Here’s my card. Get something for him to nibble on too, okay?

And grab something for yourself too. Take your time. There’s no need to rush back.”

Rose frowned before she cast her eyes over me, then nodded, seemingly satisfied with whatever she saw on my face. “Okay, Pappy Jacky.”

Silently, I watched her take the offered card and slowly make her way out of the room. I waited until I couldn’t see her through the glass windows before I turned my attention on Jackson. “How is she?”

The smirk that had been playing on his face fell. “Scared. Worried. Better now that she’s here with you and Marshall.” He pushed off the doorframe and walked around the room until he dropped into the other seat and wiped one palm over his jaw. “Fuck, Daniel. What a day, huh?”

“Yeah.” I rolled my shoulders to stretch as much as I could without letting go of Marshall. “I’ve had better.”

He took a deep breath and sat forward so he could rest his forearms on his splayed knees, then nodded at Marshall’s still form. “How is he?”

Shrugging, I chewed my bottom lip as I shifted my focus from the man who represented everything about my past to the man who embodied my entire future. “The doctor said he’s fine and that he should wake up in the next day or so, but….”

“But he hasn’t woken up yet, so you’re stressing yourself out.”

I huffed. “Something like that.”

He nodded slowly, pursing his lips as he flicked his eyes between me and Marshall and back again. “If the doctors are saying he’ll wake up, then he’ll wake up.”

Logically, I knew he was right, but I swallowed the tortured lump in my throat that said otherwise. “Yeah… I know.”

That playful smirk was back. There had been a time when I would have done anything to see that look on his face more.

It had always filled me with a sense of pride that I’d been able to amuse him enough that it appeared.

That I was enough for him. That I’d been needed, even if it was only for playing the fool enough to make him laugh.

Now, though, I felt nothing other than the easy friendship that existed solely from over a decade of knowing each other. Even the anger that had lingered for years after he’d left me was gone.

It had only been a few days, but Marshall had healed me more than I could have ever imagined.

Jackson let his smirk relax into a soft smile. “You gave him your last name.”

My thumb swept over the inside of Marshall’s wrist, and I swallowed again. “I did.”

“Can I ask why?”

There was no malice in his question, simply genuine curiosity. That was the only reason why I responded. “I didn’t want him to wake up alone, and the staff were… unwilling… to let that happen without a lawful reason.”

He raised an eyebrow before his expression cleared. “Ah. Yeah, I ran into a couple of idiots during my brief stay.” He shook his head slightly. “It wasn’t everyone, but you know what the loud ones are like.”

Annoyed that we still had to deal with homophobic bullshit, especially at a hospital, I sighed, because, yeah, I knew exactly what the loud ones were like. Would there ever be a time when people could just let others live their lives in peace?

“You love him.”

Immediately, I wrenched my eyes from Marshall’s serene face to stare at Jackson. “What?”

The soft smile remained on his face, and he nodded at Marshall again. “I’m not surprised. Not after seeing you two together yesterday.”

I blinked. God, was it only yesterday that we’d visited Jackson here at the same hospital? It felt like a million years ago.

“It’s okay, Dan. I’m glad you’ve finally found someone.” His lips twitched. “He’ll keep you young.”