“I know you’re Emilio’s…Daddy,” Allesandro says. Pain crosses his face once again as he looks at me. “He needs that, even when he thinks he doesn’t. He needs the care and softness mixed with the firm rules and structure a Daddy can give him. I’m glad he has you.”
Fucking hell. Even though it’shimsaying it…the reminder of being Lio’s Daddy sends a pang rushing through me, thatburning fear growing larger because I can’t be with him when he needs me most.
He continues. “Don’t let your feelings for me get in the way of helping Lio. I know he tried to kill himself. I know what you two are going through.” I scoff but he ignores me. “That fear and pain? I feel it too, because I love him. That Boy…he is everything good in me. I am nothing without him. Knowing he almost wasn’t here? It kills me. But…it’s something I’ve seen before.”
It’s as if the air has been sucked from the room. I straighten up and glance at Hollis, before focusing back on the asshole in the bed. “Explain.”
“You know about when that bastard, Peter, kidnapped him?”
Hol and I both nod. “Not the details, but yes, we’re aware of that whole clusterfuck,” I tell him.
“Right, well, when Lio came back, he was… Traumatized is an understatement. That fucker didn’t just rape him, he drugged him, and made Emilio believe he wanted it.”
“That sounds fucking familiar,” Hollis mutters. He looks to Dr. Ranlen. “Have you seen the videos that bitch sent over?”
“Doc and I reviewed them, yes. I can’t say, without getting my hands on it, or its chemical makeup, but it’s safe to assume what was given to Lio was a similar class of designer drug.”
“What videos?” Allesandro asks.
“Cecily Dowing sent us videos of what Lio and Roman went through,” Hollis answers, not offering any more information.
Allesandro must value his life as he doesn’t ask any more questions, though I can see he wants to. If he wants to know more about it, he can…well, fuck.
I meet Hollis’s gaze again. My Tesoro must have come to the same conclusion I just did, because that fucking sorrow is back in his eyes.
“How about we get to the point of this meeting,” I say. “I’d like to get back to Benjamin before he wakes and tries to hurt himself again.”
“As I was saying, Emilio was deeply hurt, not physically, but mentally. There are things he still refuses to discuss—whether because it’s too painful, or because he doesn’t remember, I don’t know. What I do know is that this isn’t the first time he’s dropped into such a deep depression. Mixed with the PTSD he already has from his previous experience, well…as much as it hurts to say, we’re very, very lucky he was found in time. He needs help.”
“And we’re getting it for him,” Hollis argues. “Or did Dr. Ranlen fail to mention that she and Doc have been pooling their resources together to pick out a therapist, not only for Emilio, butyouas well.”
The therapist isn’t only for Lio and Allesandro, but I don’t dare point that out to Hollis now.
“Yes, but he needs help now,” Allesandro shoots back. “Look, I don’t want to hurt you, or go over your head. I know you and Lio have a relationship, and you’ve been giving him what he needs for months now, but… I was able to get through to him last time. Was able to bring him out of his head. I got him to open up and release the pain he was holding in, and pulled him out of the loop he was stuck in. I’m not saying this to insult you. I’m sure you’re giving him what he needs…but it’s notallhe needs.”
“And what is it you think he needs?” I ask coldly.
“His Master.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Fuck no. You’re crazy if you think I’ll ever risk him.”
“It’s not so different from Roman needing you and your lovers,andneeding Ignacio,” Dr. Ranlen points out.
I glare at her and wonder how pissed Lio will be if I stab her, just a little. She doesn’t flinch under my stare, holding my gazeand lifting her chin a little in defiance. If I wasn’t so fucking done with this conversation, I’d be impressed.
“I’m not saying this on a whim,” Allesandro says, cutting through the tension between his doctor and me. “I know I’m asking for more than I deserve, but Lio’s life means more to me than you’ll ever know. I don’t want to see him suffer. Please, let me help him. After everything I’ve done to him…it’s the least I can do.”
I push off the door, unwilling to hear another word of this asshole’s audacity, when Hollis captures my attention. His shoulders rise and fall with each breath, and he touches the bandage around his arm.
Fuck.
Crossing over to him quickly, I turn him to face me, lifting his gaze to mine. “Talk to me, Tesoro.”
He swallows, his mouth opening and closing before he brings his hands between us and says, “I… Fuck, Ten. This is so fucked up.”
Removing my hands from Hollis, sticking to Italian Sign like Hol so the other two can’t eavesdrop, I ask, “You can’t be seriously contemplating this inane idea!”
“What other fucking choice do we have, Tennant? The pull between them…it reminds me of the two of us…”
