Cleats in Clay (25 page)

O
N HIS
way out of the ICU, Bobby couldn’t help but notice the tall, thin guy pacing around the waiting room. The rough-looking tattoo-covered man appeared to be about his age. He paced quickly back and forth like he was trying to work up the energy to go inside. Bobby gave him a nod. “You here to visit somebody?”

The biker guy smirked. “Tryin’ to,” he admitted. “I just don’t know if I wanna see how bad it is.”
Bobby gave him a warm smile. “Trust me, not knowing can lead to imagining things much worse than they really are. Just take a deep breath and go in.”
“Okay,” the biker guy said. “I will.”
Bobby headed for the stairwell as the guy took a breath and walked into the ICU.
“That was fast,” Tuck said as the door opened. He looked over, but it wasn’t Bobby squirming in the doorway. “What the fuck?”
“Hey, Tuck,” Vic said, stepping the rest of the way into the cubicle. “I heard ya had an accident.”
Tuck scowled. “Ya make it sound like I peed on the carpet.” He threw Vic a hard look. “What are ya doin’ here, Vic?”
“Dude,” Vic said as he put his hands up defensively, “I came to visit a friend in the hospital. We
are
still friends, right?”
Tuck was skeptical but said, “Sure.”
Vic stepped closer, looking over Tuck. “What all happened?”
“What did ya hear?”
“Don’t be that way, Tuck,” Vic scolded as he moved closer. “Never could give a straight answer.”
“Meth lab explosion.”
“Well, ya don’t look
too
bad off,” Vic said as he sat on the left edge of the bed. “It didn’t hurt yer pretty face,” he said as he reached out for Tuck’s cheek.
Tuck pulled back. “I’m not fuckin’ pretty. And don’t touch me.”
“Sorry,” Vic whined, dragging out the word and sounding less than sincere. “Thought ya’d be happy to see a friend.”
Tuck bit his tongue when the door opened again. He looked up to see Odis, who froze when he saw the guy sitting on the bed. “Hey, Odie,” Tuck said cheerfully. “This is Vic.”
Vic turned around and studied him. “So yer the little Odie I’ve heard so damn much about.”
“And you must be the asshole Tuck dumped,” Odis said as he stepped around the man. He pushed him back to lean in and kiss Tuck.
Vic blinked at them. “Really, now, little straight man. Who do you think yer foolin’?”
Before he could answer, the door opened again. Bobby stepped in about halfway. “How rude. I turn my back for one minute, and you guys start without me,” he joked, looking over at the biker guy on the bed.
“And who the fuck are you?” Vic bristled as he stood to his feet.
“I’m Bobby Lane.” Glancing over at Tuck, he questioned with his eyes.
“We’re past room capacity,” Tuck announced with an edge in his voice. “Time to leave, Vic.”
Bobby glared over at Vic. “Sounds like a great idea. I’ll see you out,” he said in a hard tone.
“So much for bein’ nice. Fuck you, Tuck,” Vic barked out as he headed for the door.
“Those days are over,” Tuck yelled back. “I’ve got new boyfriends now.”
Bobby nudged Vic on the shoulder when he paused in the doorway. Vic turned back and said, “Yeah, right. Yer just tryin’ to fuck with my head.”
Odis glared at the door as they left. “I’ll kick his ass if he comes back,” he promised Tuck as he hugged his neck.
Tuck chuckled. “I can handle Vic,” he said before kissing Odis. As Vic walked out the ICU area, Bobby stomped right behind him.
Vic turned when they got to the hallway. “I don’t know what kinda game y’all’s playin’, but if ya really
are
his boyfriend now, better enjoy it while ya can.”
“Keep moving. Elevator’s over there.” Bobby gave his shoulder another hard nudge.
Vic started down the hall. “You wait. You’ll find out how selfish he is soon enough.”
Bobby nearly laughed. Maybe Vic knew a few more things about Tuck than he did, but Bobby had never seen or heard
anything
to make him think of Tuck as selfish. If anything, he had shown himself to be more of a self-sacrificing kind of man. “If you really think that, you don’t know a damn thing about Tuck.”
“Oh, I do. Especially in bed.” Vic stepped into the elevator. “Just wait, you’ll find out,” he called out as the doors closed in his face.
Bobby just shook his head and went back to room two. He walked in and sat on the bed next to Odis. “You won’t believe what that asshole said.”
Odis glanced over curiously. “What?”
“He called Tuck selfish,” he said and chuckled along with Odis. They both stopped when they looked over and saw the hurt expression on Tuck’s face. “Sorry to laugh, Tuck. I know it’s not true.”
Tuck peered from Odis to Bobby, trying to decide how much to divulge. He quickly decided to be honest. “Well, from
his
side, I guess it’s true.”
Odis frowned in disbelief. “What do you mean?”
“Vic—he wanted to do things I wanted no part of. I refused to help him.”
“What things?” Bobby asked pointedly.
“He liked—he wanted me to choke him while we did it.” Tuck dropped his gaze as he spoke. The words seemed distasteful for him to even say.
Odis gaped like a fish. “What the fuck?”
“Erotic asphyxiation,” Bobby explained. “Lack of oxygen until you pass out, hopefully right at the point of orgasm.”
“Seriously?” Odis gasped. “People actually
do
that?” He glanced over at Tuck. “How do they keep from killing themselves?”
Tuck shrugged. “Sometimes they don’t.”
“Shit,” Odis spit out. “Just when I thought I’d heard of every kind of thing there is out there, out pops another one.” He got to his feet. “And yer not selfish for sayin’ no to something that made you uncomfortable.”
Tuck looked over at Bobby, questioning with his eyes.
Ignoring Odis as he paced around, Bobby wobbled his head. “Fenton wouldn’t say anything to me. Promised to come by later.”
Tuck nodded he understood. They all turned when the door opened. Odis bristled, getting ready to kick ass, but it was only Klyve. “Out,” he said when he saw both guys inside. He turned to Tuck. “Doc’s coming by in a minute.”
“What about my TV?” Tuck whined like a three-year-old.
Klyve sighed exasperatedly. “Sorry, forgot,” he said as he closed the door behind Bobby and followed them. “And the one-at-a-time rule applies unless ya ask me first,” he scolded the men as he herded them to the waiting room.
“Sorry,” Odis apologized.
Klyve smiled. “Doctor’s coming by to look at his hand. Go downstairs and grab some lunch or somethin’, it might be a while.”
“Okay.” Bobby nodded. With a gentle nudge on the shoulder, he steered Odis toward the stairs.
Klyve turned and went back to the ICU as the other men went down the hall.
Odis seemed to breathe heavily as they entered the stairwell. He moved quickly ahead of Bobby down the first half, rounded the central landing, and made it halfway down the second half of stairs before he seemed to wobble. “Shit,” he groaned as he froze and clutched at the railing.
“You okay?” Bobby stopped beside him, noticing the way Odis clung tightly at the metal bar with both hands.
Odis wobbled again and his eyes glazed over. “I’m not fee—” Odis said as he lost his grip on the railing and slid back. Bobby jumped forward and caught him as he fell.
“Odis!” Bobby yelled as he tried to stand him on rubbery legs. “Shit,” Bobby hissed. He got his arms under Odis’s armpits and dragged him down the rest of the stairs. He somehow managed to open the stairwell door without dropping Odis and mostly carried him out into the hall. “Help!” he yelled out, but with a quick glance, Bobby saw only a vacant hallway. But he did see an empty wheelchair near a doorway a bit farther down the hall.
“Loud voice,” Odis whispered as Bobby carried the rag-doll-limp Odis to the chair and set him in it. He pushed the chair as fast as he dared toward the ER area.
“Help!” Bobby yelled out again as he approached the ER.
A nurse came up when she saw the wheelchair. “What happened?” she asked as she kneeled down and looked at Odis while grabbing his wrist.
“We were coming down the stairs, and it looked like he got dizzy,” Bobby explained as another nurse rushed up and started waving a flashlight around in Odis’s face. “He collapsed and hasn’t been coherent since.”
The first nurse stood. “Weak pulse,” she said, grabbing the chair handles from Bobby.
Nurse number two announced, “Unresponsive pupils,” before looking at Bobby. “Is he on any medications?” She grabbed Bobby’s arm and led him to the ER station as nurse number one whisked Odis toward the curtained cubicles.
Bobby shook his head. “He
was
on some things, but he stopped taking them last week.”
“Any idea what they were?”
Bobby shook his head again. “Arthritis stuff. I don’t know exactly.”
“Name,” the nurse asked when she got to the computer.
“Odis Tyler Vorleik,” he told her.
“O-T?”
“No. O, D as in dog, I, S.” While she typed, he spelled the last name also. Bobby read her name, Evie, off of the Velcro-adhered patch on her chest as she peered over the computer screen and hit a few keys.
“Find it?” Bobby asked.
“Yeah,” Evie said as she reached for the phone and dialed a number she read off the screen. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
Bobby ignored her suggestion and ran to the curtains. He found two nurses with Odis, who was now stretched out on the bed with a clothespin clip thing attached to his thumb and one of the nurses using a blood pressure cuff on his arm. “Out,” nurse number one said as she bodyblocked Bobby from stepping near the bed.
“How is he?”
“Out,” she repeated. “Call his family.”
Shit. It
must
be bad if they want me to call.
Bobby reached down to his pocket. He’d absently slipped the phone in after making that call for Tuck earlier. At least he wouldn’t have to run back to the car first. He pulled out the phone as he walked to the row of plastic chairs and dialed the B and B.

U
PSTAIRS
, the doctor arrived at Tuck’s room. “Hello,” he said, reading the chart from the bed, “Mr. Krickson. You feeling better today?” Tuck nodded apprehensively. “Do I know you?”
“Sort of.” The young doctor moved around the bed to Tuck’s right side. “I’m the ortho who patched up your hand yesterday. Dr. Grinboe.”
“Hello.” Tuck nodded with more feeling. “You gonna put my cast on?”
The doctor slowly unwrapped the bandages until all of Tuck’s hand was revealed. Klyve stepped into the room and nodded to the doctor as he handed him some kind of X-ray printouts. After looking at the pictures briefly, Dr. Grinboe tapped slightly at the knuckle joining Tuck’s index finger to his palm. “Does this hurt?”
“Not pain, exactly,” Tuck replied. “More like, it’s not totally happy about getting poked at.”
“Scale of one to ten?”
“One. One and a half, maybe.”
The doctor moved his finger over to the pinky knuckle. “And this?” He pushed, then applied more pressure.
“Nothing?” Tuck tried to sit up, but the slight rotation to his wrist when he moved changed the angle of his palm and made him wince. “That’s not right, is it?” he asked, realizing how stupid the question was as the words left his mouth.
The doctor studied the printouts more closely. “No,” he finally admitted. He turned back to the hand, very delicately running his finger across the metacarpal bones near the wrist, feeling for the pins. Then he turned back to the scans. “It’s one of two things,” he explained as he set down the pictures before looking straight into Tuck’s face. “Either you suffered some nerve damage from the initial injury, or some of the hardware we put in yesterday is pinching or blocking nerves.”

The doctor paled visibly when Tuck mentioned an MRI. “No. With the metal in your hand, we can’t let you anywhere near a magnetic machine. And that wouldn’t be able to tell us much anyway.” He looked back at the hand. “I could just throw a cast on it and reexamine it in six weeks, but frankly, I’m concerned it
is
the hardware. Leaving this unattended that long could cause further serious damage.”

The doctor sat up and looked right at Tuck again. “I think our only viable option is to go back in.” He studied Tuck as he continued. “If we go in local, I can remove the pins and see how much nerve traffic is restored.”

“You stay awake so you can talk to us. We just numb up the hand with some shots.”
The doctor looked a little miffed when Tuck turned to Klyve. “That sound right to you?”
“Oh yes.” Klyve nodded. “Best all around, I think.” He turned to Dr. Grinboe. “When are we talkin’?”
“ASAP,” he replied. “As soon as I can book an OR.”
Tuck tried to peek out of the glass at the waiting room, then looked to Klyve.

Tuck turned back to Dr. Grinboe. “Okay, then, let’s do it.”
B
OBBY
paced the short area in front of the plastic chairs. Gertie was on the way, but he couldn’t tell her much over the phone because they still wouldn’t let him back to Odis’s curtain or tell him anything about his condition. He paced another length before frustration drove him back to the ER station.

Evie didn’t even look up. “Nothing’s changed in the last ten minutes. Dr. Murphy should be here any time now.”
“Is he conscious? When can I see him?”
She looked up, trying to hold a mask of patience on her face. “Go. Have a seat. I’ll let ya know the second anything happens.” Evie pointed to the chairs. “Now.”
Drooping with resignation, Bobby walked back to the row of plastic chairs, but he didn’t sit down. He glanced over to the hallway. Gertie hadn’t arrived yet, but a guy, about Bobby’s size and in his midthirties, wandered around near the cafeteria. The guy glanced over and saw Bobby looking at him. As recognition showed in his eyes, he hurried down the hall.
Oh great, another fan to deal with.
When the guy approached, Bobby thought his horseshoe mustache looked out of place without a complementary cowboy hat on his head. “Are you Bobby Lane?”
“Yes,” Bobby said with his hands clasped in front of his chest.
“I’m Billy,” the guy told him as he offered his hand for a shake. “You called me earlier?”
“Fenton?”
“Yep, Billy Fenton.”
Bobby shook his hand. “Tuck’s upstairs in ICU, if you came to see him.”
Billy shook his head. “Was just up there. They said he was goin’ back into surgery, so I was tryin’ to find ya. Why you waitin’ in the ER?”
“
Surgery
?” Bobby squawked. “When?”
“Don’t know, man. Thought maybe you might know.”
“Shit!” Bobby spat as he looked toward the curtains. “Fucking shit.” He ran back over to the ER station. “Can you look up Tucker Krickson and find out why he’s in surgery again?”
Evie started to say something as she looked up, but seeing his desperation, she went to the computer without further protest. “Spell it?”
Bobby spelled out the name for Evie as he fidgeted against the counter. Billy stepped up beside him.
“He’s an ICU patient?” She looked up to see Bobby nod. “Just says ‘follow-up’. No details or ETA posted.”
“Shit,” Bobby nearly howled. This had started out such a good day, but now it felt as if a demon of disasters was running around destroying everything. He refrained from kicking the counter and tromped back to the chairs. He paced the length in front of the seats, then sat down, trying to force himself to calm before he exploded and punched something. Part of his frustration even turned to Nathan. If he was such a fucking great psychic, why hadn’t he seen any of this shit coming?
“Hey, Billy,” he heard Gertie’s voice say. “What’cha doin’ here?”
“Came in to see Tuck, but he’s in surgery, so I came to find Bobby.”
“
What
? Surgery? Since
when
?” Gertie squealed, glaring over at Bobby.
“Don’t ask me,” Bobby said as he help up his hands in defense. “I just found out about it.”
“Well, butter my cracker,” Gertie said. “What about Odis?”
“No news. At least, they won’t tell
me
anything. You could try,” Bobby told her as he jerked his head toward the ER station. Then he jumped to his feet. “While you do that, I’ll run upstairs and see if I can get any info on Tuck.”
Gertie nodded as she headed toward the counter.
Bobby went down the hall to the stairs. When he entered the stairwell, he waited until the door closed behind him. Then he turned and kicked at the metal doorframe as he let out a frustrated howl. “Fuck,” he yelled.
This just isn’t fair
, he felt like screaming.
We made it through all that shit yesterday, and everything seemed to be okay this morning. Wasn’t that enough? Why more of this shit?
He took a deep breath and then charged up the stairs.
As he headed toward the ICU, Klyve ran up as soon as he saw him. “Where you been? I had them page you in the cafeter—”
“Tuck’s in surgery?” Bobby asked, cutting him off.
“Yeah. Doc thinks the pins are pinching nerves, and he wants to reposition them. Tuck agreed.”
“We never made it to the cafeteria. Odis is in the ER and they won’t tell me shit.”
“
ER?
” Klyve nearly gasped. “How’d that happen?” He lightly grasped Bobby by the shoulder and led him to the ICU station.
“We took the stairs and he got dizzy and collapsed on the way down. I dragged him to the ER.”
Klyve pointed to a chair for Bobby to sit in and went to the computer. “Last name?”
Bobby spelled the name, and Klyve soon had his details pulled up. Klyve read over the screen and then looked over, asking, “Did he eat breakfast?”
“Yeah, but just some toast, I think.”
“Well, that’s not really a breakfast. Looking at the physical stats, I’d guess his blood sugar and blood pressure just bottomed out at the same time, which they’re treating him for. It shows his doctor’s there, so we should know more soon.”
As Bobby listened, he began to relax a little. “Okay. Now what about Tuck?”
Klyve looked over at him. “He’s having some nerve problems in the hand. The two outside fingers have no tactile feeling. Let’s hope it’s the pins.” He turned back to the monitors. “I need to make rounds, but stay here a minute.”
“Okay,” Bobby agreed as Klyve gathered up a clipboard and went to room three.
Bobby looked over at the banks of monitors but couldn’t make heads or tails of all the busy stats scrolling and flashing across. It might as well have been the control station of some alien space vehicle. He hated sitting here waiting, doing nothing. The thought of going back downstairs to the ER crossed his mind, but he’d told Klyve he would stay put, and he’d probably just do more waiting down there anyway. He spit out an exasperated sigh.
Klyve returned and motioned for Bobby to follow. He led them to a storage closet. “Help me with this,” he asked as he went in and wheeled around a metal cart with a large TV mounted on it. Bobby helped him steer it out of the closet, and they wheeled it to the front of room two. “Tuck’s been asking about a TV. This will make him happy. Let’s just leave it here ’til he gets settled back in the room.” He led Bobby back to the ICU station.
Bobby sat down again. “How long is Tuck gonna be in surgery?”
“Don’t know. Prob’ly two hours, at least,” Klyve said as he took the larger seat. He rolled it over closer to Bobby and asked in a quieter voice, “I know it’s none of my business, but I’m just gettin’ really curious. What’s the deal with you three?”
“I wish I had a good answer for that,” Bobby replied. “This threeway thing just kinda happened Friday night.”
“So they were a couple, then you got involved?”
“No, not really. They knew each other, kinda pals since forever, but I met Odis first and we kinda had a thing. Then I met Tuck and it got more complicated.”
Klyve looked over the monitors. “And you just met Tuck Friday?”
“Yeah. He picked me up at the airport.”
“Well, shit,” Klyve said. “If that doesn’t just make me all kinds of jealous. I can’t even find
one
boyfriend, and you’ve gone and got two.”
“Sorry.” Bobby couldn’t really think of anything else to say.
“At least it gives me hope to keep tryin’,” Klyve said with a shrug. “And you really only met him two days ago?”
“Yeah. Is that so hard to believe?”
“I’ve seen a lot of patients and their visitors in and out of here. The comradery between ya guys when ya were goin’ at it yesterday seemed more like people who’ve known each other a while. A
long
while. It’s just a little unusual.”
“Oh,” Bobby replied. “I did have a psychic say we were supposed to be together, if that makes any difference.”
“Psychic?” Klyve asked as something on the monitors caught his attention. “Hold that thought.” He jumped up and rushed to room four.
He returned a moment later, shaking his head. “Just shifted over and pulled off one of the leads,” he explained to Bobby as he sat down again. “Now what’s this about a psychic?”
Bobby took a deep breath. He spent the next thirty minutes explaining to Klyve all about Nathan and the weirdness since October.
“Damn,” was all Klyve could reply. “That Nathan must have really loved you if he spent his last days playing cupid for your future.”
Bobby shook his head. “I don’t know about that. I’m still kinda pissed about all the damn secrets he kept.”
“Hm.” Klyve pondered. “Haven’t ya ever told a little white lie?”
“Of course,” Bobby admitted.
“Well, this is just a bigger version of that, isn’t it? He wasn’t tryin’ to be deceitful or hurtful by not mentioning things, or tryin’ to cover up any transgressions.” Klyve nodded at his own words. “Just a little white lie to keep the peace. Maybe you should try lookin’ at it
that
way.”
Bobby started to reply, but his cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and saw an unknown number. “Hello?” he answered tentatively.
“Bobby, you still in ICU?” Gertie asked. “Odis is awake now. Come on down if ya want.”
“Okay, be there in a minute,” Bobby answered before hanging up. “Odis,” he explained to Klyve.
“What’s your number? I can call when Tuck gets back.”
Bobby gave him the number, then got up and headed for the stairs.