Christian (The Beck Brothers Series) (21 page)

Sebastian gaped at fireman as
he walked away still shaking his head. Sebastian slowly made his way back to
his truck. He called Henry back and told him to go right to Children’s
hospital. Sebastian was going to head to Aria. Henry agreed and said he would
tell Quinn to go to Aria, too. Sebastian got in his truck; his heart was pounding
furiously, and Christian’s face with its blue tint was permanently burned into
his brain. His little brother could possibly die and so could his niece. How
long had they been in that smoke and fire? Sebastian raced toward the hospital,
hoping like hell that Christian and Skylar were going to be alright.

Shea dragged open his eyes
and groaned. His throat was killing him, and he felt like he had an elephant
sitting on his chest.
What the fuck
happened?
Someone touched his arm. He turned his head to see Sebastian’s
grimly set face looking at him. Shea frowned at him.

“Sebastian?” he croaked.

“Hey, buddy,” Sebastian said.
“Doing okay?”

“Wha…” Shea started, not
understanding what was going on at first but stopped when everything that
happened came rushing back.

Moments of what happened
flashed through his mind - seeing his house of fire, finding Skylar and
Christian unconscious in bed, how limp Skylar’s body was when he picked her up,
the way Christian’s arms dangled over his head as the firefighter carried him
down the ladder. Shea sat up in a panic and looked around frantically.
Oh shit!
He was in a hospital room!

“Christian and Skylar!” Shea
cried frantically and tore off his blankets.

He had no idea if they were
alive or not. He had to get to them! Sebastian stood from the chair he had been
sitting in and grabbed his face.

“Shea! Shea, calm down,
they’re okay,” Sebastian assured him, sitting down on the bed next to him.

“Where?” he asked hoarsely,
grabbing Sebastian’s shirt with both hands.

“Christian is in a room down
the hall and Skylar is at CHOP.
 
Henry, Claire, and my parents are with
her; Quinn is with Christian.”

A ragged sob escaped Shea as
a wave of relief hit him so fucking hard. He squeezed his eyes shut and sagged
forward against Sebastian, his forehead dropping to his shoulder. Sebastian
wrapped his arms around him.

“What you did, Shea, was so
fucking stupid, but if you hadn’t run in there like you did, my brother and
niece would be dead. A fireman and the doctor said five more minutes and they
wouldn’t have made it. The firefighters would have taken too long to get to
them,” Sebastian whispered.

Shea almost passed the hell
out. He almost lost his family
again!
Sebastian said only minutes separated them from life and death. He came so
close to losing the two loves of his life. He would not have been able to
survive it if they had perished. He knew without a doubt that he would take his
own life before living in this world without Christian and Skylar.

Sebastian silently held him
and waited patiently for him to pull himself back together. Sebastian might be
the jokester of the family, but he could be stone cold serious when the moment
called for it. Shea pulled back, Sebastian grabbed the box of tissues from the
side table, and handed it to Shea. Shea yanked out a couple, blew his nose, and
dried his face.

“Did…” Shea started but had
to stop to clear his throat. The smoke he inhaled had done some damage, that
was for sure. “…Did they say how it started?” he asked, his voice rough.

Sebastian sat back down in
the chair next to the bed. “I was told that the fire started in the dryer;
Christian must have turned it on before he went to bed,” he said with a frown.

Shea stared at him for a
moment. “Have you not talked to Christian?” he asked in confusion.

Sebastian sighed and pinched
the bridge of his nose. “They have Christian in a medically induced coma
because they had to intubate him. His throat had swelled shut from all of the
smoke and soot that he had inhaled,” Sebastian said sadly.

Shea flinched as if slapped.
Oh God!
“What about Skylar?” he
whispered.

“She had to be intubated at
first, too, but she was able to be taken off of it a couple of hours ago. She
just has the tubes up her nose now,” Sebastian said.

Shock…Shea was in shock. He
opened his mouth a few times to say something but nothing came out. Shea
scrubbed his hands over his hair. “This is a nightmare,” he whispered, which
was a lot easier on his throat.

“Yes it is,” Sebastian
agreed.

“How long have I been out?”

“I would say a good twelve
hours,” Sebastian replied. “The doctor gave you something to keep you under for
a little while.”

Shea closed his eyes and
dropped his head back to his pillow. He covered his face with his hands. “Is
the house completely gone?”

“Yes.” Sebastian sighed
heavily.

Shea wanted to scream. He had
so many emotions building up inside of him right now that he felt like he was
going to explode! He had to do something before he burst. He yanked his pillow
out from under his head and covered his face with it. He screamed bloody murder
until he had no voice left. When he put the pillow back behind his head, he
glanced at Sebastian who was smirking at him.

“Feel better?” he asked.

Shea nodded jerkily.

“Okay, how about I go get a
nurse and see if you can go visit Christian,” Sebastian suggested and stood.

Shea nodded since his voice
was completely gone. Sebastian went to get a nurse, who came in, took out the
catheter that he didn’t even realize was in, got him into a wheelchair, and
hung his IV on the rack attached to the wheelchair. He wasn’t allowed to walk
around on his own, yet. Sebastian pushed him down the hall to Christian’s room.

Sebastian knocked on the
closed door of a room a few doors down before opening it and peeking his head
in. He then opened the door wider and rolled Shea in. Quinn was sitting next to
the bed, his arms crossed over his chest, a blank expression on his face as he
stared at Christian. Shea hasn’t seen Quinn look like that in months. Shea
turned his attention toward Christian, and thank God he was sitting, because he
felt like his knees would have given out on him. Christian was laying there,
tubes and wires coming out from everywhere, with machines beeping and clicking.
This was his worst nightmare. Quinn glanced up, his expression never changing.

“Shea, how are you?” Quinn
asked quietly.

Sebastian rolled Shea over to
the side of Christian’s bed. Shea looked at Quinn and shrugged.

“Shea screamed his voice
away,” Sebastian said, his lips twitching.

Quinn raised an eyebrow, but
that was it. He didn’t say anything, and nothing else on his face changed, it
was really freaky. Shea turned his attention back to Christian. He hated seeing
him like this. Shea reached forward and slid his hand over Christian’s forearm.
His stomach turned when Christian didn’t even so much as twitch. He hung his
head, grateful that Christian was alive, but him being unconscious was torture
for Shea.

Sebastian stepped up to the
bed next to Shea and put his hand on Christian’s blanket covered thigh. “Has he
gotten any better?” Sebastian asked Quinn.

Quinn nodded. “The swelling
in his throat is starting to go down. The doctor said they should be able to
get him off the ventilator in a day or two,” he said quietly.

Shea sagged in relief. That
was good news. Now he just needed to find out how Skylar was doing. Shea tapped
Sebastian’s leg to get his attention. Sebastian looked down at him and waited.

Shea mouthed, “Skylar,” to
Sebastian, who frowned hard in confusion.

“Tiger? What the hell are you
trying to say?”

Shea rolled his eyes and mouthed
Skylar’s name a couple more times. Sebastian shook his head.

“Tyler? Sky mall? Skeet ball?
Dude, I am so not getting what you’re saying.” Sebastian grunted.

Quinn sat on the other side
of the bed, covering his mouth to try to hide his smile, but Shea knew he was
laughing because his shoulders were shaking. Shea glared at Quinn and motioned
for him to help. Quinn cleared his throat.

“Skylar, asshole, he wants
you to find out how Skylar is,” Quinn said, and then muttered, “Dumbass.”

“Oooh, I get it
now…Skylar…man, you’ve got to work on your pronunciation.” Sebastian snorted
and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Quinn snickered.

Sebastian called Henry and
found out that Skylar was doing just fine and might even be discharged tomorrow
morning. Shea was so fucking happy about that. Henry said that Claire and he would
take care of her for as long as Shea needed, which was so nice of them. Henry
and Claire were Skylar’s godparents and named in Shea’s Will as her guardians
if something were to happen to Christian and him.

After about an hour of
sitting by Christian’s bed, Sebastian took Shea back to his room so that the
doctor could check him, and he can get some more rest. The doctor said that he
would most likely be discharge tomorrow morning, which he was happy about.

“Alright man, I’m gonna head
out, is that okay?” Sebastian asked, patting Shea’s leg.

“It’s fine,” Shea whispered
since he got some of his voice back.

“Okay, give me a call in the
morning and let me know what time they are going to discharge you,” he said.

“I will,” Shea agreed.

Shea then got a surprise when
Sebastian leaned over and kissed the top of his head. “I’m glad you’re okay,
brother,” he murmured before giving Shea’s face a pat and walking out.

Shea was still staring in shock
at the door when it opened and Quinn walked in. Quinn gave him a small smile as
he walked over to the bed, his hands shoved into his jean pockets.

“Listen, Shea…ah…you,
Christian, and Skylar are welcome to stay with Margot and me until you find a
new house. We have plenty of room now that we have a house, and I know Margot
is dying to get some practice in with handling a baby, so…” Quinn said,
trailing off with a shrug.

“Thank you, Quinn. That would
be great. I’m sure Christian would agree,” Shea whispered sincerely, giving
Quinn a grateful smile.

Quinn nodded. “Great, I’ll
make sure the spare rooms are ready for you and Skylar since it looks like you
are both going to be freed tomorrow,” he said with a smirk.

Shea smiled. “Okay, thanks
again.”

“No problem. I’ll see you
tomorrow,” Quinn said then moved in to give Shea a hug.

Shea hugged him back. All of this
brotherly affection was making his eyes watery. Quinn left and Shea’s room was
suddenly too quiet. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV before closing
his eyes and trying to get some more sleep.

Henry rocked slowly in the
glider that was in Adalyn’s room, only he wasn’t holding his daughter, he was
holding Christian and Shea’s daughter. She was lying across his chest with her
face snuggled up under his neck, passed out cold. Henry knew he should put her
in the crib, but he just couldn’t do it yet. The poor thing had been through so
much the past few days, and he just wanted to hold her and comfort her.

Shea was with Christian at
the hospital. They were going to take him off the ventilator today and bring
him out of his medically induced coma. The swelling in his throat had gone down
and he should be able to breathe on his own. When Sebastian had called him and
told him what was going on, he thought that he was going to be burying his
youngest brother and niece. He would never be able to thank Shea enough for
what he did, even if it was the stupidest thing he could have ever done.

A light knock on the
doorframe brought Henry’s head up. Claire, his beautiful wife, was standing
there with a soft smile on her face. She glanced at Skylar and cocked her head
to the side, her face softening with love.

“She’s sleeping?” Claire
asked quietly, her bright blue eyes lifting to meet his.

“Yeah,” Henry replied and
rubbed the baby’s back.

“Is she still wheezing?”
Claire asked with a small frown.

“Only slightly, it’s
definitely getting better.”

Claire nodded and moved into
the room, her strawberry blonde hair braided and hanging over one shoulder. She
walked over to Henry and dropped a kiss on his lips before standing next to him
with her hand on his shoulder.

“I know Christian and Shea
are going to get insurance money for the house, but I don’t know how long it’s
going to take for them to get it. I want to give them some money to at least
get clothes and other essentials that they’ve lost. Is that okay with you?”
Henry asked, looking up at Claire.

“Of course it is, Henry. You
didn’t have to ask me,” Claire said.

“We make all money decisions
together, this is no different,” he said.

“I know, but Christian is
your brother, and I will never go against you helping out your family when they
need it,” Claire replied.

Henry smiled. “Thank you,
Darlin’.”

“You are very welcome,” she
murmured and kissed him again.

“I love you,” Henry whispered
against her lips.

“I love you, too.”

Shea showed up at around 9:00
that night to pick up Skylar, then head to Quinn’s, since that’s where they
were staying. Shea looked exhausted, both physically and mentally. Claire was
feeding Skylar her last bottle of the night in the living room when Shea walked
in. Shea smiled at his daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“How was she?” Shea asked
softly.

“Fine, no problems. She’s a
good baby,” Henry answered.

Shea nodded. “Yeah, she is,”
he agreed, smiling lovingly down at her.

“Shea, can you come into the
office for a minute?” Henry asked and motioned with his head in that direction.

“Yeah, sure,” Shea said and
followed Henry into the office.

Henry went over to the desk
and opened the drawer where he put the envelope of money that he took out of
his safe. He then handed Shea the envelope. Shea frowned and eyed it warily.

“What is this?” he asked.

“A gift to hold you over
until your insurance check comes in,” Henry answered.

Shea’s eyebrows shot up.
“What? Henry, no…”

Henry held up his hand and
cut Shea off. “Please. You’ve been in the same outfit for three days because you
won’t borrow Quinn’s clothes. You need things, and I want you to get them,”
Henry said firmly.

“How much is in here?” Shea
asked tightly.

“Ten thousand.”

Shea’s mouth dropped open and
he started shaking his head furiously. He tossed the envelope back on the desk.
“No, no I can’t accept that, Henry, it’s too much.”

Henry grabbed the envelope
and shoved it back into Shea’s hands. “Shea, this is not up for discussion. Take
the money, buy clothes for the three of you, get Skylar everything she needs, and
be grateful I’m not buying you a house, because believe me, I’ve thought about
it,” Henry said with a pointed look.

Shea paled slightly. “Oh god,
please don’t do that.”

“Then take the money,” Henry
insisted.

“I’ll pay you back,” Shea
said.

“The fuck you will.” Henry
snorted. “Don’t even think about it, I won’t take it. I have money to spare and
this is how I choose to use it. I can never thank you enough for saving my
brother and niece, but this makes me feel like I’ve at least done something for
you in return.”

Shea nodded. “Thank you,
Henry, I really appreciate it,” he said humbly.

Henry pulled Shea into a hug.
“I love you, man, you know that right?”

Shea nodded again. “I love
you, too,” he whispered.

They separated and headed
back out into the living room. Claire was burping Skylar. She smiled at them
when they walked in.

“Let me know if you need help
shopping for Skylar, I love buying girls clothes,” Claire smiled.

Shea smirked. “Okay, I will.”

Henry and Claire helped Shea
gather up the small amount of things that he still had for Skylar and followed
him out to his truck. It was the stuff they kept in a diaper bag in Christian’s
car – the only stuff not burned in the house. Shea thanked them and gave
them both a hug before getting into the truck and leaving. Henry put his arm
around Claire’s shoulders and pulled her close. Claire patted his chest.

“I’m so glad that Shea and
Christian are together,” Claire said.

“Yeah, I really don’t think
they could have done any better than each other,” Henry mused.

Christian sighed in relief
when the doctor said that he was good to go and could be released from the
hospital. A week was enough; he was ready to go home…well, not to his
home…Quinn’s home. The swelling in his throat had gone down by the third day of
him being in the hospital. They brought him out of his medically induced coma,
but kept him in the hospital for another four days, just to make sure that his
throat and lungs were healing and not getting worse.

He was still in shock that
this happened, that he and Skylar almost died, but Shea saved them. He ran into
a burning house before the firefighters and saved them. Christian was in awe of
his lover and best friend. Every time Christian looked at him now, the love he
felt for the man grew tenfold.

It took another three hours
before the nurse came in with the discharge papers. By that time, Christian had
taken a shower and got dressed in the new clothes that Shea had brought him.
Shea told him about Henry’s generous gift, and honestly, he wasn’t all that
surprised. He knew his brother, and his brother liked to help his family when
he could. And when it came to money, he most certainly could. So Shea had gone
out and bought Christian a few starter outfits. They weren’t anything Christian
would normally buy, but Shea admitted to not having a clue, so T-shirts and
jeans it was.

“Ready to go?” Shea asked.

“God, yes,” Christian
replied, his voice still hoarse.

Shea smiled and held out his
hand. Christian smiled in return and threaded his fingers in Shea’s. They
walked out of the hospital together and headed for Quinn’s house where everyone
was going to be to celebrate him coming home from the hospital. His family was
nuts, but he loved them just the same.

Christian was showered with
hugs and kisses and he finally got to see Skylar. She wasn’t allowed to visit
him in the hospital because she was too young. Christian hugged and kissed her
and fought back the tears that threatened to fall. Thank god she was okay.
After hearing how the fire started, he felt like it was his fault, and that she
had been put in danger because of him. Shea tried to convince him that it was
just a freak accident, but he still felt that way about it.

Later on that night, after
everyone left and Skylar was asleep, Christian and Shea got into bed together.
Shea lay down on his back and Christian crawled over and wrapped his body
around him. Shea sighed contently and kissed Christian’s forehead as he hugged
him tight.

“I missed you,” Shea murmured
quietly.

“I missed you, too,”
Christian sighed, snuggling his face into Shea’s neck.

“I’m so fucking glad you’re
home.” Shea grunted as his hand snaked down Christian’s back to squeeze his
ass.

Christian kissed Shea’s neck
and rolled his hips forward. Just being this close to Shea again had him hard
and ready to go. His cock rubbed along Shea’s, which was also hard. Shea shoved
a hand into Christian’s hair and pulled his head up so that he could kiss him.
Shea rolled them over so that he was on top. He kissed Christian with a
desperation that Christian had never felt from him before.

“God, I love you,” Shea
rasped as he dragged his mouth down to Christian’s neck.

“I love you, too,” Christian
whispered.

Shea kissed his way down
Christian’s body, stopping only to bite his nipples. Christian had to stifle
his shout because they were in Quinn’s house and they couldn’t be loud. Shea
rose to his knees and tugged Christian’s underwear off. Shea then shoved
Christian’s knees apart and immediately took his cock into his mouth. Christian
shoved his fist between his teeth to keep from crying out. His other hand went
to rest on top of Shea’s head. Christian’s hips flexed in time with Shea’s movements,
digging his head back into the pillow, struggling to keep his moans inside. A
knock on the door right before it opened brought Christian’s head up. To his
horror, Quinn walked in.

“Hey guys, I just
wanted…Fuck!” Quinn cried out as his eyes widened on the scene in front of him.
He quickly slapped a hand over his eyes and turned around. “Shit, fuck, shit,
sorry!”

Shea’s mouth came off him
with a pop and Christian saw Quinn’s whole body cringe and couldn’t stop the
smile that curled his lips. “Dude, what the fuck? Don’t you know how to wait
for an answer before opening the door?” Shea snapped, looking over his shoulder
at Quinn.

“Fuck, I’m sorry! I wasn’t
thinking you’d be sucking my brother’s dick for Christ’s sake!” Quinn groaned
painfully.

“Just be glad that Shea still
has his underwear on. Otherwise, you’d have gotten a whole lot of ass and balls
in your face.” Christian laughed.

Quinn groaned again and shook
his head. “Shut up, Christian. I so did not need that visual in my head.”

“What did you want?” Shea
asked.

“I just wanted to see if you
guys needed anything before I went to bed,” Quinn said.

“Yeah, privacy.” Christian
chuckled.

“Goddammit,” Quinn muttered.
“I could have gone my whole life without seeing that,” he said as he walked out
and shut the door behind him.

Christian covered his face
and laughed. Shea got up and quickly locked the door before he hopped back on
the bed.

“Shall I continue?” he asked
with a smirk, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, please,” Christian
growled, all humor gone in an instant.

Shea smiled seductively as he
leaned back over to take Christian back into his mouth. Christian’s breath
caught. Shea was getting really good at blowjobs; he remembered everything that
Christian said that he likes and applied it, usually sending him over the edge
in a couple of minutes.

Shea only continued for a
minute before he pulled back and got rid of his underwear. Christian lay there
panting while Shea grabbed the lube from the nightstand. Shea then kissed him
as he slathered lube on both of them.

“I want to be inside of you
when you come,” Shea whispered huskily against his lips.

Christian moaned low in
response. Those were the best orgasms in his book. Shea grabbed him and flipped
him over, yanking him up to his hands and knees. Christian felt a rush of
excitement. They haven’t done it this way in a while, usually liking to be face
to face. He also liked when Shea manhandled him a bit, turned him on big time.
Instead of a cock, a finger entered him, making him gasp.

Shea curled his body over
Christian’s back and nipped at his ear. “How bad do you want me?” he asked,
shoving another finger inside as emphasis.

Christian choked back a moan.
“So bad.” He breathed.

Shea replaced his fingers
with his cock and buried himself to the hilt. Christian let out a strangled cry
that he hoped wasn’t too loud. Shea rolled his hips, thrusting in deep.
Christian swore it was the deepest he’s ever gone. Shea gasped and dropped his
forehead to Christian’s back, right between his shoulder blades.

“Jesus, Chris, you feel so
fucking good.” Shea panted.

Christian couldn’t respond,
the pleasure was too much, so intense that he couldn’t speak. Christian could
feel his orgasm building and he wasn’t even touching himself. As if Shea read
his mind, his hand came around to grip his cock tightly. Christian lost it. He
came hard as Shea continued to pound into him. Shea came moments later,
pressing his face into Christian’s back to muffle his cry of ecstasy. They collapsed
to the bed together and lay there trying to catch their breaths for a good five
minutes before they cleaned up, got back in bed, and went to sleep.