Page 14 of Lay It Bare

Lisa struggled a few times over the next quarter hour, but his fever started to come down by the twenty-minute mark. His mumbling tapered off and for the first time since Rei had woken up and found him feverish, Lisa seemed to actually be asleep and not trapped in a hallucinative border state. Sevastyan fell into a rough slumber, still in his clothes and holding Lisa’s arm.

Rei stayed awake, trapped under Lisa, slowly stroking his back and his hair. He was going to be sore for days. Every ache was a small price to pay for keeping Lisa’s nightmares at bay. In time he fell into a twilight state himself, resting while he could.

Rei

Sevastyan moving woke Rei. Lisa was still a heavy, sweat-drenched weight on him. He didn’t wake even when Sevastyan unhooked the IV. With Sevastyan’s help, Rei escaped to the bathroom. He took a trip to the kitchen and heated up food for Sevastyan and himself, then brought it back to the bedroom. Sevastyan ate with his eyes closed, the plate almost falling from his fingers as he finished.

Rei caught it. “Sleep, master.”

Sevastyan opened his eyes with difficulty. “My phone.”

Rei picked it up. “I’ll watch it.”

Sevastyan nodded. He stretched out on the bed beside Lisa, on his stomach, and wrapped an arm around the pillow. His hand moved around until he found his gun stowed between the mattress and the wall in a holster. Then he nodded to himself and went limp against the sheets.

Rei pocketed Sevastyan’s phone and started on cleaning the bedroom and the bathroom. The blankets with the vomit were still in the shower where Sevastyan had stowed them. He rinsed them out, took them to the washer, and started them. Then he showered himself, taking time to wash everywhere. Laser treatments had significantly reduced any body hair he might have had on his arms and legs. He shaved what little had grown in over the last few days. For a long moment, he stared at the razor, then put it away.

The blankets needed a second pass through the wash cycle. He restarted them and picked up the living room and sorted out the kitchen. Sevastyan’s phone stayed mercifully quiet except for incidental emails that could wait.

Towards late afternoon there was nothing left to do but wait. Rei sat with his back to the headboard of the bed and read a book on the tablet. It felt like late evening already, even though it wasn’t yet time for dinner. The sun set early this far north.

Lisa stirred, rubbing his face against Rei’s thigh and opening one eye. Rei checked the time and then set the tablet aside. He stroked the hair out of Lisa’s face. “Almost time for more medication.”

Lisa looked around. He frowned at Sevastyan’s sleeping form beside him.

“He didn’t get much rest,” Rei said. He slid out of bed and came back with the acetaminophen. “We should do one more dose of this.”

Lisa shook his head. “Nauseous.”

Rei nodded and went down on one knee by the bed so their faces were on the same level. “You don’t have to swallow. I just have to put it up . . .there.” He nodded towards Lisa’s ass.

Lisa narrowed his eyes. His butt cheeks flexed. “You already did it, didn't you?”

Rei made a face and nodded.

Lisa groaned and shoved his face into the mattress. “Tell me you did it and not your master.”

“I did it.”

“Thank god.”

“You were pretty out of it.”

“Still out of it. Thirsty. Don’t want to drink.”

“There’s another bag of saline you can have.” Rei nodded towards the dresser. “This one is LR or something. It should help you have more energy.”

“Kill me now,” Lisa groaned. “That has to hurt less than this.” He coughed weakly into his arm.

Rei said nothing but he got up and fetched the medication and lube. Lisa was quiet and still during the undignified process. Rei went to the bathroom and washed his hands. He made a note of the time and fetched the second bag of saline that Sevastyan had indicated would be used next. He had to stand on the bed over Lisa’s head to hook it up, but at least Lisa was lucid and held still. There were a few emergency skills Sevastyan had insisted he learn over the years. IV’s, blood transfusions, and basic medications like painkillers, stimulants, and wound care had been part of them.

“Cold.” Lisa blinked at his arm.

“You have a fever.” Rei helped Lisa settle between his legs again, offering a little warmth. “You’re so warm everything feels cold. At least it’s better than before.”

“How bad was it?”

“Almost thirty-nine degrees Celsius.”