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Chapter Twenty-One
The second time Carter wakes up, it's to the sudden feeling of his stomach lurching. He slaps a hand over his mouth and scrambles off the bed, nearly falling flat on his face when the sheets wrap around his ankle. He half-crawls, half-stumbles to the bathroom, swallowing the first wave of vomit that crawls up his throat.
He tries to open the bathroom door only to find it locked. Carter rests his palm on the wood, his other hand still covering his mouth, and closes his eyes. He tries to breathe through the nausea. Tries to calm down. He doesn't know who is on the other side - Benny or sir - but it doesn't matter. They'll both be pissed if he makes a mess.
Somehow, he manages to croak, “Sir?” at the same time as he pathetically hits the door a few times with his palm.
There’s a loud sound from the other side of the door, as if the person bumped into something. Carter hears a grumbled, “Fuck,” and then, “I have to go.” Then the door is opening, Carter falling forward as he suddenly loses the only thing keeping him on his feet. Sir catches Carter, hands steadying him.
“Carter,” sir breathes, his eyes going bright.
Carter flinches. He doesn’t like that name anymore. That name was attached to the boy frombefore. He’ll never be him again. “No. Not - not him. Jus’-” before he can explain himself, another wave of nausea ripples through his body. He quickly presses a hand to his mouth again, wavering on his feet.
Sir’s grip tightens, his eyebrows pulling in as he searches Carter's face for something. Carter’s not sure what. He’s not sure if he has anything to give the man. There’s not much left. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
Everything.
“Don’ feel s’good.”
“What doesn’t feel good? Is it your cuts? Your head? Your stomach?”
“E – ev – v- v- v- thin’,” Carter tries to explain through chattering teeth. His body is starting to tremble. He has to lean on sir to keep from falling again.
Carter wants to tell sir that he’s afraid, but he can’t find the strength to form the words. The roomspins, spins, spins.He thinks he starts to fall. If he does, he never hits the ground. He realizes then that sir has him. He carries Carter bridal style into the bathroom, setting him down on the fluffy rug by the toilet. Carter inhales, planning to thank him.
Instead, he ends up vomiting right there, his body violently lurching forward just in time for the liquid to spill into the toilet bowl. Even after the initial surge of puke, Carter clings to the edges of the toilet for dear life and suffers through a series of dry heaves, his body determined to purge its already empty stomach.
Sir pushes to his feet and walks past Carter, heading to the sink. His face is blank as he runs the water and searches in the cabinet for something. Carter wonders if he’s upset that he’s stuck taking care of Carter.
He wonders if he’ll get in trouble for this.
He wonders if he’ll even survive.
Maybe it’d be better if he didn’t.
A cold, damp cloth is placed on the back of Carter’s sweaty neck. Carter looks for sir, hoping to give him a thankful smile, but he can’t find him. He must be nearby though because a cup of water is magically placed on the floor beside Carter a moment later.
The man finally shows himself when he leans down and presses a kiss to Carter’s temple. “You stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.”
“No!” Carter lifts a shaking hand to cling to sir’s shirt. He barely has the strength to curl his fingers around the fabric, but he uses every ounce he can muster. Sir is all he has now. Sir is… sir is all that’s left. There’s no Carter anymore. He doesn’twantto be Carter anymore. It’s just sir now. Only sir.
Heneedssir.
“Ple – please don’ lea’me, s-sir. P –please,” Carter begs, not caring how whiney and pathetic he sounds. He needs sir to stay. Sir made him into something new tonight. He proved to Carter that he truly is just a slave. Just a set of holes. Worthless. An object. Entertainment. The show during dinner. Nothing more. Not even human.
Sir took Carter up on that stage and emptied him of his humanity. He can’t leave Carter alone after that. Without sir, Carter doesn’t have a purpose.
Without sir, Carter is…nothing.
Nothing at all.
???
Once Nathan has calmed his boy down, sitting beside him and promising over and over that he won’t leave, he sends a 511 text to Benny to let him know he needs him for a Carter-related emergency and they need the doctor. He gets an almost instant response that he’s grabbing the doc and heading their way.
Nathan puts his phone to the side and begins running his hands through Carter’s hair, hating how sweaty and matted the locks are from the night’s abuse. His thoughts run wild as he tries to figure out what could be happening to his boy. All he knows is he did this.Him. Whatever the fuck is wrong right now, it’sNathan’sfault.
Is he sick? With what? The flu? An infection? Something he got from the traders? Something he got when he accidentally swallowed some of Henley’s fucking piss? Is he just in shock? Has his body been through too much?He hasn’t been eating much the past few days. He hasn’t been sleeping well either.
