Echo (16 page)

After work, Cole had time to shower and change before Anderson showed up with a bag of takeout food and a movie. They spent the evening curled up on the couch watching the newest blockbuster and eating Mexican food.

Then Cole led Anderson into his bedroom and they tested out the springs on his mattress. Definitely not as good as the ones at Anderson's house, but neither one complained.

And that became their routine. Weekdays working together, weeknights going back to Cole's apartment. It was actually kind of awesome.

Until the one day, about two and a half months into their relationship, Cole came home to find his front door covered in broken eggs. Someone had to have used an entire carton considering there were shells everywhere. The eggs had already congealed and he groaned at the thought of having to clean the mess up.

So when Anderson arrived he found Cole still in his suit from work, sans jacket, with his sleeves rolled up, scrubbing away at his door with a bristle brush. He had a bucket of steaming soapy water next to him and looked like he'd been at it for a while, considering his frustrated expression.

"What happened?" Anderson asked, staring at the mess.

"
What happened?
" Cole shrugged. "Someone egged my door while I was at work. It's had the time to get pretty gross."

"Do you need my help?" Anderson asked.

"
Do you need my help
? It's nice of you to offer, but I've pretty much got this." Cole gave him a weary smile. "I sprayed it all down to soften the goop, so it shouldn't take me that long. Why don't you go inside and I'll be in in a couple of minutes?"

Anderson reluctantly gave in to Cole's urging and went inside. He had to step carefully not to trek anything in with him.

Cole sighed and swiped the back of his arm across his forehead. The smell of the cleaner was maybe making him a little sick, but it was really working.

He went back to scrubbing the door, wanting to just get done as soon as possible.

* * *

Anderson felt bad about not helping Cole, but the other man said he could do it on his own.

He set the bag on the table and sat on the couch. He was quickly coming to the realization that Cole's apartment was more comfortable than his own place.

It just seemed that the only time he was able to truly relax was when he was here. Which made him madder about the idea of someone egging the place.

He leaned back on the couch as he listened to the furious scrubbing against the door. There was something vaguely hypnotic about it, so he shouldn't have been too surprised when his eyelids started getting heavy.

He was woken by the jouncing of the couch when Cole settled down next to him. The other man smelled like the bodywash he used and his hair was still damp, the ends curling up impishly. He'd changed into a pair of loose sweat pants and a white tank top that showed off the muscles of his arms.

"You had a shower and didn't ask me to join you?" Anderson said, sitting upright. He rubbed the grittiness from his eyes and blinked around. A quick glance at his watch told him he'd probably been sleeping for a little over half an hour.

Cole grinned. "
You had a shower and didn't ask me to join you?
Well, you were snoring so peacefully I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, by the time I was done I was pretty gross." He made a face. "Eggs dry horribly."

Anderson leaned forward and opened the bag, taking out the two take away containers and plastic wrapped forks. "This is a little cold. Do you want me to heat yours up?"

Cole shrugged and took one of the containers. "
Do you want me to heat yours up?
I honestly could care less. Besides, the bottom's still warm so it's not too bad." He opened the lid and leaned forward to take a big sniff. "Smells good."

Anderson watched him take a bite, his fingers graceful with the fork. He felt a ball of warmth growing in his chest, something that had been happening more and more around Cole.

The feeling wasn't some overwhelming passion that would have him walking out into traffic or anything. It had crept up on him quietly and consumed everything else in its way until all he knew was that he wanted to spend as much time as possible with Cole.

"I love you," he blurted out.

Cole froze, his wide eyes suddenly locked on Anderson's. "What?" he mouthed.

"I just wanted you to know," Anderson said, feeling incredibly awkward in the face of Cole's genuine surprise. He'd kind of assumed that it was a feeling shared, but evidently he was the only one that felt it. "You don't have to say it back or anything, but I just thought it was time for me to tell you. That's all."

"
That's all
." Cole licked his lips, still looking shocked, then he grinned. "I love you too."

"Well, that's good," Anderson said. He nervously glanced around, wondering what he was supposed to do next.

Cole laughed and leaned over to kiss him. "
Well, that's good
. And it really is." He pulled away after a minute, his food still balanced across his knees. "Let's finish eating, then we can explore our feelings a little more in depth. In the bedroom."

Anderson grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Everything was going perfectly. For the first time in his life, all was right with the world.

* * *

Being in love kind of shaded everything with a dreamlike quality. Cole floated through the rest of the week in a blur of kisses and groping with a slight sprinkling of him getting his work done mixed in. He felt like he was walking on clouds.

He was so distracted that he didn't even realize anything was wrong until he pushed open his apartment door and found the place trashed.

His couch had been sliced up and there was upholstery and stuffing everywhere. His TV had been thrown on the ground and stomped on, the screen completely destroyed. His clothes had been dragged out of his bedroom and were spread around everywhere. He thought he could smell shit and urine, the combination turning his stomach.

He was still kind of boggling at the sight when he realized that he'd had to unlock the door to get in.

Cole's heart had just kicked in and he'd barely started to feel a surge of adrenaline, when he whirled around to run and got a punch right to the jaw. It sent him stumbling sideways and he was still trying to figure out what was happening when another punch got him in the mouth and he just felt his lip
explode
against the man's knuckles and his front teeth scraped the man's skin.

His eyes were flooded with pain tears and the whole world was spinning around him and everything was just color and confusion. He felt himself being punched in the ribs and gut. He felt his knees go out from under him and found himself on the ground with someone straddling his waist.

Everything was happening so fast that he couldn't even breathe, then he
really
couldn't breathe as hands wrapped themselves around his throat and he felt himself being throttled, the back of his head bouncing against the floor.

He scrabbled at the hands holding his throat, but quickly realized that wasn't going to do anything, they were too strong. He brought his hands up, groping for the man's face and tried to dig his thumbs into the man's eye sockets.

Color flared at the corners of his eyes before beginning to fade away. His lungs screamed for air and he felt incredibly slow and clumsy. Still, weakly, he fought, clawing away a trail of blood down the man's cheek, until it just seemed like all the energy was sucked out of him.

He felt the backs of his hands thump against the carpet and he wanted to howl in frustration.

This was not the way he was going to die!

Except there was nothing he could about it. Everything was getting so dark... his brain was shutting down and...

The last thing he saw was Mary appearing over the man's shoulder like an avenging angel. She was haloed by light and the frying pan she swung with a two-handed grip splattered melted butter everywhere. Her lips were drawn back from her teeth and her green eyes
blazed
with indignation.

Then he was gone.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

He was standing in line at the deli when his phone rang in his pocket. He gave the people around him an apologetic look, but quickly answered.

"Hello?"

"
It's Mary. You need to come to the hospital right now
."

"Whoa, what's going on?" he demanded worriedly. He'd never heard her sound so panicked before. "Why are you at the hospital? Are you all right?"

"
It's not me
," she said. She was breathing hard and he could tell she was trying to keep control of herself. "
It's Cole. Someone broke into his apartment and attacked him. He's here at the hospital right now
."

Anderson stumbled out of line, not even caring that he bumped his shoulder against some man. "What? Is he all right?"

He ignored everything around him as he started heading toward the exit. All he could think was that Cole was hurt, maybe even dying.

"
They say he's going to be okay, but he's pretty beat up
," Mary said. "
He looked so bad lying there. I thought he was dead. Oh... You've got to come
."

"I'll be right there," he promised, striding out across the parking lot toward his car.

It took everything he had to keep to the speed limit and not drive recklessly as he hurried to the hospital. The last thing he needed was to get a ticket or end up in an accident.

He fought down frustrated cursing when it took him nearly seven minutes to find a parking spot once he got to the hospital. He was just about to leave his car and just run in when a mini-van backed out of a slot and he took it.

He had to stop at the reception area to find out where he was supposed to go, then he hurried up to the fifth floor. He jogged down the hallways, following the markings painted on the walls to find the correct waiting area.

When he ran in, Mary came rushing at him. He barely had time to notice that she'd been crying before she flung her arms around him, knocking the breath out of him.

"Oh God, it was so awful," she cried. "I thought he was dead. That guy was on top of him and he wasn't moving anymore and... Oh Jesus, I thought he was
dead
."

"What..." he had to stop and draw in a deep breath. "What happened?"

"I don't know," she said, pulling back. Her face was unattractively sallow and her eyes were red from tears. "One minute I was making a grilled cheese sandwich, the next I hear all kinds of noise next door. And when I went over there, some guy was beating the crap out of Cole. So I hit him with my frying pan then called the police."

Anderson couldn't help a huffing laugh and he gave her another hug. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to him right now. "Thank you for being so tough."

"I try," she said, laying her head against his shoulder for a moment.

He gave her a tight squeeze, then gently let her go. "Do you know where he's at?" he asked.