Roy sat in the Hub, his fingers clicking on the bar. He knew the noise was annoying Roxanne, but he couldn’t help it. He was so antsy. After what Paul had told him last night, and what he learned from everyone else he just couldn’t sit still. He wanted to get the hell out of Spirit Lake, but he wasn’t going to leave Paul alone.
Roxanne walked over to the old jukebox, slipped a few coins in, and hit a few numbers. Pretty soon the bar was filled with the shrieking roar of eighties hair metal.
"What is this?" Roy covered his ears as the lead singer hit a note he didn’t think was possible for a man.
"Not a fan of my taste in music?" She walked behind the bar and grabbed a beer from the cooler. "Then get your nerves in order."
"Sorry." He grabbed her pack of cigarettes from the bar top and pulled one out.
"Hey..." She reached out for the pack.
"Consider it you repaying me for the change you took out of the cash register for the music." He lit up and smiled. "Don’t think I didn’t see.
He handed the pack back to her.
"How’s your boy toy?" She took a sip of her beer, grimacing at the taste.
"Scared. Just like the rest of us." He took a drag. "Why are you sticking around? I mean, you could heard everything yesterday. You don’t have any real ties here. If I were you would have packed up."
"Don’t know. I guess things are getting interesting, and I want to see how they end." She frowned, rubbing her free hand on her jeans. "Sounds kind of morbid, doesn’t it."
"A little, but..." He paused, taking a long drag and letting the smoke spill out, "I’m glad you stayed. You’ve really helped a lot."
Roxanne smiled, then in a quick movement reached out and hugged him.
"I hope this all works out for you guys." She gave him a hard pat on the back. "I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you. You’re probably the best boss I’ve ever had."
"Am I interrupting something?" William cleared his throat, making his presence known.
"Just a little boss and employee bonding." Roxanne let Roy go, and picked up a beer. "Want a drink doc?"
"I’m good." William looked at Roy, his face serious. "I want to check out your apartment and make sure it’s ready for Paul." He folded his arms. "You ready for tonight?"
Roy nodded. If he couldn’t get Paul out of Spirit Lake, at least he wanted to keep him close. Paul was finally starting to feel the same way for Roy as Roy did for him, and he wasn’t going to let some psychotic cult ruin that. He had already let Chester go, and he wasn’t going to loose Paul as well.
"You go with the doc." Roxanne put down her beer and picked up the list of alcohol stock. "I can handle things down here."
"Thanks." Roy headed out from behind the bar towards the door hidden in the back corner that led up to his apartment. "Follow me."
William did as he was told, and Roy led him up to his small apartment.
Chester had lived there before Roy had, and he wasn’t the cleanest person. Most people would have called the apartment a rat hole, but Roy had cleaned it up, made it liveable. It was finally starting to feel like a home, and Roy was terrified that he would have to abandon it.
"You okay?" William put his hand on Roy’s shoulder, stopping him in the living room.
"I’m fine." He couldn’t look at the doctor. "I mean, I’m as fine as can be I guess."
"I know why you’re doing this." William removed his hand from Roy’s shoulder. "I just don’t know if Paul is in good enough health to be here."
"It’s either this, or he ends up getting his throat cut by that nurse." Roy looked at him, tears welling up in his eyes. "I am not going to let anything happen to Paul. Not now."
William nodded, then headed into Roy’s bedroom. Roy stood in the living room, his hand over his mouth. He was trying to hold back the sobs, but they were coming to fast, to hard.
How many times had he and William been in the same situation when Chester was sick? Except then Roy couldn’t even see Chester, he couldn’t go near him, touch him, comfort him. Carla had thought William was being cold, but Roy understood. He hadn’t liked it, but he knew what position William was in.
Still, there had been that one night, right before Chester had passed away, when William had snuck him into Chester’s room. Roy almost wished he hadn’t gone. Chester was only forty two, but lying in that bed, with all the tubes in his arms and mouth, and the way his skin had gotten so pale was to much for Roy to handle.
It was that night that Roy had William test him, to make sure he was negative. Chester had always made sure they were safe, but Roy wanted to make extra sure.
Afterwards they had both sat outside of the hospital, in the cold winter air, not talking. William had put his hand on Roy’s shoulder, and that had been enough. He had been the only one who had comforted Roy.
William walked out of the bedroom, and Roy covered his face, trying to hide the tears.
"Flashbacks?" William walked up to Roy, taking his hand. "It still hurts, doesn’t it. Now you’re scared you’re going to loose another person you love."
Roy could only nod. The sobs were to strong for him to speak.
"Roy, I promise you, I will do everything I can to make sure that Paul gets better, and that he’ll be safe." He looked back at the bedroom. "You won’t need much, but I’ll bring a few things with us when we move him tonight."
Roy was shocked when William grabbed him, hugging him tight. It wasn’t a romantic gesture, but more of a gesture of understanding. Suddenly he felt guilty for not defending William when Carla had ripped into him at the hospital. She had no idea how much William had tried to help him before, and he hoped she knew how much he was doing now.
Roy could only muster two words.
"Thank you."
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