Chapter 55

Mark woke to a ringing telephone and warm bodies curled up on either side of him. Apparently Kayla and Aaron had arrived at some point while he was asleep and simply crawled in with him and passed out. He fumbled groggily for the phone, trying to untangle his hand from one of Kayla's predatory curls. "Yeah?" he asked, blinking and looking around for an apparently non-existent clock.

"I need to crash now," Steven said. "She still hasn't woken up, but she's off the respirator and they're moving her and Angie to a semi-private room."

"Oh." Mark finally located the clock. 10:38 AM. Five or so hours of sleep. Not bad. He could function on that. "Okay. Gimme a couple of minutes to wake Kayla and Aaron. Looks like they crashed as soon as they got here."

"She's in transit right now, anyway. Should be settled in by the time you get here," Steven said. "Wait there for me, though. I gave the kids my key."

Mark agreed and hung up the phone, then nudged the two somnolent teenagers. Kayla blinked up at him sleepily. "Mmm?"

"We need to wake up," he said quietly. "They're moving Kristen and Angie to their own room."

"Oh!" She sat up quickly, tousled curls falling around her shoulders, rubbing at her eyes. "I'm awake! She's still okay, then?"

"You saved their lives, Kayla," Mark said, as he nudged Aaron again. The boy's lashes fluttered, then his eyes opened and he smiled sleepily up at him before sitting up. He was wearing a large shirt, at least several sizes too large for him, which made him look incredibly young and fragile.

"I wasn't sure we were actually doing anything," Kayla said, anxiously ... guiltily, too, Mark realized, as Aaron shot him a pleading look and then reached for her hand. Mark bent to kiss Aaron's forehead, then wrapped an arm around Kayla's waist. "You were," he promised. "You healed that damaged lifebond, Kayla. I watched it. You did it."

She bit her lip. "But did she wake up, Mark?"

He shook his head. "Not yet, but she's off the respirator."

"God ... respirator..." She shuddered. "Too close."

Mark nodded, and then looked thoughtful. "Yes. But you did save her. It helped, it really did. And we might barely have time for a quick session to raise a little extra energy before Steven gets here..."

She ran a hand through her hair. "Are you sure it got to her?" she asked. "I felt like such a total bitch, having sex while I didn't even know what was happening to her..."

He nodded, squeezing her gently. "I watched it, Kayla. You healed that bond. You saved two lives last night. She flatlined, and they'd given up ... and then your energy touched her."

She shuddered again, hiding her face against his shoulder.

"You saved her," he repeated firmly, but she shook her head.

"Something saved her. How or what, I don't care," she said.

"You did. I can ... tell the difference between you and me and her and Aaron. And it was you."

She peered up at him curiously. "How?"

"Um. Well, I sort of 'see' it. In colors. You're green, I'm blue, Kristen is gold, and Aaron is silver."

"Ah ... okay," she said uncertainly. "I guess that sort of makes sense for some reason."

"And wherever the green touched, it healed the lifebond a little," he said, then hesitated. "So, do we want to try for a bit more, real quick? In the shower maybe?"

"Um ... no," Kayla said. "It's not a real long walk from the hospital to the hotel. Let Steven in first."

"Okay," he said, then frowned. "Wait ... first?"

"First what?"

"You said let Steven in first," he said, wondering if he were less awake than he thought he was.

"Right," she said. "Let Steven in so he can go to bed, then we'll try and raise some energy... quickly ... and then we'll go see Kristen."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised. I hadn't thought you'd be willing to have sex with him right out here."

"Huh?" She looked confused for a minute, then laughed. "Mark, there are three bedrooms in this suite."

He looked around. "Oh. I guess that shows how tired I was."

Kayla laughed again, and kissed him before crawling out of bed and heading for the bathroom. Aaron was padding about, looking for a coffeemaker, and Mark was looking for his shoes under the bed when Steven knocked.

His father-in-law looked awful. Steven seemed completely exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes, and uncharacteristic stubble on his gaunt cheeks. He stumbled into the room when Mark opened the door, and leaned tiredly against the wall. "Okay. If there's no objection, I'm going to bed. You have my cellphone number. Call if there's any change."

Mark promised they would, and Steven headed for the far bedroom.

Once they were alone again, Mark noticed that Kayla and Aaron both seemed slightly nervous, with Kayla being more so and a bit guilty as well.

He sat down on the bed and looked at them, frowning. "What's wrong?"

Aaron glanced over at Kayla and blushed, then lowered his eyes.

She sighed and looked away. "I was scared to death. I've never been further from aroused in my life. I was angry, too."

Aaron looked down, then. "It was my idea," he said softly.

Worried, but not having a clue what the problem might be, Mark raised an eyebrow. "And?"

Kayla's shoulders hunched, and her face was full of guilt. "Aaron, show him."

The boy hesitated, his hands clutching the front of the shirt almost protectively. "It was my idea, Sir," he said in a rush. "Not hers. I thought it would help her."

"Just show me," Mark said, trying not to jump to any conclusions.

Aaron nodded, and reluctantly unbuttoned the shirt and slipped it off. He turned to show Mark his back, bowing his head.

Beside him, Kayla gasped, her eyes widening in horror. Aaron's back was criss-crossed with angry welts, and most of the skin was covered in deep purple and blue bruises. It was also broken in several places, the small splits crusted in dried blood. "Oh god! Aaron ... Aaron, why didn't you stop me," Kayla whispered, her voice trembling. "Why didn't you say something. Oh, gods help me ... I didn't know it was that bad!"

"You wanted to," Aaron said, his eyes locked on the floor. "You enjoyed it. I wanted you to enjoy it. i thought it would turn you on."

Mark finally managed to stop staring and turn to Kayla. "What happened?"

"He ... he suggested I whip him," she whispered miserably. "With a belt. Something physical and violent, to ... to arouse me. Something to distract me. I didn't know ... it didn't look like that last night!" She sounded on the verge of tears.

If Mark had had a different set of friends, he would have been totally at a loss for how to deal with it. But he had at least known people who were into the kinky side of things, and while he'd never really understood how some people could like being hurt, he knew that some of them honestly, truly did. It was hard to believe, though, that anyone could really want the kind of beating that would leave marks like that, though, but he was trying hard to keep an open mind. He looked at Aaron, tilting the boy's chin up so that he could see his face. "Did you enjoy it?"