Lost (The Everett Gaming Series Book 5) Read online

  Lost

  Book Five of The Everett Gaming Series

  by

  Drew Sera

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. No person, brand or corporation mentioned in this book should be taken to have endorsed this book nor should the events surrounding them be considered in any way factual. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Warning

  This book contains sexually explicit scenes, adult language and disturbing scenes that may be difficult to read or considered offensive to some readers. This book contains content that is not suitable for readers under the age of 18.

  Disclaimer

  Please do not try any sexual practice, especially those that might be found within the scope of BDSM/Fetish kink without the guidance of an experienced professional. Author is not responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from use of the information contained in any of its titles.

  Copyright © 2017 by Drew Sera

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author.

  Cover photography and design by © Depraved Eros

  Cover Models Camilo Hoyos, Jazmin Gauthier & Michael Smith

  Interior Design by © Drew Sera

  “Anthony’s” notes are from the pen and mind of HL37, Author & Poet

  Medical advice by D.P. Lyle, M.D.

  Editing by Ansley Blackstock

  Acknowledgements

  Greg - Thank you so much for your love, encouragement and support… “Sydney” thanks you too.

  Michael - Thanks again for nailing another cover and for being a great sport about “Anthony”.

  Randy - Hands down, you are the best brother a girl could have. Thank you for always having my back, rain or shine.

  Krissi - I could write pages about my appreciation for you, both personally and professionally. Simply put, thank you for everything from A-Z.

  Mr. B. – You gave me a priceless gift…your time. Thank you for your guidance, support and giving me the opportunity to fly.

  Wicked Wonders Street Team – Thank you for your continual daily support and encouragement. Everything you do means so much to me.

  Aimee – Thanks for your eyes and for constantly caring about these characters.

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 1

  Friday, January 24th

  Colin

  “Anthony.”

  The second Matt said Anthony’s name, the tears started to form. I shook my head, looking upward, willing the tears in my eyes to stop. Blake and Matt were both on their feet and Matt pulled me against him.

  “Col, Anthony was shot in the chest. The chest X-Ray showed his right lung has collapsed. Lots of blood has accumulated. He’s in surgery now. They’re going to try to repair the lung as best as they can and get the bullet out.”

  I stared at Matt and then Blake in relief. He’s alive. I took a deep breath to try to steady myself. Anthony’s alive.

  “I thought you were going to tell me something else. Different news on his status.”

  I was scared to voice that I thought Matt was going to tell me Anthony was dead. I felt relieved, but a new worry had embedded itself in my head.

  “Fuck, Col. Don’t think about that shit.”

  I couldn’t believe what was going on. We had Sydney back, but now Anthony was in surgery and danger. Fuck. I did relax some knowing that Anthony was alive.

  I looked down at Sydney sleeping. She was mine and Anthony’s and I needed to hold her. She was my connection to Anthony right now. Maybe she’d help keep me calm as she slept. I gently got on the bed, pressed my body against hers, and wrapped a protective arm around her. I held her close, and every now and then I’d kiss her head and repeat to her that she was safe.

  My heart was still going a mile a minute thinking about all that has happened just this evening. I had Sydney in my arms and was on the verge of losing Anthony.

  “Matt, how long will he be in surgery?”

  “Few hours at least. They’re going to have to fix the lung and then try to get the bullet out. He has one of the best trauma surgeons in there working on him. They’ll determine the location of the bullet, and if it’s safe to remove, or if it’ll cause more harm.”

  “More harm? How the fuck can leaving a bullet in a body be better?” I asked. I was on the verge of losing my patience.

  “If it’s near his spinal cord, they’ll probably leave it.”

  I zoned out for a long time, I think. I knew Arthur had gone home and was coming back in the morning with Gina and Gloria. Blake was still sitting beside Sydney’s bed, keeping his hand on top of hers as she slept. He didn’t look so good either. I could tell his mind was off somewhere else. I was tempted to ask Blake about what happened in the woods but I couldn’t make the words come out of my mouth. Blake was notifying some of our club friends via text that Sydney was found and what hospital we were at. He told me not to worry because he asked that people give us until at least tomorrow afternoon before anyone stopped by.

  I woke to quiet voices in the room and gave Sydney’s body a gentle squeeze. My watch said it was 4:50 a.m. Another doctor came into the room a while later and motioned for Matt to go with him. I started to sit up hoping it was news about Anthony, but Matt motioned for me to stay where I was. My heart rate sped up because I was pretty sure the news was about Anthony. I hadn’t seen this doctor before so I was pretty sure he didn’t have anything to do with Sydney, and I doubted anyone would be bugging Matt about work related stuff right now. They had moved away from the door though so I couldn’t s
ee or hear them. I glanced at my watch noticing that he had been gone for a good thirty minutes. Maybe it was work related.

  Finally, Matt came back in and sat down on the chair beside Blake. He looked worn out and stressed. All of us were exhausted and running on adrenaline at this point.

  “Anthony is out of surgery and has been transferred to the ICU. He’ll have to stay there for a while. We can’t stay long, but do you want to go see him?”

  “Yeah, but…” I looked down at Sydney. I wasn’t leaving her alone in here. Blake stood and motioned for me to get off the bed.

  “Go see Anthony. I’ll sit with Sydney.”

  I quickly put my shoes on and thanked Blake. I knew Matt would take Blake up to see Anthony when I was done. On our way up to the ICU, Matt told me Sydney would be asleep for a while.

  In the elevator, he told me not to freak out when I see Anthony. He explained that as a precaution, they had Anthony on a ventilator to assist him with breathing until they were sure he could breathe on his own. Matt added that Anthony had chest tubes in and looked pretty fucked up. I understood, and thought I had myself in check until I walked into the room they had him in. Holy fuck. I froze as soon as I saw him.

  Anthony looked lifeless as he lay there hooked up to machines with tubes going everywhere and bandages wrapping up most of his torso. I was scared to go any closer. Matt had taken a seat next to him and looked over at me. Sitting beside Anthony’s bed and seeing what state he was in had definitely taken its toll on Matt. His strong and in control mask was off now, and I could see the weight of worry on his shoulders. He looked away and rubbed at his eyes.

  I made my way over and sat down beside Matt while staring at Anthony in shock. Matt seemed to have reached his emotional tolerance threshold and his voice started to break as he spoke quietly to me.

  “He was shot at close range, Col.” He took a deep breath and then coughed to clear his throat and tried to sound less affected by this. “That son of a bitch sat over Anthony and shot him.”

  I put my arm around Matt’s shoulder and rubbed his shoulder while I pictured Paul hovering over Anthony and shooting him. The sound of the beeping machines brought me back to the present. I had to push my anger over Paul out of my mind for now and concentrate on Sydney and Anthony. And Matt was finally crumbling beside me.

  “Do you know any more about what happened out there, Matt?”

  He shook his head and sniffled. When they were in the ER with Anthony, the doctors had Blake explain the positioning of the shooter and the proximity to Anthony. All Matt knew was that Paul was sitting over Anthony. Fucking asshole. I will personally hire every high-power attorney in this city to make sure Paul never sees the light of day.

  Matt’s doctor mode kicked in as he explained things to me as if Anthony were his patient. Only Anthony was much more than that. Anthony was family. Matt put his hand near a large bandage and looked at me.

  “The bullet entered his chest here and lodged in some muscle and tissue. The surgeon was able to remove it without issue. He’s all stitched up under the bandage.”

  Matt reached up and took hold of Anthony’s bandaged hand. I took a deep breath and slid my hand under Anthony’s so it was between mine and Matt’s and I looked up at the rest of him. Seeing a massive gauze bandage over his chest on the right side along with a tube sticking out of his right side made my eyes feel warm and my throat burn. Matt explained the tube coming out of his side and chest went between the lung and chest wall and it would pull any blood or air from the chest while the lung healed. The tubes were attached to his body in what appeared barbaric to me, but Matt assured me that doctors sutured the tubes to the body so they stay in place. The other ends of the tubes attached to a suction device that was on a cart next to his bed.

  He was fucked up.

  I went ahead and let the tears spill over. I had cried so much over the course of the past few weeks that my eyes must be swollen. A bandage around Anthony’s abdomen caught my eye and I wondered what that was for. Matt filled me in and told me it was a knife wound. I just stared at it. Not only had Anthony been shot, but stabbed.

  He didn’t look like Anthony. He had a sheet covering him from the waist down. Now that he was lying still and shirtless, I could see some healing bruises and welts. I assumed it was from the shit that Pro Dom did to him. I was pretty sure that’s what it was from but brought it up anyhow.

  “Matt, is all of this bruising from Will’s friend?”

  “Yeah, fucking Will’s friend.” The anger in Matt’s tone caught me by surprise and I looked over at him. “Sorry, Col. I’m just so fucking angry about that, too. Look at him. All those fucking bruises around his neck. His back is worse. It’s starting to fade, but now I can see how fucked up he was that weekend. I should have pushed him more. I should have just taken him to get examined. We could have gotten some ice on him to help.”

  Matt reached out with his free hand and pulled the sheet down some nearly exposing Anthony’s dick. He touched Anthony’s hip to point out the bruising and markings. It looked like lash marks. I looked closer and could see the hint of some lash welts that went across his stomach but were mostly hidden now by bandages. His light dusting of chest hair concealed some lash marks. How the fuck did he keep this from me when he came back after that weekend? I felt sick and disgusted. His hip was bruised too and Matt rubbed over it with his thumb.

  “It goes all around his back like this to the other side. The skin over his kidneys is still badly bruised. I looked at the scans myself to make sure there wasn’t damage you or I can’t see. He’s on so much morphine now that any pain he was in is gone. That and heavy antibiotics.”

  The three of us have been best friends and watched out for each other for many years now. Since Anthony had opened up to Matt and I, and showed us what was in his past, Matt and I had become very protective of him. Not that he couldn’t take care of himself, but because no one else really took care of him or looked out for him when he was younger. Matt and I have always thought of Anthony as our little brother and we each took our big brother roles to heart, especially recently. Matt and I both feared the worst had occurred that Saturday with the sadist, but neither of us voiced it. Anthony was in a committed relationship with Sydney and I, and both were my responsibility.

  Two nurses walked in and greeted Matt and I. They had a cart with a few containers and towels and moved it close to Anthony. Matt let go of Anthony’s hand and walked around to the other side of the bed to where the two nurses were.

  “If you two don’t mind, I’d like to take care of this. He’s family.”

  The nurses smiled at Matt and then left the room while I stayed on the opposite side of the bed looking at Anthony. Matt put some gloves on and then dabbed a cloth in one of the containers and pressed out the excess liquid before bringing it over to Anthony’s head. He began wiping some of the dried blood from his hairline and ears. I stood quietly while Matt cleaned Anthony up. He looked mostly clean when I came in the room but there were the fine details Matt was taking care of now.

  “You know, I never dreamed I’d be doing this to you or him. Never thought I’d be bedside to one of you from a gunshot wound and a collapsed lung.”

  “Matt, we can’t lose him. I don’t know what kind of recovery time is needed for both of them, but I’ll do whatever it takes for both of them. I love them both.”

  “You’ll have help. I’m not letting you do all this on your own.” He looked up at Anthony again and then nodded toward the ventilator. “He’s going to have to be on the ventilator through most of tomorrow. It’s to help him breathe easier, and will help assist his lung to stay inflated. Surgery fixed it up but as a precaution he’s staying attached to that. The tubes might be able to come out tomorrow or the next day. It’ll help catch any air that escapes his lung if there is a leak. He’s going to be in here for a few days before they release him to another ward. He’s lucky, Colin. Things could have gone the other way.”

  A chill raced th
rough my body. I’ve been living on the fine line of things possibly going the other way for a few weeks now. Paul could have killed Sydney or got out of the country with her. He could have killed Anthony. Both, very personal to me. Paul’s not going to get away with this.

  “When will he wake up?”

  “Not certain. He’s heavily sedated now. But, I want to be here when he wakes up because he’s going to freak out. Patients coming out of unplanned anesthesia are often confused, emotional, or combative. I expect some of that with him and don’t want him dealing with that with strangers.”

  I looked up at Matt and then for whatever reason, I laughed. It ended up being contagious and he started to laugh quietly too.

  “Can you imagine tough guy Anthony waking up with a tube stuck down his throat, tubes sticking out of chest, naked, and unbelievably sore and disoriented? Last thing he needs to feel is alone. He will need a familiar face.”

  “I have known for a while that Anthony would fiercely protect Sydney. He’d walk through hell for her and take a bullet for her. I never thought he’d literally end up taking one, but he did,” I said to Matt.

  “He sure the fuck did. And he has most certainly walked through hell.”

  I nodded. I knew he’d do it again and again for her if he ever had to. Even though Anthony couldn’t hear me, I told him I was going back downstairs to be with our kitten and I told him we loved him.

  I got back into Sydney’s room and snuggled up to her on the bed and sent Blake up to see Anthony. I knew Anthony couldn’t have visitors for very long due to it being the ICU, but Blake would at least be able to see him for a bit.

  While I held Sydney close, my stomach nearly turned as I thought about what it would be like if I ever had to tell her we lost Anthony. Again, tears fell from my eyes, but I didn’t care about that. I kissed her cheek and took a deep breath of her.

  We weren’t losing him.