Chapter 61
******‘The chair! Oh, God not again,’ he thought as he struggled against the bonds.
“No!” he screamed as he felt his hand held in a tight grip.
“Vin wants you punished! He knows what you did to Sarah and Adam!”
“Didn’t do anything!” he screamed as he felt the nail bite into his hand.
“You burned them alive! You’re a pathetic Bastard who can’t even take his own life properly! I’ll help you do it right!”
“No!” as another nail embedded into his knee!
“You have to be punished! You killed them and Vin wants you punished!”
“I didn’t kill anyone. Vin knows! Please! He knows! Oh, Christ, No!” he screamed as the scalpel bit into his side.
“Vin knows what you did! He knows you’re a murderer! He wants you to believe him! He wants you to trust him! He’s paying for all of this!”
“No! He didn’t, he wouldn’t,” the blond sobbed as the nail gun was placed over his heart.
“He says you must die!”********
Wilmington sat beside the bed watching the ongoing struggle on the blond’s face. The silence in the room was shattered by a bloodcurdling scream from the pale
form.
“NO!”
Wilmington jumped from his chair and reached for the blond, “Chris it’s alright. It’s just a dream.”
“No!” Larabee’s anguished cry stabbed through the ladies man’s heart.
“Come on, Stud, ol Buck’ll keep you safe.”
“No! P...please don’t. Don’t! N...not again!” the blond pleaded, his body shrinking under the blanket.
“Chris, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you. I’m here. I’ll always be here,” Wilmington promised.
Green eyes opened slowly, tears slipping from them as Larabee struggled to awaken. “B...Buck?”
“I’m here, Chris. You’re safe. It was a dream.”
“Not a dream...real...need V...Vin. Need to know he d...doesn’t w...want me d...dead.”
“Vin doesn’t want you dead, Chris.”
“I want to see him. T...talk to h...him,” the blond begged, his eyes moving around the room searching for something he couldn’t put his finger on.
“I’ll get him,” Wilmington said, unnerved by the fear he saw in his friend’s eyes. He glanced at Jake Taylor, knowing the man could be trusted. “I’ll be right back.”
Taylor nodded but remained seated, preferring not to remind the injured man he was there.
Chris turned on his side, facing away from the pumps that fed him with IV fluids, antibiotics, and nutrition. ‘Come on, Larabee! Get a grip! Stop acting like a
snivelling idiot! Vin’s not gonna hurt you! Vin’s always been your friend.’ The tiny voice kept repeating in his mind.
Susan James stood by the door, watching as Jackson pushed Tanner up to the bed. She had Larabee’s chart open and was making notes on his reaction.
“Chris.”
Larabee’s body jerked at the sound of the familiar voice so close to him. He slowly turned towards the voice, intent on keeping his body under control. “V...Vin.”
“Yeah, Cowboy. How’re you feeling?”
“I don’t know, Vin. Confused, angry, betrayed, hurt,” he answered, still unable to make himself look into the blue eyes. His left hand clenched tightly into a fist as he
forced his eyes towards the man he considered his friend.
“I’m sorry, Cowboy. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Tanner said.
“Oh, God, it was you. I heard you, Vin. I heard you with Sharpe!” Larabee moved away from the younger man, missing the pained look his words caused. “I heard
you tell him to hurt me! It was you. It was you. It was you.”
“No, Chris, remember it wasn’t me,” Tanner’s anguished voice cried.
“It was you! It was you!” Larabee kept repeating as he moved further up in the bed.
“Mr. Jackson, take Vin back to his room,” James ordered. “Chris, listen to me.”
“It was you!” Larabee moaned, his body stuffed as far up on the bed as he could possibly get it.
“No, Chris,” Tanner gasped as he watched the lifeline slipping through his fingers. Jackson pulled the chair away from the bed and out the door.
“Chris, you need to relax,” James ordered as she depressed the button on the bed.
“It was you! It was you!” the three words were a constant litany as Larabee kept pulling away from Susan James.
“What’s going on?” Parker asked as he hurried into the room, followed closely by Carol Locke.
“He was fine earlier when Vin Tanner visited but something set him off again. He actually asked to see Mr. Tanner. I think he’s reacting to something Mr. Tanner
said,” she explained as she reached for the now quiet but trembling man. “Help me get him back down in the bed,” she ordered.
“No...”
“Come on, Chris, let’s get you comfortable,” Parker said.
“No...”
“Chris.”
“No,” he whispered as he fought to stay awake.
Carefully the two doctors and the primary care nurse unfolded his body and helped him back down on the bed.
Larabee’s eyes closed but flashed open again as he continued to repeat one word. “No...”
“No what, Chris?” James asked.
“No...can’t sleep. Not allowed to sleep. Won’t let me sleep...” he yawned as his eyes grew heavy.
“Chris, you are allowed to sleep. Just relax and let the medications help you,” James tried to reassure him.
“Whelan’s there...In my dreams...nightmares.”
“Nightmares are not real, Chris.”
“Some are,” the blond muttered as he lost the battle to stay awake.
Parker carefully examined the bandages on Larabee’s body. Each time he had a convulsion or struggled to get away from a nightmare, the sutures on the healing
wounds re-opened and caused heavy bleeding. This was once again the case with the laceration on the abdomen. The bandage was soaked through, evidence that he
would need to re-suture the wound again. “Carol, can you bring in the suture cart?”
“Yes, Tom,” Locke said as she left the room.
“Tom, I’m going to check on Mr. Tanner. He was pretty upset when he left here.”
“Alright, Susan,” Parker answered as he continued to examine the sleeping patient.
Chapter 62
“Vin, he’ll be alright.”
“Will he, Nate? I don’t think so. He’s back where he started. He believes I did this to him,” Tanner said as he dropped heavily to the bed.
“Vin.”
Tanner and Jackson turned to see Susan James standing in the door.
“How is he, Doc?” Tanner asked, his face pale and filled with anguish.
“He’s sleeping right now. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine,” the injured man hissed as he sat up in the bed. “What happened? He seemed so much better the last time I saw him.”
“Vin, I warned you not to expect to much to soon. Chris showed signs of coming out of the depression and he will. But it’ll take time. Torture is a painful thing to deal
with, both mentally and physically. It can take away one’s dignity, self esteem, as well as his sense of being. It can make you feel less than human and it’s extremely
hard to fight back from something like that. Right now Chris is very confused and he doesn’t know what he’s doing or saying most of the time. The next time he sees
you he may want to reach out and touch you or he may react the way he did today. Certain words or phrases that he associates with what happened to him could
effect him. I think that’s what happened today. He seemed fine but something set him off. Do you remember exactly what you said to him?”
“I told him I was sorry and that I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Tanner told her.
“Ah, that’s probably it,” James said knowingly.
“What?” Jackson asked.
“When Vin apologized for hurting him, Chris took it to mean he actually did hurt him.”
“What?”
“I didn’t. That’s not w...what I m...meant,” the long-haired man stammered.
“I know that, Vin. But when you said ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you’, Chris’s confused mind immediately made the connection between you and the pain he feels.”
“Oh, God, I’m doing it again.”
“You did nothing wrong, Vin,” Jackson assured the younger man as the door opened and Stacy Midland stepped into the room.
“I just spoke with Tom. Chris is going to be fine, Vin,” she explained. “I’ve come with some good news for all of you.”
“We could use some,” Jackson told her.
“The board has agreed that you gentlemen can be co-sitters for Chris.”
“What do you mean co-sitters?” Tanner asked.
“The hospital feels it can’t in all conscience leave this job to you alone. The Board feels it would be in the best of both parties if there were two sitters. One from the
hospital and one from your group. It’s the only way they’ll agree to let you guys stay after visiting hours.”
“At least it’s something. One of us will stay with Chris and Vin at all times,” Jackson said.
“I had a feeling you’d say that so I spoke with the board and they’ve agreed to let one of you stay with Vin as well.”
“How’d you manage to get them to agree to that?” James asked.
“I told them these guys would do it with or without their permission. You’ve proven that before,” Midland smiled at the two men.
“Thanks, Doc,” Jackson returned her smile.
“Vin, I’ve noted you haven’t been sleeping very well. Would you like something to help you?” James asked.
“No, thanks, Doc, but no,” Tanner was adamant as he looked at the three faces in his room.
“I’m writing up orders for a mild sleeping pill. Just let the nurses know if you change your mind,” James told him.
“Thanks, Doc,” Tanner said as he relaxed against the pillows. He kept the anger and frustration off his face as he thought about the horror Gary Wilcox continued to
cause in Chris Larabee’s life. Closing his eyes was an exercise in futility as he relived the moment when Larabee screamed as the nails and other tortures were
applied to his body.
Chapter 63
“They know what you were doing you idiot!” Wilcox hissed sharply as he gripped the cell phone tightly in his hands. “How can you finish the job when you can’t get
near Larabee?”
“I can do it. I haven’t been fired. Just suspended. I can still get into the hospital. Just give me a chance, Mr. Wilcox. Chris Larabee will commit suicide within the next
few days,” Sharpe assured his boss.
“I have a lot riding on this. I need to be sure you can do the job.”
“I can. You just make sure you have the money ready for me.”
“The money is not a problem. Larabee must die by his own hand and Vin Tanner must be there to see him do it.”
“Yes, Sir, I know that and I will do it. It’ll be a pleasure to take Tanner down a peg!”
“You’re not to kill him until I get there!”
“I know. My pleasure comes from pushing Larabee over the edge. Making him take his own life. He’s pathetic as are all suicides,” Sharpe hissed.
“Just get the job done before the police get a statement from him. He’s the only person who can place me with Whelan at the damn Warehouse.”
“It’ll be my pleasure,” Sharpe grinned as he thought of tormenting the injured man again.
“I’ll be waiting to hear from you,” Wilcox turned off his phone and once more studied the wall of pictures. Pictures of Vin Tanner and Chris Larabee. Pictures with
lines drawn threw the faces of the two men. “I’ll have my revenge, Vin. Larabee will still pay the price for your broken promise. He will die and you will watch
knowing it’s because of you. Die, you son of a bitch!” he shouted as he picked up a letter opener and continuously stabbed at the picture of the smiling men dressed
in hockey uniforms.
Chapter 64
Chris opened his eyes and looked around the room. He had no idea how long he’d been out this time. He was growing tired of not being able to control his own life,
make his own decisions. They wouldn’t let him do what he wanted. He wanted out. He wanted the pain to end. The loneliness to fade. He didn’t want to continue
with the knowledge that he’d caused his best friend to turn against him. His nightmare world continued around him no matter what he did. He knew if he opened his
eyes the sitter, whether it was Jake or someone else, would be there.
Whelan had succeeded in taking away his sense of safety and replacing it with fear. Somehow what the sitter did, without even realizing it was take away his dignity.
He knew the hospital and his friends didn’t trust him and they’d taken control of his life.
He hated being in this position but knew there was nothing he could do about it except keep what little control he felt he had. He knew they could force the
medications and the nutrition on him but he didn’t have to take it willingly. His control, in this, was that he could say no. He could close his eyes and tune them all out.
‘I can tune out the world and maybe people like Whelan, Wilcox and T...Tanner won’t get to me. Dammit, Larabee, stop being such a fuckin’ coward!’ he
thought angrily.
“Chris.”
‘Josiah. Don’t want to talk to you,’ he thought.
“Come on, Brother, you’ve been laying there in bed pretending you’re asleep. I know better than that. You’ve slept for almost twenty hours and you have work to
do.”
“No,” Larabee muttered.
“Good morning, Chris, it’s time for your physio,” Peggy said as she lowered the railing on the bed.
“No!”
“Are we back to this?” Peggy asked as she lifted the blonde’s left hand. She removed the bandage and began working his injured fingers. She felt him trying to pull
away from her grasp. “Now you know that’s not going to work. We need to get you mobile and this is the only way.”