Manchester Ménage 01 - Saving Samuel (2 page)

M
ilo glanced at his partner, huffing slightly. Patience wasn’t his strong point, and years of training with the police force couldn’t work that out of his system no matter how much they tried.

“What’s the holdup?” Milo tilted his head at the nurse behind the counter, slipping his cap under his arm. He knew they were busy, but so was he.

“I don’t know why you’re so eager to get in there, Officer. The patient is still sedated and hasn’t woken up since they left Accident and Emergency an hour ago.” The nurse shook her head. “Come back tomorrow morning if you’re in such a big rush.”

“We can’t go without at least trying to get a statement.” Milo moved to the door separating him from his next witness, and looked through the small window. All he could see was a body lying still on the bed, the thin sheets showing the long, lean frame beneath it. Her face was calm and peaceful, but pale against the pillow, a mass of dirty blonde hair spreading around her as she slept. Milo moved back to the nurse’s station and leaned his tall body against it. “Can you give me what details you have on her while we wait? Whatever you got, I need.”

“She?” The nurse looked to the private room where his witness was sleeping, then smiled. “The A&E staff thought the same thing. You should have seen their faces when they found out
she
was a
he
.”

Milo’s brows raised and he glanced over his shoulder at the door, then back to the nurse. “That’s a man?”

“Well, yes. A young one, and underfed, but a man.” She picked through the files on her desk before snatching one up and opening it. “Samuel. No surname. He’s eighteen. Five feet ten, hundred and twenty five pounds. That’s all I got for you, apart from his current medical status.”

“But…” Milo walked to the door again, pressing his nose up against the small window and staring at the person on the bed ten feet away from him. He looked over the body, this time noticing the lack of breasts and hips, but still… “Are you sure?”

“He has male appendages, if that’s what you’re asking, but…” The nurse sighed. “He could be going through gender re-assignment. His bloods haven’t come back yet, so it’s on our list of things to check. If he is, then we can trace back his history through his medical notes.
If
he gives us his surname, that is.”

Milo was shoved out of the way by his partner. “He should be easy to trace looking like that.” Dalton turned to look at the nurse. “We’re going to need photographs for missing persons anyway.”

Milo nodded. “He’s still young. If anyone’s looking for him, it won’t be too difficult to find. Social Services should be called, if and when we get further info on him. But you’re right, he’s unique enough to be spotted just by looks. Get someone down here to take pictures. I’ll get some on the mobile and see what they can do with them in the meantime.” He took another look at the slender figure and the messy hair running down his shoulders. “Pretty, isn’t he?”

“Prettier if he was a girl.” Dalton chuckled, but shoved Milo softly. “Well, to me anyway.”

Milo rolled his eyes. Being mixed race, black and Indian, and being gay, well… At least he got noticed. “Not my type.”

Dalton leaned on the wall, adjusting his bright yellow high visibility jacket over his stomach. “Nope, but I can see your type walking up the hall behind you right now.”

“What?” Milo turned around, catching sight of Daniel walking towards them. Their eyes met for the first time in three weeks and Daniel paused, feet planted firmly on the polished floor and mouth partly open. “Danny? What are you…” Milo glanced at the door and frowned as he looked back into Daniel’s bright green eyes. “You saved this one, right? That’s why you’re here?” Danny was a bugger for strays and too soft for his own good. “Daniel…” Milo pulled his fingers through his dark, collar length hair and sighed. “Give us a second, Dalton.”

“Sure.” Dalton nodded towards Daniel then took off in the direction of the coffee machine.

Milo slipped his heavy arm around Daniel’s waist and pulled him closer, smelling the aftershave and soap on his skin, the smoke still clinging to his hair. “You slipped off pretty quickly, I can tell. You rushed your shower. Are you that eager to see, Sleeping Beauty?”

“What are you doing here? I thought you were in India with your mum visiting the family.”

“I was.” Milo stopped them in a smaller corridor away from prying eyes and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “I just got back yesterday.”

“Huh.” Daniel copied his stance, leaning on the wall opposite him and hugging himself.

They hadn’t spoken since Milo left for India three weeks ago. They’d argued and Milo had taken two weeks to calm down and get his head right again. Daniel played with his mind and he hated it.

Daniel played with his shirt cuffs, not looking at him. “I thought you’d call at least once when you’d pulled your head out of your arse and calmed down.”

Milo tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling, praying for patience. “I tried. It went to voicemail… four times.” Milo ground his teeth together. He hated being ignored. But then, he’d ignored Danny for over two weeks, so it was obviously going to happen. It was a game they played, a game Milo was beginning to tire of. Six years of messing around with each other and they still acted like school kids.

“Yeah, shit when that happens, isn’t it?” Daniel tilted his head to the side, green eyes blazing angrily at Milo and his sexy lips firmly snapped shut.

Every time Milo saw Daniel, he felt the same pull he experienced the first time they laid their eyes on each other. Daniel was nineteen when they met, young and new to the fire service. He was living in the fire station quarters because his prick of a dad chucked him out when his family found out he was gay. They’d been attracted to each other from the moment they saw each other, but Milo held off for a few months, not knowing if Daniel was someone who he should mess around with like the many others he’d fucked. Daniel was different. Daniel was the one who kept Milo interested when others bored him within a night.

“I’ve missed you.” Daniel closed his almond shaped eyes, breathing deeply. “I can’t do this anymore, Milo. It’s too hard. In six years we’ve never been able to make this work. I’m exhausted from your games. I’m twenty six this year. I need to grow up. You need to grow up. You’re thirty, for God’s sake. If you’re not ready to settle down, or at least give a relationship a go, then what’s the point?”

This was an old argument, one which they kept repeating every couple of years. They’d stop meeting up, stop calling, end it all, then find themselves falling into bed three months later, desperate and out of their minds, needing to reconnect and just be with the other. But Daniel was right, this had to stop.

“Danny, I don’t want to end everything. I don’t know why we keep having this conversation. We both need something from each other.”

“Sex. That’s what you need, right? I mean more. You just don’t want that with me.”

“Hey.” Milo shifted closer to him. “We tried that out. It didn’t work.”

“Three months wasn’t long enough to call it a trial. You didn’t even give me a chance.”

“It felt fucking longer.” Milo brushed back his thick hair and frowned at Daniel. “Besides, don’t throw the sex thing back in my face. You're just as desperate for me as I am for you. It’s a two way thing. We both get what we need. Sort of.” Milo rolled his eyes. Daniel didn’t get everything he needed from Milo, and he never would. “You need someone to fuck occasionally and I'm not that person. We’ve tried everything. A ménage, open, you abstaining. None of them worked, Danny. Anyway, this is
kind of
a relationship, just a very…”

“Loosely based, open kind of thing which doesn’t fulfill either of us, and don’t you lie and say it does.” Daniel swept his hair from his forehead with a huff before placing his hands on his hips and glaring at Milo.

He looked sexy mad, which was one of the reasons why most arguments ended up with him pinned beneath Milo, being fucked hard while they both swore at the other, growling out hateful words while they worked their bodies up into a wild state.

Daniel rubbed his eyes with his palms. “I told you, it’s not the sex which bugs me. It’s everything else. Those issues are old and never get resolved no matter how much I try with you.” Daniel stood up and took in a deep breath. “It’s over, Milo. I know I’ve said this before, we both have, but this time I mean it. It’s over. I can’t do it anymore.”

Milo had heard these words too often to count and he tried to stop the smug smile from appearing on his face, but Daniel caught it.

“I mean it this time, Milo. I did a lot of thinking while you were playing happy families over in India.” Daniel stepped closer, pressing his palm on Milo’s chest and kissing his lips gently, a soft sigh escaping mouth before he pulled away.

Milo held Daniel’s hips, not wanting to let him go, needing to press him up against the wall and ravish his mouth. Daniel’s amazing green eyes met his and Milo felt that all too familiar tug in his gut, telling him to be honest and let go, just give Daniel what he wanted.

“I love you.” Daniel’s eyes filled with tears, something which Milo had seen only twice before in all the years they’d known each other, and one of those times was when his mum passed away. It hit Milo hard—this really was it. Daniel was ending everything with him. “I’ve always loved you, Milo. Part of me always will, but I’ve accepted you’ll never feel the same way for me—”

“Danny—”

“No! I know you care. I see that, I feel it.” Daniel ran his hand down Milo’s arm, taking hold of his hand in his. “I know you’re not unemotional, even though you try really hard to act like it.
But,
you don’t you love me, and I’ve done pretty much everything I can do to make it happen, but without changing who I am… I don’t think that will happen.” Daniel stepped back, dropping Milo’s hand and clearing his throat. “We’re holding each other back. I'm trying to make you feel something for me which you can’t. I'm not the one for you, and no matter how much it hurts me, letting you go is the only option I can think of. It will be for the best… for both of us. I know in time, I’ll move on, you’ll meet someone else and not have me bothering you every week or getting jealous over them.”

“Daniel, there’s—”

“No!” Daniel took another step backwards. “Please, let me do this.” He took another big breath. “We just don’t work, end of story. We never will. We’re too similar. We’ve tried it all. It’s time to accept this and move on. I won’t call you, I won’t contact you at all, and I want you to do the same thing to me.”

Milo opened his mouth, but slammed it shut when Dalton popped his head around the corner, inquisitive blue eyes searching their body language for clues how things were going. “Hey, I got some good shots of Sleeping Beauty. You ready to go? We’ve got some paperwork to do before we clock off and I'm beat. That one’s not going anywhere tonight, Nurse said so. He’s out of action with the sleeping dope they gave him.” Dalton nodded at Daniel. “Hey, Danny, how’s things? You involved in the fire Sleeping Beauty got dragged out of?”

“Yeah.” Daniel ran his fingers through his hair and smiled. “It was me who dragged her out.”

Dalton and Milo shared a look, then Dalton grinned impishly, ready to tell Daniel all about she being a he.

Milo stopped him and pushed him away. “We’re having a private conversation here.”

“It’s fine. It’s over. I’ll see you two later.” Daniel walked off, leaving Milo open mouthed and Dalton grinning.

“Be quiet, dickhead.” Milo shoved Dalton out of the way and caught Daniel up. “Hey. I’m not finished with you yet.”

“But I'm finished with you,” Daniel growled out as he tugged his arm free and walked over to the nurse. “I called earlier. I'm Daniel Harris, I'm here to see Sam. The girl who was pulled from the fire this evening.”

“Oh, yes. The hero.” The nurse smiled, playing with her hair and smiling far too much at Daniel.

Milo moved next to him, throwing daggers at the nurse with his stare and holding onto him overly protectively as usual. “I’ll show him the room.”

He turned Danny around and stood him outside the door. Daniel moved in closer, peeking through the small, square window and smiled softly. He had such a big heart. Milo watched him, thinking how long he could go without him in his life, and knowing Daniel wouldn’t be so easily persuaded to let him back in this time.

“She looks much better than the last time I saw her. Cleaner.” Daniel went to open the door, but Milo stopped him.

“Yeah, about that. Look… she’s a man.” Milo waited for Daniel’s response, but got none and poked him in the shoulder.

“I heard you.” Daniel shrugged him off. “And you’re wrong. I saw her up close, held her in my arms, talked to her.”

“He’s got a dick, okay. It’s a man. Just a very…” Milo glanced at Samuel and took in his fine bone structure, elegant nose and cheekbones, long hair and oval shaped eyes. “Just a pretty one. He may be pre-op. Looks very female in appearance. They’re checking him for estrogen when his bloods come back.”

Daniel swallowed heavily, turning back to the door and opening it quietly. Milo followed him into the private room, standing beside him, glancing once more over the sleeping body of the young man he was so desperate to talk to such a short time ago. But now he was only thinking about Daniel and how his eyes never left the body in front of him, how his breath stopped in his chest as he walked closer to the bed, how he fisted his hands beside him and licked his bottom lip. Milo tensed all over. Daniel was attracted to Sleeping Beauty. More than attracted, he felt for him. It cut right through Milo like a knife and he turned away.