Chapter 48

David! He's my favorite.

David Khorry

Zane tackled my body onto the floor. His hand pinching anything he could, Making me laugh uncontrollably. The food was cooking with a wonderful scent in the kitchen. I had missed this house. I had missed him. I missed the way he smelled, the way he held me. “It’s felt like years since I’ve seen you.” He whispered after he finished torturing me. “We’ll be okay now.”

“That’s if we live through tonight.”

His smile lifted my spirits. His hands stroked the sides of my face. “I’ve known your family a lot longer than you have. I’m sure they’ll be just fine.”

I blew a strand of hair up out of my eyes and started to get up. “David,” Zane said and continued to lie on the floor. I walked into the kitchen and started setting the table. “Button, I love you.”

“I hate that name,” I said as I placed the napkins around the dark wood table.

Zane stood up and walked over to me. He took the plates from the counter and started spreading them out between the napkins. “That name saved your life.” I laughed and looked up at him. He caught me halfway around the table. His arms wrapped around my body and held me close to him. “I don’t ever want to let you go again.”

“You won’t,” I whispered quietly. I sat the napkins down and wrapped my arms around him. I kissed the base of his neck softly. His arms held my shoulders close to him, and he really wasn’t going to let me go again.

I heard my family walking up the path to our house. They knocked on the door and I carefully pushed myself away from Zane. He smiled and followed me hand in hand to the door. Before I opened I took a deep breath. “Relax sweetheart, they’ll love you.” I hit Zane in the shoulder and opened the door. My parents and Phoenix stood in the front part of the door. I stepped into the house and let them in. Madeline, Zander, and Abigail came in after them. They walked in and looked at the front room. The tan couches were lined up perfectly. A coffee table sat in the middle of them. The bamboo shades had been pulled shut blocking out the evening light.

“Would you like to eat first, or should we get the questioning over with?”

Zander smiled at me and walked into the main room. “I want questions answered first if you don’t mind.” Rylan nodded and joined Zander on the couch. Abigail laid on the longer section of the couch next to Zander. Shiloh walked in and took one of the tan chairs. Zane pulled me onto the love seat with him. Then Phoenix sat next to Madeline on the second love seat.

I took a deep breath and asked, “What would you like to know?”

Rylan spoke up, “Who are you?”

I nodded. That was something I was expecting. “I am David Khorry.”

Rylan looked up at Zane, “You do realize he’s seventeen years old.”

“Actually,” I started. Zane took my hand. “I’m twenty one.”

Everyone’s faces twisted. “What?” asked Zander? “But I met you when we were 14.”

I nodded, “I was 18 then.”

Shiloh looked at me carefully. “You look so young.”

Zane laughed, “That’s what I said too, luckily for us that helped.” Zane’s hand tightened around mine and he pulled it into his lap.

Phoenix sat forward, “How did you meet?”

Zane smiled, “Should we spare you the individual questions and just tell you the whole thing?” A few heads nodded around the room and Zane took a deep breath. “A few years ago when I was ‘finding myself’ I decided to take a trip to LA. I believe it was five years ago.”

Zane’s eyes fell on me and I started with my story. “Me, being in foster care was never a lie. The story I told you was true. However how I contracted HIV was not from my mother.”

Zane shook his head, “In fact it was from me.” Everyone looked up at him and he smiled. “I got it a long time ago, probably when I was about twenty.” Phoenix took extra care in his eyes now. He watched Zane carefully.

“I ran away from my foster home in San Diego. I had come out to them and they treated me horribly. So finally I decided I would live on my own. Seventeen was old enough. I had been taking care of myself my whole life anyways.”

Zane looked down at me with loving eyes and kissed the top of my head. “I went down for a nice weekend of sightseeing. I decided I would go to one of the gay clubs.” Zane looked over at Phoenix, “That’s right you aren’t the only one.” Phoenix smiled and leaned back in his chair. “When I was walking to the club I found this poor little boy crying in the corner.”

I punched him in the thigh and he laughed. “The boy was me.” I turned over to Zane, “I was not a boy.” Zane smiled and again kissed the top of my head.

“We spent the weekend together. I knew within minutes of meeting him he was what I was looking for.” Zane looked over at Abigail and Zander. “Remember what you saw?” They both nodded. “It was exactly like that. I saw our whole future, or the future we would have together.”Shiloh and Rylan shared a look. Zane’s thumb caressed the top of my hand. “So, well we put our love in concrete.”

“Except the condom broke,” I whispered quietly.

Zane’s face sunk and he looked to the ground. “All the Oreson males carry the virus.” Rylan looked up and at both of us. “I infected him twice.” Zane paused and wrapped his arm around my side. He pulled me in tighter to him. “I knew then I couldn’t leave. I helped him transform and I’ve cared for him medically until you came along.”

“So you’ve been a hero the whole time?” Shiloh asked loudly.

I nodded, “Zane and I were together a year. We stayed here in this house.”

“That’s when I saw the visions. You would need us, and I would need someone on the inside. So we packed up and moved to Lincoln city. We enrolled David into High school with Zander and the rest is history. Although in the visions David was more of a help, but I wasn’t sneaky enough. Emma discovered me.”

“How could we not have known you were a hero? You had surgery. Your body would’ve tried to heal itself.”

Zane shifted next to me, “Not if someone’s controlling their powers.”

Rylan sat back, “You’ve been here the whole time.”

Zane nodded slightly. “Until the day I said good bye to Zander. Emma was figuring things out and I had to leave in order to keep everyone safe. She would’ve attacked here if I hadn’t left. Then she took control of David.”

“So what’s your name David, before you were a hero?” Shiloh asked.

I thought a moment before answering, “Shaheen Darshan.” They nodded and looked over me carefully.

“Well it’s good to meet you.” Shiloh said with a smile on his face. I returned the smile.

“You’ve known me. I never acted differently when I was around you. You were my family; hopefully you’re still my family.”

Zane stepped in, “while he was in the system he was never adopted. The closest thing he has to parents is you.”

Rylan stood up and walked over to me. He kneeled down in front of me and took my hands in his. “You are always going to be our son no matter how old or young you are. When we adopted you we adopted you.  Nothing will change that, nothing.”

My arms loosened from Zane’s and I wrapped them around Rylan. He stood up and held my body close to him. Shiloh walked up next and put his arms around me also. He kissed my cheek then handed me off to Madeline. She smiled and squeezed me tight. Zander stood behind her and waited for her to sit back down. “We’re still blood brothers right?” of all people I wanted his approval. He was what I always wanted in life, a brother. “You know, you’re what I see when I look at my powers. You’re my fuel, you’re my passion.”

Zander smiled brightly and leapt over to me. “David I would be nowhere without you and you know that. You haven’t changed you’ll always be my brother. As long as my blood is pumping through your veins we will be related.” Our arms wrapped around each other. “I love you,” he whispered into my ear.  

 

After dinner everyone left. Zane started to clean up and put the dishes away. He hummed something under his breath and walked back and forth. I sat in the living room lying on the couch watching him carefully. The muscles in his strong long back pulled when he took a few steps. On one of his turns he caught me staring at him. “I told you it would be alright didn’t I?” I nodded and folded my hands on my stomach.

He grabbed a few more plates and put them on the counter. When he saw that I continued to stare he stopped what he was doing. He walked over to the couch and situated himself on top of me. His ear sat on my chest, “your heartbeat is the greatest sound in the world. The breath soaring from your lungs gives me hope every day.” He lifted his head and kissed my chin. My hand ran through his hair, “Life would be nothing without you.”

His lips pressed into mine and we fell deeper and deeper into each other’s lives. Nothing would ever compare to our love. No one could ever tear us apart. We shared the same blood. He was me and I was him. Life was complete.