Before You

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Roth shifted Adam’s considerable weight and managed to put him over his shoulder. “Joseph, take my cell and look up Dr. Terry Grant. Call the personal number, tell her I need her. Stat.”

“She’ll know how to get here?”

“She’s my brother-in-law’s sister. She will. Nathan, turn down the bed.” He carried Adam into their room and very gently lowered him to the mattress. “Help me get him stripped to his briefs.”

“Shock?” Nathan worked quickly.

“That’s my guess.” He forced himself to think like a doctor, not as a man seeing his lover in trouble. “We’ll get him comfortable and cover him up.” Roth let Nathan continue as he checked Adam’s pulse. Fast and weak, as expected. His blood pressure would have dropped and that couldn’t continue.

SA Spelling called from the door, “Mr. Garrett, I’ve called for a bus in a rush. Is there anything else I can do?”

“Tell Joseph to call Nelson Spade and brief him. He’ll know what to do.” He stripped off his shirt, levered off his shoes and climbed into the bed with Adam. Wrapping his partner in the warmth of his own body, Roth murmured, “Baby, I’m here.”

Nathan sat on the other side of Adam, settling his big form on the bed’s edge. “Adam, you’re a strong man. Gave me one of the very few defeats in my life. We need you back.”

Roth fought back panic. Turning his mate’s beloved face toward his own, he said, “Please look at me. I need to see your soul in there.”

Adam’s long, black lashes stirred restlessly. His lids lifted, yet his eyes remained unfocused.

“That’s good, baby,” Roth praised. “You’re so much stronger than you realize.” Holding his man tighter, he listened to SA Spelling checking the ETA on the ambulance. “Focus on me, listen to my voice.” He checked Adam’s pulse and found it stronger and slower. A good sign. Yet his man’s consciousness seemed vague and adrift. “Stay with me.”

Nathan stood, speaking quietly. “Anything you need, lemme know.”

Joseph spoke from the doorway. “Dr. Grant told me she’d get here in less than a half hour. Mr. Spade said for you to expect the cavalry.”

Roth stroked Adam’s jaw, finding it smooth and warm. The healthy body temp and lack of cool sweat reassured him. His partner’s mental disconnect terrified him. “Thanks, Joseph. Adam, baby, can you talk to me?”

Those violet eyes held what the military called ‘the thousand yard stare’.

“Special Agent Spelling,” Roth called softly without averting his gaze.

“Yes, sir?”

“All due respect, might you clear out all unnecessary agents?”

“Of course.” He heard her make use of her cell and radio.

Roth kept his attention on his lover until the paramedics arrived. Two female techs came in, addressing Roth formally. “Forget about me. He’s your job.” Reluctantly, he rolled from bed.

“Doctor Terry Grant. Mr. Garrett asked I come.”

Hearing her voice, he walked out to meet her. “Terry, thanks so much for responding so quickly.”

She embraced him briefly. “My God, Roth. What’s happened?”

He gave her the pertinent details. Then added, “I think he might actually have post-traumatic stress disorder. Why I asked for you.”

She walked ahead of him. “Sounds like a good call.”


The EMT’s pronounced him physically stable and departed. Terry had barely given her diagnosis of PTSD when his parents arrived. They filed into the bedroom with Roth back under the covers with his man.

“Oh, baby boy,” Maman cooed, “Why did you wait so long to call us?”

Keeping his voice even by force of will, he answered, “You and Papa have gone through enough. Tried to spare you.”

His sire knelt on the floor on the side of the bed Roth occupied. “Never ‘spare’ us, son.” He extended his arm over Roth to embrace Adam as well. A wealth of tenderness in his deep voice, he said, “I wish we’d met under better circumstances. Welcome to our family all the same.”

Adam’s eyes began to drift closed. Roth panicked. “No! You stay with me, Adam!”

Terry came to quiet him. “Roth, let him sleep. His vitals have returned to norm. It’s his mind now. I’ll stay close until you tell me otherwise.” She leaned over his sire, kissing Papa in the process, before advising, “Let him rest and call me anytime.”


By the following day, Ridge and Jason, Braxton and Grant had arrived. Adam had not responded. He would open his eyes, yet did not speak and would not drink or eat. Roth laid face-to-face with his mate. “Adam, you’re a big man with lots of muscle. I can let you go a bit without eating. If you won’t take water, I’ll have to put an IV in you.”

His usually musical voice sounded like gravel and glass as Adam queried, “Where’s my sister?”

Roth’s soul suffered an agonizing slice. “She’s gone, baby.”

“I know she’s dead.” Adam’s eyes focused. “Where have they taken her remains?”

“Why?”

“I need to see them.”

His Papa rose from the chair in the corner of the bedroom. “Adam, that might not be a good idea.”

Roth watched his man’s face as the rest of the fam, sans Lili and Remy, filed into the bedroom. “Baby, I respect your wishes-”

“Let me see her,” Adam interjected, climbing from the bed. Seemingly uncaring of his state of undress, he glanced around. “I have to see her.”

Nathan walked in and intercepted him. Surrounding Adam in a tight embrace, the other man growled, “I’ll make sure you see her. Let us take care of you in the interim. These people deserve your respect.”

Roth turned to Ridge’s man, Jason. Only he understood completely. His bother-in-law dragged him off to hold him tight and kiss his face.

Roth returned the affection. “I have to let this go, pretty.”

Jason smiled, his lovely mouth all the more beautiful. “I love it when you call me that.”

Glad for a moment with a lapse in stress, Roth smiled.