And Then There Were More (Gay Poly)✔

Chapter 28 - Explanations

It was bright. Too bright, Ricky noticed as he raised an arm to block out the harsh lights shining down on him. A beeping sound to his left alerted him to a heart monitor and he glanced down to find that he was laying in a hospital bed with an IV drip.

What the hell happened last night?

"You're finally awake." Chirped a familiar voice, and Ricky turned to find David sitting in a guest chair. "You had everyone worried."

He tried to speak, but his mouth was like sandpaper and he broke into a coughing fit. David quickly grabbed a glass of water and held it to his lips. Ricky drank greedily before laying his head back down. "What happened?"

"Well let's see." David plopped back into his chair and scooched closer. "You met up with some mobsters, got drunk, won a couple thousand dollars from playing poker, punched your husband, and apparently broke your shoulder after jumping out of a car, then tried diving off a bridge."

Ricky examined his left shoulder and took note of how the gauze peeked out slightly from beneath his hospital gown. He really must have been wasted if he didn't even notice the injury during everything that happened.

"Ricky?" Another more feminine voice cut in as the door to his room opened. His gaze followed the sound as he looked up to find his parents walking in. 

Ricky blinked. Then blinked again. "What are you guys doing here?"

His mother was a squat little woman with a round face and kind eyes. She wore a flowery patterned blue dress and had her silver hair tied back out of her face. His father stood beside her, his pot belly hidden behind a flannel shirt that was tucked into his dirty jeans. The man only had a few streaks of silver in his short hair, the rest of which was black like Ricky's. He had a soft shape to his face, but held serious eyes as he stared his son down from across the room.

Ricky's mother strutted towards him and promptly smacked him on the head. "Is that any way to greet your parents?"

Ricky covered his head with his good arm as she smacked him a few more times for good measure. "I'm sorry!"

"You better be!" She huffed, standing beside her husband. "You'd think to tell your parents that you were married, but no, you had to leave it to David to notify us that you were having another episode!"

Ricky glanced at his friend who shrugged meekly. "I know how you get when you drink, so I thought I'd call them in case anything happened."

Part of Ricky wanted to argue that it was his own business to tell his parents what was happening, but another more prominent part of him was grateful that David did it. Ricky faced his unsettled mother and stoic father, glad to not have woken up alone. These are people he knew loved him.

"Ricky." His father stepped forward. "We spoke with Damon about your...Incident."

"How? I never told you about him and David didn't have his number."

"No, you're right, but David had our numbers and when he told us you got kidnapped out of a club, we thought the worst. Then we got a call from your cell and it was Damon telling us you were in the hospital. Your mother damn near threw the kitchen sink at him once we arrived."

"I thought he had caused it." His mother snorted indignantly. She had always been feisty, so it didn't surprise Ricky to know that she would pick a fight with Damon.

"He told you what happened, didn't he?" Ricky asked. To which his parents just nodded, and he sank back into his pillows.

When Chris had first left him, Ricky swore that he would raise his rank in society so no one would look down on him ever again. Problem was, that was not as easy as it sounded. He was an introvert for starters, so trying to be outspoken had caused him to have anxiety attacks. What's more, he was constantly depressed after Chris left him. To escape these feelings, he began drinking heavily, which turned out to be a bad mix since he was already known for becoming emotional when drunk.