The Ideas of Love

Chapter 09.

Myla sat next to Tyler and fell asleep in the hospital bed. She hates having to babysit people like this, especially when that person is a snobby lawyer that got himself into trouble. Fortunately, Joe came to her rescue just minutes before Tyler woke up. Joe told her to get something to eat or some coffee.
As Tyler opened his eyes, he called out Chris' name, but then he realized that Chris was not there yet. He called Joe and asked how Jeff was doing. Joe said that the doctor put Jeff in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling after the surgery. Tyler's heart sank; he was the one that should be in a coma, not Jeff, because Jeff was living a good life until he screwed it up. If only he could hold himself together in front of Lewis.
Joe told Tyler that Reed and Nox were still in the wind and didn't know if they could ever find them. The thing is, the police didn't put this kind of case on top of their list, especially in New York with the force swamped with daily crimes and chasing some homophobic gang outside New York will take a lot of resources out of their hands. Maybe after Lewis' trial, they will reopen it because currently they are focusing on securing the trial.
Tyler asked if Joe could let him contact Jeff's parents while he visited Jeff. Of course, Joe agrees to it because Tyler and Jeff are not criminals; they can do whatever they want. So Tyler just walked to the ICU where Jeff was. He saw Jeff laying in the bed, almost motionless. He blamed himself for this. He wants to exchange places with Jeff. He's the asshole, not Jeff.
Tyler hesitantly dialed Mel's numbers and started a video call. He took a deep breath with the first ring. Tyler held Jeff's hand tightly. He wished Jeff was not in a coma and helped him face Mel's wrath.
There was a hesitation in Mel's tone as she picked up the phone. "Hello, Tyler.."
"Mel.. I'm sorry.." Tyler released his hand that was holding Jeff's hand because his tears started to run down his cheeks.
"You didn't hurt him.. You shouldn't feel sorry.." Mel avoided eye contact. She knew that she shouldn't blame Tyler because, although he did put Jeff on the homophobes' radar, he did not harm Jeff. She's disappointed that Tyler didn't tell her about this when he was on the farm, but she guessed Tyler's coming out was not exactly easy for him.
"I hurt him multiple times all these years, Mel. He doesn't even want me anymore.." Tyler stopped to wipe his tears. "I went back to Wisconsin because I'm just a coward that can't handle the heartbreak from Jeff's rejection. I should have stayed to protect Jeff." Tyler sighed.
"You couldn't know that Jeff would get kidnapped.." Mel sighed too. "How's Jeff?"
"He's in a medically induced coma. I have no idea what will happen to him, but I will blame myself if something bad happens to him. I'm so sorry, Mel.." Tyler drowned in his tears now. He hurts Jeff, the only man he ever loved.
"Can I see him?" Mel sighed again. She might lose her boy, but she doesn't want to think about it.
Tyler nodded, and he leaned in to Jeff's shaved and bandaged head from the surgery. He hasn't stopped crying, he just felt so bad. "I can book you a flight here.. I'm really sorry.." Tyler was sobbing uncontrollably now.
Mel looked at her baby boy and tears flooded her cheeks too. Jeff, her golden son, lay there without his smile. "I don't know if I can see him like that.." Mel kept sobbing too.
"Please let me book you the flight. It's the least I can do.. Do you want me to book Barry a flight here too?" Tyler wiped his tears.
"Sure.. I don't know.." Mel knew that at least Tyler would feel better if she said yes to his offer.
"I'll book you and Barry a flight. Do you want a moment with Jeff? I can leave my phone here?" Tyler calmed down a little.
"No.. just send me the tickets. Thank you, Tyler.." Mel hung up right away. Seeing her son in that state broke her heart into a million pieces.
Tyler booked the flight right away, first class flying in the afternoon. He sent the details to Mel. He held Jeff's hand again after being done with the ticket stuff. The doctor suddenly appeared at the door.
"Are you Mr. Rosedale's family?" The doctor asked.
"I am his best friend. His family will be here tonight." Tyler sighed, but at least he calmed down.
"We need to do more tests on Mr. Rosedale, but we can probably end his medically induced coma in two days or so depending on his progress." The doctor flipped his chart.
"Can I stay here with him?" Tyler asked.
"No, you are a patient too. Stay in your room.." The doctor pointed at Tyler's hospital attire.
Tyler kissed Jeff's cheek one more time, then went back to his room. To his surprise, Emily and Julia were there with Joe. They asked if they could have a moment with Tyler. Joe nodded and left the room. As Tyler laid back down on the bed, Julia and Emily walked closer to the bed.
"Tyler, I can't let you leave our firm.." Julia said.
"Let me handle this situation with Jeff first, okay?" Tyler sighed. "I just want to be with Jeff for now.."
Emily handed over a folder to Tyler. "You can't. The prosecutor wants to put you as their key witness in Lewis' case. He wants to meet with you tomorrow."
Tyler sighed. He took the folder and read it through. "Who's his lawyer now?" Tyler raised his eyebrows.
"Randall Jordan.." Emily rolled her eyes.
"Oh, great fit. Homophobes party, I suppose. " Tyler rolled his eyes too. What he does not know is how Lewis can hire a high-paying douche like Randall to defend him. Somehow it seemed like Lewis always had thick wallet financial supporter.
"But, I am here to talk to you about the buyout. You have to do it. You can do more pro-bono with Rene and your own team and we'll cut you the firm yearly profit. We really need your help financially to buy Tony out." Julia stared at Tyler's. She was always firm and intimidating when she wanted something.
"It's just twenty grand. How can you guys that made almost seven figures not pay it?" Tyler is truly confused as to why Emily and Julia can't just pay the twenty grand.
Emily took a deep breath. "We have something to tell you.." She pressed her lips. "Toni used some of the 401k fund that was supposedly paid to you guys. We never knew about that until we looked at the books. The thing is, we always trusted Toni, and we always signed the financial report every month. We can't sue him because we signed it too. We didn't want to go to jail, so we paid for it with our money. It's almost two million dollars. We are just so tight financially after paying for those mistakes." Emily released a long exhale.
"How's the firm's financial?" Tyler asked.
"Okay? I suppose? But if you resign, all our money-making clients will follow you, and we'll be done." Emily shook her head. "Please.. we need your help.."
"I'll write the check. But I don't know if I want to be back as a divorce lawyer.." Tyler rubbed his face. He doesn't even have a place to live anymore.
"I am sure we will figure it out. I'm sorry we pressured you like this." Julia said elegantly.
"It's fine, I understand everything now. Who's the prosecutor?" Tyler went back to flipping the folder that contains evidence of Lewis' crimes.
"Benjamin Marcus was rumoured to be the candidate for the next DA." Finally, Emily settled next to Tyler. "Ben is sharp and honest. I really hope you can help him." She patted Tyler's hand.
"I know Ben. He worked with Rene before. Rene was probably the only person Rene tolerated. Most of his colleagues do not like him because he's a transgender person." Tyler kept reading the files. "Could you give me his phone number? I don't know if the doctor will release me or not today. Also, I don't know where to stay tonight. I rented out my apartment.."
"You can stay at my place. Casey will love having you at our place." Emily hugged Tyler.
"I'll let you know. Thank you.." Tyler forced a smile. Julia patted his back, then she left with Emily.
Myla comes back into the room instead of Joe. She still gave Tyler a nasty look every five minutes. She hates this asshole. She saw Tyler disappointed when she saw her. She just sat in the corner sofa and pretended to scroll through her phone.
"Myla.. I want to say I'm sorry for everything I said yesterday. I was stressed out about Jeff and I was being a douchebag. I know you don't like lawyers, and I understand that, but I really want you to know that yesterday I was not in a good place. I've known Jeff since we were kids, and he's just important to me." Tyler tried to fix his relationship with Myla, but he knew that he was an ass yesterday.
"Yeah.. sure.." Myla knew she should say sorry too for slapping Tyler. But maybe it's a bad idea because then he can sue her for physical assault. She knows how these lawyers work. She knew she was wrong for slapping him, but she just needed to contain Tyler yesterday.
"I'm not going to sue you for the slap. I need that slap. " Tyler chuckled. He was actually thinking of something inappropriate. He would love to get slapped if they were naked in the bedroom.
Myla stared at Tyler for once. "I'm sorry that your friend is in bad shape. No one deserves that." Myla started to soften her tones for Tyler.
Tyler was thinking for a moment if it was inappropriate to ask Myla out. He thought about it for a moment and said to himself that he should just live in the moment. Worse come to worse, he would get slapped again and that might take his stress away for a moment. "Hey, Myla. I know that this might not be appropriate. But, would you like to go on a date with me?"
Myla scrunched her forehead. "Do what?" She tried to confirm that her hearing was right. Did this douche really just ask her to go on a date?
"Never mind.. I'm stupid. You are not the type that would say yes to polyamory anyway.." Tyler sighed.
"What? Oh gosh.. Now I want to slap you again. You are just such a douche, aren't you?" She stared at the man that was laying on the bed across from her.
"I'm not a douchebag.. I'm sorry. Just forget about it." He sighed. He grabbed his phone and checked where Chris was, because he was supposed to be there next to him by now.
"Really?" Myla laughed. "You just asked me to be your side chick, the cop that protected your ass yesterday and will be your protection detail for the next few weeks. And you think you're not a douchebag? You are a special kind of douche, aren't you?" She raised her eyebrows.
Tyler just shook his head, and he just didn't want to trigger more confrontation. He likes Myla, but he really is not a douchebag. She said no, and that's the end of it. He dialed up Chris' number, but Chris didn't pick up the call.
"Myla.. Chris didn't picked up my call, I'm worried.."
Tyler didn't know if he was being too paranoid because of what happened to Jeff. But Chris said he boarded the plane a few hours ago. He should be landing already.
"I don't know. My boss told me to keep an eye on you, not Joe's ex." Myla shrugged.
Tyler sighed and decided to just try to sleep. Chris will be fine, or at least he hopes Chris will be fine.
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