Disclaimer: I do not own Royal Pains.
Any errors are my own. I wrote this story very, very early this morning so there might be a few. Hope you enjoy my Evan whumping.
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"What is your problem, Evan?" Hank slammed his hand down on the counter in front of his brother.
"I don't have a problem, Mr. Perfect." Evan took another drink from his bottle of water.
Hank's eyes grew wide. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you want it to, Hank." Evan spun off the stool he was sitting on and walked towards the door nearly bumping into Divya as she let herself in.
"Oh." Divya sidestepped out of Evan's way and then turned a puzzled look towards Hank.
Hank shook his head and walked passed Divya and towards the front door where Evan had just disappeared. "You're supposed to go with us to meet a client, Evan!" He yelled to his brother as Evan jogged down the driveway.
Evan stopped, turned around and yelled towards the older man. "You're the one they want Hank, not me."
Evan stared at his brother for a moment before turning back around and walking away, reaching the end of the driveway he turned left and walked out of sight.
"What was that all about?" Divya asked as she came up behind Hank.
Hank turned around and the confused look on his face mirrored the one on Divya's. "I have no idea." Seeing the skeptical look on Divya's face he continued, "I just got back from talking to Boris and Evan was in that mood." He pointed to where Divya had last seen Evan for emphasis.
"So something happened while you were gone?" Divya took a seat on Evans vacated stool.
Hanks brow knitted in concern. "Yeah, but what?"
The beeping of Hank's watch broke them out of their thoughts; he shook his head and grabbed his bag off the floor. "Come on or else we're going to be late meeting that client."
Divya nodded and stood up from her seat. "Right behind you."
()()()()()()
Evan stopped walking and took a seat on the first park bench he came to. His descent was made all the more slower by the grinding red hot pain that was coming from his rib cage, thanks to Boris' thug. He did the best he could to not show the pain he was in to Hank, but the jog down the driveway may not have been the best idea.
A small whimper slipped out in an exhale as he relaxed back against the uncomfortable bench.
When Boris had called for Hank earlier he was relieved when he didn't have to go along, the whole incident with the shark still fresh in his mind.
But, his relief was short lived when one of Boris' big gigantic friends decided to pay him a visit.
Apparently a few detectives had paid Boris a visit earlier that day and Boris had wanted to make sure he kept his mouth shut. After the man had landed a beefy punch to his jaw, and that still smarted, Evan thought as he reached a shaky hand to rub at the tender location. He had landed a punch of his own to the big guys face, smiling when the ring he decided to where that day left a bloody scratch mark, but that was the last hit he landed before the man decided to kick the hell out of his midsection.
He grimaced as he tightened his hold around his abdomen, his body starting to shake slightly as he wondered if there wasn't more wrong than just a few bruised ribs.
Maybe he should have told Hank what had happened, he wondered idly as a large bus drove by splashing through a dirty puddle of water from the rain storm earlier.
But the words of Boris' henchman rang over and over in his head.
The man landed one more kick to his rib cage before bending over to whisper into his ear, "It's too bad your brother has you tagging along. He could be something great here; Boris could take his career to new heights. But that's not possible with you always getting in the way." The man straightened up, kicked him again and then walked out the door.
He'd had time to straighten up and sit down on the stool with a bottle of water before Hank had walked in. He wasn't sure how he had gotten past Hank without his brother noticing something was wrong, but he knew he couldn't go anywhere with him and Divya without one of them catching on.
He shifted his position again sending another wave of agony slicing through him; he doubled over slightly as a lone tear slid down his face.
He bit down hard on his bottom lip, "I wish Hank was here." He thought to himself. He briefly wondered again if something wasn't broken or possibly worse, punctured.
His breathing was becoming more labored, which was causing him to panic, which in turn was making it harder for him to breath.
He could literally hear Hank telling him he needed to calm down.
Another tear slid down his face as he fished in his pants pocket for his cell phone, he pulled it open and flipped through his contacts until he landed on Hanks name.
He suddenly didn't care about Boris or any of his hired men, he wanted his brother. He hit send and prayed Hank would answer soon.
Evan heard the line connect after the second ring and he blew out a shaky breath.
"Evan, I'm kind of in the middle of something, remember?" He could hear his brother excusing himself and the door creaking as he stepped outside of the client's house. "If you're calling to continue your bitch fest from earlier it's going to have to wait." The anger coming from his brother was unmistakable and Evan was suddenly afraid the other man might hang up on him.
"Hank?" The word came out in a pain filled gasp and he knew right away that Hank would know something was wrong.
His brother was that smart.
"Evan?" There was the concern; Evan smiled despite the pain he was in.
"What's wrong?"
"My chest." He breathed out in a wheeze, suddenly feeling like a 90 year old chain smoker. "It hurts." Another spike of pain rampaged through his chest causing him to moan pitifully. "Oh God, it hurts Hank."
"Evan? Just hang on buddy, I'm coming." He heard the creaky screen door again and then his brother was telling Divya that he needed to leave, and then the car door was slamming and he suddenly realized that Hank was talking to him again.
"I need to know where you are, Evan." It was getting harder to focus as he glanced at the nearest road sign and relayed his position to Hank.
"Alright. I'm only a few minutes away." He must not have replied because Hank was starting to yell at him, "Talk to me, Evan!"
"About what?" He knew there was no way the wheeze in his breathing went unnoticed by his older brother.
"Tell me what happened?" The eager voice came over the phone, obviously wanting to punish someone for putting his younger brother in any kind of pain.
Evan knew he could tell Hank the truth and they could leave this place and never look back, but he couldn't take away his brother's one chance at being something great.
So he lied.
"A bunch of guys mugged me, Hank." He didn't care if his brother believed the lie or not, the older man could question him about it all he wanted to, but he would never tell him the truth.
A car pulled up on the road next to him and he watched as his brother stepped out and approached him.
Hank laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and repeatedly told him in a soothing voice that everything was going to be fine, but Evan didn't hear any of it.
All he cared about was that his big brother was there and he could finally let go as the darkness took hold, and he felt Hank grab hold of him before he could completely topple off the bench.
()()()()()()()
Awareness returned to him slowly. He could hear someone being paged over the intercom, someone shouting for a doctor in the hallway and the squeak of someone's rubber shoes next to his bed. The last noise had him jumping slightly and a hand came down over his, the person's thumb running a soothing rhythm over his hand.
"Welcome back, Evan."
He immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Hank, and the tiredness in his brother's voice made him wonder how long he had been laying here.
"What time is it?" He whispered and then licked his dry lips.
"It's three o'clock in the morning, Evan."
He finally opened his eyes and took in the sight of the darkened room around him, Hank was sitting to his right a small table lamp lighting up his features. When he turned to his left he took in the scrunched up form of Divya passed out on the old rickety hospital chair.
"I tried to get her to go home." He returned his gaze to Hank. "But she wouldn't budge."
Evan smirked, "I knew she liked me."
"What's the damage?" He whispered as his gaze suddenly drifted towards the ceiling.
Hank quietly cleared his throat. "Well the muggers," Just the way Hank said the word and he knew his brother didn't buy his story, "broke three of your ribs, none of them punctured your lung, thank God."
"Felt like it." He said without even thinking.
"I'm sure it did." Hanks hold on his hand tightened momentarily. "One of your ribs was pressing against your lung."
Evan turned raised eyebrows towards his brother. "I couldn't breath." He silently cursed the tremble in his voice.
"Between the pressure on your lung and the hyperventilating you were doing when I got there, it's no wonder."
Hank gave him a small smile. "You're going to have to recuperate for a few days, but you're going to be fine."
Evan took as deep of a breath as his current condition would allow and closed his eyes. "Thanks for coming to get me, Hank."
Hank tightened the hold he had on his brother's hand and swallowed passed the lump in his throat. "I will always be there, Evan. Anytime you need me."
Evan opened his eyes and made brief contact with Hank's before letting them slide shut again.
Hank reached over and patted Evan on the shoulder. "Get some sleep, Evan."
Hank smiled as his brother started to lightly snore and leaned back in his own uncomfortable chair to catch a few hours of sleep.
()()()()()()()()
When dawn came it found Hank and Divya entering the guest house he shared with Evan. "I'm just going to grab some clothes for Evan and then we can get out of here, Divya."
She nodded her head and then looked towards the door as Boris and another gentleman entered.
"Good Morning." She greeted before leaving the two men alone with Hank.
Hank looked up from the clothes he was stuffing into an overnight bag and looked at Boris. "Sorry guy's right now isn't a good time."
Boris raised a hand, "I understand. I just wanted to make sure your brother was alright?"
Hank raised an eyebrow, only slightly surprised the other man already knew.
"It's a small community we live in, Hank." Boris said as he glanced towards the man to his right.
Hank nodded. "I don't think I've ever met your friend?"
"This is Jarrod. He's on my security detail."
Hank took in the man's face. "That's a pretty nasty scratch you have on your face."
Jarrod chuckled. "The wife can be a bit feisty."
Something was striking Hank as very wrong about this situation, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Boris cut in, "How is your brother doing?" He asked again.
Hank turned his gaze to Boris. "He'll be fine. They're going to release him from the hospital in a few days."
Boris nodded his head. "Did he say what happened?"
Hank gazed long and hard at Boris before answering. "Just that someone mugged him."
Hank didn't miss the relieved look that crossed both men's face, before they glanced at each other with matching smiles.
Boris slapped his hands together. "We'll let you get back to your brother, Hank."
Hank watched as Jarrod walked out the door and then as Boris turned back towards him. "Tell your brother I hope he's feeling better." And then he was gone and Hank was left alone in the room.
Hank finished packing his brother's bag and stepped outside to meet Divya at the car. "Where did Evan get that ring that he was wearing?" Divya asked casually as she sat down in the car next to Hank.
"What ring?" He asked confused.
"It looked like a class ring." Divya shook her head. "I've never seen him wear it before, but it looked smudged like he had hit it against something."
Hank looked at her. "It's his college ring; he doesn't wear it very often."
Divya made a fuss out of fixing her skirt. "I hope he punched one of his attackers with that hand."
Hank's mind immediately flashed back to his meeting with Boris and his security guard Jarrod, the scratch on Jarrod's face could have definitely come from a ring.
Then the conversation he had with Divya yesterday came back to him filling in even more gaps.
"What was that all about?" Divya has asked him.
"I just got back from talking to Boris and Evan was in that mood."
Hank punched the steering wheel. Of course Evan had been in a mood when he came back, he had just gotten the crap kicked out of him.
Hank shook his head, ' Why hadn't Evan told him what happened? Had they threatened him?'
He remembered Divya's next question.
"So something happened while you were gone?"
Yeah, his little brother had tangled with the giant known as Jarrod and lost.
He was brought out of his thoughts by Divya grabbing his arm. "Hank? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." He knew he looked anything but fine as his hands tightened around the steering wheel.
If his assumptions were right and Boris had anything to do with what happened to Evan, there would be hell to pay.
He didn't care who Boris was.
He closed his eyes briefly as Evan's words came floating hauntingly back to him.
"It hurts."
Hank turned the key in the engine and gunned the car as soon as it was in gear, not even caring when Divya shrieked and reached for the door handle.
"Oh God, it hurts Hank."
The words echoed over and over again as he drove towards the hospital.
Today was going to be the worst day of Boris' life.
You never mess with a concierge doctors, brother.
Never.