“I’ll go to jail.”
“Maybe. But you’ll get help. You need help, Eddy. You hurt Marissa. You love her but still hurt her. What if you hurt someone else?”
He sobbed again, swore a dozen times. Something sounded like it broke.
“Okay,” he finally said. “You’ll go with me? Don’t tell Dad.”
“I won’t. Can you meet me at the end of the driveway? Ru will be driving the Corbins’ SUV.” He glanced at his friend, who nodded. Dane turned the oven off and put the rest of the cookie supplies away. Adam found a coat for everyone and handed Ru the keys.
“Okay.”
“We’ll be there in five minutes. Don’t do anything, okay? Just go out the back door and around the gate. Avoid Dad. Go to the end of the driveway and sit down. We’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.” Eddy sounded a little calmer. “I’m sorry, Bas. So sorry.”
“I know, Eddy. Shh. Just do what I say. I’ll see you soon. I’m already headed out the door, and the car is running.”
“Okay.” They hung up, and Bas got in the car feeling like an elephant was sitting on his shoulders. No one said anything. Ru drove them to Eddy’s house. Dane gripped Bas’s hand. Adam texted someone, probably his parents to tell them where he was. Bas’s mind just went in circles. Was this his fault? If he’d told someone about his brother’s bullying, maybe they could have stopped it, right? But Eddy had only ever seemed to pick on him. Eddy had admitted to being in the bathroom, wanting Bas dead. How long had he been abusing Marissa? Why hadn’t she said anything? God, having family shouldn’t feel like this, like they pounded a stake through his heart every time they reminded him of their existence.
A moment later they were in front of Bas’s old house, and Eddy sat on the curb, sobbing. His eyes were red, face puffy. Dane opened the passenger door, let him in, then closed it and settled in the back. Eddy took the seat beside Bas, and Bas wrapped his arms around his little brother. How had they gotten there? How had Bas moved on from all those years of taking care of his little brother to holding together the broken young man who had done the unthinkable…?
Ru glanced up in the mirror, and Bas nodded. They headed for the police station. Adam took the phone Bas handed to him and called Bas’s lawyers. Eddy needed help, and Bas would make sure he got it.
The time at the station passed in a fog. Bas sat with Eddy until the lawyers got there. He explained what he wanted from them. He would pay for their services as long as Eddy admitted his guilt and got help. If he wanted to plead not guilty or avoid blame in any way, he’d have to find another attorney. Eddy had already confessed and told them where to find his bloody clothes and the knife.
Bas was on the way out of the room after the lawyers told him he could go when Eddy asked, “Is she okay, Bas? Is she gonna be okay?”
Mentally or physically?Bas thought and shook his head. It didn’t matter, did it?
“We don’t know. But what’s done is done, Eddy. And you can’t go near her ever again, even if she does get better.”
Eddy bowed his head and cried. He looked so young and lost with his hands cuffed, sitting at that large table. One of the attorneys sat down beside him and nodded to Bas.
Their parents arrived not long after the lawyers. They said horrible things to Bas, but he tuned it all out. Dane had his arms wrapped around Bas the entire time. He thought about all those years taking care of Eddy, feeding him, getting him ready for school. All that had changed when he’d been kicked out.
And then there was the incident in the bathroom. No one had cared except his grandmother. She’d insisted the hospital do the rape kit, file all the evidence with photos and exams that to this day Bas still shuddered to remember. But he’d refused to file charges then. Feared naming his attackers because he knew no one would protect him. Because no one wanted him. He glanced at Dane. Until now.
Bas asked one of the many officers if he could file charges. It was time to stop pretending it hadn’t happened. He couldn’t let Nate, Hank, Eddy, or his parents hurt people anymore. He was led to another room with another detective and described the incident from a year ago, how the school covered it up because he was a guy, and guys didn’t get raped. Only they did. And abused. How long had he let Nate abuse him before that night? Bully him in the halls, scare him into silence. It was time for it to end.
By the time the questions were done, Bas was exhausted. A counselor had been brought in, and she gave him information for a domestic abuse support group and advised him to sit in on a few sessions, confront the issue head-on. He nodded, still feeling numb to everything, but thankful Dane was at his side. Ru and Adam paced around him like worried mother hens. He wanted to spew some snarky comment, but couldn’t think anymore. Why couldn’t the school year be over already so he could spend a week sleeping in Dane’s arms and ignore the rest of the world?
Ru and Adam helped Dane coax Bas to go home. There was nothing more he could do, right? It was time for him to go. He had plenty of healing of his own to do after today. He called Ryan Hart on the way and agreed to allow the article to go to print. Worse things could happen than people knowing his past.
They all returned to Bas’s house, where Dane finished baking and fed them dinner, spaghetti with some sort of meat-looking thing in it. It tasted great, but since Dane was eating it, he knew it couldn’t really be meat. Instead of going for a walk after eating, they curled up on Bas’s sofa and watchedAbout Timeagain.
Stanford was really beginning to look good. He and Dane would be flying out after graduation to look at housing and get familiar with the layout. Bas helped Adam put together his application, essay, and recommendation letters for UCLA. He was just waiting for his SAT scores to come back. Having already scored a 29 on his ACT, they were all hopeful.
Paige would be looking after the house with Adam and Ru. Legalities had to be met before Bas could turn it into a home for youth in need. He wasn’t ready to help them yet, but he would be working toward that goal. And knew that any kid who came along needing a home, he’d open his doors to them.
What was it that Ryan Hart had told him about hope?Hope was more powerful than love, because without hope there could be no love.Bas gripped Dane’s hand, his sunshine. He was such an amazing unicorn already, had grown so much. Bas couldn’t imagine loving anyone more.
