“I’ve never been able to sleep on my back,” Wright said as they entered the bedroom. He’d been focused on the photos and then getting the shirt on because there were three extra pillows on the bed he didn’t notice when he got out of the shower. “So, I don’t know how much sleep I’ll get.”
“We can figure something out,” Xander said.
Chapter Four
~ Xander ~
Wright tried to fight him about sleeping in the bed. Xander wouldn’t listen to it. He also wouldn’t listen to him demanding that he let him help strip the sheets and put on new ones. The kid was stubborn as hell and Xander knew he had his work cut out for him to keep him from exerting himself too much.
He’d fallen asleep on the couch more than once in the six months he lived in the guest house so he knew it wouldn’t hurt him another night or so. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do in the long run, but Xander didn’t want to let Wright out of his sight until he was healed. And that would take a couple weeks at least. Being able to finally look closely at everything on his body, he was amazed Wright was even standing. He had to be in pain and Xander set a reminder on his phone for the next time he could give him medicine. He’d have to wake him up in the middle of the night, but he was sure Wright would be grateful.
After getting him settled to where he was half lying on his right side, his left shoulder still in a makeshift sling until he saw the doctor tomorrow, Xander went back to the living room. He kept the door cracked in case Wright called out for him in themiddle of the night. His phone was vibrating on the tray table from their dinner. It was his brother.
“How’s the kid?” Patrick asked in lieu of a hello.
“I just got him fixed up in my bed,” Xander said. “I’m hoping he sleeps for a couple of hours, but I’m going to keep checking on him. He said he hit his head pretty hard a few times so I’m worried he has a concussion on top of his shoulder and maybe a cracked rib.”
“Poor kid,” Patrick said. “Have you learned anything else about him? Name, or where he lived?”
Xander smiled, thinking of his little quip earlier about calling him gorgeous or sweetheart. “His name is Wright. Pat, he thought his dad was dropping him off at a conversion camp.”
“That’s what I feared,” Patrick said. “I put the pieces together when he threw the money on the ground. But he’s here now, so we’ll make it work. We’ll figure out a place for him to stay.”
“He can stay here with me,” Xander said without thinking. There was a long pause where both of them were thinking about that and how it would work. “The houses are full and your guest room has more guests than it stays empty. It makes sense. And he might joke about what happened to him, but he’s hurting and I think he’ll be more comfortable with a place that doesn’t have as much traffic in and out.”
“Can you make that work?” Patrick asked. “It’s just a one bedroom there.”
“I’m sleeping on the couch,” Xander said. “And I can always buy another mattress. It’ll just be a couple weeks until he’s healed up.”
“Let him rest tonight but bring him to the main house tomorrow morning for breakfast. William wants to meet him and Tracy has been worried too. We all are. He has an appointment at the hospital at noon.”
“I’ll see if he’s up for it,” Xander said. He loved his family and the new additions over the last few years of that family, but they could be a loud, boisterous crowd. He wasn’t sure if Wright was up for that. “I’ll call you in the morning and let you know how he’s feeling.”
“Okay. Either way, I need to talk to him tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Xander hung up the phone and turned on the TV, keeping the volume low. He scrolled through for a while before he found a sitcom playing reruns. It was a show he’d seen several times before, but it passed the time. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep tonight.
After another episode, he picked up his phone again. He kept an ear out for any noise coming from the bedroom while scrolling through social media. He started with Facebook, looking through nearly fifty accounts with the first name Wright that lived in Texas. He only had that and Instagram, but neither of them turned up anything. If Wright had an account, it was private or under another name. Which would make sense if his dad was controlling. There were a few hits, but he wasn’t completely sure. A high school award that was shared on a school website, a list of people that were part of a community effort to get kids into college for free. The rest were older men or kids’ parents posting.
A noise caught his attention and he clicked off his phone. He waited, listening for something. There was another noise, almost a whimper. Xander was on his feet and moving toward the bedroom within a second. He pushed open the door gently, hoping that the loose floorboard just outside the bedroom wouldn’t wake him. There was a clear whimper and the lump under the blanket shifted.
Xander walked slowly into the room. He didn’t want to scare Wright, but he was definitely facing something in his dream. Hishead moved from one side to the other, his face scrunched like he was in pain. His lips moved, pursing at first but then opening and closing like he wanted to say something. His hand that wasn’t in the sling was clenched into a fist. He was still propped up, his bad arm resting against a stack of pillows. He had another pillow against his lower back and the last two pillows situated where he could lean to the right and rest his head. He muttered something again, Xander didn’t catch it, and then his eyes flew open and he was breathing really hard.
“No, no. I’m sorry.” He curled in on his bad side before Xander could react and Wright cried out from the pain. Or from the memory. Maybe both. He wasn’t sure.
“Shhh,” Xander said. He sat on the edge of the bed. “You’re safe. I’m right here. It was just a nightmare. Can you move back to sit up? You’re putting too much pressure on your injuries.”
“I should have remembered to close the tab,” he said into the pillow. He was crying again. Xander started moving the pillows so he could get closer. “I shouldn’t have been so stupid.”
“Hey, no. None of that talk, okay?” Xander finally got the pillows moved and Wright looked up at him. The bruise above his eye was darkening around the bandage. It was going to get a lot worse before it started looking better. He was sure the other spots were looking just as bad. “You are not stupid. You’re strong and you’re going to get through this, Wright. Are you in pain anywhere?”
“My head and shoulder. I can’t get comfortable like this so I keep moving around.” Wright rested his head back against the headboard. He closed his eye and sighed heavily.
“Chronic side sleeper, huh?” Xander raised one leg, bending it so his foot hung off the edge of the mattress. He laid his hand on Wright’s ankle, like he’d done earlier. Wright’s lips quirked into a short smile before it faded from his face.
“My mom, when I was little, would always joke that even as a baby, as soon as she laid me down, I would roll onto my side. She said she’d stay up for hours watching me sleep, making sure nothing bad happened to me.” There was a moment of silence between them. A tear slipped down his cheek. “Funny how that mindset changed when she left me with him.”
Thinking of anyone leaving Wright, especially leaving him with a man that would hurt him, broke Xander’s heart. Maybe it was the years he spent seeing the worst moments of peoples’ lives or saw firsthand how the justice system failed over and over to get victims help. Whatever it was, the dejected look on Wright’s face and how easily he dismissed himself burned something inside him. He wanted to help him. Not just physically to heal, but emotionally. To show him he’s worth something to this world, just how he is.
