Quinn’s eyes had swelled up. His right one was completely shut, and the left was already coloring. Sweat clung to his brow and plastered his shirt to his torso. A long cut along his jaw had leaked blood onto his collar. He clasped his hands in his lap, like he didn’t know what to do with them anymore.
“Does anyone know where Andre is?” Greg asked. He gripped the edge of Trey’s counter, looking like he was about to keel over.
“Nancy says she overheard Courtney talking to John about him. He was scheduled into one of the music rooms, but when they went there to find him, the room was empty. So it looks like he saw them coming and hid.” Trey paced in front of his plasma TV. “He’s cleverer than the rest of us. Quinn, what happened?”
Quinn tried to smile, but his mouth wobbled. “My dad showed up at school. He wanted to have a conversation.”
I fell to his side and wrapped my arms around him. He winced.
“What is it?” I grabbed the edge of his shirt. Quinn tried to stop me, but he was too slow. I yanked up the fabric and recoiled in horror.
Long, red welts striped Quinn’s back, from his shoulders right down to just above his ass. Blood leaked from several of them, and his flesh hung in ribbons where the lines overlaid each other.
Those are whip marks.
I clamped my hand over my mouth, but I had nothing left inside me to throw up. My stomach churned painfully, and the sting in my throat burned.
“Shit, dude.”
I jumped at the sound of Ayaz’s voice. I hadn’t realized he was here, but then the trip from the quad up to Trey’s room was a blur of pain. Every breath tore at my throat and burned in my lungs.
Ayaz slid into the chair opposite, his dark eyes sweeping over Quinn with concern and disgust. His gaze flicked to me, and he instantly looked away.
I can’t worry about Ayaz now. Quinn’s hurt.
“Your dad did this to you?” My hand reached for the welts, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch them. I didn’t want to hurt him anymore. “Andthenyou carried Greg up the stairs? You must’ve been in agony.”
“Yeah, well.” Quinn’s single eye rolled back. “Did I impress you? Will you be my girlfriend now?”
Tears sprung in my eyes. My friend Dante had been in and out of abusive foster homes most of his life. My mom had abusive boyfriends. I knew what people who were supposed to care for you were capable of. But I’d never seen anything this…barbaric.
We may be dead,Quinn had said.But we can still bleed.
He’d endured all that, and yet he still came to save us.
“We have to get you to the nurse,” I said. Just saying the words made me think of that weird dream I had, and I shuddered. But this wasn’t about me. I was fine… sort of. Quinn was a mess.
“Youneed the nurse,” Quinn shot back. As he said it, my throat stung. I broke into another coughing fit.
“No.” I choked out. I had a bad feeling that going there would make that nightmare come true. “I won’t go there. But you can hardly move, Quinn. I can’t even imagine how much it must’ve hurt to drag yourself this far.”
“Do I get a vote?” Greg coughed violently. “Because I think we shouldallgo—”
“No.” Quinn circled my arm, pulling me back down beside him. “If I go to the infirmary, word will get back to my father and he’ll do something worse to me. Or to you, Hazy.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.” Quinn winced again as he leaned forward, pointing at the wounds. “I’m supposed to take this punishment silently. I got these because I wouldn’t agree to stop seeing you. I’m not putting you in front of him for anything.”
Shit.My stomach churned, and I almost threw up again.I don’t want to be the cause of this. I don’t want Quinn to be hurt.
Trey set down a carton of milk on the table. “Drink that,” he said. “I read that if you swallow poison, you can use milk to help protect your stomach lining.”
I swiped it out of his hands and took a long gulp. It felt like a cloud floating down my throat. Cow lactation had never tasted so good. I finished half the carton before I passed it to Greg.
“Trey, do you have a first aid kit?” Greg asked, accepting the carton from me and taking a long sip. “At the very least, we should put some dressings on Quinn’s wounds.”
“Yeah, I do.” Trey went into the bathroom and returned a moment later with a white box. He sat down on the other side of Quinn and pulled out dressings and antiseptic.
