I did, and I saw Asher. He was roughed up. My hands gripped the sides of his face, and I scanned him for injuries. His nose was bleeding, his clothes were torn, but I didn’t see anything really bad, like broken bones.
“Breathe,” he gently urged.
I did. The burning rage started to cool off, and my concernfor Asher took over. “Pack a bag. You’re coming with me.”
Fear flashed through his eyes, and he began to protest, but I stopped him. “Asher. This isn’t a request.” I spoke in a low, direct tone because I wanted to signal that there would be no debate on the matter. “Pack a bag. You’re not staying here. You are coming home with me, and that’s it. Period.” A stand-off ensued. Both of us were holding each other’s faces, our eyes locked. The sound of his bitch mother running to the loser on the floor and helping him made me sick. I narrowed my eyes on them, ready to give her a piece of my mind, when Asher said, “Okay. Okay. Just…don’t do anything else. Come with me, okay?”
I followed him into his bedroom, the sound of his mother yelling awful things at her son turning me into a man fueled by wrath alone. “If I hear one more fucking word out of you, I will finish what I started with that piece of shit on the floor.”
That one shut her up. Good. Asher grabbed clothes, toiletries, hockey shit, whatever he could fit in that duffel bag of his.
Before he could hoist it over his shoulder, I took it from him. “I’ve got it. Go ahead, I’ll be down in a second.”
Asher looked at me warily. “Theo, please—”
I replied using the same tone from before, the one that leaves no room for argument. “Asher. Go downstairs. I’m right behind you. Promise.”
I could see in his eyes that he didn’t believe me, but he left without argument. I walked back into the kitchen, where those two worthless scumbags were still on the floor. Asher’s mom was tending to the bastard’s wounds. It felt good knowing I caused his pain.
He saw me and tried to scramble back, but he was wedgedagainst the cabinets with nowhere to go. I slowly approached, standing over them. “If I see you two near him ever again, I will fucking kill you. Do you understand?”
They said nothing. They just blinked in horror, so I repeated, “Do. You. Understand?”
Frantic nodding was followed by the dude cursing at me to get the fuck out, or they were going to call the cops.Whatever.
I made my way downstairs to find Asher waiting for me. I motioned for him to leave, and together we went to my car.
Chapter 12
Asher
The blinding headlights of cars passing by made me squint, and the sheer silence in the car magnified the throbbing pain in my nose. Not a word was uttered between Theo and me as he drove to his house. Fight or flight mode hadn’t worn off yet, and adrenaline coursed through my veins like rockets, urging me to act. But there was nothing to do. My hands were still shaking, and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe.
It had all happened so fast. It wasn’t until my feet hit the entryway floor at my apartment building that I even acknowledged that the fight was over. One moment, Louie was pummeling me. The next, Theo was there, and I was packing a duffel bag with my necessities because I was leaving with him.
My shaking fingers kneaded the seat in Theo’s car, a desperate attempt to ground myself. I looked at Theo out of the corner of my eye and saw his clenched jaw—hands gripping the steering wheel. He didn’t look scared at all. He looked focused. The soft curves of his face and the constant smile that his pillowy lips were curled into were gone. What remained was a man on a mission. He looked…determined. Ready.
I couldn’t say the same for myself.
My heart felt like it might detonate at any moment. I couldn’t even fathom what I would say to Theo. Nobody really knew how bad things were for me at home. Coach Hughes knew a tiny bit, but I played it off when he tried to intervene by calling social services. Cody knew only a fraction of what I’d gone through. I revealed nothing unless a bruise forced some kind of explanation, and most people didn’t notice anyway.
Scratch that. Most people didn’twantto notice. I learned early on that people don’t want to know the dirty details of what happens behind closed doors. Because knowing means having the choice to act upon it, and nothing terrified people more than that. Better to just live in blissful ignorance.If it was really so bad, he’d ask for help, right?
Riiiiight.
It was my secret. Yet another source of shame that fortified the mask I donned for the world.
There were so many things Theo didn’t know about me, but he learned about my home life that night. One piece of the facade had chipped away, and I wasn’t sure if I was prepared for him to see the rest of what lay beneath.
What if he didn’t like what he saw? What if I were too gay? Too sad?
Too broken.
Theo rolled into his driveway and stopped the car. We both sat in silence for a moment. For the first time since he kicked down the door to my apartment and threw Louie around like a rag doll, he looked unsure.
He cleared his throat and said, “I need to tell my parents that you are staying with us. I can be as vague as you’d like me to be. All I need to do is look them in the eye and tell them thatyouneedto stay with us, and they’ll get it. Is that okay with you?”
Even in the darkness, Theo radiated light. It was like he heard my thoughts the day he dropped me off. He helped me. He came back and took me away.
