I roll my eyes at him.
“Oh, um, hi. I’m Rory.” He sinks into me a little, and I’m incredibly pleased that he looks to me for security.
“Hi, Rory, I’m Mal, this big lug’s brother.”
“Nice to meet you. Can you show me where the bathroom is?”
“That door over there.”
“Thanks. Okay, come on.” He drags me to the bathroom and carefully washes the cuts between my knuckles. His movements are sure and practiced.
“Did you learn first aid from your brother?” I ask, but he stays focused on my hands.
“Some, but I was going to school to be a pediatric nurse. It’s been my dream since I was a kid and I had to get stitches on my knee. The nurse was so nice and made me feel comfortable. I wanted to be able to do that for others.”
“You have a very kind soul.” I hide my wince when he rinses the wounds with some kind of solution.
“Thanks.” He smiles softly as he carefully wraps my hand. Then he shocks the hell out of me when he lifts my hand to his lips and presses a gentle kiss to the bandage. “There, all better.”
My eyes light up at his sweet gesture, and he smiles so brightly it puts the sun to shame.
“You’ll be an excellent nurse.” I lean in close to him and rub his soft cheek. He relaxes into my palm.
“I was supposed to graduate this summer but…”
“The attack?” I prod gently and rub my thumb over his smooth skin.
He gives me an assessing look, and I’m not sure if he’s going to answer me. I’m about to tell him he doesn’t have to answer. I already know all about the attack anyway.
“I stayed late at the library that night because I was working on a paper. When I left, they were there.”
That gets my attention. “Did they target you?”
“Yeah, Chad had propositioned me a few times, but I was too focused on finishing school.”
Fury fills my veins, but Rory’s eyes go distant, and I can see the fear as he relives the attack.
Fuck, that isn’t what I wanted.
“Rory?” I gently place a hand on his knee, and it takes a few moments, but when he snaps back to reality, there are tears in his pretty eyes and his plush lower lip is trembling. “I’m sorry.”
He wipes his eyes. “I just wanted to protect others. To stop them from hurting anyone else like they did me. No one should have toendure that, but the jury believed that I asked for it. How anyone could think that—” He sniffles and looks around. “I need to go.”
He’s out of my bathroom so fast, I don’t even have time to comfort him, to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault.
Well, I know whose fault it is, and those jurors, who were supposed to protect the public from predators like those men, failed him. No, they fucked him.
I storm out and into my office.
“Hey, boss, did you scare the sweet—” Numbers starts.
“I want every detail on the rest of the jurors for his case,” I growl. When Mal and Numbers just look at me… “Now!” I shout. They jump up and head out of my office like their asses are on fire. I stand there for a moment, just trying to breathe.
How could anyone hurt this most precious boy?
He wants to be a nurse and help people. People who don’t deserve his attention.
I’m just so fucking angry. I want to burn the whole world down around him and give him marshmallows to roast.
