“That’s not helping your cause.”
“Rory, anyone who hurts you is a dead man.” I want to reach out and pull him close, but I can’t. He’s not ready right now. I’ll give him time. Maybe. “Brendan was just looking out for you.”
“Yeah, well, I would never wish that kind of pain on anyone.”
“I know, rabbit,” I whisper, hoping to calm him. “You’re too sweet, but they deserve it, and they need to be stopped.” Not that I give a fuck about stopping them, but it happens to be a pleasant side effect.
“I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t want to be attacked, and I don’t want it to continue, because it will never end.”
“Chad needs to pay. The man is a cocky asshole who’s hurt a lot of people.”
“What about you? Are you going to pay for all the people you’ve hurt?”
“I’m not a rapist.”
“Assault isn’t much better.”
“Rory, I’ve done a lot of terrible things in my life, and I know that someday I’ll need to answer for those sins, but this wasn’t like that. They hurt you, and I can’t let that go.”
“So no one cares about what I think?”
“Of course we do, we just think?—”
“That you know best. Got it.” He walks off toward Mal who has just arrived in Rory’s car.
“Rory,” I call out after him.
“Can you take me home? I’m too nervous to drive.”
Tag runs over. “I’ll get you home.”
“Tag, right?”
“Yep.” Tag looks at me, and I nod even though I want to grab Rory and take him to my house where I can spoil him until he forgives me. “Let’s go.”
Tag opens the door for Rory, but I call out to him before gets in.
“I understand that you’re upset, but I’m not giving up on you.”
He nods and climbs into his car.
Mal puts a hand on my shoulder.
“Come on, bro. He likes you. He just needs a minute to accept it.”
I watch the taillights of Rory’s car as they leave the garage.
“Why is it so hard?” I ask.
“Well, when two people are attract?—”
I elbow him in the gut, smiling as he wheezes, and get back in the car.
Once Mal climbs in, he has a better answer for me. “Attraction isn’t something that can always be defined as one thing. Sometimes someone triggers you.”
“Why did I pick a beautiful boy who’s half my age?”
“Because he’s broken.”
