Page 33 of A Haunting at Keystone Manor

In a moment of pure insanity, I decide that I’m going to give Elder Covington a call. This is Jake’s hotel now. We're going to take control of it. Low life scum is not allowed. This should be his safe space. We’ve worked hard making new memories here, overwriting the bad and leaving only the good. Turning this place into something worthwhile. He’s made so much progress lately and no one gets to come in here and destroy that. I'm done playing nice.

I walk back inside and slam the door. Crap. Sorry door, you didn’t deserve that.

“We need to increase security,” I tell Brandon, who’s back at his desk.

“What brought this on, little dude?” He stops typing on the computer to look at me as I approach.

“One of Covington’s goons attacked Jake outside,” I fume. “I’m going to buy you a shotgun. If you see any scary Russians on the property, immediately shoot to kill, don’t stop to ask questions.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Are you… serious right now?” he asks hesitantly. “Sometimes I can’t tell.”

I sigh. “No, I’m being dramatic, sorry. I’m just frustrated. But we do need to increase security. Set up extra cameras, make sure they work. And make sure there are cloud backups. I'm going to give his dad a call later, set up a meeting. It's time we handled him, and I have an idea.”

“10-4. Is Jake okay? I just saw him walk by, and he didn't say anything,” he says.

“He’ll be okay. Thanks, Brandon. You’re the best.” He beams.

***

I head back to my room after work, and I’m not surprised to see Jake lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I smile as I walk up to him.

“You okay?” I ask.

He watches me intently as I crawl on the bed. He scoots over to give me more room as I settle on my knees next to him.

“Yeah,” he finally says.

“I told Brandon to increase security. I hate that one of those bastards was able to get so close.”

“Okay.”

“Can I touch you?” I inch my hand towards him, but don’t make contact. I leave it resting next to him on the comforter.

“Why would you want to?” he asks, sounding listless.

“What? I always want to touch you.”

He shakes his head and looks over at me. “Alex, why do you really want to be with me? Do you look at me and just see something you think you can fix?” He sits up and leans back against the headboard.

“No! What brought this on? I want to be with you because I like you. I like spending time with you, going on picnics with you, trying to make you laugh because I love the sound of it… I don’t understand what’s going on.” This is not the conversation I expected to be having tonight. Against my better judgement, I reach for him. He immediately pulls back from me. “Sorry.”

“Please don’t touch me. I’m not… clean,” he says, and his voice is full of self-loathing.

“What does that mean?” I ask gently.

He pulls his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them. “His hands were all over me, Alex. I can still feel it.”

“Okay… that doesn’t mean you’re dirty, Jake.”

He pulls his hair in frustration. “You don’t understand. I don’t know how to make you understand. I can’t ever get it off. Not his, not… anyone else’s.”

I sit there confused and wait for him to continue.

“I was raped,” he finally spits out.

“I know.” Thinking back to the day he got his memory back makes me want to cry.

“No, you don’t, because I lied to you. I was fifteen the first time it happened.”