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“Yeah, he’s been happier than I’ve ever seen him.”
“We’ve both been really happy. We’re together. Really together. I spend nights in his room, lately.” I took a deep breath staring at my hands. Guilt ate at me, even though logically, none of this was my fault. “I went out with friends tonight.”
“And he got drunk?”
“No,” I breathed, shaking my head. Steeling myself. “His uncle roofie him. Some mix of drugs the hospital is trying to identify. When I walked into the bedroom, Niles was about to assault him—assault him more than drugging him and touching him.”
“Oh my God,” Petra gasped and Bare pulled her close to him, as if he could protect her from it.
“And,” he growled.
“I hit him with a chair. A lot. I called for help and we called the police and an ambulance. Mars’ mom was out and his dad is traveling. Niles was arrested.”
“Fucking good,” Bare said.
“I couldn’t go back there. I couldn’t take him back there. I didn’t know where to go.”
“You did the right thing coming here.”
“Poor Mars…” Petra breathed. “I can’t believe his uncle turned on him like that.”
I stared at her.
“What?” Bare asked.
The way he barricaded his room. The sex he’d had so young so he could prove a point. His hatred for Niles… “Niles has tried to assault other people. Staff. And who knows, maybe he was successful and I don’t know. I know he attacked one of my friends but we all signed NDAs. No one talks. And…” Tears burned my eyes at the realization of the true horrors of the Kennedy mansion. “I don’t… I don’t think this was the first time.”
“What?” Bare whispered and I watched the blood drain from his face. “Oh fuck. Fuck!”
He jumped to his feet and ran from the room. I heard him vomiting and Petra dashed after him at the sound.
“Oh fuck,” he said again, the sound a sob. He knew something. He remembered something. “When we were eleven, I think eleven,” he told Petra, the sound coming to me through the thin walls. “He tried to run away. He was so beat up. So upset. He wanted to come live with me. My dad called his parents and his dad came to get him… I coulda—fuck!”
Tears streamed down my face and I quietly got up to go back to Mars. I paused at the open bathroom door. “It wasn’t your fault,” I said quietly. It wasn’t anyone but Niles, Ardith and Martin’s fault.”
Needing to hold Mars, to be there when he woke, so I could assure him he was safe, I went into the guest room and closed the door.
