AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It took me a few minutes to gather enough energy to pull away and slump down beside him, wincing as he slid out of me. I knew I needed to get us cleaned up, but I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to go back to reality where I’d have to think about things I just wanted to forget.
So I snuggled into Brady, resting my cheek against his chest and smiling as his arm immediately pulled me closer. I breathed in his fruity scent, made only better with the scent of sex and sweat mixed in, and closed my eyes. I’d clean us up in a minute.
20
Brady
Itappedmyfooton the concrete sidewalk as I leaned against Charlie’s car and waited for them to get back. Jo had dragged them to a crafts shop around the corner to get supplies for tomorrow’s hobby class. I needed them to get back. Now. Because I had plans. Big plans that I needed to go exactly as I wanted them to.
Once Charlie got back, I’d ask them to drive to my place, and then we’d spend a few hours cuddling and watching TV. Then I would cook a nice dinner for them, and after that, I’d ask them to move in with me. Or I’d ask them if they wanted to move in together because frankly, my house was pretty tiny, and I adored theirs. I was ninety percent sure they’d say yes, despite the fact that they hadn’t told me they loved me yet. That didn’t matter, though, because I knew they did. I could see their love in every soft glance, every sweet peck on the lips, and in every small gesture they made. They might not have been ready to say the words, but they never hesitated to show me exactly how they felt.
The thought made me smile as I scrolled through my Instagram, wishing they would get here soon because I couldn’t wait to get them alone. The sound of running footsteps made me frown, and a wheezy gasp of my name made me look up to see Jo running toward me. They came to a stop a few yards away, panting heavily as they clutched their side. I rushed to them, grabbing their arm as I looked around for Charlie. Hadn’t the two been together?
“What happened? Where’s Charlie?” I demanded as a cold shiver raced up my arm. Something was wrong. I could feel it.
“My brothers! They showed up…with bats and stuff. Charlie…” Jo gasped out, still too breathless to string sentences, but I’d heard enough to guess what was wrong.
“Where? Where are they?”
“′Round the corner, in the alley.”
I pushed my phone in their palm and told them to call 911 as I started running. I knew Jo’s brothers; I’d seen them lurking around the Voice Out building a few times when Jo had first come in. They were a bunch of homophobic assholes, and I had no idea how far they would go in their hate. I really hoped Charlie would be okay. They’d already been so sad over the past few weeks because of their asshole brother—I didn’t want them to be in even more pain.
My steps faltered as I rounded the corner and stepped into the dark alley. A gasp left my mouth as my eyes fell on Charlie’s prone form on the dank, concrete floor. The men Jo had told me about were nowhere to be found, and though a part of me wanted to find them and hurt them for what they’d done to Charlie, I couldn’t leave them alone. My eyes fell on the pool of blood around their head, and all thoughts of the men fled my mind as I raced to their side. No, this couldn’t be happening. I’d just found them. I couldn’t lose them.
I fell to my knees before them, my hands shaking as I pressed two fingers against their neck, sighing when I felt a pulse. It was weak, but it was there.
I knew Jo had dialed 911 as soon as I left, so I grabbed Charlie’s hand, squeezing it tightly as I waited for the ambulance to arrive. I shrugged out of my jacket, wishing I’d worn something thicker and softer as I pressed the flimsy cloth against their head in the hopes to stop the bleeding. It was then that my eyes fell on the blood coating their stomach, and I realized their head wasn’t the only place injured. I shrugged out of my shirt and pressed the cloth against their stomach, holding on as tightly as I could.
I didn’t even realize I was crying until a teardrop fell on Charlie’s forehead. Once I saw that single drop, though, it felt like a dam had broken, and I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
I pressed my lips together and sobbed quietly. Where the hell was the fucking ambulance? “Don’t leave me, Ceebee. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Don’t leave me, you hear? I love you. Ineedyou.”
The sound of sirens approaching made me sit up, and then it was a blur of EMTs and police officers hurrying out to us. The officers tried to get a statement from me, but I’d be no use until I knew Charlie was okay, so I directed them toward Jo, who had come back to the scene.
I told the medics I was Charlie’s fiancé so they’d let me tag along and climbed into the ambulance before they could argue. As soon as the ambulance started driving, the medics hooked Charlie up to an IV and covered their face with a mask. One of them wrapped their head in gauze while another treated the wound on their abdomen. I tuned out what they were saying because I knew hearing how bad it was would only make me panic more.
I wasn’t a religious man since I’d grown up in a house where science and rationality were always given more credit, but at that moment, I prayed. I prayed to any God who would listen to let Charlie be okay because if I lost them…if I lost them, I wasn’t sure if I would survive.
I held Charlie’s hand as I watched their chest move as they took slow, shallow breaths. I couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt to breathe when they woke up, since they had so many bruised ribs. I also couldn’t stop watching their breathing. I was scared that the moment I looked away, their chest would stop moving. It was an irrational fear, but then again, most fears were. My hand tightened on theirs at the thought of them not breathing, and I shuddered in the uncomfortable plastic chair I’d installed myself in an hour ago.
Charlie would wake up. Theyhadto wake up. It’d been a whole day since they were brought to the hospital, and they hadn’t woken once.
I remembered how upset they’d been the past few days. They’d tried to hide it from me, but I’d known. Their brother’s reaction had hurt them worse than they had let on, and now this. Why couldn’t people just let others live their life like they wanted to and be happy for them? Why did they have to hurt people when they could justlet them be?
I’d asked these questions to myself so many times while I’d worked with kids at Voice Out, but never before had I wanted the answers as badly as I did now.
I decided at that moment—albeit a bit impulsively—that if Charlie did not wake up by this evening, I’d give their little brother a piece of my mind. I also needed to tell him what had happened, since technically he was still Charlie’s only living family that I knew of. The ball would be in his court then, and I wanted to know if all his love for his sibling had really been weak enough that he wouldn’t care that they had almost died.
The door to the private room we were in opened, and Mama D strode in. Before the door closed, I thought I glimpsed Luke and maybe even Angie standing outside the room, waiting for their turn to come in.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Mama D asked, and I shrugged, my eyes straying back to Charlie’s chest and resuming their watch because I. Just. Couldn’t. Stop. Watching.
All I could think about was Charlie lying on my couch with Cherry asleep on their chest, grinning as her long hair tangled in their beard. Or the smile on their face the time they had finally managed to use eyeliner without messing up. Or the way they had smiled at me just this morning, before they had left with Jo and right before everything had gone to shit. What if that was the last time I’d see their smile? The doctor had said Charlie would be okay, but what if something went wrong? What if I lost them? Would I be able to survive that?
A sob broke out of me at the thought, and then I was enveloped in a warm, motherly hug. I pressed my face against Mama D’s stomach, holding on to her with one arm as my other hand stayed curled around Charlie’s.
Mama D murmured comfortingly as she held me, and I couldn’t stop crying as I finally let myself feel all the fear and anxiety I’d tried to push away over the past few hours. I cried until I had no more tears left, and Mama D held on to me through it all even as my tears soaked the front of her shirt.
