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“Nothing’s going to fix this.” His denial didn’t surprise me. I expected it. At least he took what I gave him and swallowed the water.
Casper set the glass on the other nightstand and slowly got out of bed. I heard him suck in a breath when his eyes landed on Elic. “Reed,” he whispered.
“If you would have stayed at the restaurant, he could have explained. You read him wrong.”
“I’m going to hurt him.”
Sitting up, I moved so I partially sat behind Casper and could put my arm around his waist and lean my cheek onto his shoulder blade. It was still foreign to me to be able to do this. In the past, I wouldn’t have attempted it, but that Casper and this one weren’t the same. Yes, in some ways they were. In others, they were entirely different. This Casper was willing to bare himself to us and speak about what he was thinking. He couldn’t always find the words, but at least he tried. “You’re not, Cas. You care about him too much.”
Before he could respond, Elic started thrashing his head from side to side and moaning, but not sexually. This was filled with pain. “No,” he whimpered.
I wanted to go to Elic, but Casper was the one who should be there for him. For all the horrible things Casper thought he was capable of, what he didn’t realize was he was very compassionate. Now that he’d broken down a wall, he showed us another side of himself.
Casper’s hand tightened on the sheet by his thigh, his body drawing taut.
“Go to him,” I whispered.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
Waking Elic was a risk. He could lash out like he’d said he would. To let him continue to suffer in whatever nightmare was running through his head was a worse fate.
Elic suddenly sat up, gasping, sucking in air as he scanned his surroundings. It was the push Casper needed to get out of bed and go to him. “You’re okay, El.”
Looking up, his startled eyes settled on Casper. “Cas?”
“I’m here. Reed too. You’re okay.”
“He was there, in front of me. He… He told me he hadn’t been able to… to sate his cravings since I left.”
Bile rose from my stomach. I wanted to find that piece of shit and strangle him.
“The others were there too,” Elic continued. “Those I’d met before. Who… who held me down, tore off my clothes, and...”
Casper dropped to his knees in front of the chair and reached for Elic’s hand. “No one’s going to touch you ever again. We won’t let them.”
“Why won’t it end?” he whispered brokenly. “Why won’t he leave me alone? I just want to be free.” I could hear the tears in his voice, the way his breath caught on every other word.
If Starry would have been here, she would have been on Elic’s lap. Last night before we fell asleep, Elic let her out, and she took off running toward the farm. He said Mom texted him to let him know she was there and not to worry about her. They’d keep her for the night or longer if we needed them to.
Moving closer, Casper sat up on his knees so he could wrap his arms around Elic, albeit hesitantly. There was no resistance on Elic’s part. He went right into Casper’s embrace and held him tightly while he cried.
My heart cracked open for them. Their wounds were so deep, I hoped they would eventually heal.
“I’m sorry,” Elic said. “I’m so sorry.”
Casper pulled back and cupped Elic’s cheeks. “What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong.”
“He was near you. You touched him. I didn’t want to see him again, especially not here, not with you and Reed, with the people at the restaurant. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. And he was there for me. I don’t want you near him, Cas,” he rushed out. “I don’t want you to touch him or talk to him. He’s awful.”
“Hey, take a breath. I’m not going near him again unless he comes for you. If he does, I’ll step into his path every time. He’s lucky I didn’t fucking kill him.” The last sentence was spoken with a growl.
“You can’t do that. I don’t want you going to jail. He’ll try to ruin everything to get me back to him. I’m surprised it took him this long to find me. He’d searched before. There were rumors of him asking about me, but he never found me. I gave those I met out there a fake name. I didn’t want to be found. Not by him. Now he’s here. He knows where I am, who I’m with.”
“None of it matters. He can’t touch us. We have more money, more lawyers, and a hell of a security system to keep him away. We’ll hire bodyguards if that’s what it takes.”
“Reed, tell him not to go near him again,” Elic begged me.
