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He doesn't believe them, Carter realizes.He doesn't believe any of this.
"Maybe we should all take a break," Nathan says from his spot off to the side. "Give everyone a chance to process."
"But-"
"That might be a good idea," Benny agrees, cutting Carter's objection off. He runs his fingers through Casey's hair, his smile sad but fond when Casey leans into the touch. "I think Casey could use a break."
Casey doesn't speak.Why would he? He thinks he's still a fucking slave.
"Has he fucked you?" Carter asks, ignoring everyone but Casey. When Casey doesn't say or do anything, he reaches out and grabs his friend's face with both hands, forcing him to make eye contact. "Has Benny touched you? Fucked you?"
If he thought Casey's eyes were wide before, that was nothing compared to what they are now. "I - I-"
“Carter-” Benny and Nathan say at the same time, one angry, one worried.
"You can tell me. It's okay. Tell me if he's done anything to you."
"He - he takes good care of me," Casey whispers.
Carter shakes his head in frustration. "But has he touched you sexually? Or hurt you? Punished you?"
"N-no." Casey pulls away from Carter and drops his chin, shoulders curling again. "Mas -Bennydoesn't…wantme…"
There's so much sadness in the words. Like he's confessing something dark. Something shameful. Like it hurts him that Benny doesn't do those things to him.Maybe it does.
Carter looks at Benny, eyes watering. The man just shakes his head.
"You're right," Carter chokes. "We should all take a break."
Casey looks unbelievably relieved when he's led out of the bedroom. When the door clicks shut behind them, Carter turns to Nathan and asks the one question he's terrified to know. "Is Casey broken?"
Nathan’s expression twists. “I don’t know… but if he is, we’ll fix him.”
They try again a few hours later. They’re in a time crunch, according to Nathan. He and Benny need to travel to Miller’s home base, and they were hoping to leave Carter and Casey together in Nathan’s room while they were gone. They can’t do that if Casey isn’t stable, but they’re running out of time.
Benny brings Casey back to the room, dressed in Benny’s clothes this time. He doesn’t kneel when the door shuts, but he still won’t look away from the floor or greet Carter.
Benny gives Carter a pained smile. “I thought it’d be good for the two of you to call Maison.”
“Oh…” Carter shifts uncomfortably, eyeing Casey for a moment before turning to Nathan. “Does Maison even know Casey is here?”“We told him, yeah. We’ve been talking with him on his burner phone a lot lately, updating him about everything. I didn’t want him in the dark when –if– you decided to call him.”
If Carter wasn’t so stressed out about the Casey situation right now, he’d probably feel guilty about the reminder that he still hasn’t gotten himself to call his brother. It looks like that’ll be changing today anyway.
Carter sighs. “Then I guess we call Maison.”
“I’ll send him a text on his burner to let him know. He’ll call when it’s safe.” Nathan pauses, tilting his head at Carter. “You okay?”
All he manages is a soft, “Mhm.” He’s not okay, not at all, but Nathan can’t change that.
“Are you… okay?” Carter asks. “Casey?”
Casey does this strange little shuffle with his feet before peeking at Carter through his lashes. His lips part, but no sound comes out. He looks off to the side at Benny before clamping his mouth shut and looking down again.
They’re not going to get anywhere with Nathan and Benny in here. Even with Maison’s help, it won’t matter.
“You need to leave,” Carter tells Benny with as much authority as he can muster.
Benny arches a brow. “No, that won’t be happening.”
