18
“I can still walk,” Jude resisted with great difficulty when Sky tried to help him up.
Sky ignored him completely. Without saying a word, he lifted Jude into his arms in a bridal style.
In Sky’s arms, Jude seemed tiny and fragile.
The walk from the parking lot to the school gate felt unbearably long, as if they had to cross a hundred miles.
As they passed through the gate, the guard glanced at them, but one look from Sky was enough for him to understand.
The guard stayed silent. Since the beginning of high school, he and Sky had secretly been acquainted, especially when it came to their drug operations.
Over the years, the security guard had become one of Sky’s most loyal accomplices.
Their relationship was purely transactional, and they both gained something from it.
Jude could hear Sky’s uneven breathing, deep, heavy, and almost as loud as the pounding of his own heart.
This time, the sound of his heartbeat felt like music to him.
He just wanted to go home. Exhaustion weighed heavily on him to the point where he felt like he could no longer keep going.
Sometime along the way, he realized he had already fallen asleep in Sky’s arms.
Somewhere in the middle of the drive, Jude slowly opened his eyes, his head still resting against the headrest of the passenger seat.
The moment he woke up, his gaze immediately fell on Sky.
He blinked a few times as though he was still trapped in a dream, but the aching soreness all over his body reminded him that everything was real.
Jude stared at Sky, who was quietly maneuvering the car despite his busted lips, broken nose, and the mix of fresh and dried blood smeared across his face.
Jude noticed the way Sky’s jaw tightened every time he clenched his teeth.
He looked completely focused on the road ahead, his eyes fixed forward, giving Jude the chance to watch him in silence.
Despite the wounds, cuts, and bruises covering his own body, Jude endured the pain as if it barely affected him.
He could even taste the metallic hint of blood at the corners of his mouth.
It was not the first time he had been beaten this badly.
In a way, Jude considered that a good thing, because he had already grown used to it.
He had become almost immune to the aftermath of pain and violence.
Jude remained still, silently staring at the man behind the wheel.
He had never looked at Sky this way before, not with eyes clouded by enervation and stripped of both fear and hatred.
Before, whenever Jude looked at him, it was always with either resentment or fear.
But this time, something felt different.
Jude’s gaze slowly drifted down to Sky’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows, then to the hand gripping the steering wheel. Sky’s other arm rested against the window while he drove with only one hand. His eyes lingered on his bruised and bleeding knuckles.
For some reason, Jude suddenly felt guilty and sorry.
The way Sky had beaten those guys just a while ago terrified him. He had been consumed by wrath. He was very frightening, powerful, and overwhelmingly intimidating. That was exactly how he saw him at that moment.
Jude still could not fully understand why Sky was there to save him or why he had not simply gone home and left him there.
Did he actually wait for me? he thought.
Jude blinked a few times and forced himself to shake away his thoughts.
His eyes drifted back to Sky’s hands firmly gripping the steering wheel, veins visibly protruding beneath his skin.
The sleeves of his white long-sleeved shirt were rolled up to his elbows, exposing the tattoos that covered his arms. Jude had no idea what any of them meant.
He had heard that tattoos often carried deep meanings, though some people only got them for fashion, and maybe Sky was one of those people, getting them simply to look good.
To him, tattoos usually looked messy and unpleasant.
He preferred boys who looked neat and clean, exactly like Jasper.
But if he were being honest, the tattoos embossed on Sky somehow suited him well.
Jude’s gaze slowly traveled up to Sky’s broad shoulders.
The white cotton fabric stained with blood clung tightly to his body, leaving little room for air as it stretched perfectly over his prominent biceps.
Every time Sky tightened his grip on the steering wheel, the muscles in his arms flexed even more.
Jude’s eyes wandered higher, stopping at his neck.
He found himself oddly fascinated by Sky’s Adam’s apple, far more noticeable than his own, while traces of tattoos peeked out from beneath the collar.
It made Jude wonder if there were even more tattoos hidden underneath his clothes.
His eyes slowly traveled upward to Sky’s sharp jawline, the faint stubble beginning to grow back along his shaved beard, and finally to his pointed nose.
His gaze trailed up to his eyes. Those eyes were beautiful, especially when he was serious, in deep thought, and silent. He was like a tamed lion.
The side of Jude’s lips slightly tipped up, watching him exhaustedly. Still staring at Sky’s face, he eventually drifted back to sleep in the same position when he woke up.
Jude was startled awake by a long horn blaring through what felt like his dream. He opened his eyes in shock, only to realize that Sky was the one pressing the button on the steering wheel.
“What the fuck are you still waiting here for? Don’t ever think I’ll open the door for you,” Sky roared before stepping out of the car.
He was very grumpy.
Jude watched him walk in front, hands tucked into his pockets, until he stopped at the side and turned back toward the car.
Jude quickly moved himself and opened the door as he realized he was waiting for him.
The pain and soreness in Jude’s body made it difficult to move, and every ache held him back. Still, he forced himself to step out.
Sky watched him for a moment, struggling with his life before turning away.
Jude looked at Sky as he opened the little, dirty white gates installed in a disorganized, overgrown, grassy front yard.
He looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, and it slowly hit him that they had arrived at Sky’s house.
“I w-ant to go home,” Jude said reluctantly in almost a whisper.
Sky turned around behind the open gate in disbelief and with an intimidating aura.
“What the fuck are you thinking? Get the fuck in!” he commanded, voice high and whole.
Sky’s voice deserted him. Jude staggered forward on unsteady legs, his head bowed as he slowly made his way toward him, unable to bring himself to look up.
When he reached the gate, Sky closed it behind them and continued walking ahead.
Jude followed, becoming increasingly uneasy as a cold breeze brushed against his skin.
He thought the boys at the parking lot had not managed to kill him only because Sky would likely finish the job here instead.
Sky unlocked the house using a key hanging from his pants and stepped inside.
A strong, masculine scent filled the air as Jude entered the living room.
The house looked somewhat old, especially with the yellowish bulb lighting.
The interior featured mostly wooden walls painted in soft off-white, accented by sections of exposed brown brick that added warmth and texture.
His eyes wandered around the room, and he quickly noticed how messy the house was.
Empty beer bottles were scattered across a small table in front of an old Sony television.
Cigarette filters and ashes were also strewn across the furniture.
In the corner, the fireplace remained untouched, its half-unburned logs and accumulated ashes suggesting it had sat abandoned since the previous winter.
Oversized shirts, shorts, and pants were tossed across the sofa.
A few pairs of dirty shoes and slippers lay scattered across the floor, some overturned and others resting upside down.
His cheeks flushed when he noticed a pair of black boxers, which he assumed belonged to Sky.
Jasper was far smaller than his brother, and besides, Jasper was known for being neat and organized.
These clothes clearly belonged to Sky. They were large, dirty, crumpled, and mostly worn out. Some even had small holes.
“Do you know where Jasper is?” Jude abruptly covered his mouth with his hands as he realized what he had asked without even thinking about who he was with, realizing that he had voiced his intrusive thoughts.
Sky stopped mid-stairs, his back facing him. Jude ducked his head down and closed his eyes. He mentally slapped himself for his inborn stupidity.
“Who told you to talk to me?” Sky asked, and Jude could hear his steps getting closer down the stairs. “It doesn’t mean I let you come here, have you the permission already to converse with me…”
Jude could hear his shoes growing bigger, and a lump was forming in his throat.
His feet began to tremble. As he drew closer, his looming shadow swallowed the space between them.
Jude stumbled backward until his legs bumped into the sofa, forcing him to stop.
Sky only halted when he was inches away from him.
Jude could feel the high intensity of the magnetic force between them.
It was burning, intimidating, debilitating, and frightening.
“I let you come to my house because of that useless fucking research, and you will just do it as fast as you can so you can disappear from my sight. Besides that, you keep your fucking mouth shut. You got me?” Sky went closer to Jude, closing the mere gaps between them.
The oxygen he breathed out fanned his face, and he could smell his manly scent mixed with blood and sweat.
Jude nodded anxiously, “I-m sorry.”