Chapter Thirty-Seven #3
I clench my jaw, feeling a swell of inexplicable fury rushing through me at the confirmation that my concerns are justified.
These aren’t just random accidents. Luke is getting hurt by someone…
He has to be. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
With Rei’s words, a missing puzzle piece clicks into place, and my world tilts on its axis with the implications.
All this nonsense about self-induced injury is bullshit.
It’s been happening right under my nose, and I’ve been oblivious.
I lay his shirt back down and move my hand back to his hair, gently brushing my fingers through the golden strands.
“Why would he lie about this?” I ask, looking between his three friends, hoping for something—anything—that will make this make sense to me. They’ve known him far longer than I have… Surely, they’d have some insights.
Dmitry sighs, dragging a hand down his face. “Luke’s stubborn. I’m sure you’ve noticed this by now?”
I nod.
“Everyone knows he’s the first person to call when they need help. He’ll always rise to the occasion if someone he knows and loves needs him. But on the flip side of that, he’s fucking shit at receiving that same kind of support from others. I swear, he’d rather die than ask for help.”
“I’ve noticed.” I chuckle. “The first time we met, he reacted pretty harshly when I stepped in to defend him from some assholes trying to start trouble at work. It was a battle just getting him to accept a ride home when his car broke down.”
Star laughs. “Sounds about right. He’d rather push people away than let them get too close. It’s a defense mechanism.”
Her words ring true, and I’m reminded of the abuse he received in his youth after his premature outing—his inability to trust anyone because, at least back then, not a single person had his back.
He’d adapted to going it alone, and now he’s independent to a fault.
But when all you know is disdain and cruelty from others, why should you ever think you can rely on them?
“But this worries me…” I frown, gesturing down the length of Luke’s torso. “If he’s actively getting hurt again, that shit needs to get shut down.”
Star frowns. “Do you have any idea who it could be?”
“Yeah, a pretty good idea.” Frank’s face immediately comes to mind. “An old bully of his from high school. We work with him, and there’s been drama since the beginning.”
“Have you tried talking to him about it?”
“All the damn time. But he brushes me off. Says it’s nothing or lies about where it’s coming from. It’s so frustrating. Has he told you guys anything?”
All three of them shake their heads.
“You’ve got to be patient with him,” Rei urges. “The worst thing you can do is pester him. Trust me. It just makes him want to close up even further.”
“He’s like a cat that way.” Dmitry chuckles, holding a hand out to Misty, wordlessly asking permission to pet her.
Misty eyes his hand with narrowed eyes and a cautious twitch of her ears before leaning forward the rest of the way to let him scratch her chin.
“You have to let him come to you with it. You can’t force him to do what he doesn’t want to, or he’ll pull away. ”
“I just feel so helpless…” I sigh.
“You’re a good man, Ethan.” Star smiles. “It’s obvious how much you care about him. I know he feels it, too. The best thing you can do for him right now is just be there. He’ll open up to you eventually. Give it time.”
I give her a weak smile and nod, feeling like it’s still not enough, but it’ll have to do.
“Well, he’s out for the night.” Dmitry frowns, looking at Luke. “Guess he’s stuck on the couch if he’s not walking.”
“Nah, I’ve got him,” I say, gently peeling myself up from under his head.
Misty seems to know something’s happening as I get up, and she moves to the top of a nearby cat tree, perching to observe the scene with her ever-watchful eyes. She evaluates me curiously as I scoop Luke up from the couch with little effort, but I’ve gotten used to the weight of him in my arms.
However, it’s clearly not a common occurrence to see someone able to lift Luke’s tall form and his roommates gape at me, astonished to see me holding him as if he weighed nothing at all.
Star’s jaw drops with awe, and if it were possible for a human to have literal stars in their eyes, Rei’s would be full of them. Dmitry looks especially jealous.
“That’s unfair,” he whines. “How’d he get the hunky bodybuilder for a boyfriend?”
I grin, snaking my way around the couch. “See y’all in the morning.”
While I make my way down toward Luke’s bedroom, Misty leaps off the cat tree and zooms around me through the tiny apartment to Luke’s door, bolting inside.
She stands on the edge of the bed, her tail flicking excitedly as she watches me lay Luke down, pulling back the covers.
I feel like she’s judging me as I take off his glasses and put them on the side table, and even more so as I strip down to my boxers and settle next to him for the night.
I try to reach out to her, mimicking Dmitry’s silent request to pet her, but she keeps her distance at the foot of the bed, staring at me like she’s unsure what to make of me yet.
Just like Luke, I guess. Unwilling to let me get too close.
Lying in this unfamiliar bed with the sound of the unfamiliar city around me, I’m worried I’ll have difficulty getting to sleep. But with my arms wrapped around Luke’s sleeping form, I am surprisingly at ease. Before I know it, I’m out like a light.