11. Chapter 11
Mano’s gaze snapped back to Kash as it clicked. Stella’s ex. The one she kept mentioning. His thoughts barely had time to settle before he noticed two guys tapping bats against their palms while the others cracked their knuckles.
He took a couple of steps back. This was bad. He’d been in situations like this before and knew exactly where it would go. Six against one. They had weapons. He had nothing.
Run? They wouldn’t let him. And running wasn’t his style. He wasn’t dumb enough to stand still and wait for a beating, but he had no real choices left.
His eyes swept over the young men as he retreated another step.
“What’s the matter? Leaving already?” Kash mocked. A couple of his friends chuckled behind him.
“All this over Stella?”
He tilted his head, studying Mano like he was something amusing.
“Let me explain why this is happening.” He lifted a finger, counting.
“First, you took my girl.” Another finger.
“Second, you spilled coffee on my shirt and beat me until I was bleeding. So tell me,” he said, stopping right in front of him, “if you were me, wouldn’t you want to beat the shit out of you? ”
Behind Kash, the group began closing in.
Shit.
“Well? I’m waiting for an answer.”
“You started it. You and your friends.” Mano snapped.
Kash laughed, and the others joined him. “We were just messing with Ody. That’s all.”
“And the coffee you threw at him?” Mano asked.
Kash’s laughter faded. “If you’d stayed out of it, none of this would’ve happened. Ody takes it like a good boy. We weren’t gonna hit him until you showed up.”
Mano kept backing away, eyes narrowed.
“I wanna ask you something, and I want the truth,” Kash said, crossing his arms. “Did you freak out so much because you’d been through this yourself?”
Mano stopped walking. For a brief moment, his face went completely still.
Kash noticed. A slow grin spread across his lips. “Yeah?” he said, tilting his head. “Did I hit a nerve?”
Mano’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t answer.
Kash stepped closer, studying him now with open curiosity. “Looks like our tough guy used to get bullied.” He let out a short laugh. “Tell me something. Why were you bullied?” He paused, watching Mano carefully. “Because you’re an orphan?”
The moment the word left his mouth, something snapped in Mano. His face twisted with rage. He glared at him, shaking with fury, then charged. His fist smashed into Kash’s face with a raw shout.
The others grabbed him and shoved him back. Mano managed to hit the first two, but hands clawed at his arms and locked him in place. He grunted, fighting to break free, as Kash slammed a punch into his jaw, snapping his head sideways.
“From now on, I want you to behave even better than Ody. If you don’t, we’ll come find you again.
” A punch drove into his face. “And make sure you remember it.” Another punch.
“It’s your choice if this continues. And from what I know, you’re all alone.
I can bring more people to fuck you up.” He punched him in the stomach, forcing a groan out of Mano.
“And if you try to play hero again, I’ll beat Ody worse than I’m beating you.” Kash spoke slowly while Mano stared at him with pure hatred.
Two guys held him. The rest stood back while the last one kept hitting him. Mano twisted in their hold, trying to break free, but their grips only tightened.
“And about Stella. I know how you treat her. If you don’t start acting like a gentleman, we’ll do this again.”
“You’re not telling me to stop seeing her?” Mano forced the words out through the pain.
“Even if I did, would you listen? As long as she wants you, I can’t stop it. But until I win her back, you’re gonna treat her right. Got it?” Kash threw a hard punch near Mano’s lips, then let him drop.
Two of the guys kicked him in the ribs. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs.
For a second, the blows felt painfully familiar.
“Look at the little shit who dared talk back,” one of the high school boys yelled as the others closed in around him. “Not so talkative now, huh?”
Fifteen-year-old Mano curled up on the ground, trying to shield himself, but it did nothing.
“You like that?” one of them spat.
Mano lay there, bloody, bruised, barely conscious on the schoolyard pavement.
“And don’t let me hear you talking to the principal,” the boy warned. “I’ll bring the others. You have no idea what they’ll do to you.” They laughed. “Talk back again and find out.”
The memory shattered when another kick slammed into Mano’s side.
They kept kicking him until Kash lifted a hand. He stepped over and straddled him, Mano barely able to lift his head. “Now let me hear it.” A punch. “Gonna act tough again?” Another punch. “Gonna get involved if you see us messing with that loser again?”
Mano didn’t move. His head hung to the side, eyes half-closed.
“Hey. I’m talking to you.” Kash grabbed his jaw and forced it up. Mano’s eyes fluttered. “You understand who’s in charge now?”
Mano took a shallow breath and nodded the tiniest bit.
“That’s what I thought. You gonna behave now, or I’ll bring more?”
Mano’s eyes closed. Kash jerked his jaw again. “Stay with me. You gonna stop acting tough now?”
Mano nodded weakly.
“Good. See? Not that hard.” Kash stood. The six boys stared down at Mano lying broken on the cold ground. “Let’s go.” They walked away.
Mano didn’t move. His ribs throbbed, his back burned, his face ached with every breath.
He fumbled for his phone. The screen was cracked, but he unlocked it and opened his contacts. There was no one to call. No family. No friends. No girl who mattered. He closed the list and opened his DMs. With trembling fingers, he tapped a name.
“Moro mu…” Anna gasped as Ody kissed along her neck. Their lips met.
He slipped her shirt off when a sound came from his phone. He glanced over.
“Leave it,” she murmured, but he blindly reached for it.
Mano Jones: Call me. Next to the message was a ten digit number.
“Hold on,” he said, moving away.
“Ody, seriously? No phones. We agreed.” She straightened on the bed.
“Wait. Something’s wrong.” He dialed the number Mano had sent.
Mano’s phone rang in his hand. He stared at the cracked screen, saw an unfamiliar number, and answered with a wince as he brought it to his ear. “Yeah…”
“Mano? What’s going on? Why did you tell me to call you?”
“Where are you?”
“At Anna’s place.”
“If I’m interrupting—”
“No, you’re not. Is something wrong?” he asked.
Mano suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, crying out.
“Mano?” Ody’s voice sharpened. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“They hit me.”
“What?” He shot up from the bed, his heart dropping. “Who hit you? Mano, what happened?”
“Can you... come get me? I can’t walk,” Mano said, his voice raw with pain.
“Where are you?”
Mano gave him the name of the school, and Ody hung up, scrambling to get dressed. “I’m coming. Hang in there.”
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
“It’s Mano. They beat him up,” he said, pulling his shirt on as he rushed to the living room.
“What? Who?”
“I don’t know, I’m going. We’ll talk later.” He slipped on his shoes, grabbed his keys, and ran out.
He got in his car and drove like a madman. In minutes, he reached the school. It was dark and quiet, lit only by a single streetlight.
“Mano!” he called, peering through the gates. He turned on his phone’s flashlight and finally spotted him on the ground. His eyes widened, breath catching. He climbed the gate and ran to Mano, dropping to his knees beside him. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Mano stirred and opened his eyes.
“I should call an ambulance.”
“No.” The word was quiet, but there was no hesitation in it.
“I don’t care what you say. I’m calling them.” Ody reached for his phone.
“No ambulance. I don’t wanna go to the hospital, please.” Mano looked at him with a pained expression.
“Who did this to you?” Ody’s voice shook.
Mano swallowed and let his head fall to the side.
“Tell me who did this.”
“What difference does it make?” Their eyes locked.
“It was him, wasn’t it? Kash.” Ody’s eyes flared.
“Him and five others.”
Ody tensed. “Can you stand?” He grabbed Mano’s arms to help him up, but he groaned in pain, so Ody eased him back down. “Mano, you need the hospital.”
He didn’t expect him to grab his wrist with sudden strength. “No! Not again. I don’t wanna go again. Please. Don’t take me.”
Their eyes held, and Ody blinked. “O-okay. Calm down.”
Mano’s body loosened a little.
“I’ll help you up, and we’ll head to the car. But we have to get over the gate. Can you do it?”
Mano exhaled. “I don’t know. It hurts.”
“If we can’t make it, I’ll have to call an ambulance.”
“No, I’ll... I’ll get up.” He tried, and Ody caught him.
Mano managed to stand, though he couldn’t straighten his back.
“Does it hurt here too? How did they hit you?” Ody asked, slipping Mano’s arm over his shoulder.
“They had bats.”
Ody froze.
They reached the fence, and he helped Mano climb. He groaned in pain, struggling with every movement. When he landed on the other side, he fell to the ground.
Ody climbed over and helped him up. “Come on, the car’s right here.” He opened the back door and helped him stretch across the seats. He rushed to the front, started the engine, and drove off. “Hang in there.”
He spotted an open pharmacy near Pangrati, ran inside, grabbed supplies, then hurried back and kept driving until they reached his building. “Mano... we’re here.” He opened the back door.
Mano’s eyes were closed, his face twisted in pain, one hand gripping his side.
“Come on.” Ody lifted him and helped him toward the entrance. “Just a bit further. We’re almost there.” He guided him into the elevator.
They reached Ody’s apartment, and he unlocked the door. “Lie down.” He helped Mano onto the couch, then hurried to the kitchen and grabbed the pharmacy bag, pulling out painkillers. He filled a glass of water. “Take this. It’ll help.”
Mano swallowed the pill and leaned back.
“Let me check.” Ody lifted his shirt, revealing his abs. No bruises yet, but they’d show soon. “Where exactly does it hurt?” He pressed a spot gently, and Mano winced. “Sorry. Sorry.”
Then he noticed the blood on his lips. “Hold still.” He opened the pharmacy bag and took out a cotton pad. Gently, he wiped the blood from Mano’s lips before dabbing antiseptic onto the cut.
Mano flinched.
“Just a little patience,” Ody said, finishing the job. He wrapped ice in a towel and placed it on Mano’s ribs.
“Ah, cold,” Mano muttered, and Ody gave a small smile.
“I’m holding it as gently as I can,” he said.
A moment later, he took out a tube of gel.
“What’s that?” Mano asked.
“Bruise gel. I’ll give you more painkillers in four hours, but you need to eat first.”
“You’ll... give me painkillers?” Mano blinked.
“Yeah. And I’ll make you something to eat, so you can take the meds.”
“You’ll make me something… to eat?” His brows drew together.
“Someone’s got to take care of you.”
Mano kept looking at him, confusion and exhaustion in his eyes. Care was a word he had almost forgotten.
“You’re staying with me tonight.”