WE ARE THE D.S (Somos la D.S - English version)

4. NEW LIFE

"Try to imagine this is a pair of swim shorts."

I smile as I try not to look too much, but it's impossible considering how much Roman has grown in the last few years. He's not the same old weakling, he's taller, taller than I remember.

Forgetting his military shave and letting his hair grow was the best decision he's made. It's still a little short on the sides and he has a few short dark strands at the top. The whole ensemble makes Roman accessible to anyone.
It's a nice feeling to have a handsome stepbrother. I guess growing up made us both reach our full potential.

"Call if you need anything."

As Roman bathes and simultaneously complains about the hot water on his wounds, I get ready to hand him some clean clothes and grab some of his for myself.

I lock up the house this time and watch my truck through the window, surely before I return I should clean it.

I call Timon and while I wait on the couch I stand next to him. After seeing the beating Roman has suffered, I doubt that being safe here is an option. The presence of some of my best friends by my side makes me feel a little safer.

When the water faucet is turned off, I wait a moment for Roman to finish.

"Now I can put a couple of bandages on you, the blood needs to stop," Roman comes out with the T-shirt in his hand.

I can't help but notice how some of his wounds have already started to bleed again.

"The blow was worth it after all."

"Why?"

"I think this was his way of telling me I'm out," as I try to adjust the bandages around his waist I search for the right words.

"Roman, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I refuse to believe that everything is as simple as it seems. The drug business has always been crude and I only know this from common sense. I have had no major experience with drugs beyond using them. But I have heard of people who have tried to get out of it all and few have succeeded.

"You're not the best at giving hope, are you?" Smile,"But Paul has assured me they don't need an idiot in their business and they don't want an addict. I let them believe it, at the time it seemed to be the only thing that suited me."

"But you can barely breathe without complaining, what do you think will happen once I leave the house and you're exposed?" Roman slouches his shoulders in his own way and I understand that there is little to appeal to him, "You see? I know the reason I came here was Timon, but I'd hate to have to hold your funeral and ruin my final exams. But it's a fact of life that here you could be easy prey for the whole bunch of bullies in this town."

"And what could I do, Baelee? I've screwed everything up, I have nowhere to go," her eyes become charged with a salty substance and my stomach is stoked with a sharp jab at the shock in her voice.

"Of course not, we can always work it out."

"There is no solution to this. They already know who I am, where I live, I'd even go so far as to say they know about you. It was a fucking mistake that you lent me your truck. Now, because of my foolishness and my fault you're in danger too."

"Of course there's a solution," I say as I wrap his hands in bandages, "There always is. And I know you may not like my solution, I don't even like it, but you have to come to the city with me. This is the only way we will be safe."

...

Life takes many turns and we rarely stop to think. This is one of the times where I act without thinking, where I let my survival impulses win and bringing Roman to live in my house is the clearest example.