Dude...Thats Not a Guy

33. I like impulsive

Zeke's POV

When I say it has been a long day, I mean it has been a long day. Between my eight-hour shift and overthinking about Xavier I was bloody exhausted. I hadn't been back to see him since I saw Maer slap her own child and emotionally abuse him. I couldn't go back, for no other reason than I didn't know what to say to him.

What do you say to someone after that? After they cling to you for dear life afterwards and you help them cover up the bruising on their face because their mother is too disgusted to even look at it.

I sat in my car in the driveway, seeing Ashton's car already here. I rubbed my face with my hands to wake myself back up again. Okay, well, if Ashton is here then maybe I can talk to him about it, get it off my chest.

I walked into the house, hearing talking coming from the kitchen, so I immediately rounded the corner to reach the room.

"Hey, guys, can I..." I trailed off, realising that Soraya was holding Ashton's forearm, and the two were too close for a normal conversation. Both of them looked at me. Soraya had panic in her eyes and Ashton looked confused, but whatever was happening now could wait.

"Ashton, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked. Soraya's look of panic turned into one of anger. "It's about Xavier." I added. Her eyes softened.

"What?" She asked. I shook my head.

"I'd rather just..." I pointed to Ashton, who nodded, taking his arm away from Soraya, who almost held on with a death grip.

"Hey, I won't be long." He said. She nodded.

"I'll be in my room. I'll take your hot chocolate." She said, overly nervous about being with one of her friends. I watched as Ashton nodded before I dragged him out of the kitchen and into the lounge room, waiting for Soraya to sneak up the stairs before I started speaking.

"Okay, I don't know how to ask this without..." I trailed off. He furrowed his brows while looking me in the eye.

"Without what?" He asked. "What the hell is going on? Is this about Xavier or was that a cover-up so you could talk to me about your sister because I swear I-"

"No, it's about Xavier. Should I be talking about my sister? You are giving me some major fucking concerns-"

"No, don't be concerned. I just thought I might be about to get the threatening brother talk was all, but if not, continue on." He said, now I was fucking confused. What the hell kind of conversation had I walked in on?

"We are going to put a pin in that and circle back shortly, okay?" I said, mainly because if I didn't talk about Xavier I was going to lose my mind. "Xavier, do you know about..."

"About what? Him being gay? Technically no, he hasn't told anyone, but it seems to be a thing that is happening. And that's fine. My main concern is what happened to Leah may happen to him if that's true."

"Leah..."

"His older sister, she left because she's lesbian. If she hadn't of left, I assume she would have been kicked out." He said, which seemed to make the entire situation worse. Fuck.

"Do you know Maer hits him?" I asked, his eyebrows raised for a second, but settled back down. He looked over his shoulder and nodded, maybe checking that Soraya wasn't in the room before speaking.

"Yeah, it was happening for years, but I thought it stopped. Why?" He asked.

"When I went there last... I snuck in through the window and Maer heard us arguing, but I couldn't sneak back out in time, so he shoved me into the walk in and..."