Gun and the rose

Liam

I slept pretty well last night. Ethan is very generous, letting me stay at his house.
I wake up seeing his head on my chest. I'm not particularly mad at it. I have never been in a relationship before except with my ex-wife, so this is new. I'm pretty happy in this position. I smirk, seeing him until he wakes up.
Ethan wakes up and jolts up from the bed, his eyes on me.
"hay, uh, sorry if that was weird." 
Ethan's face went from shock to a natural look; he looked at his watch and ran out of the house. He's probably going to work; maybe he's late.
I get up and walk around. There's nothing here, no pictures, no electronics, only a bed, one curtain, and a pile of clothes.
What in the world is going in with Ethan, maybe I should ask him what happened, or you could do a background check when I'm back on duty. I'll wait n see. I sit back in bed. Maybe I should buy something for him, some bathroom items and some food.
Thankfully I saw a Walgreens when Ethan and I walked to his house; I bought him paper two, some clothes, and some foods that don't need to be refrigerated or frozen.
I knew I was going to be broke from the lawyer. I hid a couple of dollars in my wallet, and my parents paid for everything is I could focus on learning and training to be a cop. They wanted me to wait to get into a relationship in college, so I didn't.

Walking back to the apartment, I left the door unlocked; nobody went in. I put the groceries away. I decided to call my contact from my friend from the prison.
"you there"
*year what you need."
"yea, could you do a background check for me"
"yea, who"
"his name is Ethan rose got it?"
"yep, I'll call you when I find anything
"Thanks"
I hang up my phone. Back to being bored, I decided to work out a hundred push up and sit-ups. After that, I take a shower and put on my new clothes. When I'm done, I decide to go to sleep; Ethan's still at work, and after some time, I fall asleep.

I hear the door open. I wake up immediately, seeing him walk in. Looking tired, he heads to the bed. I get ready for him, and he sits

"If you want anything, I can get it."

"uhh, oh, you.mm, I'm not hungry."
He lays down and goes to sleep. I look at him, puzzled. Ethan didn't eat all day. He must tell me he is hungry when he wakes up; I will push him to eat something.

The following day, I was up early to make him some food, some noodles and chips, and he was up just in time to look in my direction
"Here, I got some food for you."
He gets up and passes over to me. I hand him the plate he starts to eat; he doesn't show emotion at anything.

"is it good then?
He looks at me with an emotionless face and doesn't do anything. He walks back to the bed. I stroll over to him and sit neck to him."
"I'm sorry I brought you a couple of things."
He doesn't say anything; he puts down the plate and heads to the bathroom, thinking nothing of it; I wait for him

Tapping my foot, I look at the bathroom door. What's taking him so long? I can't. I get up, head to the door, and knock. I hear nothing; I nock again, nothing with shaking hands. I open the door slowly. I see Ethan on the floor.
His hands are cut open with multiple slashes of blood. I haven't been a cop that long, so seeing this much blood shocked me.
Instincts kick. I try to stop the bleeding grabbing the towel and rapping his arms in it.
"Leave me, let me go. This is for the best."
"what are you saying? This isn't for the best."
"it is!"
He swaps my hands away; I try to hold onto his arms, but he starts to cry, looking down to his knees. I feel sorry for him. I want to help in any way I know how. I go in for a hug, his arms resting on the floor.
"it's ok, Ethan, I'm here; just don't think about anything right now ok."
He nods. I pull back, wrapping some paper towel and towel around his arms, binding both.

"wait here, ok, I will be right back. I'm going to the store, ok?"
His eyes closed. He nods. I sprint out of the house to the store to buy medicine and bandages. After I bought them, I ran back to the house, hoping he didn't run off. I enter the house and enter the bathroom. He's still there. I bent down and applied cream bandages; he said nothing the entire time. I led him to the bed and sat next to him.
"do you want me to call anybody or"
"no, there's no one; just don't call anyone, please."
He looks at me with tears falling slowly.
"ok, I won't, just lay down and rest here."
I lay him down and pull over the covers and start rubbing his side until he falls asleep. I get up and walk outside to call my contact. He picks up
" Have you found anything on rehab"
"I was just about to call; there's a lot to keep up."
"first off, he's nineteen years; his parents died when he was in his senior year, and he was in and out of Foster homes and psychiatric facilities; a lot of domestic calls were called during his time in foster homes, and his biological parents he has no other family member." " that's it why you know him."
"no, just wondering; all right, that's it good night, man."
"good night, man."
I hang up and sprint inside quietly, close the door and lie on the bed. I hug him as I've never hugged anyone before; I pour all my emotions into him; I wouldn't say I like stories like these. It's worse when you know them. I hug him tightly while he sleeps.   I do even know why I'm doing this. He's a stranger, and he might not even like this when he awakes. I didn't care. I did it. I don't want to see him like that again. I fall asleep, rubbing him.