Neighbour

37.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Eddy hissed at the shorter Officer Hahn. He could feel the frustration burning inside, knowing damn well how Brett would react to this.

Eddy knew that damn well because he had been the one to stay with him while in the hospital after being begged to stay. He had been the one to comfort him after he woke up screaming and crying in fear of the man that had beaten him half to death. Eddy had been the one to hold his hand and assure him.

Turned out Brett had tried to break up with Mike that night, which Mike clearly didn't accept. Heaven knows what he would do to get the fragile man back, or what he would do if he couldn’t.

"We haven't been able to locate him, but I assure you we are doing everyth…"

"Tell that to him!" Eddy snapped, pointing in the direction of the hospital door where the poor guy was drugged down on sleeping pills to get some escape from the nightmares. There was no way he was getting any measurable amounts of sleep without it. "He's going home tomorrow! How do you expect him to feel safe when the fucker who beat him half to death is still out there?"

"Please, Mr Chen, I completely understand the concern," Officer Hahn said calmly, not affected by Eddy's harsh tone. "We have the restraining order in place, and we are doing everything we can to find him."

"A restraining order won't stop him. Especially because he doesn't know there's a restraining order," Eddy hissed, shaking his head and standing up. "Screw this. You better find him! By fucking tomorrow!"

"Mr Chen, please sit and we can…"

"No! Someone's gotta be with him. Keep him safe, because you aren't," Eddy snapped, walking off. To hell with the police. They hadn’t been of any use yet, so why would they be now? The most important thing was to keep Brett safe and they couldn’t even place an officer by their building to make sure he didn’t come back!

So despite Officer Hahn's pleas to please stay and talk, Eddy stomped off, back to Brett’s hospital room.

As always, he made sure to close the door quietly, knowing loud noises made him jump.
"Just me," he whispered to the sleeping figure in the dim room, wanting him to know he was safe, even in his dreams. Wanted him to know he wasn’t Mike.

Eddy sat down carefully, not wanting to make any excess sound to wake him. Not that he really could, with him being drugged down like this. He had noticed though, that sometimes, when there were multiple distractions, even the drugged sleep was restless. He hated that. Hated seeing his brows furrowed with worry, and how he curled up to keep himself safe.

"I'll keep you safe, Brett," he whispered, gently brushing some of his dark tufts of hair away from his forehead to keep them from falling in his eyes. The sleeping figure let out a sigh as he let down the slight tension in his shoulders. "I promise."