next door » joshler [book #1]

thirty two » aftermath

"so he was that... ex boyfriend of yours?" tyler asks, wrapping a blanket around himself. he's hunched over on the couch, staring at josh with a mug of coffee clutched in his hands.

josh sighs. "yeah. i have no idea how he found me again..."

tyler bites his lip and nods, staring at the coffee.

"what did he do to you?" josh's voice is quiet. he's worried. all he knows is, tyler has been shying away from literally any human contact, and it's starting to scare him.

tyler presses his lips into a thin line and shakes his head. "let's not," he whispers. "i don't want to talk about it."

"okay." josh looks down and sighs. "i know something bad happened, though, and i'm just saying, ty... i could help you."

tyler glances at him, and there are tears in his eyes. "it was bad," he breathes, voice wavering. "he found me at my work, and when i was going home he grabbed me and put me in his car. h-he blindfolded me, tied my wrists together, all of that." he rubs his wrists subconsciously. "and he brought me to that apartment, and-" his voice breaks. "tied me to the bed. told me he knew i was with you, and that you were his and he was going to punish me."

josh is silent, watching tyler's eyes fill up with tears.

"and he..." tyler takes a deep breath. "fucked me."

in an instant, josh is on his feet, fury on his face, hands curling into fists. "tyler," he says in a low voice, "he raped you?"

the tears slide down tyler's cheeks, and he hesitates to nod. "i de-deserved it, though, because of what i d-did with jenna."

josh nearly grabs his shoulders, but refrains from touching him. "you don't deserve it. no one deserves something like that. don't talk like that, tyler, please." and he's crying too, and he sits back down, the anger fading. "i can't believe- well, no. i can. fuck, tyler, i should've known..." he trails off. "can i hug you?"

tyler moves as if to say yes, but almost instantly his face goes pale. "i'd rather you not," he says, and it comes out as a croak.

it's going to be hard to get used to it. but josh knows he has to. it's his fault it happened, anyway. should've known he couldn't run from mitch.

his phone vibrates, but tyler doesn't notice. josh checks the screen discreetly.

mitch: youre not as innocent as your boyfriend says you are.

he slowly puts the phone back in his pocket and looks at tyler. he's the innocent one here.

but he won't be much longer.

//hi friends check out my petekey story ily all//