Found

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN: ALEXANDER

The man who was attacking Iris left. I followed him to the front door, being sure to slam it behind him. I looked around at our friends and their dates. Everyone was quiet. We all basically agreed that the party was over without having to say anything. By the time I made it back upstairs, people were already starting to leave.

When I walk in, the first thing I take in is the fact that Iris is still trembling, and he's clinging to my brother. Sebastian is cradling him like a baby, rocking him back and forth, and Iris is hiding himself in the crook of his neck. When I walk over and put my arms around the two of them, Iris looks up at me and I see that he's crying, and there's a bruise forming on his cheek.

That breaks me.

The very idea that my little Iris could be so badly hurt with me being so near him, cuts me like a knife. I should have been able to protect him! I never should have let him out of my sight!

Iris laid a hand on my chest, and my first instinct was to wrap him up and hold him close. I brought one of my arms around Sebastian's waist, and held Iris's with my other one.

I don't know how long the three of us stayed like that. Long enough for Iris to stop crying, at least. Afterwards, Sebastian carried him over to the bed and laid him down. He brought the comforter up and draped it over Iris. Then he sat down beside him, and I took my place on the bed laying next to Iris.

I reach out and rub Iris's back. Sebastian is gently caressing his hair. Iris closes his eyes. He looks tired, but I can't let him sleep yet.

"Who was he, Iris?"

He doesn't answer me, but I know he's heard me; the muscles in his back tightened when I spoke.

"Little one... are you alright?"

"N-No! I'm not alright! I d-don't know why he's h-here! Why-- why can't he just.... I don't know..."

Iris brought his hands to his face as the tears came flooding out. I wrapped my arms around his trembling shoulders and pulled him into me. I waited for the tears to stop.

"His name is Zachary Blackburn, and he was... I used to date him. I met him two years ago..."

Sebastian and I waited in silence for him to continue.

"I saw him for the first time at a New Year's party. It had been a really difficult year for me... I guess I was looking for someone to take care of me. Zachary was twenty then, and he was charming. I was flattered that he was interested in me considering I was so much younger than everyone else there. When the party ended, I figured that it was over, and just accepted that I was never going to see him again. Zachary hadn't been invited, he just sort of showed up, like he did tonight. But then, a week after the new year started, I got a phone call... and it was Zachary! He had tracked me down after the party. Zachary could always find me... At first I thought it was charming, and I thought he was exciting, but I was wrong... he was just dangerous.

"One night, Zachary and I got into a fight... You see, Zachary never knew what he wanted, only what he had, and he had me. Only I wasn't giving him enough of me; he wanted more from our relationship, but I just wasn't ready. I was only fourteen, and he was six years older and not a virgin. Well, he had been pushing it and pushing it for weeks, trying to get me in bed with him, and I finally just yelled at him saying, 'if that's all you're after, you can go find another boy to go play with because I'm done.' --He didn't take it well.

"Zachary had been driving me around that night, and we had parked by the river. Zachary hit me, and I ran out of the car. He grabbed me and threw me on the ground. Then he was on top of me... I got away somehow, but he was still everywhere I went. I couldn't get rid of him! I didn't know what to do. His father owns one of the largest law firms in the country, so even if I went to the police, there was no way he was going to get in trouble; he could afford the best attorneys and defense lawyers money can buy. I was stuck in a twisted game of cat and mouse and he had me by the tail."