Sparta ~Tommy Conlon

Chapter 3: Respect

Malia's POV:

"Hey M," Tommy said with a smile.

I slightly smiled. "Took you long enough."

"U-Uh, sorry," Tommy replied.

I sat up immediately and looked at Tommy, Tommy never stutters I thought. I made eye contact with him and saw that he was trying to hide something.

"What?" I asked as I jumped out of bed. I set my hand on his bicep. He flinched at my touch, I was completely alert now, "What did I do..? I didn't mean to hurt you."

Tommy shook his head, "It wasn't you."

I rolled up the sleeve on his sweatshirt and saw minor bruising on his forearm, I couldn't make it all the way to his bicep though. I grabbed the hem of his sweatshirt and lifted it. Tommy knew what I was doing and complied, he also knew that there was no way around it. I got his sweatshirt off easily and set it on the bed, I looked at his bicep and examined the bruising. It was fresh, still red. I looked up at Tommy and he stared at me silently. I looked back at him and admired him, Ok, I know he's my best friend, but he's got a hot body. He has a really nice 6 pack, with the outline of where an 8th pack should be. His arms were huge and his back was so muscular and anyone could tell.

When I looked at his abs I saw a huge red mark and on his side was a black and blue blotch of skin. "Turn around," I spoke breaking the silence.

"Malia." Tommy tried to protest.

I made eye contact with him and he saw the tears in my eyes. He complied and turned around. I gasped and looked at the blackness of his back. It was hard to find an area of skin that was his normal tan color, he had black and blue blotches, purple and red marks, then there was the green and yellow from the almost healed marks.

He turned back to me and tried to avoid eye contact. "Who did this to you, Tommy?" I whispered.

He stayed silent.

"Tommy?"

He finally locked eyes with me. I could see the emotions in his eyes, a mix of anger, disappointment, and fear. "Can I stay here till we go back to school..?" Tommy whispered.

I nodded. "Of course you can."

"Ok." He said and set his duffel bag on the table. He then went and took his shoes off and set them in my closet. I stayed in my place and watched him, his movements were quick he then found his way to the bed and sat down carefully, he set his head in his hands.

I guess he didn't want me to find out yet. I walked over to him and got down on my knees. I took his hands in mine and kissed them softly. I looked up at him but he was stuck in a trance. "Tommy."

His breathing was starting to rapidly increase until he was almost hyperventilating. "Tommy!" I almost yelled.

His hands started shaking in mine and I tried my best to calm him. "Hey, you're ok. We're in this together."

He stopped dead in his tracks, his breathing steadied, his shaking stopped, his eyes moved to mine and he spoke quietly. "You mean that..?"

I nodded. "Always."

He sadly grinned at me. I stood up and spoke quietly. "I want to hug you right now but I don't want to hurt you."

Tommy stood up and made sure his hands stayed with mine. "You could never hurt me, you just, caught me off guard I guess."

He let go of my hands and wrapped his arms around me. I hesitated before gently wrapping my arms around him. He was still shaking slightly and I spoke. "Shh, Tommy, you're ok."