Book 3: Saving Scars {BoyxBoy}

Chapter 5

"Are you doing okay?" Ben asked from his seat behind his desk, an empathetic frown on his lips as he stared over at Jaimie, who was sitting with his legs stretched out over the couch, his upper body leaning against Wolf, who had an arm wrapped around his slim waist to hold him up.

He offered Ben an unsteady smile and nodded, "Yes, thank you," he turned his head and bit his lip, "It's just...this is really hard for my family. The one thing they've fought to avoid happened despite their best efforts, and it happened to one of us....that really hurt them," he laid his head back against Wolf's shoulder, sighing, "It'll take a while for them to recover from this, especially since several of them have already been through something similar."

"Similar? How so?" Ben asked curiously, propping his elbows against the table as Jaimie frowned more.

"Seth's oldest sister shot herself five years ago," he explained, "He didn't see it happen, but he saw the aftermath. The others.....they're fighting through a lot. It's why being together in a group is so good for them. In most circumstances, putting a bunch of depressed and suicidal people in the same room for long periods of time would end tragically, but with them...they protect each other," his fingers trailed over the scar on his neck.

"It's extraordinary what your family is capable of," Ben said with a smile, and Jaimie laughed.

"Yea," he looked at the purple bracelet on his wrist, frowning, "We should probably order new ones," he murmured under his breath, "Add Chris' name."

Wolf tightened his grip, pulling Jaimie so he was sitting on his lap and leaning against him, "Don't jump to conclusions like that. He's still breathing, meaning he's still alive. Everything will be fine."

Jaimie nodded, more to reassure himself than to show Wolf he understood. The three lifted their eyes to the door when it opened to show an amused Gil and a put down Sebastian, who shuffled into the room and plopped down onto the carpet, arms folded and a little pout on his face.

Gil just sighed and rolled his eyes as he pushed the door closed, and Ben frowned deeply at him, "Where's your brother? I asked you to bring him back inside."

Gil just smiled at his adopted father, "No worries. He's fine."

"That's not what I asked," Ben said sternly, "After last night, I don't want him outside in the cold. It could lower his immune system and-."

"He's in good hands, pops," Gil said with a small laugh, raising his arms and folding them behind his head, "An old friend."

Ben blinked a few times as Wolf tipped his head to the side curiously, an eyebrow arching, "Gil, we don't have any old friends."

"We don't," Gil agreed, sitting down next to Wolf on the couch, setting his arms on the back of the couch, "Peter does. You probably don't remember him, but when we were still in that place with that woman, Peter had a really close friend, Jacob Levesque. They met in, like, preschool I think, long before I came around, and remained close friends til CPS dragged us out. As far as I know, they haven't talked or seen each other in eight years."

"Levesque," Jaimie's eyes were wide in mild shock, "That's the name of one of the detectives looking into what happened to Chris."

"Is it?" Gil laughed, "Neat. Always knew he'd do something big."

"Yea, I don't remember him," Wolf said, irritated, "You seem confident he's a good guy for Pete to be around. Are you sure? With his health, it's not really a good idea to assume things like this."

"Oh he's a good guy alright," Gil said, folding his hands behind his head and laying his head back, closing his eyes with a small smile, "You and Seb were too young to remember him, but he was always around, looking after Pete. I don't think even we realize how much Pete needs someone like that in his life."