Book 3: Saving Scars {BoyxBoy}

Chapter 10

"Y-your mother?" Jaimie repeated, his eyes wide as he looked at each of Wolf's brothers, then at Wolf, who smiled, wincing.

"It's okay. We're okay."

"You were all h-hurt!" Jaimie said, eying the bandages on Gil's face and over his nose, then at where Peter was lying in a hospital cot, Jacob sitting on the edge of the bed beside him, frowning. Jaimie sighed and walked over to Wolf, sitting carefully on his lap and tracing his jaw with his fingers, "You promise you're okay?"

Wolf nodded and leaned back in his seat, his arms wrapping around Jaimie's waist and pulling him so he was lying against Wolf's chest, "I promise. I was...kind of scared, but all of us were. That woman....is not sane."

"She won't bother us anymore," Sebastian assured, pulling at his shirt collar and wiggling because of how uncomfortable the bandages on his chest felt, "She's going to prison. Kind of hard to ignore this kind of assault, especially when she used a knife."

Jaimie looked at him with wide eyes, "Sh-she pulled a knife on you?"

Sebastian nodded, "It itches," he said in irritation, but Gil grabbed his hand before he could open the shallow cut.

"Come here," he ordered, "You're not supposed to mess with it."

"But it itches," Sebastian complained, slipping from his chair and onto Gil's lap, letting his older brother take his hands to keep him from scratching.

"That's because it's healing. You're lucky it wasn't deeper."

Sebastian pouted and curled up on Gil's lap, nuzzling his face against his neck, "Fine. You'll just have to keep holding my hands so I'm not tempted to scratch at my chest."

Gil rolled his eyes, "You're way too high maintenance," he looked over at his unconscious older brother with a heavy frown, "How's he doing?"

Jacob looked up at Gil before returning his attention to Peter, "Sleeping...he's still really pale...I think he's okay," his voice was low in anxiety, and he sighed as he shifted on the bed so he was sitting on Peter's right side, leaning with his back against the wall and stretching his legs over the bed, an arm wrapping up above Peter's head as he watched him sleep, "He'll be okay."

Jaimie was frowning as he laid against Wolf, his left arm around his neck while his fingers raked through his soft hair, passing gently across the throbbing area on top of his head where Andrea had grabbed his hair and yanked at it. He massaged the painful area with delicate strokes, smiling when Wolf hummed and leaned into his touch.

He could understand the emotions Wolf had felt at seeing his abusive mother. It was probably similar to what he felt when he saw Brad at school. Horrified, paralyzed, fearful that he was going to hurt him again. After all, his entire soccer team went to the school. If Brad said to do what they'd done on Christmas, the boys would probably listen. Hell, they'd do more than touch him if Brad said to. That thought...that realization...really scared Jaimie.

It was the same with Wolfgang. Seeing his mother made him remember all those times when he would hide in the room he shared with his brothers, shaking and crying while that woman beat Peter into a bloody and unconscious heap. The thought made Jaimie shiver, and Wolf tightened his grip on him, his breathing steady, signalling that he'd fallen asleep. Jaimie was actually tired as well, as he hadn't really been sleeping well ever since Chris, so he shut his eyes and wrapped his other arm around Wolf, easily drifting to sleep.

Not long after, Gil and Seb followed into sleep, while Jacob stayed awake, lying down on the hospital bed beside Peter, his fingers tracing his bottom lip and chin as he stared at him, his eyes drooping and closing completely, passing out with an arm thrown over Peter protectively, his elbow bent and his hand on his friend's opposite shoulder.