Book 4: Remembering Scars {BoyxBoy}

Chapter 21

"Andy!" Andy jumped up, stepping away from the railing and looking down at where Chrystal had her little hands latched to his jeans, a huge smile on her face.

"Chrys," he sighed, hand on his chest, "Jeeze, don't do that, scared the hell out of me."

Chrystal gave an exaggerated gasp, "You swore!"

Andy's lips twitched up and he knelt down tickling the little girl's stomach, "You scared the pee outa me, then."

"Ewe!" Chrystal shrieked, laughing, and Andy giggled before looking up.

Brad was standing a few paces away, hands tucked into his pockets, duffel bag hanging off one shoulder, staring out past the bridge, "M-morning, coach."

Brad gave a slow mumble to show he had heard before turning to look at Andy, shock flickering through his blue eyes, "What happened?" he demanded, and Andy stared blankly at him for a moment.

"Happened?"

"Your face."

Andy drew his eyebrows together, "Rude."

Brad rolled his eyes and pulled out his cell phone, holding it in front of Andy's face so he could see his reflection. It made his stomach lurch up to his throat. Dark bags layered under his green eyes, and a scrape traced his jaw before breaking into a light bruise beneath his eye.

Shit.

His cousin never hit him on the face before, it was always easy to hide. He really must have been drugged up to mark up his face like that. Not a problem. Andy was used to hiding the injuries.

He hunched his shoulders and looked up at Brad from behind his eyelashes, "That's embarrassing."

"Embarrassing?" Brad slid his phone back into his pocket and Andy stood up.

"Well, last night on my way home, I wasn't looking, and I guess I should've noticed the sign, like those stop signs, with wood posts. I walked into one. Didn't notice it left a bruise," he forced his face to twist intoba concerned expression, "People are gonna get weird ideas now."

Brad just narrowed his eyes, and Andy felt his heart thud against his ribs, because he could see in the man's eyes that he didn't believe Andy even a little, "Why are you lying?"

Andy felt the color drain from his face, which didn't at all help his situation, "Why would you assume I was lying? That's kind of mean. We have nothing if not trust."

"Bull," Brad reached out and snatched Andy's chin in his fist, lifting up his head and feeling across the bruise, tracing it, "Running into a post doesn't leave a bruise like this. This kind of curved scrape is made by a fist, someone wearing a ring," he tapped the raw scrape, "That's where this comes from, the ring," he let go, and Andy felt dizzy from fear, "Don't lie to a former bully about injuries received in s fight."

Andy bit down on his bottom lip and bowed his head, fists curling, "I... I don't understand you at all."

Brad just stepped forward, taking Chrystal's hand, "The people at the school will believe your little fib about the wooden post. I won't. Don't lie to me," Andy shuffled to follow behind him, "So are you gonna tell me what happened?"

Andy thought for a moment before looking up with another lie, "Fine. I was mugged. Well, they didn't take anything, maybe they were just blowing steam-."

"You're still lying."

Andy grit his teeth as Brad stared at him, "How would you know?" he asked, voice shaky, giving away his fear.

Brad looked away again, letting Chrystal walk a few paces ahead, watching her as he spoke, "Because I've seen it all. The look in your eyes doesn't tell me it was some stranger. Wanna know why?"