Back To Our Roots, Book One

XL. He's Back, Bruised & Bloody

When David woke up, he heard a quiet, even breathing.

He looked over to Matt's bed, assuming it was him, but he was already gone.

Confused, he looked over to Wes's bed.

Which Wes was collapsed on to, still in his clothes.

David sincerely hoped that those were flecks of pomegranate juice on his shirt, but looking up at his face, he knew it wasn't. There was a bandage on his cheekbone with blood soaked through most of it, a bruise underneath it.

He knew he should let Wes sleep, but he had to clean up his face. Wes was sleeping deeply enough that he shouldn't notice.

David went and got a first aid kit, wetting a washcloth. He gently took the bandage off of Wes's face, throwing it away.

He carefully cleaned the dried blood off of Wes's face with the washcloth, bandaging it again.

He cleaned out the washcloth and put the first aid box back, sitting on the edge of Wes's bed.

"What happened, Wes?" he whispered, looking at the brilliant bruise across his face.

Wes turned over in his sleep, immediately shooting up and holding the shoulder he had just rolled onto. "Fuck, that hurt," he said under his breath, rolling it in a circle.

"Wes? What happened? When did you get here?" David asked worriedly.

Wes looked over at him, expression softening. "Long story."

"Is that from your parents?" his voice was quiet, afraid of the answer.

Wes bit his lip. "Okay, you were under the impression that they didn't do it anymore, and I didn't want to have to break it to you–"

"You lied to me?"

"I didn't want you to worry. But... CPS showed up at my house yesterday at midnight."

"What? How did they know?"

"Someone must have heard mom yelling at me, I guess. But I fell asleep before they came. When I woke up, there was a police officer in my room."

David frowned. "That must have been terrifying. Do you know what's going to happen?"

Wes pulled his legs up to his chest, which immediately made David worry even more. He sat next to Wes on the bed.

"Wes, what's going to happen?"

Wes shook his head, trying to hold back his tears. "They want to put them in prison, David. Like, actual prison, with murderers and rapists. They can't go there."

Wes sniffed, the tears falling. He hadn't cried in so long. "And I know, I know they hurt me. And- and I know that's not okay. But they're my parents. And I- I love them. And I know what to- to expect with them, I know what to do. I can't be thrown into some random family with- with no clue of how it works, what they're like, I can't just- I can't do that- I can't-"

Wes's words turned into unintelligible sobbing, and he buried his head into his knees. David hugged him from the side.

"I know you're scared, Wes. But this is what's best. You can get through this. You know why? I'll be right there beside you, making sure you do."

"God, I love you," Wes said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"I love you too."

Wes paused. "But there's something else. You know how well-known my family is, how they have all those powerful connections all over the globe?"

"Yeah?"

"If they go to prison, hell, if I even get taken out of their custody, there's going to be a huge scandal. They're known in business everywhere. The reporters will jump on it. I don't want the attention, David. Everyone knows I'm their son, even if they don't say my name in the articles. I don't want to deal with it, it's just overwhelming. I don't want people to treat me differently when I'm the same person."